One Magic Christmas 2011

Christmas this year was going to be different, it was going to be spent with The Frenchie's family in Brittany. After months of planning and scheduling, it was finally set and all that was left was counting down the days.

Now that Christmas is over, I have to say that this was one of the best Christmas that I've ever experienced and was definitely 'One Magic Christmas'. The festivities started on Christmas Eve itself where pre-warnings was given that it will be a long session of opening presents and dinner. I was as prepared as one being prepared can be and settled in. The final statistics were 8 hours, 15 courses and lots of presents opened.

It was absolutely fantastic and I was seriously stuffed. Here are some photos.

Post pre-christmas dinner, there was still the Christmas Lunch. Needless to say, it wasn't going to be an early one as we started mid afternoon and it was another leisurely lunch that lasted until close to dinner time.

It was a traditional French lunch and we started with seafood.

When the platter of prawns and periwinkles came out, it just tooked my breath away.

The next course that came out was foie gras which I have to say, I don't think I have eaten that much in one sitting before.

That wasn't the end and out came a selection of cheeses.

I always look forward to dessert and Mama Frenchie made two rolls. I could only heaved a happy sigh when it was demolished from my plate.

The next day, everyone was looking forward to a walk along the Coast. It was a lovely walk with fresh air and beautiful scenery.

Can you spy the snowman?

Off it was to the pub after for some laughs and fun and we headed to Le Tour du Monde where we had mussels for dinner. They were tantalisingly scrumptious.

I think my body has already resigned itself from the volume of food eaten in the past few days but hey! It is Christmas after all.

So it was that lunch the next day was Raclette! Melted cheese on everything........goodness!

No meal is complete without dessert and we had ice cream rolls.

Roll around to dinnertime and we all decided a break was required and had butternut pumpkin soup. The best was yet to come though after hearing so much about the dessert from The Frenchie. It is a local dessert known as Kouign-amann. According to Wiki, “It is a crusty cake with with dough with butter and sugar sprinkled between layers. The resulting cake is slowly baked until the butter puffs up the dough and the sugar caramelises”.

Each mouthful was a touch of heaven as it wasn't overly sweet at all but the aroma and perfume swirls in your mouth as you eat it.

Between all that eating, there were lots of joy and laughter, singing and watching movies. We also played Pictionary in French which proved to be interesting but fun.

I was overwhelmed and touched by the generosity, kindness and love shown by The Frenchie's family. Thank you so much with love.

Merry Christmas to you!