Un Joyeux Noel (23/12/06-27/12/06)

We thought about going to Paris. We searched high and low in the Alps and found that it was all incredibly expensive. We’d starting contemplating staying all alone in Aix when, nearing the last minute, a friend messaged us to say we could stay at his house in Briancon. That's in the Alps, that's cold, and it's winter, which means yes, it was exactly what we were looking for.

Since this years Christmas could not be spent on the beach in the sun with family, we both had decided a while ago that thought it would be the best to do the total opposite: in the mountains, amidst the snow, with some friends. Since our friend Raphael offered us his place, despite the fact that he would be absent at the time, it seemed the perfect setting for a White Christmas.

We arrived in the arvo, and strolled up and down the town (really, it's built on the side of a mountain) drinking coffee, after chocolate, after Kir, after mulled wine until we felt warm enough to buy some groceries and head ‘home’.

The other two housemates Florent and Julien would both be home for Christmas. And together we passed the days before Christmastide at the local pubs, mixing with the other ski-mad tourists. Mayan managed to eat roasted chestnuts and drink hot wine at the same time!

Now Christmastide is the 12 days of Christmas from the 25th till the 5th January, following the 24 days of Advent. The 6th is Epiphany, when the three wise men arrived, and when tradition says you open your gifts. This is our plan this year, so we've held off opening too many gifts and mainly celebrated with big home-made feasts and mulled wine. If this seems like an indulgent plan for Christmas, remember we decided not to follow the 40-day festival which follows Christmas , but mostly so we could do our birthdays due justice.

Here's a frozen waterfall we passed while marching home from the city.

The big Christmas meal in France is on Christmas Eve, so there were lots of special menus on offer in town for those who could afford them. We did better.
With our two housmates and two more of their friends, we had a big old French Chrissy meal. We had our apero of a magnum of champagne with foie gras and salmon toasts before popping home at midnight for a quick light big old cheese fondue. When we finally finished in the early hours, clutching our bellies, we kept an eye out for santa for a couple more hours then popped off to bed, not noticing the snow that had started falling, the first all week, giving us the white Christmas that we'd been waiting for.

Christmas day itself and the next day were full of more great mountain meals and mountain walks, until the night of the 26th, when we had another party because our friend Raph was coming home! The guy who's house we had come to visit had decided to visit us! However, even the promise of a few more days of mountain fun couldn not make us stay longer, and we returned home the next day to the sun and cafes of Aix, ready to start finsihing the year.