Plasters Of Paris - Family Blog: December 2008

Christmas Party

Three course dinner accompanied by live piano music
Testimony "The Meaning of Christmas" by a French Pastor
Desserts, coffee, tea, chocolates

Christmas carol sing-along

Gift exchange

Every guest got to make Ginger bread figurines, we had tons of gingerbread dough left over so some friends and I made a "live" nativity, here's a video.
I apologize in advance for any historical inaccuracies that may have occurred during our impromptu skit.

Christmas Dessert Night

Wassail, snacks, and delicious desserts helped us celebrate St. Nicholas on December 6th!

Heavenly Dirt Dessert took the prize for the fastest disappearing dessert!

This Christmas Truffle was also a favorite with Angle Food Cake, Raspberry Jello, Yogurt, and Raspberries.

We also made Gingerbread Men! I never cared for the store bought kind, but they're great hot out of the oven.

Prayer Brunch

Here's some of the Saturday morning brunch bunch!

Patrick Roger

Our neighborhood chocolate shop has won the award for the best chocolatier in France. Today I went to pick up some goodies for Christmas and the line was out the door. I've never seen so many people in this tiny little shop. The shop is named after the chocolatier who is only 39 but has been making chocolates for 23 years.

So while I was waiting in line, one gentleman in front of me started asking about their largest gift box. A variety of all of their chocolates in a box as big as a briefcase for only 290 euros. I was still choking on the 290 euros, trying to imagine how big a family would have to be to eat all of that chocolate in one Christmas season, while the gentleman quipped, "I'll take 20." The cashier didn't flinch, she rang his order and told him he could pick up the boxes tomorrow! The things people spend money on.

Spreading Christmas Cheer!

Wearing Christmas hats in December has always been a tradition in my family. But probably not for the reasons you might think.

Suddenly since I've gotten my Christmas hat out of storage I've become the most popular person on the block. The other day I was walking to choir and three strangers stopped and talked to me. One asked if I could give them any food. One asked where they could buy a hat like mine. And one asked if they could take my photo. The older people are most intrigued by my hat. They stop and stare and wish me merry Christmas. They have absolutely no idea that they are playing into my game. With this conversation starter I often get the comment, "It's not Christmas yet, aren't you early?" To which I can promptly reply, "Actually Saint Nicholas is the 6th of December and Christmas is coming soon. Do you know who Saint Nicholas is?" Of course not, so I continue, "He was a great man who was so touched by the life and teachings of Jesus that he decided to give all he had to the poor." Which is actually a horrendous simplification of reality, but hey, when you only have one sentence with which to spread the virtues of Jesus, I don't mind taking the liberty.

Hearing the name of Jesus in a spontaneous conversation with strangers is not a very regular occurrence for the average Parisian. May this little light shine brightly.

We are already known by our immediate neighbors as the couple that almost lost their cat. Now when I wear my hat the deli-man next door is my best friend. He always greets me with a big smile and wishes me a good day. It's kinda fun.

A New Choir Director

The choir interviewed 5 candidates and when the vote was cast an overwhelming majority voted for Basey! Here are some clips of our new choir director in action. We sing GOOD with this guy!!!

Kitty Goes Potty

You have to see it to believe it. Our cat had such an infatuation with the toilet that we decided to toilet train her. Yes it's real. Here's one whole minute of potty-time entertainment, Enjoy!

Thanksgiving

Usually every American we know hosts a Thanksgiving dinner so we get to celebrate several times with several different American families around Paris. This year we were the only ones hosting Thanksgiving and we found ourselves in an interesting predicament.

We didn't want to exclude French friends who are accustomed to always coming to Thanksgiving dinner.

And as the holiday approached we realized that we've done "too good of a job" in the past leaving high expectations, and causing the invitations to spread like wildfire as everybody we knew wanted to share this memorable experience with all of their closest friends as well. So you see how the invitations got out of control, and two weeks before Thanksgiving 25 people had confirmed their presence at our holiday celebration.

But how? Fortunately there is a group of junior high girls in Colorado that adopted our Thanksgiving day as their sister church project. They collected tons of great holiday stuff we just can't find here like Stovetop stuffing, creamed corn, yams, fried onions, cranberries and pumpkin pie mix. I kept everything that was as simple as "just add water" And passed to my guests the other ingredients with traditional American

Thanksgiving recipes. We had very strict rules, bringing a French dish to Thanksgiving was off limits this year, everyone would participate in the recreation of a traditional meal and savor many unique flavors that they have never tasted before.

It was a culinary experience for everybody. In more ways than one. Everyone arrived at the door with their carry-in dish, and the

same worried look on their face saying, "I had no idea what this was supposed to look like. I don't know if I did it right. It might not taste right." But all in all everything was exactly what it was supposed to taste like, right down to Gramies Thanksgiving salad.

The only thing that wasn't perfect were the dinner rolls, something I made myself. I've made them every year and every year they've been perfect, but this year I'm still getting used to the oven and it was WAY too hot, so when the bread was supposed to be rising, it was already cooking!

10 o'clock we had breakfast together with the early risers. We watched a recorded version of the Thanksgiving Day Parade, 2007 of course.

Yum! Homemade Cinnamon Rolls

Wassle: hot tea, cranberry juice, apple juice, orange slices, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg.

Here two friends are showing of their beautifully decorated orange that will go in the wassle, a favorite holiday treat.

NOON - When we sat down at the table Nichole told the Thanksgiving story and read Abraham Lincoln's declaration that this tradition become a national holiday. Everybody at the table shared something they were thankful for. And one of our guests got the honor to read the blessing for our table

and our guests. Then we sang "I will enter his gates" accompanied by David on guitar. It was magical. Here's a little clip of us singing. It was filmed with a little pocket camera so the quality is not great and you loose some of the magic since the microphone only picks up three of the closest voices.

1 o'clock - Let the Feast Begin!

Here are some of the delicious dishes that graced our table this year.

Turkey!!! And the house smelled soooo good!

Waffle cornucopias

Cranberry Salad

Cranberry Jelly
Green Bean Casserole
Yams with Marshmallows
Sweet Potatoes with Cinnamon and Nuts
Creamed Corn
Squash Gratin
Homemade Stuffing

Stovetop Stuffing

4 o'clock - Desserts were in abundance with 8 pies. Of course everybody had eaten too much and the left over pies would be shared with the choir the following Monday.

Pumpkin Pie from Scratch I don't even know many Americans that go to that much trouble, but it's sooo good. We also had one made from a can, but the homemade one won the taste-test despite being square.