The Next Ice Age and the Village Christmas Party

Last night Frédéric measured our snowfall, and it was up to 32 cm (just over 12.5 inches, for the standard-measurement-inclined among us). Wow! We have never had that much snow here before.
We were still able (barely) to make it out to gymnastics on Saturday, and then down to the village Christmas party for the kids that afternoon. After being unable to get the car into the driveway after the Christmas party, I called Frédéric at work to tell him to come home early, before the roads got worse. He made it without too much trouble, and the snow got worse after that. By Sunday the roads were totally impassable despite the best efforts of our dedicated municipal employee, so Frédéric was unable to go to work that afternoon, and we were unable to make it to church Sunday morning.

The boys have been taking full advantage of the snow:

skiing

and making snow angels.

As I mentioned, Saturday afternoon was the village Christmas party. Every year some of our local taxes comes back to our kids in the form of a Christmas party and gifts from le Père Noël. Frédéric had to work this year and miss the fun. The village "Comité des fêtes" (volunteers who head up village activities throughout the year) did a short play for the kids about le Père Noël's reindeer being ill - fortunately they found some mice to pull his sleigh, so Christmas was not lost.

Then the kids got a snack, the adults got coffee, and finally, the moment they were anxiously awaiting:

presents from le Père Noël! Noah was terrified of the Père Noël at gymnastics, but had no issues with this one, he couldn't wait for his turn.

They were both very pleased with their gifts. Benjamin got a "Cuisto Dingo" game ("Goliath Pop the Pig" in the U.S.), and Noah got a book with 365 Disney stories, and a stuffed "Stitch."

And I made Christmas cookies today (thanks, Mom) to share with Frédéric's brother and nieces who are coming over tomorrow.

and thus begins the Christmas season... but I'm hoping for a green Christmas!