Live from Winter Wonderland

If you were wondering about my silence: I am currently home with my family, with Wolfie and my wife. but back in Québec, in my parent's house. My brothers, my sister-in-law and our nephews are here too. So we are celebrating in the Saguenay region, it is snowy, we are having a proper, borderline ideal winter, otherwise doing as little as possible. Wolfie is very happy here, as he is with his cousins and in a wintery place. In fact, I can safely say that we are in a true winter wonderland, one of the last few on earth.

23 Décembre (bien entendu)

Nous sommes le 23 décembre, donc, je partage 23 Décembre de Beau Dommage. Je l'écoute en boucle...

Glögg (word of the day)

 Don't judge me, but I have been watching a Christmas romcom series on Netflix, called Home for Christmas. Not exactly groundbreaking, but while not original it can be genuinely cute at times and reasonably clever. But I watch it because it's set in Norway and it looks perfect for the holidays. Oh, and it's the same team that made A Storm for Christmas, which I really loved. Anyway, I discovered thanks to the third season a sort of mulled wine (or spirit) called glögg. Originally from Sweden, or so the Wikipedia entry says. I love to discover new Yuletide traditions and I hope to try glögg one day. Anyone ever drank it? Leave me a comment. And glögg is the word of the day.

Bouffe des Fêtes

 Photo prise par ma mère dans la résidence d'une de mes tantes, l'an dernier. J'ai déjà blogué sur le sujet. Tout ça pour dire que j'ai hâte à me goinfrer pour Noël.

Christmas Yeti

'Tis the season to be wearing. When Christmas comes, we wear Christmas clothes. I have mine, my wife has hers, and Wolfie too. I think Wolfie has the coolest one, at least for a little boy. It's my wife who found it: a Christmas jumper with a yeti on it. And well, it's just really , really cool.

Autre photo de neige

Je partage une autre photo de la neige tombée à Chicoutimi. Mon père m'a dit qu'il y a et aura un redoux, mais que la neige devrait retomber bientôt. Je l'espère.

Sleigh Ride

I thought we needed a bit of festive music on this blog, and Sleigh Ride came to my mind. The original orchestral piece by Leroy Anderson, not the song. I have an anecdote regarding it: I used to bein a concert band as a teenager and we did this very piece and a few others for a Christmas concert. It was great fun, but we really struggled on the day of the performance. A real pain, in fact. So I always remember that night when I hear it. Thankfully the medley of Christmas carols we had afterwards was far more successful.

L'Avent des oiseaux?

Vous connaissez la chanson Le Noël des petits oiseaux? L'un des cantiques de Noël que je déteste un peu. Il semblerait cela dit qu'il existe un Avent pour les petits oiseaux. Enfin bref, j'ai trouvé ce calendrier de l'Avent dans un commerce local. Je ne l'ai pas acheté, parce qu'on est déjà en plein milieu de l'Avent, mais j'avoue que je suis curieux: qu'est-ce qu'il y a derrière les fenêtres/cases de ce calendrier? Des informations sur certaines espèces d'oiseaux? Je crois que je vais en acheter un l'an prochain.

Christmas at the Bookshop

 I went to the local bookshop today for some Christmas shopping. There was so many books stacked that I made a few fall. But the staff was very understanding. One of them told me: "Oh don't worry, books are jumping all over the place today, they're very lively." This deserves to be a great unknown line. I bought nothing for myself. I suspect my wife made a few purchases there anyway. So I behaved.

Ourson de Noël

J'ai acheté cet ourson pour petit loup. En fait non, j'ai acheté une boîte, avec dedans le toutou, la rembourrure pour le toutou, une aiguille, du fil et un manuel d'instructions simples pour le construire. Avec son foulard rouge carreauté, il est supossé être un ourson de Noël. Enfants, mes frères et moi nous avions des petits oursons avec des foulards rouges et une tuque rouge comme celle du Père Noël. L'ourson de Wolfie me fait un peu penser à ceux de mon enfance.

Christmas Gin

During my last time at the Christmas fayre, I had the chance to taste the products of The Marlow Distillery. The town doesn't only have a brewery, it also had a distillery that makes dry gin. Among them, a Christmas gin that is now sold out, which is a shame as it is really a delight. It tastes spicy and festive. I suspect Santa Claus has a few on his big night out, to get through the job. I'd leave him a shot if I could. Anyway, I am not a connoisseur, but I might buy their products one day.

Bûche et bonhommes de neige

Photo prise encore une fois sur la page Facebook de Première Moisson. Ils font des bûches avec des bonhommes de neige choco-vanille. Bon, des bûches carrées, je ne suis pas encore un fan du design, mais j'essaierais.

Radio Times ('Tis the season to be watching)

 It is a sight I always look for in shops this time of year: the Christmas edition of Radio Times! Because, as I said it before and as I am saying it again now: 'tis the season to be watching, falala lalaaaa... I buy it every year, except when we don't celebrate it in the UK, although even then I would be tempted to buy it anyway, just for the sheer pleasure of owning it and reading it. There are always interesting festive articles and interviews. This year, you may be surprised to know that I will not buy it. Because yes, we are going away. All the same, I love seeing Radio Times in the shops. It makes me feel Christmasssee.

Pain sandwich orange

 Photo prise sur la page Facebook de la Fromagerie Boivin. Un pain sandwich fait avec du Petit Crémeux, recette de Ricardo. Le pain sandwich est un classique des Fêtes. Pas pour Noël même, mais pour les jours avant ou les jours après. J'ai des opinions ambivalents envers le pain sandwich. Cela dit, j'essaierais bien celui-ci.

Gingerbread Man Babyccino

Sometimes, after I pick up Wolfie from school, we stop by one of the local coffee shops and we have a drink and a cake together. I have tea, he goes for babyccino. And, as Christmas is coming, it seems that they have special figures for their babyccino. Now, there is no gingerbread or ginger at all in this drink. It's just literally a figure made of cocoa powder, like you often see on real coffee. All the same, it'svery cute and festive and worth the price of the babyccino. Which is very reasonable, by the way.

Le futur TGV Québec-Toronto

Des nouvelles à propos du TGV Québec-Toronto, un projet de transport en commun et plus précisément de transport ferroviaire qui m'intéresse beaucoup. Parce que j'aime les trains et parce que le transport ferroviaire, au Québec et au Canada, en, il fait vraiment dur et faudrait que ça change. Toujours est-il que j'apprends que le premier tronçon sera construit entre Montréal et Ottawa au plus tard en 2030. C'est une bonne nouvelle, si ça se concrétise (je demeure prudemment optimiste). Et j'ajouterais, sans raison précise: jolie image promo dans l'article de la grosse Presse.

First presents wrapped

Here is a quick post about Christmas preparations. I am being slow, but yesterday, Wolfie and I wrapped together the presents to his cousins, my nephews, aka my brother Andrew's sons. I'm not going to blog pictures of the presents, because I am terrible at wrapping, even Wolfie told me I was hopeless. But it gets me in the mood for Christmas. Anyway, what about you, dear readers? Did you start wrapping the presents, or you leave it to the last minute?

Festin de Noël

J'ai blogué une photo similaire l'an dernier, ma mère l'avait prise dans la résidence d'une de mes tantes. C'est une représentation artistique d'un festin des Fêtes. Noël s'en vient et j'avoue que je commence à avoir hâte de me goinfrer.

A Thriller on the Swedish Railway

You may remember last year, I got my hands on  The Arctic Railway Assassin. It's part of the Adventures on a Train series, some crime fiction and adventure novel for children. Of course, I thought it would be for Wolfie, but it's really a book to be enjoyed together, father and son. It has a lot of things I love: a crime story, set in a train, during Christmastime and in a wintery landscape. What more can I ask for? We didn't have time to read it last Christmas, but we have started now. And there's another thing I discovered about it that makes me really like it: it's actually set in Sweden. What more can one want for a Christmas thriller?

Les bûches de Première moisson

 Photo prise sur la page Facebook de Première Moisson. Ils ont bien entendu sorti leurs bûches de Noël, qui sont un peu carrées à mon goût, mais bon. J'aimerais quand même y goûter. Je ne sais pas si je vais avoir l'occasion cette année.