Christmas 2012

We had a lovely Christmas - thanks for your kind greetings!

Ben decorated the cake, although I wrapped the chocolate parcels! Ben also cooked a delicious capon from our friends and neighbours who farm across the stream from us - he was busy in the kitchen while the boys and I laid the table and generally pottered. In the evening we took Raja for a walk around the Coulée Verte in the dark - a lot of fun with torches!

As I took part in this Christmas challenge, run by Kelly who now blogs here, I thought it would be a good idea to run a quick 'bilan' (assessment, usually of costs) of our 'less spend' Christmas. We didn't buy any wrapping paper, but I did buy a few cards, which isn't like me. We'd missed out on sending any cards at all over the last two years, and I really wanted to keep in touch with friends and family who might be feeling forgotten. We made jams and jellies, dried chilis from the garden, and created Christmas decorations and shopping bags as gifts. I bought some books second hand and one new but reduced. We supported the school fund-raising by buying boxes of organic (but unfortunately not fair trade) choclotates as gifts, and gave the niece and nephews fair trade chocolate bars to go with their vouchers. We did the Sakado project which involved me and the boys buying various gifts and necessities for homeless people, and donating the filled rucksacks to an organisation which gave them out in the centre of Toulouse last week. That was a good feeling. The boys wrote personalised messages to the men who would receive the rucksacks, and I was really proud as they overcame their aversion to anything that looked like 'work', writing a message that would make the recipient realise that someone cared for them.

For internal consumption, our capon was expensive but worth it, for taste, for low carbon footprint, and for supporting local, friendly commerce. We bought the rest of our food using vouchers and careful attention to supermarket's special deals in the weeks running up to Christmas. I suppose we saved at least 40€ that way, which is just over what the capon cost! We did spend out on family Christmas presents, but aimed mainly for things that were really needed/will come in handy over the next year - Son 1 gave Ben books on Spain, where we intend to holiday, Ben bought us all a fruit drier (more on that in future) and I got the boys cycle computers, camping gear etc. I then splashed out on a CD for each of the males - Adele, Birdy and Emili Sandé, because we have all been enjoying great British female singers on French radio this year! The rest of the gifts were second hand books and DVDs which I picked up in charity shops and on the fabulous For Sale, Swap, Wanted and Giveaway in Toulouse and Surrounding Area Facebook page. And the most appreciated/most used gifts I gave? Four Calvin and Hobbes cartoon books from the Stockbridge Shelter Charity Bookshop... The whooping and cackling continues...