24 Christmas Memories – 16

We’re 16 days in and today I’ll share a memory or two from our first Christmas in France.

As I look through the photos, it feels just like yesterday, although it’s clearly not… the photos of the kids will tell you that straightway.

Welcome to Christmas #1 in Châtellerault…

Is this first Christmas Memory post you’re seeing?
You can get caught up by starting back on day 1 to understand this year’s theme.

Christmas in Châtellerault

“Joyeuses Fêtes” … the non-descript French equivalent of “Happy Holidays,” devoid of any particular religious affiliation, greets us from a sign suspended above the old working class neighbourhood of Châteauneuf. That’s not our neighbourhood, but it’s the part of town through which you pass to get to downtown.

The house was light on Christmas decorations because, remember, we initially only expected to be here for 1.5-2 years, so we hadn’t brought much with us, and we hadn’t had time to accumulate very much. Our tree was a short one, but is was a real tree and it was attached to a rootball, so, in theory, it could be planted outside after the holiday. There must be a trick I never got, because we’ve had a couple and I was never able to get them to live.

One of the main attractions that year was the temporary municipal skating rink, set up right in front of city hall.

Because skating was a familiar winter activity to our kids, having done it frequently back home, it was a must-do. The kids had become friends with two local families in particular… Louis & Prune (grandkids of our neighbours) and Benedict, Ivy & Magnus, whose family had immigrated here from Australia just a few short months before we arrived. These fellow English-speaking friends were a real godsend to our kids (I daresay it was reciprocal) because they could just ‘get’ one another without the language getting in the way.

Some Things Don’t Change

We are thankful that our kids have always had a really great and a really close relationship. They can cut-up with the best of ’em and have heaps of fun together.