The family's Christmas Tree

 I shared it in a post in French yesterday, but here it is today, night time version. My parents' Christmas tree. With the train and the Christmas village at its foot. The greatest Christmas tree. Wolfie and I really want to go there next year.

"J'ai dans la tête un vieux sapin..."

Vous savez le reste de 23 Décembre de Beau Dommage. LA chanson québécoise de Noël et LA chanson de Noël nostalgique en ce qui me concerne. Je la partage à chaque année, bien entendu.

The end of Christmas movies?

 I recently read in The Independent an article titled What Killed the Christmas Movie?. About, well, the end of new quality and/or successful Christmas films. Apparently, there aren't so many, if any. It struck me that, yes, the Christmas movies I watch mostly date back from a few decades. The most recent ones must have been from 1999. Then again, most of the so-called Christmas films I watch usually only have the season as a backdrop. I don't really like romcoms in general, whatever the time and setting of them. But I digress. In any case, I was wondering what you thought about it. And one thing I would like to add, is that whileI don't watch "new" Christmas movies, I discovered and enjoyed plenty of "Christmas ceentered" tv series in the last few years. Maybe this is the new trend: Christmas dramas.

L'arbre de Noël, 2024

Mes frères et mes neveux sont chez nos parents (et leurs grand-parents) depuis hier. Le sapin familial est donc monté et je partage une photo ici. Wolfie et moi nous aimerions y être.

Three Wise Men

 'Tis the season to be reading. Tonight's reading suggestion for Yuletide: Three Wise Men, by Carol Ann Duffy. Illustrations by Julia Klenovsky. It is of course her annual Christmas poem. A poem that is in fact a dream like tale. Or rather, three tales, told by three people (the Three Wise Men of the title), to a Traveler, on the twelfth night of Christmas. The Traveller (and the reader) has to decide which tale is true. There's wassail, miracle soup, there's also the Twelve Days of Christmas, told with the sincerity of a true story. I enjoyed it, although maybe not as much as her last two ones. But then again, maybe it is too fresh in my mind. But it's still a quality tale in verse and, well, I also happen to have purchased a signed copy. Which is always nice.

Solstice

Mon frère PJ a pris cette photo hier en traversant le Parc pour se rendre chez mes parents. Au moins ça a l'air de l'hiver. Enfin bref, ils auront un Noël blanc, les chanceux, touchons du bois. Et c'est le solstice d'hiver aujourd'hui.

Piz Gloria exists

 'Tis the season to be... spying? Those who have been following this blog for a while may know that one of my favourite James Bond novels and one of my favourite Christmas novels (as in, set during Christmas) is  of On Her Majesty's Secret Service . I try to revisit it every year, not read the full thing, but some chapters from it, just to get me in a darker seasonal mood. Anyway, I was reminded recently that Piz Gloria, the headquarters of Blofeld in both the book and the film, does exist. They even have an official website. Okay, so it was constructed with the help of the movie's funding, and thus did not exist when Ian Fleming wrote his novel, but still. I hope I can go there one day, on a Bondian pilgrimage. Probably not during Christmastime, but one can dream.

Les vertus des pâtés à la viande

Photo prise par mes parents des stocks de pâtés à la viande qu'ils ont fait cette année. J'y pensais parce que mon fils me disait ce soir qu'il n'aime pas vraiment le repas de Noël, avec la dinde et tout. Mais il a beaucoup aimé les pâtés à la viande les deux fois où il a célébré Noël au Québec. Avec beaucoup de ketchup, bien entendu. Mais ça m'a fait penser qu'au Québec, il aimait le repas du réveillon et les repas traditionnels de Noël, grâce aux pâtés à la viande. Alors voilà: les pâtés à la viande ont notamment cette vertu qu'ils rendent les repas de Noël plus agréables pour mon fils.

Mariä Wiegenlied (sung by Golda Schultz)

It struck me recently that I don't put enough Christmas music in this blog since the beginning of December. So here is the (maybe) lesser known Mariä Wiegenlied, sung by South African soprano Golda Schultz. Hope you enjoy.

Compter les moutons

 Photo de la crèche prise par ma mère à ma demande. Elle m'a dit qu'elle ne savait toujours pas combien de moutons ils avaient accumulé au fil des années. Et il m'est venu à l'esprit que compter les moutons, c'est ce que l'on fait tous pour essayer de passer au travers les jours avant Noël. Mon fils compte les moutons pour dormir, je compte les moutons pour domir, je compte les jours d'ici aux vacances. Demain, c'est la dernière journée d'école pour mon fils. Demi-journée en fait. Et mon dernier jour de travail d'ici aux vacances des Fêtes. Et il est temps que ça arrive.

The Bookshop's Christmas Window

 'Tis the season to be reading and it also means bookshopping. Every time I go downtown, I try to stop at the local bookshop. I have mostly behaved, but I did stop all the same, if only to enjoy the seasonal atmosphere so unique to bookshops come Christmastime. I took a picture of one of its windows. Not as elaborate as other bookshops I know, you can only see the snowflakes, but it's nice all the same. If only it was real snow...

Spirou pour Noël

 Petit billet souvenir des Noëls de jadis. Enfant, j'adorais la série de bande dessinée Spirou et Fantasio. Je n'avais pas beaucoup d'albums, allez savoir pourquoi, en fait la plupart des albums que je lisais étaient empruntés à la bibliothèque de l'école. C'est une série que j'aimerais bien revisiter. Enfin bref, je me souvient d'un Noël, 87 je crois, nous avions reçu plusieurs albums, dont Virus. L'histoire est banale, un genre de techno thriller avec l'humour bon enfant propre à Spirou, avec un peu moins de la naïveté charmante des albums précédents. Mais c'est une bédé parfaite pour Noël, d'abord parce que ça se passe l'hiver, ensuite parce que le gros de l'action se passe en Antarctique. Enfin bref, je crois que c'est un ouvrage à revisiter ces temps-ci.

Black Doves for Christmas(!)

 'Tis the season to be watching and I am not into soppy, sentimental and sugary romcoms. So what is a man to do when he wants to watch something seasonal, but not the usual romantic comedies? Well, he goes for somethign dark, violent, yet set during Yuletide. Recently, I found on Netflix a British spy thriller, called Black Doves, which fits the bill perfectly. The story is utterly unbelievable and frankly at times ridiculous, yet it keeps me entertained and I like the atesthetic if nothing else. Because let's face it, for all its flaws, you can't go wrong with blood, guns and Christmas decorations in the background. I say background, but not really. The show's creators certainly pushed the Christmas aspect to eleven: it's everywhere. They know there is a sub-genre of crime, spy and action thrillers set during Yuletide and viewers eager to watch it. And I'm not complaining.

La crèche (et un pianiste)

 Ma mère m'a envoyé des photos de la crèche familiale. Remarquez un anachronisme: un enfant de choeur pianiste. Acheté lors de notre premier voyage en Angleterre à la Cathédrale Saint Paul. Drôle d'endroit (et d'époque!) pour mettre un pianiste.

Radio Times ('tis the season to be watching)

 'Tis the season to be watching, fa, la, la, lala. Yesterday, I went to the show and saw the Christmas' Radio Times! I bought it immediately. I don't watch all that much television during the holidays, but I do like to take some time to watch some seasonal programming, I want to know what's on, and besides I enjoy Radio Times for its many articles and interviews. It's just a way for me to embrace British culture this time of year. We don't have snow during Christmastime, or very rarely, but at least we have quality television.

La Binerie fête Noël

Photo prise de la page Facebook de la Binerie Mont-Royal.Ils font un repas de Noël qui me semble fort honnête, en tout cas copieux: dinde, pointe de pâté à la viande (jamais mangé, ils appellent ça de la tourtière, la honte), ragoût de boulettes et pas mal plus de légumes que l'on nous sert lors du réveillon chez mes parents. Mais nos pâtés et notre dinde, enfin celle de chez mes parents, ils ont l'air meilleurs que ce que fait la Binerie. Quand même, j'essaierais bien une fois.

The Christmas Steam Train

 We received this Christmas card from one of my wife's cousins. I feel almost bad that this card is so me and so Wolfie. My wife's cousin is the daughter of an engineer who loves trains just as much as Wolfie and I do. So yeah, this card got straight to my heart and it is already my favourite Christmas card this year, maybe ever.

Les bûches de Première Moisson

Photo prise sur la page Facebook de Première Moisson. Ils font aussi des bûches de Noël. Je suis vraiment trop loin parfois.

Kallikantzaros (Christmas Monster)

I learn something new every day. Concretely, Monstrum has released a video about Kallikantzaros, a monster from Greece, associated with Christmas. Because Christmas can be spooky. And what a cool critter it is. Anyway, Kallikantzaros may be a mouthful(it took me a few tries to spell it and pronounce it), but this is our word of the day.

Tourtière VS Pâté

 J'ai vu ce meme il y a quelques jours et ça m'a bien fait rire. Vous savez à quelle adresse je loge sur cette question, alors je n'en dirai pas plus.