Christmas in France. It has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it? The plan was to be in Italy for the holidays and so I hadn’t given any thought to how it might be in the land of my heritage (you all know I’m French Canadian, right?). The timing is thanks to our friends’ offer of the use of their apartment in Carcassonne, a Medieval city in southern France, over the holidays and more.

I started getting excited at the idea of Noël in the old country during a phone conversation with my mother. We thought how fun it would be to see how traditions have changed or remained the same in the centuries since the French brought them to the new land. Turns out that there are many similarities and differences — sometimes at the most unexpected places.

We wondered whether the food we served at home remained similar to that in France or had it been influenced by the product available in the New World. Or, for that matter, English Canadian traditions. Do they have turkey, tourtieres (meat pies), beignes (donuts) and cinnamon cookies? What music do they play: only French? religious? Are decorations similar to those at home or influenced by other traditions in Europe? What do people do for fun during the holidays? Will there be snow that far south?

In France, of course, everything starts with food. The stores and markets are filled with beautifully packaged and displayed specialty foods – some that appear to be just for the holidays. Others may be eaten all year but we can’t always tell the difference between special and regular foods. Certain delicacies I remember from my childhood in northern Ontario that I’ve also found here include: rabbit, partridge, beignets (donuts but without a hole) and bûche de Noël (Christmas log cake). There are dozens of foods we never had but will be enjoying this year such as foie gras, pain au chocolat (pastry stuffed with chocolate), oysters (me) and olives (Jacob), warm wine or cider, dozens of different cheeses and even more types of breads.

After years of complaining about all of the American and British rock and roll music in Latin American stores, taxis, restaurants, etc., I have to laugh that most of the Christmas music we are hearing in France is also American. I’ve heard ‘Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree’ and Elvis’s ‘It’ll Be a Blue Christmas Without You’ more often than I care to count. The winter fair (a few rides and slides for kids) and ice skating rink (where people lined up for an hour to skate) play all 70s, 80s, 90s music – mostly in English – at such high decibels it’s actually difficult to recognize the tune but it is definitely American.

The most beautiful music we’ve been hearing is the sound of church bells. Every day since we’ve been here, a nearby church (less than two blocks away) plays beautiful melodies for a few minutes every hour. At night it rings only to announce the time which, in my half sleep, I’ve taken to counting the dings, dangs and dongs. I am still looking, however, for carolers signing ‘Minuit Chretien’ and ‘Mon Beau Sapin’.

The outdoor decorations hung by the city are beautiful with very classy designs in lights. One of our favorites is a water fountain at the center of a square where the shut-off water has been replicated with arcs of blue lights. These appear to come from the center of the fountain and shoot off to the sides like water (that would freeze at this time of the year). I’ve yet to take a good photo of this fountain but will post one once I’ve accomplished this feat of photographing neon lights at night.

It may be because we are in such an old part of the city or it simply isn’t part of the tradition, but homes have no exterior decorations such as we would see in America. Stores and city streets provide all the color in lights, ribbons, evergreen boughs and fake snow.

Speaking of snow, we were warned it would be a bit cold and we happened to arrive during a bit of a cold snap. A light snow fell after we’d been here for a few days and made everything even prettier. I went around town taking photos of a snowy Carcassonne for our friends who lent us their flat as we were told it doesn’t snow often nor does it last. Indeed, the white stuff stayed for a few days but has since melted as it’s gotten too warm.

I grew up with snow up to my eyeballs or higher, so I never understood people saying they wished there would be snow in time for Christmas. We could pretty well depend on snow at Hallowe’en so by Christmas we were starting to get tired of it: “Oh boy, only four more months of snow and cold.” But here, in such a small amount, the snow was a wonderful icing on the gorgeous cake that is Carcassonne.

WHAT’S NEXT: The next few weeks will feature blog posts from France as we celebrate the holidays. We’ll be in Carcassonne at least until mid-January, then we’ll likely go to Hong Kong for Chinese visas, maybe spend a week or two in Vietnam if we save enough money, and then move to China for Jacob’s job in Wenzhou in February 2010.

NOTE: My “This Expat Life” & “Writing on Wednesdays” blogs are on hiatus until we settle down in Wenzhou in February 2010. Between now and then, I’ll be writing only about Baby Boomers Traveling. Hope you enjoy coming along with us.

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