My friend who brings me a pudding comes from Boulogne, where they have a local Christmas pudding “boulonnais” that I find is actually nicer than UK one. But which came first?
I can possibly get you a home-made one from down the road (made by the Rev. Mrs Morris) if you want it?
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Actually I voted in favour of the Xmas hats.
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Oh that is so kind! But I think given the vagaries of La Poste at the moment it might be better to remember that for 2021…I’ve got Daughter No 2 on a promise to make some kind of dessert instead . Mind you I have been known to happily eat Christmas pud at any time of year so should we ever manage our SF meet up in Bordeaux, I might well ask you to stick one in your handbag… xx
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Trusty standby Pavlova with cranberries and oranges on top?
I really like my Christmas hat 
We will all be wearing our Christmas jumpers for the Christmas lunch.
I also get crackers and they HAVE to wear their paper hats, and I survey throughout the meal, some do try to take them off, little sods, but no no no, I am on hat watch 
Rules of the house
I bought some homemade mince pies from a lovely English lady here in the var, she is 80 years old, sells them packed 
, bless her
7 euros for 12, she usually does the market at the Christmas weekend in le château de Berne I believe.
The hubby has got a Christmas tee shirt this year, I thought that a good idea as he is at the stove
Hubby has a game using playing cards, whereby everyone has to do 3 tasks during the lunch.
I of course am not included in this game, although I end up doing things “properly “ when they think they have finished the tasks lol lol
Of course our kids are used to these traditions, in fairness the French partners do get into the fun and enjoy the traditions.
We are going to have a wonderful day, full of love, full of kindness and good spirits.
I really consider myself extremely lucky to have these wonderful children and their partners.
To top all the wonderful grandchildren too. Who … also have their tasks to do, they absolutely love this game.
So once again
Stay safe, be kind, enjoy your Christmas with your loved ones.
Be thankful of love from your family, be grateful that we are able to get together for the Christmas cheer .
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Foie gras “full of kindness and love”- it must be possible to have Christmas festivities without extreme animal cruelty. You may have had a hard year but it is nothing compared to that of a poor duck or goose who had no choice in the matter.
Oh dear - what a party pooper I am!
If we all stayed wedded to dark traditions we would all still be in the middle ages.
So who is paying money for the ethical foie gras?
I am a tad obsessive about animal welfare and yet do eat locally and small scale, produced foie gras (as I have seen the feeding process). I hope you don’t buy anything that is not free range ? Or feed your animals the ‘raw diet’ involving cheap battery hens - which is my personal bête noire? This is a rhetorical question as I have no idea if you even have pets, let alone what you feed them but my point is ‘people in glass houses’ etc etc etc. None of us are perfect - we all make our own moral judgements as best we can. @JaneJones thought the school’s Christmas dinner was rubbish nutritionally speaking (I agree) but I also agree that once a year won’t hurt… Unfortunately we all know that nutrition is a mindset and thus it isn’t just once a year. Equally, @Stella felt it was ok. Who is to say who is right?
Peace and love people. And tolerance. Please!
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This is what I am serving this year. And I’m not going to tell our friends (french) unless they ask, as once dressed up on fruity bread with my fig chutney and so on I think there’s a pretty good chance that they’ll just carry on chatting and eating and not really notice. 
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I take the point of the foie gras with a pinch of salt as there have been many remarks on the subject, I can accept that people don’t like to eat this product, as fore mentioned I don’t eat fish as the pollution in the sea worries me. That’s just my thoughts, I hate to see reportages of fishermen catching those fish in nets and just throwing the nets on the boats, people eat fish on a daily basis, I don’t criticize people for eating fish, I accept that this is nature and a very old fashioned middle aged process. We partake in foie gras once a year?
Fish improves the brain, so I guess you eat quite a lot
I do however take offense that you ask who is paying for it? Why ask the question?
Do you have a reason to enquire ?
What business is it of yours to ask who is paying for it?
How extremely rude to ask this
We save up for Christmas , we work very hard to be able to have a lovely family time at this time of year,
I respect other people’s decisions concerning food tastes, politics, religions and lifestyles.
Party pooper ? No a party pooper can be disagreeable, a party pooper is generally not so rude as to enquire on a persons decision to spend their hard earned income on a fête that is important to them.
The good news is that this so called party pooper will not be ruining my family Christmas, this party pooper will I hope have a lovely day at Christmas time. Or not as the case maybe.
Extremely very happy that I will have no party poopers at my table this year
Maybe you can take a dictionary and look up the word “cheer” it may help you when invited to someone’s home for lunch, dinner whatever. Also to reply on a post that I thought could be funny, humorous and to share traditions as we all have different traditions.
Such a shame that you picked on the delicate point of the foie gras and it’s cost rather than the lovely traditions that we have?
Are you having a bad day? Or are you really so rude on a daily basis.
Very sad 
In either case
Never mind… I had a great day today with my hubby and then with friends . So all in all you can keep your lovely comments and thoughts to yourself and hoping the next few days will be lovely for you and anyone you share with. 
Just to finish off party poopers don’t in general get invited more than twice to parties, rude people generally don’t get invited ever again. Really hoping that you are just a disagreeable party pooper
Just love this, where did you buy it? Let us know how it went with your French friends
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You’re over reacting. Marijke was obviously just wondering who is prepared to pay the extra cost of ethical foie gras not asking who paid for your dinner.
Foie gras is a controversial food which is banned in many parts of the world because of the horrors of its production. If you mention it then people are bound to comment.
Anyone is free to express their comments and thoughts, this thread doesn’t belong to you and you can’t dictate what is or is not said. Your post is verging on being offensive.
Izzy x
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Point taken
I am considered offensive
We pay for the foie gras in answer to the question. Why was the question asked?
Leaving the post
Apologies if I offended anyone
Have a whatever Christmas All
Perhaps an unusual choice for “Christmas Cheer” but seems appropriate in the current climate.
Not so much as a twitchy eyebrow…it was eaten quite happily. When I said it was faux gras, one of our friends misunderstood and said “yes we had foie gras at Noël”, so was rather taken aback when I explained what it was! It has the right consistency, and contains truffles so an earthy taste. All in all something I would repeat.
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WoW 
what a good idea. Looks good too .
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