Cornus to ...

So, Christmas Day we woke up around 9 or so because we were leaving Nimes and going to Cornus for Christmas lunch with Michel's family! We were all ready to go by about 10:30 but Michel, who was driving us there, was late and didn't arrive until around 11:30 or 12 or so. Breakfast had consisted of the bread from the Bread Surprise, the actual bread that made the basket, toasted and coated in jam, honey or butter. Plus a hot chocolate in a bowl of course! Finally Michel arrived and we packed all our stuff into the back of his car. I still had a lot of presents and stuff including the book of photos of Australia for Michel and a massive box of Chocolate coated Macadamia nuts for the whole family (I had presented one to the family the night before too). The drive to Cornus took a bit over an hour. I slept for some of it but as we got higher in the countryside the views of the mountains we were driving up was magnificent so I attempted to take photos out the window. As we approached Cornus, a little village tucked away in the lower mountains somewhere, everything turned white! The trees and fields were covered in a thick layer of frost...not quite snow, but it looked like it! We stopped a couple of times so I could take photos before we arrived in the tiny little town. We entered the house, which was already teaming with people, and I met all of Alix's dad's family. Again they are all very nice, but here there was a lot more little kids (all boys) aged around 10 to 14 and more people in general. Since it was now about 2 or 2:30 pm the pre-meal snacks were already out. They included these little savory scones which I think had herbs and salmon in them, little slices of bread with black olive spread or paté, some chips on the kids table and of course champagne (which I didn't have) and other drinks. The little kids sat down to eat their meal in the smaller eating area while the adults and older kids mingled and chatted in the much bigger main lounge area, which was confined by a very long table in the middle.
Alix showed me around the house, which was filled with old artefacts including a huge and very beautiful tapestry on the wall in the main lounge area. Downstairs was the living areas and kitchen whilst upstairs was lots of bedrooms and the bathroom. Down in the kitchen Alix's grandma and some of her aunts were busying preparing the meal...salads, meats, desserts were all being created there. Finally it was time to sit down and enjoy the meal. It was hardly lunchtime by now but that didn't seem to matter.
As the table was so long the salad came in two or three separate bowls. The salad was very strange - pinapple, grapefruit, mini prawns, lettuce and a few others things all drowned in a creamy dressing - but very nice too! After that was cleaned away it was time for the meat, which I think was wild boar, but possibly that didn't get explained too well. With the sauce that was fairly nice. Naturally there was lots of bread on the table for cleaning one's plate with...I did a lot of that!
Believe it or not it was now time for presents! Before dessert, that's right! So we all got up and shared the presents around. This took ages as there was a lot of people in a small space and lots of presents being given and recieved! I gave my present to Michel, gave some other little cards to a few people and then had to try to give out the rest of my Australian stuff (pencils, koalas and pins) without forgetting anyone! That was very hard and nerve-racking! In the end I had just enough to go around and still had one Australia flag pin spare for Remy, Eléonore's boyfriend. I recieved a clock with lots of different words (in French) to do with chocolate (mmm!) and a top with a cute quote about frogs and princes from Zaza (not sure how to spell that!), Michel's partner.
Finally after all the presents were finished it was time to sit down again for dessert. This we did, gladly, as there was a large variety of very yummy desserts to sample. I ended up with a plate full of small portions of each, which everyone around me thought was a bit funny! There were mini meringues, a tart of those little red beady berries, a Christmas log with glace de marron inside (chestnut paste), little chocolate spidery things, and i'm sure something else that i've forgotten!
Overall it was very very yummy and nice! After we'd finished dessert we decided to go and visit the house that Michel was fixing up. It was also in Cornus, just 3 minutes down the road. Turns out almost everyone drove down to check it out as not many of them had seen it before. Once it's finished (in about 6 months or so) it will be Alix and her family's holiday house. It's a beautiful, big, old house next to a lake with spectacular views of the hills all around. Michel showed us all around inside...at the moment it's very bare and there's a lot of work to be done, but it's going to be fabulous when it's finished. Upstairs are the bedrooms for Eléonore, Alix, Michel and Zaza, and Etienne (i think), Zaza's son and Alix's half-brother. Alix's room is small but very cute with a lovely view. They were all very excited because Alix and most of the others hadn't seen it and had been asking Michel to bring back photos and such. We walked around outside for a while, across the little creek/river to another buidling which I think is part of the same property. Michel showed us around there too, which looks like it will be another beautiful house or building when it's done.
Outside the dogs (there was 4 of them there, including Pollux), played around for a while before we returned to the other house for coffee.

Sorry I have to go so that's all for now!
Lots of love,
Emma