blondefish.blogspot.com: December 2018

Merry and Bright #ChristmasinBrittany

2018 is an 'in-law' year, and as in years gone past, we spent Christmas with the expanding Gonzales clan on the coast of Brittany near Brest.

The beach is almost magical in the winter sun, and we were lucky to once again have some beautifully mild and sunny days. It's not quite as Christmassy but it does make the soul sing.

This year was particularly special as we started off the festivities by celebrating the marriage of Philipp and Nadiya, who were married in 2017 but were celebrating with different groups in their lives at different opportunities. We had a wonderful lunch near our beloved Phare de Saint-Mathieu Lighthouse.

Photos outside first. Ok, ok, the one day it wasn't bright and sunny...

And then the shenanigans inside...

Boyz 2 Men

The two youngest cousins

Christmas itself was split over two days, with a wonderful 8-course meal (I think, as by the 8th wine course it's hard to remember) on Christmas Eve and then the presents themselves on Christmas Day in the morning (followed by ongoing digestion of the Christmas Eve meal). Here is Fingerling with Nadiya and some of the gifts still under the tree. We were all wonderfully spoilt, especially me by my hubby who got me two of my favourite things... I'll leave you to guess :)

And here are some photos Nadiya took of our little crevette.

On Boxing Day we got a skype call with the Kelling Clan:

But really, a stand out memory was the amazing beach and mild weather that brought out the SURFERS on Christmas Eve.

There they are!

Yes really!

And my hero also had a Boxing Day swim, crazy duck that he is. I offered to make it an annual thing and we can find a suitable spot in Scotland next year. No comment.

Anyway, on with the beach shots:

And of course Christmas ain't Christmas without special times with family. Well, except for crevette whose first tooth appeared on Christmas Day after a day of this:

Seriously, this is how she moves. I'll call it the upright breaststroke. Seems to work for her...

On the train back home

Spinning around #onewayoranother

Sortie with the school #howitgoesdowninFrance #LeGrandRex #seriously

Mary Poppins #theFrenchway

Last week Small Fry had his Christmas concert. I tried to post a video below of him looking ultra-cute but of course it's too long. So instead I'm posting one that made me laugh and laugh and laugh....see if you can spot why:

When you sleep with your head at the foot end #wherethereisnobarrier #felloutofbed #landedonchin

Walking in a winter wonderland #Reims

So you know how I love advent, and Christmas, and Christmas markets, and family, and eating? Well, so much better when we can do all that at the same time!

And so we went for the day to Reims with the two grandmothers.

Pre-departure

OK, normally we go to Germany for all that, but this year we wanted to give the champagne a taste at the same time :)

We started in the daytime, which meant an opportunity to have lunch, mulled wine, and then do some fake ice-skating. It looks real, but it's not. I think it's just a white plastic base, but it's a great introduction to skating as the kids actually think they can skate.