My last blog post for 2013 is to wish you all a very Happy New Year! 2013 has been an amazing year for my blog and for my journey as a blogger. I’ve loved getting to know many fabulous bloggers around the world and building up online friendships while learning from many more experienced writers.
New Year’s Eve is a huge celebration in France, usually centered around friends after the family-oriented Christmas festivities. People gather in restaurants or private homes for grand feasts, often consisting of 6-8 courses including apéritifs, starter of foie gras, followed by smoked salmon, oysters/seafood, a main course, cheese, salad and dessert. Somewhere in the middle you might have a “trou normand” (literally a Norman hole) which is an ice cold shot of spirit to help digest what you’ve eaten before attacking the rest! Or you might go to a less formal evening involving everyone bringing finger-food nibbles and champagne. Whatever you do, it’ll involve plenty of good wine, champagne and dancing. The French LOVE to dance! They also love to throw firecrackers (though not quite as much as in Asia, but still impressive amounts), party streamers and confetti. It’s a noisy and messy night!
And it’ll be a LATE night. No waiting up till midnight just to welcome in the new year and off to bed straight after. Even for kids. Two years ago, when my little one was 6, I lasted till 2 a.m (lightweight that year, don’t know what happened!) and the boys came home at 4 a.m! JF stumbled back at 6 a.m. The party was next door which made this staggered departure easy to manage. I got married on 30th December and for many years we partied for 2 nights in a row. Nowadays I haven’t got the stamina so it’s one or the other and New Year’s Eve always wins hands down!
So, I’d better get off the computer and start getting ready for another big night while wishing you all the very best for 2014. May it bring peace, health and happiness to you all. Thank you for reading along with me this year…see you in 2014.
Bonne année!
Sounds like a wild NYE Richard!! I hope your dog isn’t too traumatised and wish you a very happy new year too.
Happy New Year to you Catherine, thank you for reading and commenting throughout 2013 🙂
Thanks Rosie, hope you had a good Reveillon in Normandy!
Happy New Year to Phoebe, JF, Big Boy and Little Boy, whose antics I have enjoyed reading about in 2013. And as for New Year traditions, here in our corner of England, we two went to bed at 1015, confident that our dog would get us up to see the New Year in at 12, as he greatly disapproves of fireworks. Our confidence was fully justified, and it took us about an hour to calm him down!
Happy new year to you too phoebe. I have loved reading your blogs in2013. Look forward to more in2014
Bonne Année from the home of Le Trou Normand 🙂