Wednesday 12/14: An Exciting Christmas Package!!

I woke up to the sounds of high wind and rain hitting my shutters. It was then that I decided my plans of biking to the supermarket to buy ingredients for gingerbread cookies could wait until tomorrow… I stayed in bed reading until about 11:45am, when I went down for breakfast. At 12pm, Margot came downstairs and was absolutely shocked to discover that she’d slept until noon! She was pretty cute, actually. She had no idea that it was that late!

The buzzer on our gate went off and I went out to find the post lady with a package… from my Aunt Ellen! I was so surprised—and super excited!! Inside the package, I discovered a lovely, long letter and homemade almond brittle (my favorite!!), fudge, and peppermint bark! Amazing!!! I made sure to let Alison (who arrived soon after the package) and Margot taste some! THANK YOU, AUNT ELLEN!!

Photo: Tins full of amazingness made by Aunt Ellen!

Alison also arrived with gifts—several! I made her a bracelet for Christmas…that was it. Whereas, she had several wrapped presents for me! She had had her mother send over different candy from Scotland (a box of handmade chocolates, “smarties”—which are completely different than US smarties…they’re more like M&Ms, and a handmade chocolate bar with smarties in it) and bath fizzies! I was a bit overwhelmed and wished that I had something a little more exciting to give her in return! She also brought presents for my host family. Very generous!

Photos: All those presents are for...me! oof!

Alison and I hung out until Catherine got home from work. After lunch, Catherine, Margot, Alison, and I went to some factory outlets so Catherine could get Christmas presents for Chantal’s kids and the twins. We went to the popular surfing stores, like RipCurl, and she ended up finding everything she needed!

Photo: A great hat that Margot bought today!

When we got home, Alison and I walked down to the store to buy some green beans that Catherine need for dinner. It was a lovely time of night to take a walk—it wasn’t raining and it was cold and clear. When we got home, we watched most of “Love Actually” before it was time for dinner.

Tonight we (Alison and I) went to the cinema to see “Hugo Cabret,” the film about an orphan growing up in a train station in Paris. I really enjoyed it—I thought it was beautiful to watch and the story was really creative.

Photo: The town hall, which is also the movie theatre!

I was glad that I saw it in French (it’s originally an American film) since it was taking place in France and I think it would have felt weird to have them speak in English. Tonight was the first showing in Tyrosse and there were about 10 of us in the theatre (which holds 250). I recommended it to Catherine and Margot when we returned home, so possibly they will go see it this weekend!

Only two more days until Christmas break!!