Bonjour
I hope that you just and yours are properly and that you just had a beautiful Christmas Day.
This yr Christmas was very quiet and tranquil chez nous. Usually, we’ll have a number of of the youngsters staying, however this yr all of them had their very own factor happening, so we have been house alone – properly alone other than 4 over exuberant puppies and 7 divas/cats (you’ll be able to see them right here on Instagram), video calls with the youngsters and neighbours popping in!
We may even have a reasonably quiet New 12 months’s Eve – within the night we’ll drop into the city corridor to want pleased new yr to the neighbours at an open occasion, and through the day we’ll go subsequent door to go to Claudette, our nonagenarian neighbour, and metal ourselves beforehand to drink a thimbleful of inky walnut wine (she makes it every year, accumulating walnuts that drop from an historical tree throughout the street and it’s very sturdy so a tiny drop is greater than sufficient). It takes a little bit of getting used to and everybody within the village swears by its cough-curing properties! Jean-Claude and Bernadette (Claudette’s son in legislation and daughter) will little question be there too, and most probably Thierry the farmer (who lives the opposite facet of Claudette) and his spouse, kids and quite a few grandchildren all of whom have recognized Claudette their complete lives – she was born in that home a number of years earlier than the beginning of World Warfare II and has by no means lived anyplace else
In our village, life could be very a lot about neighborhood, sharing when you will have loads – greens and fruit from the backyard, eggs when the chickens are feeling beneficiant, pots of jam once you make an excessive amount of. I really like that the mayor takes a meals hamper every Christmas to neighbours who’re over 65, native beer, honey, chocolate, candy and savoury issues, and wine. It’s regular right here to verify in your neighbours once they’re not properly or aged, to assist the native farmers when potatoes want digging up shortly or when a cow escapes and must be rounded up (and we’ve finished {that a} truthful few occasions now!). And this new yr’s eve, as yearly since I first fell in love with my outdated French farmhouse, I’ll pinch myself in marvel on the good luck I needed to come across this welcoming little hamlet in the midst of nowhere, rural northern France, and thank my fortunate stars for the yr I’ve had, and lift a glass to want everybody a Glad, Peaceable and Joyous New 12 months.
Glad New 12 months mes amis and amies – see you in 2025!
Janine
Editor
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Janine Marsh is Writer of My Good Life in France: In Pursuit of the Rural Dream, My 4 Seasons in France: A 12 months of the Good Life and Toujours la France: Dwelling the Dream in Rural France all obtainable as book, print & audio, on Amazon in every single place & all good bookshops on-line. Her newest e-book Learn how to be French – is a celebration of the French way of life and artwork de vivre.
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