Christmas Cheer and Thursday Lunch

Today's been a good day--I've been really productive, which has kept me upbeat AND I got to work with my kiddies today. There's something just unbearably adorable about singing "Deck the Halls," "Jingle Bells," and "We Wish You a Merry Christmas," that just makes it impossible to be really sad during those 8 hours. Have I mentioned how adorable they are lately? I mean just take a look at these photos of our pumpkin pie making endeavor last week that Anita (who teaches my CM1/CM2 class) put up on the school's website:







Seriously. How can they not make you smile? I'm just trying to take it day by day and be as happy and busy as possible and these days spent teaching really help. Furthermore, the mince pie party was a success, though I sadly didn't get any photos of Becca's "pies." They were really more like mince pie cigars since she didn't have any moulds and instead rolled pastry up after putting mince inside. Yummy. I also spent the day after tagging along while Kyle did his Christmas shopping. Avignon is doing it's very best to get me in a Christmas-y mood.




Yes, Avignon had a band of clowns and elves (who were playing brass instruments) meandering through the streets to spread Christmas cheer
We stopped in the Hotel de Ville (city hall) to see the huge "crêche" of Santons. It was immense and gorgeous.
At the Hotel de Ville, they also had a fake table set up demonstrating the 13 desserts of Christmas, a traditional meal for Christmas Eve in Provence. THe number 13 represents Jesus and his 12 apostles.

And last but not least, here are photos from today's delicious lunch at Jean-Yves and Véro's house. Sadly I'll miss next week's lunch, so this is it for me for 2010! New Year's Resolution: take real camera (and not just cameraphone) to future Thursday lunches.

A "velouté" (cream soup) with artichoke and goat cheese, with nuts on top
Shells of seafood (see the plate's shape)... i.e. mussels, scallops, shrimp, and mushrooms in a cheesy, caloric sauce with a side of braised endives
Dark chocolate mousse cake with crystalized oranges
The oranges on some plates we so crystalized that we couldn't get them off the plate... See here how Jean-Yves must use a heavy-duty spatchula to make it happen
Anyway, that's been the past two days around these parts. Now I'm just working on finishing up the supplementary materials for all my grad school apps. I also applied to Wisconsin's French program tonight as well. It's not my first choice, but it's a solid one that was ruled out with Jon due to snow... We'll see. Even applying seems like a step in the "moving on" direction. That said, still keeping my fingers crossed for Atlanta! :)

Stay tuned for tomorrow's scheduled run with Helen!