Christmas markets in France

One of the things I love about rural France is its Christmas spirit.  Here Christmas takes the slow road and the shops start to decorate for the Christmas season at the start of December.  Nothing seems to change too much, life is still calm and we don’t see the pressure to buy buy buy that you see in big cities or in other countries where Christmas has become a marketing aid to force people to buy as much as they can to please their friends and family.

Here in rural France, I am thankful to see that Christmas is still greatly attached to its original meaning.  Christmas is seen more as an occasion to reunite the families, and an occasion to spend time together doing what the French do best: cooking, eating and drinking. 

Our little village is limited in the amount of Christmas decorations placed by the council. However, we have a merry go round in our little main square along with a big Christmas tree. For the children there are different types of animation provided, there is the horse and cart carriage, the pony rides and the handcrafts workshops run by the council during the weekends.

The Christmas spirit arrived at our village a couple of weeks ago with the Salon de Chocolate.  A festival destined to show off the best chocolatiers of the year.  It was a complete success; entire families visited the salon de Chocolate which opened for only two days.  Everybody went with their check book prepared to spend at least 6 euros for 100gr of chocolate to delight themselves and their families on Christmas’ eve.  I couldn’t believe people were making cheques for hundreds of euros for their chocolates.  We tried the most delicious chocolates you can imagine and even watched an educational film showing how chocolate is made.  The film took as back to the cacao fields in Venezuela to end in the best French Chocolate making houses.  It was a great way to show my little ones how the chocolate starts as a humble seed and ends up in delicious creams to spread over their crepes, in hot beverages and yummy chocolate shapes that they take delight in consuming.  The attendance at the Salon the Chocolate was so busy that there were dozens of people that never managed to get through the doors. 

This is one of my favourite markets. Usually the Chateau is closed to the public so the only opportunity we have to go in is when they have special events like the Hunting festival or the Christmas market. The Castle resembles a fairy tale castle –who needs Disney with this castle round the corner?

The Christmas market was even better than last’s years. There were exhibitors from all around the region bringing their chocolates, crafts, wines, organic soaps, wood crafts, freshly picked roasted chestnuts and hot mulled wine. For the children there was a crafts workshop and a Christmas theatre play. The children loved it, mind you who wouldn’t love listening to a Christmas witch telling a Christmas story with life size characters in a fairy tale castle? My children were over the moon with the play and the surroundings. Simple things that make a big difference.