Christmas in Charente

General Discussion
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Hi everyone, greetings for the festive season ahead.

My wife and I have a lovely home in Charente( 5 years) but haven’t had a Christmas there yet. After a bit of a traumatic year ( 3 out of 4 parents either passing or having a terminal prognosis) we’re toying with the idea of Christmas week at our French home.

We’re aware of significant differences in everything from supermarket opening times to celebration days to foods so wondered, if we were in France from the Monday of Christmas week until the Sunday, wgi h days traditionally would restaurants and bars be open, would Christmas food fayre ( Turkey or festive meats and fish) need to be booked well in advance ( as opposed to rocking up at M&s for a crown on Christmas Eve morning) be easy to get Monday-Christmas Eve and what potential differences and challenges would Christmas week pose?

I’ve looked online and general Christmas advice is vague and contradictory at times so anyone with a little experience of Christmas week and tips for my to make my wife’s week a lovely one would be extremely gratefully received.

Many thanks in advance and sincerest seasons best to all.

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Hi.

I’m sorry about your traumatic year, we had one like that and it’s tough.

You should be able to find out when supermarkets are open from their websites. Our local bars and restaurants have either websites or Facebook pages that tell you what they’re doing.

I hope it goes well for you and that you’re able to relax.

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Sorry to hear you’ve had such a rough year. Honestly I think stuff is open more here, big supermarkets all open until Christmas eve, only 25/12 shut and Boxing day doesn’t exist so back to normal from 26/12.

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New Year’s Eve is the important thing in France. Christmas barely gets a mention.

Though over the decades especally for presents to children, retailer pressure has developed. German owned Lidl has grown massively and German Christmas was more important so of course their campaigns for Christmaa are changing things and bringing toys, also chocolates/sweet stuff/ gingerbread/’luxury’ food concoctions to the fore as well as widening gift campaigns in other categories like stuff aimed as presents for women. They are outdoing the French retailers in the mass market. Interestingly their alcohols (liqueurs and spirits) selection in Germany is much more extensive than they market here.

But it’s still only Christmas Day closing as it’s a Public Holiday. Then following day back to business as usual. But everyone is waiting for New Year’s Eve and making plans for that you can feel it.

So if you’re here Christmas week you’ll barely notice it. Yes Christmas Eve in some families is a bit special but mostly they seem to give New Year’s Eve the emphasis more.

Not like the UK where some people go away in early December or even earlier to miss the relentless pressure and don’t come back till at least the New Year or later.

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Mmm, not so sure this days - round us “keeping up with the Joneses” “faire comme les voisins” entails extensive use of Christmas decorations all over the house and garden. Driving around at night, it’s lovely. Our local Centrakor has had a fabulous Christmas display this year - and stuff has been flying off the shelves.

I agree New Year’s Eve is more important, with everyone walking out of the supermarkets with huge platters of seafood, but the fridges in our local Leclerc are already full of capons and small turkeys for Christmas.

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I’ve seen it grow over the years (decades) and certain it’s just commercial pressures. It definitely wasn’t tradiional to do the overkill that’s grown. New Year’s Eve still holds the balance.

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I’m not even going to try to keep up with our neighbours around the corner. I don’t recall anything like this near us in the UK, though I know that some do go over the top.

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Last year we ordered from SuperU’s traiteur, online, and got a collection slot. It was reasonably priced and nice.

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My neighbours across the road - which seems to be three generations all living together - just put up their Christmas lights. Well I should say the man I think is the grandad put up their Christmas lights much to the delight of his grandchildren. They looked so happy, it brought back memories.

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I like the ladder at the corner of the building. Is that santa at the bottom of the ladder ? Our neighbours always had a santa climbing up the wall outside. They divorced this year and she moved to a nearby village. She still has the santa, and he’s still climbing the wall in her new home.

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Christmas here is very much a family affair so you make it your own. Traditionally the main xmas meal is the eve of the 24th meaning the 25th is a sleep it off and nibble leftovers day before most return to work on the 26th depending on what they do and when it falls in the week. New Year’s Eve is more celebrated here with many going out to restos they booked months ago or having a party at home with friends/family. Whatever the OP chooses to do, the shops will be open on the 26th again so they won’t starve but do remember not to drink and drive, penalties are more severe in France than soft touch UK

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Some parts of the UK will get you banned for a year for levels that only get you a fine in France.

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Obviously, areas will differ.

Here, Christmas Eve is big-stuff. Many go to church in the evening (local churches are always packed), then back home for nibbles, drinks and a super meal around midnight, shared with friends/neighbours, which goes on until the early hours.

Alternatively, some go to church on Christmas Day, followed by non-stop eating etc.

This year (as so often) the day following Christmas Day is taken as “holiday” by folk if their work allows… and this give a wonderful 4 day Break.

Of course, for those who don’t do church… there is always La Chasse and other pastimes, thus Christmas offers an ideal opportunity to celebrate in whichever style one wishes.

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I talked to a lady who lives in Narbonne about the Christmas meal she does for children and grandchildren. She does pâtés followed by a big seafood platter, including lobster that she buys frozen from Picard and cooks herself. I don’t remember her mentioning a main course as such.

For dessert she does the traditional Les Treize Desserts which I found very interesting.

I wondered what French families in other parts of the country have?

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Our retired French teacher and husband - lamb (the family are farmers) foie gras (of course - made it themselves) buche de noel

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There are lots of us so in France we do fish on Christmas eve, fowl on Christmas day, more fish on new year’s eve: fish really means huge quantities of oysters and crustaceans - obv if I can find a sucking pig that will be slotted in somewhere. We all like cheese. I have the 13 desserts and a Christmas pudding for traditional reasons but really like sliced up oranges with orange flower water and cinnamon, and people usually want baked things but that depends on what people feel like making. Leftovers are the best thing ever.

In Germany it’s Schäufele with Sonnenwirbelesalat and Kartoffelsalat on Christmas eve, Christmas day varies.

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In Bretagne we always had a huge fruit de mer banquet both xmas eve and again on the 31st. Living right on the coast and with local trawlers/fishermen and criées selling direct to the public. The variety was huge and very messy. I will never forget some live crabs I bought to cook walking off on their own before I got to the till and lobsters with their claws taped to stop nipping you. We also piêche à pied a lot too getting clams, razors, winkles, mussels and whelks from the estaury and local beaches. Here its not the same although plenty of local mussels at Leucate to be bought fresh.

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Variously, over the years : Oysters, lobster, crab, salmon, coquilles St. Jacques, on Christmas Eve; snails, boudins, chapon, goose, duck, home-reared turkey, guinea fowl, marcassin (omg that was delicious), sanglier, venison, about a ton of foie gras, on Christmas Day, washed down with sparkling, still, whites, and reds, and an even greater tonnage of French cheeses - sometimes in a large group, sometimes just a small family unit. Dessert has variously consisted of Bûche de Noël, Christmas Pudding, Christmas Cake and mince pies.

Nowadays, with just me and the wife, it tends to be pâté en croûte, salmon, foie gras and other nibbles on Christmas Eve, and I am generally perfectly happy with a vegetarian option for Christmas Day, which is handy, as my wife is rather good at it (whatever it might be)! We drink and eat less on Christmas Day than in the past, but still manage to feel full somehow (reduced gastric throughput, at a guess), irrespective of whether a trou normand gets thrown into the mix or not.

Not quite the “Grande Bouffe” days of my youth, but still fun nonetheless.

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Our Christmas Day menu has had a bit of a set back. A couple of close friends have invited us to their family’s barbecue at the derelict farmhouse they’ve just bought. The food threatens to be Dutch, while the méteo prediction is cold and wet. My wife has told me we’re obliged to go because they looked after Gigi while we were swanning around Cannes,

OTOH, it can’t be any worse than the horrendous Christmas Day episode a few years back which confirmed my suspicions from the previous year that I really had become very allergic to oysters…

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Well I’ve looked to see what I can reasonably be expecting to buy arriving in Holland only a few days before Christmas, and knowing Grinch (I mean my eldest) I’ll be doing all the food. It seems there is no set meat idea, it is all about the biscuits from what I can tell! Or thier version of raclette, more fresh meat / veg less cheese so it may turn out OK for you! As for the cold, embrace it! Possibly more difficult for your tiny wife but rug up in festive garb, it’ll be fun!!! :mrs_claus::mrs_claus::evergreen_tree::evergreen_tree:

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