THE BREAD.  THE WINE.  THE CHEESE.

The boulangeries are incredible.  I bought a baguette from the boulangerie down the street yesterday evening, straight out of their big ovens.  It was almost too hot to hold in the bag – and the smell was incredible.  I paid for it, left the shop, and two steps later ate the top right off of it, straight out of the bag!  As soon as I got home, I poured a little Bordeaux pour deux and gave Tanner the hot bread.  Forget dinner.  The baguette, with a little butter, was ‘parfait!’

The French wines are really, really magnificent.  And inexpensive!  The glass of wine at a brasserie or restaurant is probably less than buying a bottle of water.  [The tap water in Clermont Ferrand is drinkable, but very high in lime content. Most people buy bottled water.]  I’ve never been a fan of reds before, but the Bordeaux has won me over. Many apartments come with ‘caves,’ or wine cellars.  I’ve been told that French people buy caseloads at a time from vineyards or from expos or just from the local grocery.  We also have a ‘cave,’ but I’m not going down there…..it’s under the building with no lights and a dirt floor.  The perfect place to hide the bodies!

The local Auvergne cheese is also very, very good – all of it from cows and the grassy plateaus of the Massif Central, which is where Clermont Ferrand is located.  There are five regional cheeses that are famous, including Saint-Nectaire, which was a favorite of Louis XIV.  My personal favorite is the Cantal Jeune, a cheese that was being sold in Rome  – at the time of Pliny the Elder, in the first century AD.  I’m not kidding!  There is just ONE grocery we’ve found that has cheddar (in slices only)….and I haven’t found what we call Swiss cheese, but the Emmental is fairly close!  No Velveeta whatsoever…..so no Rotel dip.  ☹  That’s okay…..we’ll be back in the States for the Rotel!

WHAT’S ON TAP THIS WEEK (no pun intended)

• HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY MAMA! BEST MOM EVER!  November 30^th, a special day as the world celebrates the one and only De De!  (De De on the left, my Aunt Joan in the middle, and the third Muskateer is Jody Foley)
• Braving the cold on Monday to attend a morning coffee meeting, volunteering at an “English Conversation Class” for French Retirees, and TRYING TO GET THE *@*# INTERNET TO WORK! (Pardon my French!)
• Oh, and although all those skylights are WONDERFUL in our new modern apartment (in a 117 year-old building), some of them LEAK. Wonderful! They MIGHT get fixed by 2019. Or not.  Welcome to France! 
• Intermediate French class at Université Clermont Auvergne – and H.O.M.E.W.O.R.K.  Serious brain drain!
• Get winter tires for our car that we bought this weekend, because the snow, it’s a’comin’!
• Repairmen, oven installed, and unpacking.  At least, I HOPE repairmen are coming!  (Not holding my breath!) Grocery shopping is at least every other day (only what you can physically carry while walking home! I do have a rolling cart now, like the locals).  Tanner will be home for lunch this week (for the 1.5-2 hour lunch that they take every day…..no, I’m not kidding).

OH!  And did I tell you I’m back in the IRONING shirts business???  IRONING!!!  ME!!! Wow, if that’s not June-Cleaver-retro, I don’t know what is.  Never thought I’d see the day.

The Place de Jaude is decorated for Christmas and it’s beautiful!  

Haven’t been up to the Cathedral to see the Christmas market stalls yet, but will do that soon.  Tanner has a cold 2 km trek back and forth to work this week!

You know, visiting a foreign country is one thing, but LIVING THERE is another. The most pressing question right now is where do we get our haircuts???  HAHAHA.  Can you believe I haven’t driven a car in over a month?  My feet will swear to it, however!  Never thought I’d give up my high heels, but poof!  Gone!

As I sit here 4,500 miles away from my Christmas decorations and treasures that are somewhere in a storage warehouse on White Horse Road in South Carolina, it’s easy to reflect about how holiday decorating and traditions can be so much work and effort, a real drudge, until you lose that opportunity.  I know it’s hard.  You have a lot you want to do for Christmas.  BUY HEY – think about what it would be like without your traditions – and the reason that you are doing this – and rejoice that we have more than Santa Claus.