A Traditional Christmas #8
The Unadventurous Traveller
Life ticked along pretty well in France, I worked, whilst Dale had plenty of projects to get along with. The children made many friends at school and had so much space to play, bounce (on the trampoline), hide (and seek) and keep chickens. Summer and all the fun and farming that brought gave way to autumn, with beautiful walks along the riverbank, in the woodlands, and discovering new seemingly ‘undiscovered’ treasures of places nearby.
Autumn also meant we had to start thinking seriously about the approaching winter, which to me meant getting wood ready (Dale had been preparing for this since spring it was only me that started to think about it!). Our friend Francis, the farmer just up the road, had given to us a small coppice with about 15-20 mature ash trees back in the spring, if Dale could cut down the trees, we could have them. This was perfect as we wanted the wood and Dale had a chainsaw etc to do the work. So he set about cutting the trees down, chopping them up, transporting them in the truck back to our land to be stacked and air dried.
This took a good number of weeks and was very back-breaking work! I helped as much as I could, in between work, and it got me out into the fresh air, was quite physical work and completely and utterly knackering - so I understood how poor Dale felt, having to do this all the time and being quite a few years older than me!
Farmers have a special attachment to the back of their tractors which can split logs, which we did not have, so Dale had to axe cut each log in part to split it. I found I was good at stacking the wood, but even so, it shows me that I am so totally unfit for physical, manual work. Anyway, it was all good, and any help to Dale was good help. Thanks to our farmer neighbour and friend, and his kindness in donating this small coppice to us, we had a wood supply for at least the next two winters for the ‘woodburning monster’, as Dale used to think of it more and more frequently.
Christmas approaching is always a time that makes me think of England, no matter where we happen to be living, and of all the things and people that I miss. I cannot help but think of family and friends we have ‘left behind’, as I am writing Christmas cards or organising gifts to send to people either by courier, post or via the internet (this latter option I am tending to use more and more as delivery costs make present sending ridiculous!) I know we have chosen to live abroad, and enjoy it for the most part, but it is always a time that makes me sad that I cannot spend time with close family, to see how all the little ones have grown, how the older ones are trying not to grow too old, and of course to observe the Christmas traditions that we love.
I love singing Christmas carols, and really miss this very much. I have downloaded Christmas carols for my phone, along with other ‘pop’ type Christmas hits too, but really miss the carol concerts, the Christingle celebrations at church, and have ‘missed out on’ many nativity plays that the kids could have performed in at school. Throughout our time in France, there was never any religious crossover with the schooling, which is completely secular, so there are no nativity plays, just the end of year extravaganza. And now, here in Spain, whilst they do seem to be more religious than we found our area of France to be, there are no nativity plays at school. Brooke has learnt and performed a dance this year, that they did in the playground to the rest of the school, but this is because of covid restrictions. There are always special performances put on by the kids for the end of year, but here in Catalonia they have a different celebration.
The Three Kings / Reis D’Orient
Across Spain, and I would have thought every Spanish speaking country, they celebrate the coming of the Three Kings, rather than Father Christmas. The children wait patiently until January 6th to receive the majority of the gifts from the Magi, and much prefer the Three Kings to Father Christmas, but now, as I have been informed, with commercialism, Santa is becoming more of a big deal here. So the poor parents have to ensure that Father Christmas brings a present on the 25th December, but also ensure that the Three Kings visit, laden with gifts on the 6th January.
I had never heard of this celebration before (probably due to my total lack of knowledge about Spain prior to living here), and have discovered that the Three Kings are most probably the Three Wise men that we have in our traditional nativity story. In our village, they re-enact the Three Kings arriving and travelling to the village, usually on the back of a tractor and trailer, with the Three Kings in costume and all looking different to each other. They throw sweets out as they go past, then congregate somewhere to give out presents to all the children. It has been organised so well in our village, the local PTA/AMPA (school parents group) ask who wishes to participate, you give your child's name and pay 1-2 euros and a present all wrapped with their name on. The King then calls out your child's name and then the child goes up on the stage to receive the gift.
As Brooke is such a different name here, the Kings pronounce it as best they can, and Brooke has always been thrilled that they have not forgotten her. Dalton, as a teenager, has been too mortified for this to happen of course! The first year, the King even spoke some English to Brooke, which was so lovely! This year, due to covid, it is not going to be possible to have the large group gathering in the town square as usual, unfortunately, so a King is going to visit each child’s house with a gift, if you would like! Personalised visits! We really do love the thought that goes into village life here.
Tio de Nadal
There is something even more special that only happens in the region of Catalonia and totally knocked me for six when we discovered it, in our first year in Spain! They have the Tió de Nadal, which is literally called The Crapping Log.
The Tio is a log with a smiley face painted on to it, that ‘sits’ at one end covered over with a blanket or towel. The children have to look after the log in December, feeding it and making sure it is warm, in the hope that it will defecate gifts for them at Christmas. At Brooke’s school (which is all we know about, but I imagine they do this at home as well), you feed it nice things and talk nicely to it every day for 2-3 weeks. When it is Christmas, and only if you have fed it nicely, you hit the Tio with a stick, whilst singing the special song. It then ‘craps’ out a gift for you, usually of chocolate or sweets! This is just so funny and strange to us, but everybody locally has a Tio in their house. At the local primary school the Tio is placed on a table and every child queues up to hit it with a stick and sing the song, then the oldest children of the school sit under the table to place a bag of chocolates as the gift that the Tio has produced. The kids love it, it really makes everyone smile!
Video of Brooke singing the song for the Tio.
This year, due to the covid situation, the local Ajuntament (town council) have placed a large Tio in the town square, just down the road from us, which you can feed Garofes (carobs) which grow prolifically locally. This is near to the Christmas Wish Tree, where you can add wishes to the tree that you would like for the community or for each other for next year (this is all part of their civic responsibility campaign).
Father Christmas/ Pere Noel / Papa Nadal
We have some lovely memories of Christmas celebrations at the primary school in France. In the week preceding the school holidays, Father Christmas used to come to visit the school children, causing great excitement and delight. In the first few years, before he became too knowing, Dalton told me that after his visit, he had spotted Father Christmas’ car and he had taken note of its number plate! Useful to know.
Father Christmas / Pere Noel used to bring big gifts for all the children to play with in the playground at school, so the gifts weren’t individual but for each class eg: skipping ropes, balls, trikes or scooters for the smaller kids etc. This was a lovely way to ensure that everyone benefited from his gifting.
Teacher Gifting
It was also lovely, in my opinion, that there was no expectation at the school in France to give the teacher Christmas cards or gifts. If you wanted to give the teacher a card or a gift you could, but certainly not expected, it was so totally opposite to the experience I had found in England, where it was expected, if not a competition between parents, to see who could get the teachers, the biggest/most expensive/shiniest gift of them all. I really began to dread any gift buying times in the UK, I do hate the ‘keeping up with the Joneses mentality. In France we made chocolate truffles one year for the teachers, made with love and care, but equally there were years when I didn’t have any time, so we didn't give or make anything and nobody batted an eyelid either way.
I don't have a photo of the kids with Pere Noel, as this all happened at school, but I do have a photo of the last time we all visited Father Christmas in the UK. Dalton loved him, but Brooke has always hated his beard, she didn't want him coming in her room each Christmas eve (quite right) so we always leave her stocking outside her bedroom door.
Christmas Markets
They were very good at doing Christmas markets in France used to love visiting them, to get into the festive spirit if nothing else. They were held so close to Christmas that it was impossible for me to ever buy anything as gifts for people in England, as my box of gifts for the UK had always long been despatched so it could be received in time. In La Souterraine one year there was Father Christmas with dubious looking makeup, Brooke obliged for the photo, but she was not at all certain about him.
Traditions per Country
Our experience in France was that the children put out stockings or shoes that were filled up by Father Christmas on Christmas Eve. The children up the road had their shoes by the Christmas tree filled every year with sweets and delights, in fact they were clever and used wellies instead to maximise their present and sweets potential (Dalton used to think this was a very good trick!) while in our house Father Christmas filled up the children’s stockings. Another neighbour told me that in their household Father Christmas arrived on Christmas Eve, at some point during the evening. I asked her about this, and she said it would depend on the region of France that you come from as to when the jolly big fella came to visit (she was originally Parisian apparently).
In France, Christmas Eve was certainly far more of a celebration than we are used to in the UK. The evening was more of an occasion, with a special family dinner and get together, followed by a traditional Christmas dinner on Christmas Day. Boxing day in France is just another normal day, back to work for most! We found this very difficult to understand, and usually tried to drag the celebrations out for as long as possible. I suppose we had work which enabled us to do this. Whilst Dale was in construction, sites would close down for the full 2 weeks, and my office would usually shut for the festive period or I would take leave.
As we have only been in Spain for two years we have yet not become accustomed to all the festas/fiestas and traditions, but feel they treat Christmas and the holiday period similarly to the UK, enjoying a break with family, if work allows. But of course those who do not want Father Christmas to be the main event still continue to wait for the arrival of The Three Kings on the 6th January.
One other tradition that is observed in Spain for New Years Eve is Las doce uvas de la suerte/The twelve grapes of luck. The locals gather in the town square just before midnight and as the clock strikes the hour, they eat a grape. This represents good luck and prosperity for the year to come (not merely good luck in swallowing a grape every two seconds) but the superstition also says that you should be wearing red underwear too! Why, I do not know, but there is more detail about it in this article. It's funny for everyone involved and great for a group of people.
Whilst in France, and while growing up (remembering my Father is French) we always wished whoever was in our company on New Year's Eve a ‘Bonne année et bonne santé’ - Good year and good health.
Food
Our farming friends in France would have some game bird that they had reared on their farm, so one year guinea fowl would be the centrepiece one year for the Christmas dinner, and another year it would be a large chicken. The turkeys that I found for sale in France were large enough, but just different in appearance. They were obviously bred differently as the turkeys we were used to in England were very large breasted birds, with little dark meat. Whilst this turkey is fine with us, we found that Lidl sold large turkey breasts, so we were able to have only the white meat for our Christmas day dinner with no waste.
Here in Spain, due to the lifestyle and the normal high temperatures etc, it is extremely difficult to get large joints of meat for roasting throughout the year (who wants to be stuck in your house with an oven roasting a joint of meat, when the temperature is 40+ degrees?). However, we were able to buy a large turkey last year in a supermarket, so I hope to be able to again this year. For us Christmas Day dinner is a tradition in itself, so we search for all the components that enable us to make it an English Christmas, even though we are here!
Don’t forget the Ham
Whilst we have been able to source a turkey successfully in France and in Spain for Christmas Day, we have never been able to find a cured ham quite like we are used to, and how we like it, as in the UK. We tried several in France and none tasted quite right to us, although fine for the French who have been brought up with that. Here in Spain they love their dried hams that hang for an age and they slice for tapas/pintxos etc - but it’s not the same!
Epic Shopping Trip
One year Dale and his friend, Steve, drove all the way back to the south coast of England for the day, just to do our Christmas food shopping. The plan was that Dale would drive one way and Steve the other. However Dale just likes to get on and be in control, so he ended up driving both ways! They left early one morning, arriving at the Channel Tunnel to catch the train over to England. He popped round Tesco’s getting all the foods we could possibly want; ham, piccalilli, other pickled goods, cheese & onion crisps, Twiglets and Christmas pudding. They stopped off for some fish and chips of course, then embarked on the journey all the way home again. They returned very late, due to terrible traffic around the périphérique in Paris (and the significant distance). Although they were both very tired, we had all the home comforts we liked in time for Christmas!
Home Curing
The roast dinner at Christmas is nice, don't get me wrong, BUT the meal we all love the most is Christmas evening when we have cold meats and pickles. This was always my favourite dinner growing up, and now the tradition continues - so much we have started to have cold meat and pickles on Christmas Eve now too! We couldn't have this special meal without our lovely cooked ham.
Dale started to research curing our own ham, what was involved and what would be needed. This has now become something he enjoys doing every year and is relatively simple to do. We source some pork back leg from a local butcher, which we have done in France and now here in Spain (It does require a certain level of language skills, so if you do not have this, ensure you have Google Translate at the ready and a picture or two to show them. Luckily this year our local butcher speaks really good English so we could explain well. So lazy I know….).
You will need some Prague powder number 1, some Himalayan salt, and brown sugar. Boil it all up - quantities depend on the size of your joint, let it cool overnight, then submerge your meat into it. The meat could be bone in or out, but we always opt for boned, as Dale is more than capable of boning a leg joint of pork and neatly tying it back together, but you could always ask the butcher to remove the bone for you and string the meat together.
How long you cure it in the brine depends on the weight of the meat. We usually give it a day or two more than recommended, just to ensure it’s full-flavoured. We aim to buy the ham on the 9th or 10th December so it can be curing for at least 10 days, but ultimately it must be ready to be cooked on the 24th December. It means the bottom section of our fridge (the vegetable section) is lost for a week or two, but we all agree it's worth it!
It has taken a few years to get this right; one year the ham was not very well cured, but better than nothing. The first year we tried it, the ham, when cooked, tasted just like pork! Oh, the trials of living far away from food that is so readily available in your home country! Please do not misunderstand any of the points I'm mentioning here, we love many of the foods available in our country of residence. In France we loved the cheeses, pates and wines. In Spain I now love olives, really love the Rioja wine, tapas and paella, however there are just some foods that are traditionally ‘Christmas’ for us, that we must have at this time.
Pickles, pickles, pickles
Since being abroad and not being able to buy them, I always pickle some onions. Although I can find jars of tiny pickled onions, I can't find the larger pickled onions. This year I have not been able to find small onions anywhere, so have had to improvise with the smallest I could find (which are really too huge for pickling) but I am sure Dalton will love them. Lately I have started to pickle some eggs as well. Dale introduced this flavour ‘sensation’ to Dalton, who now loves them. Dale is banned from eating such things, I am sure you can imagine why! One year I pickled some red cabbage, but this year I couldn’t find the red cabbage at the right time to do it. One previous year in France our friend, Yvonne, showed me how to pickle walnuts and let me try them, but I think this is a flavour that has to grow on you, and I prefer them raw.
Photo of pickles
This year, I have collected almonds from the trees on our land and foraged some walnuts too - we’ll see what they look like in a few days. I love ‘real’ local food if it's available, and free from the land is even better! We have got olives, but I haven't plucked up the courage to deal with our own olives yet - but I will, one day!
Care Packages
In recent years, being that much further away in Spain, we have shopped online in Tesco’s or equivalent and arranged for my Mum to collect it (as the home delivery slots are always gone for the days I need), box it all up and courier over to us. Whilst this is expensive, and a bit of a pain for my mum to organise, it is much better in terms of driving, carbon footprint and the couriering can be combined, so she can send some gifts to us as well as she usually has some to send). I understand from online friends who live in other areas of Spain, that there are shops like Waitrose or Tesco etc in Spain where you can buy these ‘treats’ far more easily. Perhaps we would have found far more of these things if we were able to travel out of our region, but once again, we have been very restricted with anti-covid measures. We do have one small shop about 30 minutes away from us, that ships stock over from the UK at a premium, but it’s not the same as choosing exactly what you want, but good in an emergency. (Running out of gravy granules could be considered an emergency in our house at times!)
Mince Pies
We do miss mince pies and did receive a box or two in our order, but I wanted our neighbours to be able to try this delight too. I have no idea what they make of it all, but they have been so lovely to us in the past few years, and it’s something I can make to show them our thanks.
My mum is a champion Christmas cake maker, and always makes something delicious and beautiful. She likes us to stir the Christmas pudding mixture before it's baked, to make a wish, so I continue this ritual too (but with the Christmas cake mixture). I like to combine this yearly pleasure with Brooke (it used to be with Dalton too, but he has long since lost interest). The making of the icing decorations and painting them in food colouring is her domain and she likes this a lot!
The longer we are away from the UK, the more I feel the need to cling to some of our traditional foods, to ensure our cultural heritage is not lost entirely on integrating into our new country. The children are learning about Spanish and Catalan traditions in school, but I do want our traditions to be maintained as, I don't feel we have very many, so Christmas traditions are a must.
The Weather
I was asking the children what they remember about Christmas in France and the UK. As the years go by their recollections of the UK are less and less, and Brooke doesn't really remember anything at all. But for them Christmas (well December really) was when there was a high possibility of snow. In the Creuse the summers were glorious but the winters could be very cold, with -16 one day and an average of -8 regularly. This was marvellous for the kids, with no school and a whole countryside to play in. But to me this was freezing and my poor fingers and toes were just too cold. What an old bore I sound - we did play outside as it was just paradise for them to play with the snow, making snowmen, snow angels and tobogganing. Then we could come back in, sit by the woodburner, have a hot chocolate and warm up.
Sledging fun!
Brooke has said she does really miss the snow. Apparently it has only ever once snowed in our village here in Spain. However, if we really wanted to, we could go and find the snow as it is not that far away - perhaps 2-3 hours’ drive, in the Pyrenees.
It was very strange, but lovely, the first Christmas Day we spent here, in warm 22 degrees with just jeans and jumpers (some of us in short sleeved t-shirts!).
Wood burner Makes a Cosy Christmas
The rented house we are living in here in Spain does not have a cosy wood burner like we had in France, nor central heating or air conditioning. Houses here are built to lose heat, so in the winter it’s actually jolly chilly in the house. I think we have acclimatised to this warmer weather too, so I'm still wearing many jumpers and several pairs of socks. Whilst the temperature outside is still around 16 - 20 degrees, the house is not!
We are always seeking a lovely life, better for the children, harmonious and peaceful, yet Christmas does often open up a regret in me that makes me miss many people and some things from our home country. I think this hardens me slightly; as the years go by I cannot wallow in my short lived regret. With the onset of advancing technology such as Facebook, Zoom video calls, Messenger and WhatsApp video calling, we are able to keep in touch and see our relatives much more easily than ever before, but it's still not quite the same.
We love this country as we loved France too and I don't think we could ever see ourselves moving back to the UK, well not yet anyway - but our family are there and so we will always miss it because of them!
Wishing you all a lovely, safe Christmas. Let's hope for a better 2021, with no virus and many happy times ahead.
(I’ve left you with some beautiful bird photos taken by Dale and will discuss his passion for animals next time!)
If you would like to read more about our travels, adventures and happenings then you could join the Facebook page for updates: The Unadventurous Traveller or see our page on Instagram which shows work as it’s happening to the Chapel.Renovation and follow this blog.
Please share this with your friends so more people can read it, thank you. See you next time!
Catherine
You can catch up on some of the previous blogs here:
#6 Finding Friends and Hidden Treasure
#5 Manoir Makeover - more doing it up - Part 2
#4 Signing and Doing it up - Part 1
#3 France - a new life, a new home
#MovingtoFrance #RenovatingpropertyinFrance #Movingabroadwithkids #Doingitup #MovingtoFrancewithKids #Renovatingpropertyabroad #Digitalnomadlife #Hardwork #DIY #RenovationsinFrance #Howtosurvivemovingtoanewcountry #LifeinFrance
#LifeinSpain #LivinginLaCreuse #Movingoffgrid #Livingoffgrid #Expats #Renovations
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