In the cold and dark of winter , the lights and decorations that herald the Christmas season are brighter and more sparkly than in a DownUnder Christmas. All the villages and towns and cities are festooned with street decorations, lights, banners and Christmas tinsel to say nothing of the shop frontages and each house.
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| Looking up street from Chateau gates - church in green, Maire in pink |
Raissac is a small village but there are lots of Christmas lights as well as the Mairie (Mayor's office) which is lit up like a disco! It is very enjoyable to wrap up warm and take a walk through the village when it is dark to view the myriad of sparkling, twinkling lights and decorations.
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| The Mayor's office (Maire) -the lights change colour - like a disco! |
Carcassonne is the same - only bigger. The Christmas markets draw in families and the excitement of Christmas is very tangible and catching, especially seen through the eyes of children. This year we had Lucas with us and it was great to see his excitement and look of wonder when we visited Carcassonne two nights before the big man in red was due to come.
The French enjoy all the 'oop la' that Christmas brings and their houses are decorated inside and out (for passers by to admire). Perhaps this is not peculiar to France but seen everywhere is Père Nöel climbing up - up the wall, over a balcony, on a down pipe - getting ready to go down the chimney at the appropriate time.
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| In the village - if you look carefully there is more than one Père Nöel ! |
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| A typical shop window display |
So to be part of the scene we had our Père Nöel climbing up the wall ... into our bedroom! He was on his way to the big chimney ... and there was proof he did make it down!
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| There has been mention of his tanned complexion but remember he is in the South of France |
Père Nöel also had a spot inside on the first landing, along with his renne and traineau.
Having a chateau to decorate was not a chore. The hardest part was not buying more and more decorations as there is such an abundance of choice. The most obvious thing we had to acquire was a tree. Not a plastic one, not a small one but one about 4 metres tall.
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| The free trees! |
Off we went to the garden shop where we had bought one the last time, but no, only selling small sapin de Nöel this year. So David asked the gardener and the gardener said.......so off to the Maire's office we went....and the secretary said.....so off into the Montagne Noire we went....to find M Mendenez in the small village of Frontiers-Carbedès.....and M Mendenez said.....which one do you want? David paced out the length (the trees were cut down!) and we had a choice of two. Much discussion amongst the anglais and the chosen one was hoisted up onto the roof racks and tied down. M Mendenez was paid but before we left we had another 4 trees stuffed in the boot - FOC thanks to M Mendenz. So now there were 5 trees to decorate once we had decided where the extras were going to go!
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| Strapped on ready for the trip back |
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| A little bit of 'David power' was needed |
et voila!
The other trees adorned the library where a pohutukawa Christmas fairy topped the tree. Outside the front door gold was the theme and on the trees by the conservatory silver pine cones were the feature.
A château is a big place. It stands out and above the rest of the houses in the village and so why not make it stand out even more over the Christmas season.
Getting ready for Christmas is exciting but this time the most exciting part was having toute la famille here with us.
More about this in the next blog....until then à bientôt mes amis!
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