Flowers for the holidays

Back again after a week of rest and family time for Christmas.   A huge thank you to everyone who has been by here while I was away, and thank you especially for your kind Christmas wishes.

Don't you love this week between Christmas and New Year?  A sort of hiatus, where the daily routine is put on hold, and it feels like we've stopped in time.

For us, this weekend marks a pause between guests and entertaining, and it's always a moment when I like to freshen up the Christmas decor and start to prepare for New Year's Eve.

I found these stunning double Amaryllis, totally dreamy and soft coloured.  They started as a large bouquet in a giant vase but with the warmth of the house several of the stems snapped, so I changed them to individual jars and scattered Christmas baubles around them.

 I hope that your holidays are peaceful and enjoyable,

 no matter how many mouths there may be to feed.

 

Wishing you a very happy Christmas

Ghetto, Gibson and all of my family here in Normandy, join me in wishing you a Happy Christmas and the very best for the new year ahead.  A rather kitsch picture we know, but we thought you may not mind a little fantasy in this festive season!

I am taking a few days off from the blog, a time to enjoy family near and far, and remember the most important things in life. 

Thank you for your presence this year, I am so fortunate to have readers like you.   You encourage and inspire me.  You take my breath away with your beautiful blogs and clever comments.  You make me laugh out loud, and sometimes you even make me cry .... blogging is indeed  a wonderful adventure.

A special hello to those who visited me here in Normandy this year, and to those who are booked to visit in the months to come - the blog has brought many wonderful people to my door, I hope that will continue for a while to come.
  

2012 has been fun here at MFCH, and Gibson and Ghetto tell me they intend to do everything possible to make next year even better.

A very Joyeux Noël to you all!

 

the very white, very french christmas

  greetings to you all for this pre-christmas weekend

this is very nearly my last post before our christmas celebrations

 I would like to tell you that the house is calm, filled only with the sound of children humming happy songs, the fire crackling and the sweet perfume of festive baking in the kitchen, ....

but.....

unfortunately that is so far from the truth

 that I hate to even to talk about it ...hmmm..

'headless chicken' would be the most accurate description 

of this xmas blogger, but hey ho, c'est la vie ...
we'll get there in the end

 so today, I bring you images from many talented 

French blogs, who are making this christmas very 

white and very creative, 
girls such as  

Resonances, 

 Mo,

 Manon 21 

and Art de la Curiosité

 I have found inspiration in these pictures, as well 

as many others that I've pinned to my Noël page,

I hope they give you some great ideas too

à demain mes amis
and happy preparations

xxxooxxx

 

gifts for very parisian christmas stockings

With a large family to buy gifts for, christmas shopping can sometimes teeter dangerously on that fine line between pleasure and a chore - you know what I mean?

The truth is that, while I love to find gifts to wrap and leave beneath the tree, the things I have the most fun finding are the smaller gifts for the christmas stockings that appear before dawn on Christmas day at the foot of every bed in our home.

A mix of small,  and inexpensive treats that are simply there to bring a smile to everyone's face at the start of the day.  A silly pair of socks, a lipstick, a small box of chocolates ... in this house everyone has a stocking waiting for them on Christmas morn - even the dogs!

The stockings in the pictures were made from some worn out pieces of tapestry that I found in a country fair one day - they don't hold much, but they are sort of pretty and timless.

So here are a couple of my favourite gifts that are being slipped into stockings this year ... with a decidedly Parisian theme ....

from the wonderful Maison du Chocolat, these little chocolate beads, that are ready to mix into warm milk to make the perfect hot chocolate

For a much loved dog I would buy a dog collar from Hermes ...but won't actually because my dogs would simply lose the collar in the forest, so they'll get a nice looking collar without the Hermes price tag ......

one lucky girl will be getting this sweet little book by the  talented Betty Lou Phillips,  The Night Before Christmas in Paris, not only are the illustrations delightful, the story charming but it is all in rhyme which I adore!!

another will receive Fragonard soaps , a major favourite of mine, and Fragonard is one of the oldest French perfumers.  The packaging is perfectly parisian and the soaps smell divine, I love to keep them in cupboards until needed.

If my girls were still little enough,  I would buy the classic by Bemelmans, Madeline.  I love the illustrations of Paris, and actually I know this book practically by heart, having read it out loud so often.

A notepad is always so useful, and this one comes from the Louvre museum boutique.  The cover is an extract from a painting by Eugenie Boudin - just love those colours ...

and of course there'll be many many more little gifts, but I can't sit here writing about them or they'll never get wrapped!

christmas at the château de moissac

I have shown you pictures of the château de Moissac before.  I have a special affection for this beautiful home because I often visit friends at Moissac and have heard much about the amazing renovation of the château.

And how lovely to see it in the mood for Christmas.

The decoration and festivities are simply beautiful and also tie in perfectly with the provencal traditions surrounding Christmas.  Provençal symbols such as the olive tree are found in  branches and food;

 there are truffles since this region is known for them;

and of course the important 13 Provençal desserts are at the table;

But the real magic is in the fabulous décor and dimension of this 18th century bastide.  The high ceilings, the perfect light and subtle colours.  I really don't know a more beautiful château in France.

And finally a reminder of what Christmas is all about, the traditional 'creche' or nativity scene, played out here in beautiful plain white figurines and even a baby Jesus.

all pictures by Patrick Van Robaeys - Campagne Décoration

a gourmet gift for the christmas table

 Wanting to take something home made for a hostess gift during the holiday season?    Then why not make up some little chocolate treats.  Providing you have the right ingredients, this could not be simpler.

All you need is good quality chocolate, either plain, milk or white,  and a garnish of your choice.   I sometimes use nougat, or caramel-led nuts or even cranberries.  Today I wanted a more exotic flavour, and added some sugar coated rose petals - so pretty and such a lovely taste.

Simply melt the chocolate very very gently and spoon onto greaseproof or waxed paper to form small discs.  While the chocolate is still warm drop the garnish on top and put the discs to harden in the fridge.

There are so many variants on this, even using pepper or paprika to compliment the chocolate flavour.  Also you can heat dark and white chocolate separately then spoon a little of each on the waxed paper, before gently swirling with a fork so the two colours blend without being thoroughly mixed.

And if you don't trust your hand to make the small discs, then simply pour the chocolate onto a large square of paper, sprinkle with the garnish and once hard don't cut but break into rough pieces of chocolate bark.

Wrapped in a pretty cornet, this is is home made gift that will always please in the holiday season.

crackers for christmas!

Pulling the christmas crackers is as much part of our Christmas lunch table, as the turkey or the flaming pudding - simply essential.

The crack as the snapper snaps, the silly paper hats that everyone has to wear, the appalling jokes and the tiny gifts, it all adds to the festive table and general fun.

This year, I'm not sure why, I was looking for something different, and when back in England last month I saw some fill-your-own crackers :  "that would be fun" I cried and piled several boxes into my shopping cart.  Ha!  I had no idea .......

The space allowed for the gift is REALLY small.  I used the first set of crackers at our pre-christmas lunch last weekend.  The challenge was to find a gift for each person at the table, that was small, fun, and that fits into the cracker.

Working on the basis that I'm not intending to gift diamond rings (how strange!),  I came up with lots of ideas for girls: lip gloss, fun earrings, little sachets of bath salts, nail varnish  ....  but of course, (and why am I not surprised?!)  the boys proved way more difficult.   A magic trick for a youngster, a decorative wine cork for another ...grrr!  ........... not even socks will fit into the cracker body!

So tell me please, I'm sure you'd have some great ideas for me, what would you put into a cracker?  

Any ideas have to:

 fit into 4" or 10 cm long and 2" or 5cm in diameter

and be fun fun fun!

I am all ears!

photos thanks to pinterest