Christmas in Bloomfield

This year, for the very first time, my wife and I decided to spend Christmas at home. Before we had a son, we would never have considered this an option; being away from family on Christmas would have been too depressing--especially Christmas morning! It's not that Christmas is such a big deal (we don't celebrate the religious side of it at all); it's that we're used to counting on being with our parents on this day. So, I guess we're officially adults now! Now we have our own little family, and our son can count on being with us.

We began the day by opening presents. Both my wife and I feel that parents buy too much stuff for kids in the U.S., so we tried to keep our purchases to a minimum. But, of course, Oliver (our 3 year old son) got things from relatives, friends, his babysitter--even neighbors. So, he ended up with a roomful of toys. Naturally, he was ecstatic about it! (I apologize for not posting any pictures; my digital camera is broken, and I haven't bought a new one yet...)

Later in the day, we went to our friend's apartment in Manhattan. Her name is Sylvie and she is an emergency room physician in a hospital in Brooklyn. Her parents live in West Africa, but they are here visiting right now. Sylvie invited several other people to her place for lunch; we knew all of them from other get-togethers at Sylvie's. We had Champagne with French bread and different cheeses, then West African food (spicy shrimp and pork), and for dessert, Christmas cookies and a bouche de noel (in English this translates as Christmas log--it sounds much better in French, don't you think?) A bouche de noel is a traditional cake that the French make for Christmas. It's in the shape of a log and has little decorations made of sugar on it (leaves, mushrooms, forest animals). I think some of you may be familiar with this kind of cake since French pastries are well-known to many Japanese!