Cheers to you, 2012!

Were our visit to Starbucks in Basel, Switzerland this afternoon 

& my beverage 

{cranberry white chocolate mocha} 

two of the best things about 2011?

Hmmm... let me think for a bit... yep!

Hope you have had lots of yummy beverages & a wonderful 2011.

À l'année prochaine ! {See you next year!}

Christmas Charm {2}

As I mentioned in my post the other day, le 24 décembre au soir 

is the most important moment in France for Christmas celebrations.

As you can see by the photos, la table chez mes beaux-parents 
{the table at my in-laws' house} 

was set with care & the entire French family was there!

C'est très beau, n'est-ce pas ?

But you know what the most impressive thing on the table was?

Le dessert !

{OK, OK... you can tease me about my sweet tooth if you like.

Yes, my favourite part of any meal is almost always the dessert...}

But can you blame me??!

Remember les petit fours that I posted about the other day?

What about FQ's home-made birthday cheesecake?

And the macaron I ate in Chamonix?

Or those yummy cookies that came from the little town 

we spent our vacation in Brittany in?

Not to mention those meringues I posted about way back when?

Well, all that was beyond delicious.  And pretty.

But... you really have to admire my mother-in-law's homemade 

bûche de Noël.

You see,  bûche = log.  

It's the shape of the traditional Christmas cake in France.

{Need to know more?  You can read this article.}

Need to hurry up & finish reading this blog entry 

so that you can go bake something sweet?

OK, here are the photos of what ma belle-mère baked...

Bravo !!!

{and miam miam aussi...}

E & me {Christmas cousins}

This week's E & me?

All about Christmas & cousins.*

If you read Erin's blog, you'll know right away
which kids celebrated Noël & which kids celebrated Christmas...

* Oh, I almost forgot another word that starts with "c"...

cute!

Christmas Charm {1}

Hello!  Bonjour !

I have lots of seasonal wishes for you, dear Rue de France reader!!

First off, happy three-days-after-Christmas-Eve!

{Which, in France, involves a huge family dinner that is pretty much 

the most important moment of Christmas celebrations!}

Secondly, happy two-days-after-December-25th!

{Which is when I felt the most homesick,

especially in the morning.

In France it's a day that is much more low-key than in Canada, 

so I had less distractions & festivities 

& spent a good part of the day missing my family... le sigh...}

Lastly, happy one-day-after-Boxing-Day!

{Which doesn't exist in France.  

So my December 26th involved sleeping in, 

eating festive leftovers with my in-laws, 

taking a nap & having a little wander - in the very brisk air -

around FQ's lovely little village-slash-hometown, Pommiers.}

*************
Et maintenant ?

How about a photo of festive French food?

One of the family meals we had was at FQ's aunt's house.
The meal had about a zillion courses & was amazing, of course.
{But I'd need an entirely separate post to tell you all about that.}

So let's just stick with what she served for dessert, ok?

Les petit fours.

Beautiful + delicate + delicious?  Mais oui !
But pumpkin pie, one of my favourite things ever?  Mais non...

{Again, le sigh...
But at least I've passed along lots of greetings to you all,
I've told you a little about Christmas traditions in France
& I've made your mouth water with that photo!}

More tomorrow, ok?
{Including a post-Christmas version of the world-famous E & me...}

Angels we have heard on high...

{& seen hanging out over the streets in Annecy's old town...}

join me in wishing all of you

Merry Noël & Joyeux Christmas!!!

Two more days...

It's the final Christmas countdown!

clock, Christmas decorations & advent display on our mantle

two advent calendars {one from my friend Hildegard in Switzerland & one from Erin}

E & me {Christmas collage}

Christmas is just around the corner!

So this week's E & me features a Christmas collage.

Trees, decorations, wrapping paper...

They're chez nous here in les Alpes.

They're also chez Erin allllll the way over in Victoria.

Any ideas which pictures belong to which location?

{Pssst!  Santa might be extra nice to you this year

if you leave a guess or two in the comments...}

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow...

Weekend recap:

1.  It snowed.  A lot.

2.  It made me feel très très très festive.

3.  I took a million photos of the snowfall from our balcony.

4.  Yes, I'm that geeky.
5.  But a picture is worth a thousand words, right?

So let me ask you this...
What are five photos of a zillion snowflakes worth?
Hmm..???

One, two, three... Christmas tree!

Un...

deux...

trois...

Sapin de Noël !

E & me {Christmas window displays}

Ten more days left to finish {start?!} your Christmas shopping...

For this week's E & me,
Erin & I took a few minutes to window shop close to home.

As you can see,
there's a classic Nutcracker/chocolate theme going on
& a more modern rockin' around the Christmas tree display.

Any guesses which one is in Victoria & which one is here in Annecy?

Love? This way...

Just a detail from the the middle of the big 

rond-point {= roundabout/traffic circle}

up the street from chez nous.

It is filled with lovely Christmas decorations at the moment.

Would you like to see more?

Bonjour, la neige !

Remember at the beginning of the month 

when I said it was way too mild here

to believe December had arrived 

& that Christmas was just around the corner?

Well... most of last week,

 it was horribly cold, rainy & windy in Annecy.

Ugh.

Even though I'm from Vancouver

{on Canada's "Wet Coast"},

that kind of weather makes me want to stay on the couch all day.

But you know what?

Whenever I needed to go out over the past few days,

I bundled up,

pulled on my gumboots

& tried {sans succès} 

to use my umbrella to avoid getting soaked.

{That didn't work, of course...}

So...

I kept reminding myself how

nasty weather en ville

= 

snow snow snow en montagne.

And I was right!

Please behold the proof in these photos taken from my balcony!
{Now that it's stopped pouring, we can enjoy our view again, yay!}

C'est trop beau, non ??!

E & me {light trees}

As promised last week, today's E & me 

is continuing the Christmas decoration theme.

It's all about arbres = trees.

Although you know what's strange?

Erin lives on the West Coast of Canada, 

where there are zillions of evergreen trees.

Et moi ? J'habite dans les Alpes.

It's not as if there are no forests nearby.

Yet, as you can see from the photos above,

people in both Victoria & Annecy think it's cool

to make a "tree" out of lights.

Hmm.  

I'm not convinced.  

Et toi ?

Il fait trop chaud pour un chocolat chaud !

Happy December!

You know what?

It was super difficile

to believe that it was the first day of December today.

The weather this afternoon in Annecy 

was gorgeous & practically warm.

I'm serious.

The sun was beating down!

Some people were sitting outside cafés,

 drinking beverages in their t-shirts.

Honestly!

C'est bizarre pour le mois de décembre, non ??!

As for me, 

I chose to celebrate the beginning of December 

by ducking into one of my favorite tea-rooms in town, 

the lovely & classy Fidèle Berger.

Their chocolat chaud ?

Amazing.

{Even on a practically hot December first...}