Originally Posted by Katrine

Hi Rhonda - over here in France, Christmas arrives very slowly and relaxed.... the Christmas trees are only just being delivered to the villages and small towns - every shop/business will have one outside the door usually decorated to a theme for each village. They dont take them down though until end Jan/early Feb!
Homes are decorated traditionally - we havent got ours done yet, but will at the weekend.
Christmas Day is mostly for the children and everywhere is only closed for that day. Present giving is usually for the children and very close family. Cards are only sent for New Year. The big family meal is usually taken very late in the evening on Christmas Eve - if the family go to midnight mass they will eat when they return home. Traditionally lots of seafood, many courses and takes most of the night. French are earnest gastronomes as everyone knows so will have lots of good food - oysters, foie gras, game, sometimes two meat courses, always a huge cheeseboard etc. Dessert is usually a fantastic patisserie concoction, bought in from the local artisan patissiere. Different wines for each course, lots and lots of champagne. Christmas Day is for late rising, eating up the leftovers, and recovering for work the next day.
More and more people are starting to go to restaurants on Christmas Day - not too many are open but those that are, prepared a really special meal and bookings are made about 3 months beforehand.
We usually eat at home or with friends during Christmas Day - but in the French style, although not all those courses!! Usually seafood and perhaps specially prepared turkey joint - I have one this year which is rolled with wild mushrooms, plums and armagnac - yum!
New Year however is a much bigger celebration. The traditional community meal "Reveillon de St Sylvestre" will start around 10 or 11 pm in the village hall with about 150 to 200 people including children. There are about 8 or 9 courses with wines. A band is present and there is about 40 minutes dancing between each course. The majority of the community attend - the tickets are charged at cost and local ladies do all the cooking and serving. We have been 3 times to this event, and it finishes about 7 am when they serve onion soup for breakfast. It takes days to recover and we decided quite a few years ago it was too much! It's amazing to watch how the local people can eat so much, get up and dance and then eat, dance, eat, dance and so on....
The local firemen, postman/lady, refuge collectors will all call at the houses in the days before Christmas with their calendars for next year, and people give donations to them. Especially important for the firemen as they are volunteers, they usually stop for a festive glass and chat. The post lady is a great service in rural parts and they will carry messages, keep an eye out for anyone needing help etc.
Overall it's a lovely holiday here - no hype or panic buying, no parking problems, no crowds.