The holiday season

As I have mentioned, Ella has been pretty tired of all the Christmas talk in school. The other day on the way to school she said to me, "If I want to tell my teacher I'm tired of Christmas and can I do something else, would I say something like 'Je suis fatigue de Noel. Est-ce que je peux faire quelque chose d'autre?'" I told her I thought something like that would be good (and silently marveled at how effortlessly she has learned this language). Somewhat ironically, it is the 100th anniversary of the law of separation of church and state in France, and this has been a major topic on in the press, on TV, etc. The French people don't seem to see the irony though, as they feel they are not doing anything religious in school - just Santa Claus, Christmas trees, and other such secular things.

However, despite this irony, and Ella's weariness with the topic of Noel, I have found it to be a very nice and commercially low-key holiday season. Sure the stores are open this Sunday as an exception to allow people a little extra holiday shopping time, but the Christmas frenzy within the commercial domain here is considerably less than in the U.S. - which we've appreciated. And, there have been lots of little holiday celebrations to enjoy. We went to a really nice kids' Chanukah program at the synagogue (stories, songs, crafts projects). Wednesday, my baking class held a little fete, complete with hors d'oeuvres and canapes that we had made and wine and punch that we brought. Thursday afternoon, Jonah's creche hosted a Chanukah party. They had dressed all of the kids (except Jonah who refused) in matching handmade holiday costumes. They had champagne and little desserts and gave each child a really nice gift (Jonah loves his new Dora the Explorer 'My First Scrabble' game). Also, on Thursday, Ella temporarily gave up her resentment about Noel for the Christmas lunch (smoked salmon, roast turkey, clementines, and hot chocolate). Food is a certain way to win her heart! This morning, the parents were invited to Ella's school for the Christmas concert. All of the Grand Section classes (about 70 kids) performed for the gym full of parents and siblings. They sang 4 or 5 Christmas songs and then we went back to Ella's classroom for a few more songs and some cake with the kids. The children also showed off their cahiers de Noel to their families- an adorable collection of work, stories, songs, and pictures each had made about Christmas. Finally, this evening our friends Stuart and Jane and their kids came over for a Shabbat/Chanukah dinner. Ella, Olivia, and Juliette entertained themselves for about an hour drawing on their arms with marker (luckily it came off easily in the bath!)

On a different topic, several milestones for Ella this week. The first (apropos of the quote above) was that she had her first playdate with a French-only kid from her class (actually, Laura speaks Chinese too, but French is their only language in common). They had a wonderful time playing together for 2 hours after school. I could tell Ella was proud of how successfully she had been able to communicate and she already has in mind another French speaking friend to invite next time.

The second milestone is that she has her first loose tooth. I'm not sure I'm ready for my baby to be growing up like this, but no one really checked with me about it. She is thrilled, can't stop playing with it, and is talking non-stop about how the tooth fairy works (whether she leaves money or a toy - she has gotten conflicting reports from her friends at school, whether she can write a letter asking the tooth fairy to let her keep the tooth, and other important details).

Finally, Abe's news this week is that they selected the general contractor for the synagogue project and everything is set for construction to start on-budget and on-time in the early spring. Now, he is spending a lot of time working on the day care project. They've found a possible site and are working on the design and negotiations. I'm sure there'll be more news on that in the coming months.