Salut !
Christmas is coming soon so I invited a fellow blogger, Sarah, to help me talk about the differences between a French Christmas and an American Christmas.
Sarah lives in Philadephia and she talks about the differences between France and the US in her wonderful blog: Sarah conte Philly.
Here’s an interview for you where we’ll cover food and traditions in France around Christmas.
Here is Sarah’s blog: http://www.sarahcontephilly.com/
Et toi?
What differences do you see between Christmas in France and Christmas in your country?
Come on, share your story (in French if you can!) in the comments below!
I look forward to reading traditions from all around the world. 🙂
Bonne semaine,
Géraldine
I really enjoyed this interview. It is fun to compare how Christmas is celebrated differently between the two countries. It reminds me a bit of the YouTube channel “Germany vs USA” (https://www.youtube.com/use…, in which a native German and a native American discuss the subtle differences between their countries. I encourage you to make similar interview videos with Sarah in the future. Even though she is also French, it’s fun to hear the different perspective (and to see your reaction). Très bien fait!
Great channel, thanks for sharing Jennifer!
Salut Géraldine et Sarah et bonne année! 🙂 Merci beaucoup pour cette vidéo. Je suis enseignante de français et j’utilise vos vidéos souvent dans mes cours. Est-ce qu’il y a des différences entre l’idée ou l’histoire de Père Noël (Santa Claus) en France? Par exemple, quand il laisse les cadeaux au pied du sapin de Noël, descend-il du cheminée comme Santa?
Loved your interview! Thank you for taking the time to go through the menu. We lived in Paris for the year and were so touched by the simplicity and elegance of the Christmas spirit. It put us back in touch with the “reason” for Christmas and allowed us to focus less on the “gifts” and more on the “family and traditions”. We enjoyed making the 13 desserts de Noël and creating the colors of the wise men’s gifts in these foods. We also loved the competition between the boulangeries for creating the most fashionable fêve for La Gallette de Roi! Merci á vous et Joyeux Noël! Lise
I agree completely with Sarah’s advice about having to almost “invite yourself” to a Christmas gathering in France- and this seems to apply to many other sorts of social gatherings (at least in my experience living in France). This can be difficult at the beginning when you don’t really have any close friends! As an American, I grew up learning that inviting myself, or asking if I could go, to someone else’s home or gathering was considered rude unless it involved close family or friends. The rules are different here, but regardless I still feel like I’m going to throw up every time I have to say “can I come too?” to a French friend! It seems like they wait for you to ask in the conversations! But alas I have somewhere to spend my Christmas!
Salut, Geraldine: quand j’etais jeune, ma mere a cuisinait bcp pour Noel. Le dinde, bien-sur, et son pudding de Noel – (le fromage on mangeait apres le dessert). mais avec le the on doit manager ses “mince pies”, un peu de sa buche de Noel et de son gateau de Noel – tous sont tres bien mais chaque fois je ne dormais pas tranquillement …. j’ai manage trop comme d’habitude. Aussi je souviens que c’etait mon devoir de prendre les cadeaux a mon grand-oncle et ma grand-tante – les me donnaient “une petit verre a rechauffer ton sang, mais ne dire rien a ta mere” – c’etait superbe – plusiers ans apres j’ai decouvert les ingredients d’un “whisky-mac” – j’adore toujours cette boisson – Joyeux Noel !!!
Joyeux Noël Andrew!
My wife and I just returned from a week in Paris. The 2nd week of December is a great week to visit Paris for site seeing and especially Christmas shopping.
Overall, I would say that Paris was not as decorated as I see in the US, but the places that were decorated were SO beautiful. Les Galeries Lafayette was unbelievable. The atrium area had a big Christmas Tree beautifully decorated; the store put on an hourly light show. The outdoor Christmas window displays were in the theme “Monster Christmas” — the cutest monster characters were acting out Christmas scenes — very popular, lots of people crowding the streets to see.
The decorations on rue Saint-Honoré were very posh and beautiful. The huge Christmas tree infront of Notre Dame was beautifully lit-up. Several other neighborhoods were nicely decorated, but in a more simple fashion.
At some of the stores, we heard Christmas music, but mostly a mix. Not like the continuous not-stop fashion in the US.
Thanks very much for the interview; you two make a good combination, especially for those of us from America, trying to learn more about France.
Hi Jack,
Glad you liked the video. 🙂
Yes, you are right, the decorations are different.
And the Galeries Lafayette have wonderful Christmas displays.
Merci Gaeraldine, so interesting. I love CHRISTMAS here in France, the way they decorate all the villages with trees tied to the lampposts and also it is not so commercial as in the UK where Christmas decorations appear in the shops in October! And the shops are not so crowded – no long queues at the checkout, except maybe on the 31st when the french seem to celebrate more than Christmas.
I really enjoyed this interview. One thing to note about American’s celebration of Christmas. Since we are a nation of immigrants there are many different celebrations depending on your family’s origin and background. For example, my partner grew up in Philadelphia and is of German/American descent. His family celebrates on Christmas Day by eating a ham, green been casserole and sweet potatoes. They eat pumpkin pie and apple pie. I was born in Cuba and our family’s celebration is on Christmas Eve (Noche Buena). We eat roast pork, black beans and rice and yucca. For desert we eat flan and turrones. This is one of the great things about our diversity in the USA. Each culture has brought it’s own traditions and in some cases merged them. So our family eats Ham and Roast Pork on Christmas Eve. We have the green been casserole with our black beans and rice. We then gather with our extended family on Christmas Day to open our presents. We live in Fort Lauderdale, Florida half the year and in Menton the other half. In Menton, they are one of the Christmas Villages of the French Riviera so the city does a great job with decorations in the public areas.
Some facts- cheese is eaten here first as an appetizer. Americans on the east coast can buy buche de noel at WEGMANS markets (MD, PA, NY). Christmas eve is also big of food as well as Christmas in the US. Some people east Ham as well as turkey, and if your family is italian lasagne and pasta with those things.
Just want to let you know my class enjoys your videos (NY). And have a Merry Christmas if you celebrate! 🙂
Merci pour ce post très intéressant! Je suis enseignante dans un collège américain et je cherche toujours des petites vidéos culturelles! Mes élèves aiment beaucoup faire des contrastes entre les Etats-Unis et la France! J’habitais à Poitiers pendant une année et donc j’ai fêté Thanksgiving et Noel en France. Une chose qui m’a frappée c’était quand on a acheté le dinde, c’était entier avec des plumes et la tête intacte! Ici, on achète les viandes d’un supermarché (la plupart du temps) donc on ne voit pas l’animal comme il est. A mon avis, c’est mieux en France parce qu’on n’oublie d’où vient la viande! Merci encore et je vous souhaite un très joyeux noel!
Meg
Bonjour,
merci beaucoup pour les vidéos!! Ils sont vraiment bien pour les élèves et tout le monde qui veut acualiser ses connaissances!! J’habite en Suède et pour les jeunes ici c’est assez facile à comprendre en anglais.
Demain on a la fête de Santa Lucia et on mange de Lussekatter et chante. Quand vous avez IKEA chez vous vous pouvez sûrement acheter
pepparkakor. On mange beaucoup de ces petits gateaux épicés pour Noël. Le 24 on mange trop: un buffet étoffé avec des saucissons, du jambon, du hareng aux formes différents, de la soupe, du gratin, du riz du lait, du saumon fumé etc…(julbord). Il ya un peu de neige chez moi mais la Suède est longue. Joyeux Noël!
Geraldine – I love your website. To avoid strikes during the Christmas season, or any other time for that matter, consult http://www.cestlagreve.fr/. C’est la greve lists known strikes and industrial actions by date and location so you can avoid them. Hope this is helpful.
Salut Geraldine, et joyeux noel a toi! Here in the USA, our country has gone a little crazy with Christmas. Everyone is in a frenzy about decorating and shopping. Christmas is not about celebrating the birth of Jesus any more for most people. Many families like to celebrate with traditions handed down from the countries where their ancestors came from. Special cookies or other meal items are made, sometimes songs are sung or decorations are put up that represent those countries. In my family, we make lefse (Norwegian potato pancakes), shortbread cookies (from Scotland) and we have plum pudding and Tottenham tarts (England). We have a big family meal and go to church on Christmas eve, and then open presents on Christmas Day. I am from Seattle so we usually have a “wet” Chrsitmas, not very often a “white” Christmas!
I did think that it has gone overboard the past few years!
This one is just wonderful!! Now, I will follow the French lady in America as well as YOU! Thank you for doing that!
Things I also used to think are universal:
– marrons glacés
– bûche de Noël
– putting your shoes under the Christmas tree on christmas eve
– kings’ cake on epiphany day
– lilly of the valley on may 1st (nothing to do with Christmas season but anyway)
And to me, Christmas is oysters. I want oysters. Now.
Oh — and chrisanthemums on nov 1 too, of course. In the beginning of our relationship, my future husband once arrived at a rendez-vous with a bouquet of magnificent white chrisanthemums. I appreciated the gesture, but it was… awkward.
Génial. 😀 Ca fait une super histoire à raconter !
Oh I completely forgot! But yes Marrons glaces and the shoes under the tree!
Joyeux Nöel Géraldine 🙂
As Gwen said, in Australia it is a little different. We have just had our first 37C day so Summer is truly with us. We have no snow of course, but we do decorate our houses and display a Christmas pine tree with lights and tinsel and we place presents beneath the tree for our family and friends. But while many Australians have a barbeque on the beach or a light meal with salads, seafood and cold meats, many people still make a traditional Christmas dinner for Christmas Eve, with a lamb or turkey roast, desserts of fruit salad (with seasonal fruits like mango, apricots, peaches and grapefruit) served with ice cream. But with the hot weather, many people spray fake snow around their windows, and our Christmas cards often feature snow. I have seen a Northern Christmas in England, but with the cold weather it didn’t really feel like Christmas in the same way we are used to 🙂
I’d love to try having a 37C Christmas!
Hi I always love and look forward to your Tuesday videos. About the French Christmas Dinner, do you guys serve the courses alread plated or do you lay the food on the table and have everyone serve themself?
Since Christmas is really “informal” (in the sense that it is close family) you usually do not serve plated dishes. Sometimes the host(ess) will volunteer to fill everyone’s plate once seated though.
thank you so much!
I’d say “everyone serves themselves”. 🙂
This is what we do at home, but maybe others do differently.
Cutting the Dinde and serving the vegetables is kind of part of the dinner.
Je suis sud- africain . J’edutie francais a l’Alliance du Cap . I think our Christmas’s are more like the French than American . Very family orientated . My family has also gone for the what you need gift . Also its hot here in December so often it will be cold food rather than hot food and even sometimes a breakfast / lunch . Regarding the order l’aperatief , entre etc we are on the same terms as France . Je voudrais voyager en France cette annee en Septembre . Le premier temps. ( Pardon the bad french but I am a beginner ) .
Salut Geraldine. Merci beaucoup, comme toujours, pour le video. Il etait tres interressante et bien pour notre savoir faire de la vie francaise. Nous allons passer un sejour en France a noël. Nous aimons manger a la mode francaise et donc nous allons prendre le fois gras, ‘le plat principal’ (du jour), fromage et dessert. Nous allons passer les vacances tres tranquils. Joyeux noël 2014.
C’est, not ce est. (There doesn’t seem any way to edit one’s posts?)
Eh bien, ce est l’été ici! (En Nouvelle Zealande.) Traditionnellement, nous cuisinons toujours un repas chaud comme en Angleterre, mais le plus souvent maintenant ce est peut-être un barbecue. Certaines personnes pourraient aller à la plage après le repas principal, mais en général ils ont besoin de faire une sieste!
Salut Geraldine: We don’t have the buche de Noel in the US but Christmas cookies are traditional. Women will bake cookies for days for the Christmas dinner and also to give as gifts to friends, co-workers, and neighbors. Also, depending on your background, the Christmas Eve dinner may be elaborate, for example, the 7 fishes dinner for those of Italian heritage. Gifts may be exchanged Christmas Eve as well. Christmas Eve is also a time for inviting friends to your home for drinks and appetizers or a light meal and going caroling in your neighborhood. We were in France last Noel and I noticed the absence of decorating one’s home or apartment balcony, although the town was beautifully lit.
Oui, nous americains trouvons faire la bise étrange, mais, les français nous trouvent étrange pour “hugging” – ça me fait sourire 🙂
Oui, c’est une question de point de vue !
Merci Geraldine! This video is very helpful!
Alors, je n’ai pas des histoires de mes vacances en France, parce que je n’avais pas la visiter, mais aux États unis, j’avais rencontré une femme qui ne m’aimait beaucoup quand j’ai essayé de se faire la bise! C’était terrible. Elle ne voulait faire des bises avec moi et ça faisa pour une situation très étrange. 😀
Honnetement j’ai trouvé ce blog ennuyeux. Pourquoi en anglais alors que vous etes toutes les deux francaises ?
J’ai decoree’ toute ma maison. J’ai trois nativity sets (qu’est-ce c’est dire in francais?), et deux sapins de Noel. Je vais preparer une bouche de Noel cette fete de Noel aussi. Je voudrais partir pour france quelque fois et voir les marches de Noel.
Bonjour Stéphanie,
On dit “la crèche de Noël” 🙂
Great video, Geraldine, and it was wonderful to learn about Sarah. Here in Canada, we have both the buche de Noël and Christmas pudding. I spent one Christmas in France, with a French family, and it was very different than here in Canada. As Sarah said, much less focus on commercialism and decorations, and much more about family. The gift-giving was more modest than here, but Christmas dinner lasted much longer. Another difference is the tradition in France of each family member putting a shoe under the tree. We have nothing like that here.
Thank you for this fun and informative video. It is interesting to see our holiday practices in contrast. I like to view my own culture (American) through the perspective of other culture’s, it’s always enlightening. I also wanted to mention Sarah’s accent, she has quite mastered the American accent.
One piece of advice I would like to share – I was attacked and mugged in Paris on Christmas Day evening and was told never to walk around the city on this night, as only tourists are out and are targets for robbers. The French are sharing dinner with their families at home.
Merci Geraldine!! J’espere avoir ete claire!
Joyeuses fetes a tous!
We had a friend from France with us last Christmas and she missed the bouche de Noël, foie gras, and the Advent calendar with the little chocolates. Like most families in the USA we have a Christmas tree and her family doesn’t. I want to comment on Sarah’s “American” accent … it was very good. I had to listen very hard to detect any French accent.
Thank you for posting on this interesting subject. I remember as a child my father made Glögg at Christmastime. My friends still remember coming over to my house and being amazed that such a drink was being concocted by my dad. It had an intoxicating aroma, literally, as it cooked on the stove top. I remember the fumes coming off the pot could make you quite giddy or so I thought. It took some time to prepare my dad’s Glögg as it had many ingredients. These ingredients are never seen in the usual cocktails. What I enjoyed most in this drink were the almonds and raisins. The flavor of the drink was saturated in both and I always wanted to get a lot of these two ingredients in my little glass of cheer. As the alcohol content was very high, you would only have a little glass of Glögg at the family party to celebrate our Swedish heritage. It was a joyous occasion to be with family and friends, practicing the art of storytelling, and actually enjoying the drink of our ancestors. This this day, I have a special place in my heart for this amazing cocktail and all the sweet memories attached to it however I have never had it since my dad die. Christmas today is still celebrated with family and friends and Swedish meatballs made by my brother. And storytelling is a big part of getting together at holidays.
That’s a wonderful story, Jackie!
Hope one day you can find the recipe for the Glögg.
Interesting to hear mention of a contrast with regard to la galette de rois. In New Orleans we do have “King’s Cake” though it is quite different in substance from that found in France. It’s normally a brioche, topped with colored sugar and sometimes filled with a cream filling. Whoever gets the piece of cake with a small doll inside buys the cake the next week. King’s Cakes in New Orleans are traditional from January 6 until Mardi Gras day, but are sometimes found year round.
Seems delicious! Thanks Roy. 😀
Aux E-U, quand j’etais petite, les preparations pour le noel ont commence le jour apres le Thanksgiving (fin de novembre.) Mais je trouve que chaque annee, ca commence plus tot. Maintenant, je trouve que les magasins sont prepares pour le noel au debut de novembre. Je trouve que c’est plus pour les cadeaux que pour l’esprit de noel.
I enjoy “Comme une francaise” very much, and I use it occasionally in my classroom. (I teach French in an American high school). I loved this episode, however, it is too long for me to use in the classroom. I suggest that, if you do similar interviews, that all the questions are discussed in advance so that the interview is shorter, and there is less time spent thinking about a response.
That’s actually on me! She sent me the questions ahead of time but I still couldn’t figure some out!
It is completely different from Brazilian´s Christmas. Here, first of all, we do not have snow and it is summer time here and the temperature goes aroung 35 degrees on Christmas and “reveillon” time. We do not have the Christmas log, as far as I know it is a French tradition only and we do wait till midnight for eating supper and after exchange gifts. We eat turkey , cod fish and also many different things. Salut !! Je suis a grand fan de votre site et de votre videos!!! Salut du Brésil!
Obrigada!
Last Christmas, I was cycling in the Bois Boulogne and I cycled down the Champs Elysees on Christmas day.
Nice!
I really enjoyed that video and found it very interesting. I was surprised about Americans not having the bouche de Noël, as we do have it here in the UK, also called Yule Log, and I’ve already had 2 since the beginning of the month! I take it that Christmas pudding is only British, as Sarah didn’t mention that either and I don’t think you have it in France and definitely not in Spain either, where I am from.
As for the kisses, I used to have that problem too when I first came to the UK, as some people looked really frightened when I went to kiss them, so I stopped doing it.
Hi we also have the Yule Log (Buche de Noel) in the UK. It is traditional Christmas food.
Comes from Germany, doesn’t it? Introduced to Britain by Prince Albert in the 19th century?
Bonjour. Merci pour ce post. En Canada nous avons la buche de Noel, mais nous l’appelons la “yule log.” C’est mon premier Noel en France, et ma famille n’est pas ici, il est donc un peu seul. Je manque les decorations, la preparation de les biscuits de Noel, la neige. Surtout, je la manque d’esprit de Noel, et les fetes/soirees avec mes amis et ma famille.
Bonsoir Carolyn. En quel département habitez vous? Si c’est 47, vous pouvez restez chez nous pour le jour de Noel!
C’est interessant que la buche de noel est aussi bien connu en angleterre. Mais on ne la mange pas pendant le repas de noel. On la mange avec une tasse de the (vraiment anglaise!) plus tard, peut-etre vers 16.00h.
Je suppose que la plus grande différence entre Noël où je habite et la France est la saison. En Nouvelle-Zélande, il est un festival d’été. Lorsque nous vivions à Wellington, nous sommes allés à la plage de la Baie Orientale (regardez sur Google maps vue sur la rue). Il ya deux ans, nous étions à Paris en Décembre et les Champs Elysée était vivant avec des personnes – shopping, jouant de la musique, manger de la nourriture et essayant de garder au chaud. Je vis maintenant dans une petite ville et notre High Street ne est pas tout à fait comme les Champs. Mais nous avons un excellent restaurant français et je peux garer ma voiture ne importe où!
Bonne Noel
C’est vraiment diffèrent en Australie. Il n’y a pas de neige c’est en été ! Nous avons les grands repas traditionnel mais souvent nous avons les fruits de mer (froid) – comme langoustine et les crevettes. Comme les américaines nous donnons beaucoup de cadeaux et ont beaucoup de décorations. Apres l’ouverture des cadeaux et le repas quelque fois nous allons à la plage ou décontracter par la piscine.
Un Noël à la plage : le rêve. 😀
Noël en été semble merveilleux – jusqu’à ce que vous essayez de cuisiner une dinde sur une journée chaude sans climatisation!
Je n’y avais pas pensé ! En effet.
I enjoyed your interview with Sarah and the introduction to her blog! As an American who has now spent several Christmases in France, I would say that I agree with most of what she said about the differences. After several days of eating so much rich food with my boyfriend’s family, I feel like I am the foie gras!
Merci mille fois pour ce post. My husband and I wll be visiting Paris for Christmas and New Year’s, and this is very helpful. We have many French friends, and one dear friend has invited us to her home for lunch Christmas Day. We are not sure what to expect, and we don’t know what will be expected of us. We have a small gift for the newest grandchild, and plan to take some champagne. Can yiu advise us if there anything else we should/should not do? Thanks!
Bonjour Susan,
If you don’t know what to bring, a box of chocolates (from a chocolatier, not supermarket) for the family will be welcome. 🙂
Something from your country can be another good idea.