Chez Nous - Noel 2009

Let's begin this blog with another French lesson. In an earlier blog I explained the the word "chez" in French doesn't have an actual equivalent in English. The best translation is "at the house of", hence the title of my blog. If you want to say, "at our house" the French would say, "chez nous" (shay new).

Christmas "chez nous" for the past few years has been a very low key event, in fact, there have been some treeless Christmases around our house a couple of times. It is not that we are grinchlike around here, just very busy, and now that all of our children are no longer living locally, Rollie and I have been able to take advantage of a slower paced approach to Christmas.

I was expecting this Christmas to continue its normal routine, when my daughter Karla called. It seems she was having a bout of homesickness and really needed to spend Christmas "chez nous". With six children, lots of presents to load up in their van, and an eleven hour drive in holiday traffic, her family has not made the trip home at Christmas time for a few years. I had already mailed all of our gifts to them, when she asked if they could spend Christmas with us. We were happy they were coming, but was Christmas at our house going to be equal to our daughter's expectations? The house wasn't full of decorations. I hadn't done a lot of baking. I am not good at planning Christmas programs. I also was to report to jury duty the week of Christmas. Karla said not to worry, though, that being "chez nous" was all that she needed.

It turned out that it was a great Christmas and no amount of pre-planning could have made it any better. Ross and Shannon, Andera and Robert with Jack and Ella also spent the Christmas holidays with us. Sadly we were missing Dan, Candice, Sami, and Emily who were enjoying the season with their family Texas style. (Christmas with them is very fun!)

Rollie's camera captured the moments, and we extend an invitation to you to experience Christmas "chez nous". So,

Bienvenue a Noel chez nous! Welcome to Christmas at the Bowns' house.

We begin with Joseph organizing the gifts into piles (above), kids playing with legos, and a painting session.












Games are fun, either on the computer or a board game. Aunt Shannon has the best idea, read a book!










Courtney practiced her skills on Grandpa's lathe, and, along with the other kids, we got some great candle holders. The adults spent their time at our internet cafe.






The Seamons children accompanied themselves with bells as they presented a cool rendition of Jingle Bells.







Time to show off the piano skills. All four of the older Seamons children had a special Christmas musical number to play on the piano thanks to their Grandma Seamons.






Ben and Aubrey sang the Chipmunk song they learned at school, complete with actions. Very fun!











At last, Christmas morning!












Hmm.... It looks like everyone was ready for Christmas morning, except Uncle Ross and Aunt Shannon. When there are children in the house, Christmas comes early.











Time to try our a few outdoor Christmas presents. Courtney couldn't wait. Still in her nightgown, and Harry Potter robe, she headed for the back patio with her new scooter. Aubrey practiced with her new roller blades.







Courtney noticed our tree did not have a topper, so she quickly made one (below).






Grandpa had some post Christmas fun with his camera.












We had a fashion show in designer Christmas wrap "fabric". Karla designed Megan's outfit and the other kids fashioned their own creations.














BONNE ANNEE A TOUS!

Quelques memoires de Noel

While searching for my old passport (see previous blog), I found an old scrapbook that I had made many years ago. When I was a child I received a camera one year for Christmas, and did what any one does with their new camera, take lots of pictures. Looking at these pictures brought back many memories, memories of family and life in the 50's which I hold very dear. For Christmas this year I want to give the gift of memories, as I share these pictures. Some of you will find the scenes very familiar, some of you might chuckle seeing what us old folks were like back in the day, and for others it may jog your own memories of Christmas past. Whatever your response, I hope it is enjoyable.

This is me and my Grandpa Farmer the year I got the camera. The doll I am holding will someday be a blog for my granddaughters who love the "American Girl " dolls. (My Grandpa spoiled us terribly that year. He arrived at the train station with a huge trunk of presents.)
My brothers, Dave and Ro, in their new cowboy outfits, just the thing for the young fella lookin' to wrangle a few cows. They got their inspiration from watching all those cowboys shows on the old black and white television.

Here are my parents, my brothers, and my Grandpa posing for my new camera. I think I centered them quite well.

Christmas can be tiring for the older generation, so I took a picture of my Grandpa taking a nap.

Nothing like a good meal on Christmas day. My Mom continued this tradition for years. She's a great cook.

My brothers and my Grandpa have to catch up on a little television, probably one of those cowboy shows.

My brother Ro, opening presents. Christmas sure does make a mess sometimes.

Apparently for the next Christmas, I was able to use some color film. My brothers are still wanting cowboy gifts for Christmas. My Mom might have made the shirts.

Ro and I sitting by the tree, waiting for Santa.

Yes, our stockings were hung by the chimney with care.

The picture below was not from my camera. Rollie took this one for me. Every year at Christmas time my mother would make beautiful sugar cookies that looked like Santa Claus. They were a lot of work. It took time to paint the cookies with egg whites to make the colored sugar stick, to frosting them just right, make their eyes out of raisins, and beards covered with coconut. I continued to make these cookies sometimes for my children when they were young, as they were so much a part of my childhood. ( I think that one year my mother made enough cookies for the entire Junior Sunday School.) I made a few for the photo so everyone can enjoy them in a non-caloric way.

Thanks for letting me share with you my visit to Christmas past. Rollie and I want to wish everyone we hold dear a very Merry Christmas, wishing you the peace of Christ in your hearts.

JOYEUX NOEL!

nos passeports

Rollie and I are planning a trip to Paris in May and needed to obtain passports. We went to the post office and took along our old passports (as in really old, from the late 1960's) to obtain our new ones. The postal clerk really seemed to enjoy looking at the old passports, glancing from the pictures and then looking at us. Don't know why, but she seemed pleasantly amused.

My passport is stamped with many of the places I visited while I lived in Europe, but Rollie's is blank. He was called to the French mission, so he obtained a passport in preparation to serving in France, when the U.S. government decided that for a period of time no young men of draft age could leave the country, so his mission assignment was changed to New England. (This was during the Viet Nam War).

The word passport comes from the French language which literally means
"to pass through the door". I like that imagery of people being welcomed into other lands through opened doors. Below are our current passports which, hopefully, will open a few doors to us in the years to come. The clerk was impressed with our photos, which Rollie took at home. She thought they were sepia toned. (My husband always does high quality work.)

If Rollie had served a mission in France, perhaps we would both be speaking French upon our arrival in Paris. Fortunately for him, there are many cognates between the French and English language, the word "passport" being one of them. There are lots of examples, such as "carrot" (carotte), "chocolate" (chocolat), "banana" (banane). Cognates are not strictly limited to food, however, it's just what seems to always be on my mind after years of meal preparation.

Another advantage Rollie will have is due to the fact that the French have somewhat relaxed their language standards, and have adapted many English words into their language. The French have always been very strict about being purists when it comes to their language, having a special academy dedicated to the protection of the "language of love". Due to the power of mass media though, words such as, "le week-end, "le star", "le milkshake", "le drugstore", etc. have a common place in the French language today.

Given these two facts, I think Rollie should be nearly fluent by now. All he needs to do is put "le" in front of an English word, pronounce the word with "a leetle beet" of a French accent and chances are he will be understood. (FYI, all newly adapted English words are masculine. Makes it simple: forget the "la".)

With that said, we look forward to getting ready for our trip. We will pack "la valise" with "les T-shirts", "les jeans", "les pulls", "le shampooing", "la camera-video, "les magazines", "les cheques", "le mobile" and , voila, we are ready for "une grande aventure". Wish us bon voyage!