Epiphany, the 12th day of Christmas, is celebrated here by a cake known as the Galette des Rois. It is a round confection, almost like a brioche but bigger, and decorated with sugar and crystallised fruit.
We were invited, along with the occupants of the other 3 houses at our end of the village, to our neighbours to celebrate this event. Th hostesses were Cristel and her mother who live in the house above us. We were the first to arrive and were amazed to see a long table laid with a beautiful tablecloth, plates, cutlery, glasses and bottles of champagne. Soon the other neighbours arrived. Sophy and Philippe with their children Anna and Thomas, Alain, Philippes father and his wife, Dominique and Christine and their daughter and (from further away) Phillipes brother, wife and 2 children. We were seated and offered petit fours from a huge tray and the champagne was poured. After we had all eaten our fill of petit fours the galette was served along with more champagne. An extremely pleasant afternoon terminated about 5pm with coffee. A very good occasion to get to know our neighbours who are a very nice bunch. Alain and Nigel get along very well despite the language problem. Alain can manage a few words of English and it is very good for Nigel to have someone with whom he can practise his French.
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