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Welcome back to the Christmas Around the World Series on The Storied Recipe Podcast!

This series began as a crowd-sourced post titled Christmas Desserts Around the World. As the Storied Recipe community shared their cherished Christmas recipes and the memories surrounding them, I really wanted to hear MORE. So I decided to expand on a few of these with a little mini series about Christmas traditions all around the world. You can find the entire series here.

Welcome Claire Marie!

Today, I’m welcoming former guest Claire Marie back to the podcast. Claire Marie is raising 3 boys with her Irish husband in Ireland.

However, Claire Marie is French and today she’s sharing her very special memories of celebrating Christmases in the French Countryside as a very large, very Catholic, and not very wealthy family of 10.

In addition to their private Christmas traditions, Claire Marie shares about the massive Christmas dinners in her grandmother’s home, where she would visit with over 100 cousins – and where she watched her grandmother make a very special chocolate chestnut cake. This is an utterly delightful and charming episode full of smiles and great memories and some wisdom as well.

Thanks for tuning in and Merry Christmas - Joyeux Noël!

Highlights

Long dark days and the magic of Christmas
WHY? No Santa (Le Père Noël, in French) and very few presents
Christmas in a large Catholic family
Midnight mass
Feasts! Christmas Eve Dinner, the traditional Christmas meal, and different desserts
Shoes under the Christmas tree
Celebrating with over 100 first cousins!
Peeling chestnuts at her grandmother's beautiful wooden dining table for Chocolate Chestnut Cake
Christmas in French households vs. Irish households (where Claire is raising her family)
Provence – the Christmas town scene with Santons characters
Claire’s approach to the Advent calendar
Christmas Day: “It’s the contrary of running everywhere and doing all the things”

Listen to Claire Now

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Listen to Claire Marie's Original Episode:

26 Tales in the French Countryside

very thin yeast free beignet dough on a wooden board

Claire Marie's Storied Recipe

https://thestoriedrecipe.com/russeroles-bugnes-lyonnaises

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Partial Transcript

Becky

So if people have listened to your original episode, which I’m going to link to in the show notes, in case they haven’t because it’s delightful, it’s delightful.

Claire Marie

Thanks in a while.

Becky

Uhm, remind everyone what region of France you grew up in?.

Claire Marie

So I moved a lot, but I always say I from the Loire Valley, so it’s not necessarily the place most people know, like the South of France, but it’s definitely a place people should know about. It’s also the Valley of the Kings and every time I go back there’s more to see that I haven’t had time to see. It so very very French. Like in really, the sense of France is there. And so that’s just the Loire Valley. It’s kind of in the middle... France is is big but not as big as the US, but big enough for a European country. And so yeah, people don’t necessarily know where.

Becky

It is, and it’s one of the most picturesque, picturesque parts of France?

Claire Marie

Oh yes. Yeah, and it has the perfect climate or weather. And yeah, like it’s cold in the winter, but it’s warm in the summer and you always have like a nice fresh air. It’s really really nice and I do love going back every summer.

Becky

So, paint us a picture. You said the weather was cold - it would be maybe snow? Paint us a picture of what it was like in December or at Christmas time in the Loire Valley or the Valley of the Kings?

Claire Marie

Huh, uhm, so it can go down like it’s very cold. It is, I guess, all a matter of in relation to other countries, but like you definitely definitely have your gloves on and hats on and you would be hoping for the snow because we’re quite far, we are very far from the mountains, so snow is never given and it would be like a rare treat if it snows right around Christmas. Like you, you know, you’d have probably couple of days of snow, but it could be anytime during the winter so I don’t actually remember a white Christmas.

Becky

Never a white Christmas.

Claire Marie

I don’t think we ever actually had a timely snow for Christmas, but it’s definitely very, very cold. I especially remember going to school freezing in the morning because we’d go in very early when it’s still dark and you’re just freezing. And so yeah, the holiday season. It’s nice because French children don’t have to go to school; we just stay home. And you can just stay warm.

Becky

Yes, and you know you’re right I, I guess I didn’t think about that, but that is, I think at least here also in the Northeastern United States, a hallmark of the Christmas season is the very very very short days. The shortest one of the year is just four days before Christmas.

Claire Marie

Yeah, it’s like, definitely for me I feel it’s darkness like you barely see and like I know we’re speaking about France, but it’s even more obvious where I live now in Ireland because we’re a lot furthe...