Noël vs Christmas

Some of the things the French do differently at Christmas:

This is the nativity inside Notre Dame cathedral. Look at that surprised look to see no baby in the manger. That's because the French don't put baby Jesus in there until midnight Christmas eve. But that just leaves us asking why Mary would be staring at an empty manger full of hay...

Similarly, the three wise men (always "three kings" in French) are not placed too close to the stable as they don't arrive until 6th January. That date is the Epiphany and the French mark it with a special pastry cake filled with almond paste. There's a trinket baked inside this Galette des Rois, some little ceramic figurine that some people collect. Whoever gets that prize gets to wear a cardboard crown (it's nicer than the paper crowns we get in our crackers).

And, in Cindy's family at least, they don't put the presents under the tree until Christmas eve. For them all the presents are supposed to be from Father Christmas, so there's no reason for them to be there any earlier nor do they put a "from" name on the tag. This is bad news for me because it means I don't get an opportunity to poke, prod, rattle and sniff my presents before the day!

It's not stockings here, it's clogs. Under Cindy's tree there's two pairs of clogs and four boots. The point is the same, that's where the presents were left, traditionally. They do have the occasional stocking, particularly in the touristy shops but Cindy insists that this is an exotic Anglo-Saxonism.

There are no Christmas cards. But there are end of year cards. So you get an extra week before they count as late.