The run up...

We watched a Michael McIntyre Christmas Comedy Roadshow the other night and he said about how on Bonfire night (5th November for you non-British readers!) after the last firework bangs, all the women get that organisational look in their eyes "Christmas is coming, there's so much to do!"

Well I can totally relate to this, and as I haven't posted for well over a month it's probably true!
We've had a very intense Christmas filled month. It started with our whirlwind trip to the UK on the first weekend of December, it was for my friends wedding near Birmingham, but we also took advantage of lower toy prices to start our Christmas shopping. We bought the essentials such as Christmas Crackers, mincemeat, and a Christmas pudding!

Actually our Christmas preparations started before then, because I took all the handmade Christmas cards with me to post in the UK, so I'd been working Laila for a couple weeks already.

The most Christmas intensive weekend though was mid-December. We visited the Christmas market in Lannion on it's first day, we rode the Christmas train and visited Father Christmas in his chalet.

We attended the Gouter de Noel at the kids gym club, where they did a little bit of gymnastics, got a club t-shirt, posed for a photo and got some chocolates from Father Christmas and watched the older gymnasts put on a little show.

The following day was the school Christmas show. The school put on a great performance with some theatre, some singing, dancing and storytelling. Max was very entertaining on stage, you know the cute little one that doesn't do what he's supposed to do but everyone ends up watching him instead of the others? Well that was him! Then he fell asleep in our arms after and when he woke up he threw up all over me, so we missed the actual food part, but were there long enough for Laila to get more chocolates from another Father Christmas!

Max was ill with a sickness bug all week the poor thing, we had thought it was just the excitement from the show!

At some point I started baking shortbread for Christmas presents, I think I did 5 or 6 batches in total, each a different kind. I had some nice Christmas tins to put them in and I think they were appreciated, the chocolate dipped orange shortbreads were probably the best ones!

homemade shortbread gifts

For the first year since living here we went to visit "Le village de Noel de Keraudy", it's a tiny little village about 15 mins out of Lannion which goes to great lengths to make a beautiful Christmas display every year. This years theme was 'Christmas through the eyes of children".

Then the weekend before Christmas we went into Lannion again to see Tad Nedeleg, which is Breton for Father Christmas. The breton language association shoved a breton speaking Father Christmas in a Europcar van and sent him round to 4 different towns on one day! We took him drawings, and yes the kids got another chocolate!

Tad Nedeleg showing Laila's drawing

And finally the day after was the Christmas Craft or Creators market, organised every year by our school (Skol Diwan Lannuon), I was helping out on the bar all morning so Francois had the kids and he took them into town to go on the manège (merry go round), which turned out to be closed, so they came to see the market and bumped into Father Christmas again in town getting yet another chocolate!

That afternoon we left for Quimperlé to join François' family for the actual celebration of Christmas!