| Visits with Family |
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| Here are a few lovely ladies. In the upper left you can see from left to right Annick (Jess' mom), Mammy (Jess' grandma), and Michele (Jess' aunt). Now tell me those two ladies in the picture on the right don't look related. It could have something to do with the smile. . . |
| A cute pic of Annick and Max (Jess' parents) in a park overlooking Marseille during their visit in October. |
| These are a collection of pics of some of Jess' cousins who live a few hours away in the pre-Alps. Starting above and working clockwise: Alicia on her way home from school, Timothee getting ready to throw a stone into a river, and Loic in a wheelbarrow hard at work with his dad, Jean-Pierre. |
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| Christmas in Provence |
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| Christmas eve and day were spent in Vernegues where my aunt and uncle live in Provence. It gave us a nice opportunity to see how Christmas is celebrated here and partake in some of the traditions. We have never eaten and drank so much! Christmas eve started off with Foie Gras and pink champagne and then continued on well into the night with courses including oysters, "white sausage", and of course. . .cheese. The steady flow of pink champagne and great wine goes without saying. After presents and all the excitement that goes along with the discovery of gifts from "Pere Noel", guests started arriving for the Christmas day meal. There were over 20 of us in total and Michele set a beautiful table with white linen and candles that stretched from the dining room all the way into the family room. All in all, we were at the table from about noon until 6h30, taking breathers between courses such as a huge stuffed turkey, salmon, and of course---foie gras. Less breathers were taken between glasses of wine and champagne and the festivities became increasingly animated if you know what I mean. After everyone left, we all just kind of crashed into an alcohol and food coma. |
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| On the left is a traditional Provencal "creche" or manger featuring "santons" made out of clay depicting differnt biblical characters. The tradition is that after midnight onChristmas eve, you lay baby Jesus in his crib. My uncle Jean made the windmill, pigeonhouse and stable by hand and set the whole scene up on fresh moss on their veranda overlooking Vernegues |
| This is the traditional French Christmas cake known as the "buche de Noel" or "yule log". The tradition is that historically the oldest and youngest in a family would pour wine over a special log on Christmas eve and it was supposed to burn through the end of Christmas day. In memory of that, families now eat this rolled-up cake in a shape of a log. This one was decorated with axes! |
| With all the food and "beverage" we kind of forgot to take more pictures but here are the couple that we managed to squeeze in. The picture on the left is of my little cousins Oceane and Clementine, and my grandma and I taking a break between courses, and on the right is a picture of Jean-Pierre and Mary-Noel (more cousins). |
| Ah yes. . .and above left you can see our "Christmas corner" complete with our midget tree and personal touches. It was tacky but made us feel good to have our stockings and decorations up. We decided to save our Christmas gifts for the 26th so we could celebrate just the two of us and when we got back from Vernegue we could barely wait. It was fun to rip into the gifts we had been sent from home and had picked out for each other and we drew the process out as long as possible trying everything on and ooh-ing and aah-ing. It took a lot of convincing for me to post that picture on the right but I guess it wouldn't be Christmas if you didn't look like you had been dragged out of bed. This is what you look like after two days in the South of France eating and drinking with my family. Those of you who are planning on coming in April for the receptions---be careful---this could very well be you! |
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| Visit with Mom |
| Mom (Annick--Jess' mom) was able to come back to Marseille for a second time as a result of a trip to London where she was invited to a book exposition. We were very happy to see her again!! It was a quick visit but we had a lot of fun and took advantage of the time we had to the fullest---lots of tourism, walking, eating and chatting. |
| A couple of pictures above in our living room where we were having a nice tea and sharing lots of Arabic desserts that we had just bought at a nearby market where they sell all sorts of products from North Africa. I am obsessed with their desserts! |
| Above left is a picture of my mom and her editor Virginia who was also in Marseille before the exposition. We were all at a cute restaurant we were happy to discover and had a fantastic three course meal with the necessary French wine! And then to the right is a picture of my mom with the famous "Sexy" graffiti. You can see pictures of Jeremy and I next to this graffiti on the "Crazy" page by clicking here. My mom has the best sense of humor!! |
| Kody Cat |
| Yes, that's right. . .we brought our cat to France! And yes, we are putting him under our "Family" page! He has adapted very well to life in France and we are very happy to have him here with us. He is still crazy but we would not have him any other way. |