From December 19 to January 1, I visited my girlfriend’s family home in Éragny, a quiet neighborhood in the suburbs of Paris. We spent Christmas and New Year’s with her family, traveled around Paris together, and met friends.
Her family house
French home cooking
Her family usually eats crêpes with homemade jam or baguette with butter for breakfast. For lunch and dinner, meals start with appetizers and entrées, followed by a main dish, and finish with dessert.
One interesting thing was that in France, there are different utensils for different types of food. Even cups are prepared separately depending on whether you are drinking water, juice, or wine. The most impressive were the tongs used to hold snail shells and the fork used to take out the meat inside, which can be seen in the photos.
I don’t think there is any culture where food culture is as highly developed as in France. That’s how serious French people are about eating.
Christmas Eve
In Korea, Christmas is generally seen as a day for couples to spend time outside the home together. In France, Christmas is a day when the whole family gathers at home, eats together, and exchanges gifts.
On Christmas Eve, we went to her grandparents’ house. Besides us, her grandfather’s younger brother, his daughter and her husband, and their two sons were also there.
Until midnight, we kept eating nonstop, starting with the outer utensils each time a new dish was served, from appetizers to dessert.
The red and gold objects on the plates are called Christmas crackers. When you pull them from both sides, they pop loudly and a very small gift comes out. In my case, it was a small compass.
At midnight, we celebrate the birth of Jesus and the visit of Santa Claus, and exchange the gifts everyone brought. However, family members who live in the same house go back to their own homes and exchange gifts once again there.
After that, we returned to Éragny and exchanged gifts once more with her family.
Friends
I met many of her friends as well. Most of them were neighborhood friends she had known since childhood. Although they are not in the photos, we also spent time with couples who were engaged or even already married.
Versailles
Whenever I forget to turn off the lights, she says, “We don’t live in Versailles.” For French people, Versailles is used as a synonym for luxury.
If you visit the Palace of Versailles, you can intuitively understand why the French Revolution happened. It is the most splendid, luxurious, and at the same time grand place in the world.
Louvre
Eiffel Tower
Arc de Triomphe
Montmartre hill
Streets of Paris
My girlfriend and me
