Echange d'ornements (Ornament exchange)

Olivia and Clara stirred up a little Christmas fun Saturday with an echange d'ornement party. We fixed a big pasta dinner, played some fun Christmas games and the girls each took home a new ornament. These ornaments will definitely remind the girls of their Christmas in France. We are learning about all kinds of Christmas traditions throughout the world. When one father came to pick up his daughter he said, "It's so fun to have North Americans here to celebrate American style." There is a fun French tradition regarding "ornements". Père Noël hangs foil covered chocolate ornaments on the tree Christmas Eve. We hope he finds our tree this year.

Tristesse (sadness)

The past couple of weeks there has been a feeling of tristesse when you walk the streets of Fontainebleau. Two tragic accidents involving children from the local high school and junior high have made us all think how fragile life is. Last week felt like the heavens were weeping. There would be cloud burst after cloud burst. Every glimpse of light brings hope. I happened to be downtown on the day of a funeral for one boy. The street in front of the church was a sea of black. Teenagers crying, parents comforting. The most thought provoking sight for me was this young mans football (soccer) club who had gathered together with their jerseys tied around their necks and they were all carrying white roses. Grief really is universal.

Steve & Ingun Earl

We had been waiting for three months for visitors to come. They all came at once and our house was hopping with fun, food and conversation. Our Salt Lake City neighbors Steve and Ingunn Earl arrived the day after my sister. It was so fun to see them and to show them around our village. We had a big raquellette dinner (I'll give details about this delicious cheese another time) with all our guests and it felt like a big family party.


Here we are at our favorite creperie. When you plan your visit to France plan on eating a LOT of really good food! Thanks for coming Earls. We hope you come again and bring your kids next time.

La Tour Eiffel de nuit (Eiffel Tower at night)

La Tour Eiffel de nuit is beautiful! We saved this for the grand finale of our girls day in Paris. The metro stop was out of service so we had to do some extra walking to get there. We arrived at dusk and stood in line for about 30 minutes. It was a grand surprise when the lights started blinking all over the tower. They go off for 10 minutes every hour. We were lucky enough to see them go off twice.


Clara has been waiting and waiting for the opportunity to see la Tour Eiffel de nuit. We promised her that when our first visitors arrived she could go with them. At the top while enjoying the view she threw her arms around me and said, "I just love you Mom! This is the best night ever!" Those words made the night perfection for me. On the walk back to the metro Clara whispered a poem she had made up while standing on la Tour Eiffel:

The Eiffel Tower at night is such a beautiful sight!
Especially when the lights are blinking
and everyone is thinking
How lucky they are to be there at night.

By Clara Jane Randall age 8

Filles Jour (Girls Day)

Olivia, Clara and I joined the Oohh Laaa Laaa Ladies for a filles jour. We drove to the closest metro stop in Paris and bought a day pass. The metro took us all over town. We started at the flea market. There were so many treasures, trinkets and junk it made our hearts leap! It was lunch by the time we finished shopping so we headed for the Champs Elysses. We had heard that Pauls Bakery was the best and it was! Somehow we managed to get the only table in the bakery. The raspberry tart was so delicious it's making my mouth water just thinking about it.

With our tummies full we marched right up the street to the Arc de Triumph. It was a clear day and the view was awesome. Olivia had been looking forward to seeing the round about at the base of the Arc. Apparently it is the largest one in France with 10 different entrances. Traffic was crazy. Kind of like this picture that I can't seem to manipulate in the right direction. Does anyone have an idea of how to fix this problem?

Christmas trees, lights and decorations adorned the streets of Paris. We were there on the 2nd of December. However, just like America they have had Christmas items in the stores since October. It was wonderful to get in the Christmas spirit with my sister.



Olivia and Clara were such troopers on our filles jour. They didn't complain once and believe me we walked a hundred miles that day. I guess it just goes to show that sisters love being together!

Ma soeur (my sister)

It's a lucky day when you live thousands of miles from home and you get visitors. My soeur Valene made the journey to France with 3 of her good friends...they call themselves the "Oohh Laaa Laaa Ladies" (I think that's their favorite French phrase!) It was just awesome to see a familiar face and to catch up with ma soeur. With 17 years between the two of us you would never know. We love to talk, sing and laugh together. Valene offered to bring me a few items from home. It took her a 50 pound suitcase to haul everything over. The euro is so bad right now that it's cheaper to have someone buy items in the US and bring them over. Did we ever think the US dollar would be worth so little? We got things from instant oatmeal to contact lens solution AND my new camera arrived! It was like an early Christmas for the kids. They practically made themselves sick eating Reeses peanut butter cups & fun fruit snacks.

Ma soeur is a little crazy...just like this photo. I have no idea how to get it straight.







It was just a bonus that Valene brought Mary, Karlan & Marilyn along. the kids fell in love with ALL of them. Lilly gave them each nick-names: Oreo, corn on the cob, bouquet of flowers and popcorn.





We played lots of games during their visit. Marilyn taught the girls how to play "Phase 10". It has become the game to play before bed. Karlan bought "Labyrinth" for the kids and they have really enjoyed learning the strategy to win!

Docteur

I had planned to post several photos and thoughts from this past week, but Lilly was up all last night and today has been a "sick day". We have played U-No, napped and survived our visit with the Docteur. There is a docteur in our neighboring village of Montigny. Believe it or not this docteur makes house calls! He showed up with his little black docteur bag and gave Lilly a check-up. She has an inner ear infection. Docteur Piette speaks a little English so that was helpful. It cost me 35 Euro for the home visit. Afterwards Lilly and I drove to the local pharmacy. My French was completely NOT helpful at this juncture. The pharmacist read the prescription, handed me 4 boxes and I paid my 25 Euro and left. When I got home it was tricky. There were no directions on the boxes. I had to read Docteur Piette's prescription and figure out how much medicine to administer. Besides that I had to mix the antibiotic with water and do the prep work. Basically your health care ends up in your own hands. I'm not exactly confident with that...especially when everything is written in French!