Joyeux Noël

---

Best Christmas present EVER this morning....Mykenzie and Edyn had a sleep in until 8.30am! How great is that! Then I looked out the window and saw the white roof tops of Beaune and realised that we really had been given the white Christmas we had hoped for. It was still lightly falling and at that time of morning everything seemed so peaceful and so simple.

Once we all did rise, my Christmas morning started with a run around the walls of Beaune. My friend Hubert told us that at one point in history, Beaune was an important centre of the French Empire. I can’t remember the exact story as we’d had a few glasses of Louis Jardot, but if they enjoyed the wine as much as I did, I can certainly see why the leaders would want to live in this part of the world! Two laps around was 5km and meant that I could enjoy my Christmas meal!

There was the obligatory ripping open of presents which Mykenzie totally got the hang of this year. So much so, that no one got to open anything except Mykenzie. And of course, she was totally excited that Santa ate the cookies that she left out. I was excited that I could finally pass on a tradition that I remember so fondly. So much fun being “Santa”!

Christmas Day was one of our most relaxing days yet, on account of nothing being open so it forced us to stay in our wonderful apartment and chill out. Well, the other guys relaxed. I was on Christmas lunch duties and was busily preparing my famous French Onion Soup (well, I like to call it famous, makes it sound so much more Masterchef) and boeuf-bourguignon (Beef Burgundy, the local dish and one of my favourites). The meal was spectacular if I do say so myself and was so good, that we couldn’t even fit in the rest of the tarts!

In the afternoon we figured we’d better walk off some food and do something touristy. We had a look through the Hotel Dieu which is the Hospice that Beaune is famous for. The hospice was where they used to care for the sick and dying but is now a retirement home. The best part is that it was funded through wine production, which I think is fantastic. It was early to bed tonight for yet another instalment in the French adventure tomorrow.

---