Christmas in advance

Because of my husband's work schedule and the distance between Toulouse and his elderly grandparents in Valence, my in-laws did Christmas today (December 22).

Seven years ago, this would have shocked me, and the idea of opening presents on the 21st and 22nd was heresy.

But in the same way that cars parked on the sidewalk or shops closed despite a "Open everyday" sign don't surprise me anymore, I've gotten used to the idea that Christmas in France with my in-laws will never be like the Christmas of my childhood.

In recent years, my husband's family has even dropped a lot of the French Christmas customs. We haven't had oysters in several years and the last bûche de Noël was probably served 3-4 years ago. We did of course have foie gras, wine, and cheese today, but the main dish was chicken and rice (with a mushroom sauce) which was tasty but not necessarily associated with Christmas.

As a bit of a side story, I curled my hair today with the new hot curlers I ordered off of Amazon as a present to myself. I've never seen many models in stores and figured it was easiest to just order them online instead of going from store to store to see if they had any in stock. When my female in-laws complemented my hair-do and asked how I did it, they were slightly confused by my answer of "bigoudis chauffants". Neither my mother-in-law, sister-in-law, or my husband's grandmother new what hot curlers looked like or how they functioned. My sister-in-law's older sister trained as a beautician, so if hot curlers were never mentioned or used in their house I think it's safe to say they're pretty rare in France! I get now why I never saw any on sale next to the curling irons and hair dryers in stores. Anyone else have experiences with hot curlers in France? Ideas on why they are aren't a common styling accessory?

And last part of my Christmas story: my in-laws received a book about the Nationale 7, which at first glance just seemed like a nostalgic book about old cars driving around France in the 50's and 60's. I started reading it though, and discovered that the story of the Nationale 7 is like Route 66: iconic, part of French culture, and now mostly inexistant.The book is by Thierry Dubois, who is by profession a BD artist. He became an amateur historian of the Nationale 7 over the years, and wanted to publish a book combining photos, maps, historical information, and a few of his drawings. I'm a bit of a purist with these sorts of things and I think the book could have been just fine without his BD illustrations because there are a lot of photos or images, but they do give the book a less serious/textbook feel. If you or someone you know is interested in French history, I think this book would be interesting.

I will be back home in Toulouse for Christmas, and of course on vacation from the University, so I'm planning to make all kinds of yummy American traditions and celebrate until New Years. I'v'e never tried to make my own egg-nog, so that will be my goal (besides making all my other traditional cookies and holiday dishes).