Christmas

What ideas do you associate with Christmas?

By judging from the shops traffic before Christmas, to many people it is gifts to the loved ones and being together in family that count most.

As I experienced it yesterday, this prevails also for my own family, as we have invited my wife’s 89 years old mother and my daughter with her companion and with their one year old son.

My grandson Théo received many toys yesterday. It’s true that he was looking joyful while discovering and trying to open them. But the toys were so many, that he was not able to really play with any single one.

I do not think this abundance will help with his development. Luckily, many toys will remain in our home and will be proposed to him here later, when he comes to our place.

Being together also means a special meal for the occasion.

My wife proposed for this occasion shrimps, a pie topped with asparagus sprouts, ostrich meat with leeks and frozen chocolate cake with green tea.

As I am vegan, I prepared my own menu: tomatoes with alfalfa sprouts and black olives, yellow and green lentils, buckwheat grains and leeks which we all shared, and finally hot cooked apple with cocoa powder on it (very nice aroma).

I regret animal lives sacrifice and the fact that I have little impact on my family food options.

Apart of being together in family, on previous night I also assisted to the Nativity service in St. Gervais church in Paris.

It was a full, more than two hours long celebration with relevant texts being read, different processions, prayers, beautiful organ accompaniment and especially, fervent monks and nuns choir.

We had some snow in Paris the week before Christmas, but it was gone since and the Christmas day was sunny though short.

St Gervais

In a Park