Un Peu de Noël (A Little Christmas)

The other night, Anna and I had a French/English/Kiwi Christmas afternoon, and it was lovely. We spoke only French, of course, and we made mini mince pies, which are a traditional Christmas food in England and in NZ. I have eaten them before, when I was in England, but I've never had them in the States. I am still getting used to the idea of savoury pies, but they are yummy. Anna had made hot mulled wine, which I had never had until I moved to France, but which I absolutely love. I have to be very careful, because hot alcohol seems to affect me more than cold (which is saying something, because I am a terrible lightweight). Anyway, delicious food and good company feels like Christmas to me. Plus, Anna has a Christmas tree, which we don't, so that felt nice and Christmasy. You'll notice in the picture, though, the sunny balcony and general green-ness outside do not exactly evoke Christmas thoughts. We'll just have to get used to that. You'll also notice Bananagrams under the tree - who knew they'd have that game in NZ? I'm so glad they do, although I did bring my copy from the States, just in case. Anna bought one for a friend for Christmas, but we cheated and played it before she gave it away. Bananagrams is a word game, and we played with words in American English, British English, Kiwi English, French, and a bit of Māori and Spanish. I love multilingualism!

I also had Anna and her boyfriend Ollie over for dinner the next day, and although it was significantly less Christmasy, it was lots of fun. I made taco salad, they brought more mince pies, and we played Bananagrams and Heads Up. How nice.

J has been working a mixture of night shifts and day shifts, include long weekend shifts, so he's been missing out on some of the fun, but he's still doing well at work. We're still getting to spend some good time together, though. It was beautiful outside today, and we took Holly for a nice, long walk. We are a nice, little family, I think.