At the moment I have very few photos of the actual baptism as needless to say I couldn't take any while wrestling with Léna - who was a very unhappy camper throughout the entire ceremony! But Thomas' cousin Marie-Laure sent me these photos, thankfully. And Guy will send more at some point.
My brother Wes & his wife Darlene are Léna's godparents, but standing in for them across the miles were TaTa Agnés and Thomas' cousin Daniel. Below, signing the registers.
Estelle thought this was all REALLY FUN!
Léna was happy when it was O-V-E-R.
Back at the newly expanded house on the heights of the village, the tables were waiting.
Estelle stakes out a place at the kid's table....
We had a lovely aperitif (sangria and canapés) before sitting down. Here you see Agnés visiting with Nathalie, her cousin Vincent's wife, and Corrine, her cousin Fred's girlfriend.
Below, Thomas' cousin Frederic makes sure the table is ready to go. Thomas' aunt Torocq from Ethiopia is sitting on the settee, it was a treat to have her in attendance.
Encased in the purple rectangles are the traditional baptism candy presentations called "dragées", candy coated almonds. Sometimes you can mix in chocolate ones too. They are a specific kind of almond called "Avola", long and thin.
The "envelopes" they are in I designed/made myself in the week I was back from America before leaving for the baptism. The purple paper flower has Léna's name and the date of the baptism on it, as goes the tradition. The fresh pink roses came from Marie-Laure's garden.
Below, Daniel's partner Jacqueline, expecting a boy (to be named Thomas!) in a month.
2 special attendees got to eat before everyone else: Léna herself, and Thomas' cousin Francoise's little boy Ugo, who just turned 1 and was baptized a week later!
Far left: Marie-Laure, whose father Jeannot was Thomas godfather (and his maternel uncle). She is an English teacher near Bordeaux, but has a 2nd home on the main square in Calvinet with a large studio apartment she rents out occasionally to vacationers. On the right is Josette, the widow of Thomas' other maternel uncle Raymond (the butcher), and in the middle is one of her 6 children Marthe. They live in Calvinet.
Here's Daniel with Uncle Dédé, Yvette's (maternel aunt's) husband, and in the middle is Bruno Marthe's husband who, with his own brothers, runs a large impressive beef and veal farm.
Yvette talks with Gerard who is married to Sylvette, Thomas' godmother. Interesting cultural note: I learned that normally in France, godparents are not to be a couple - rather, one is chosen from the father's side, one from the mother's. For example, Jeannot (who is deceased) was Thomas' mom's brother, whereas Sylvette is Thomas' Dad's cousin. Thomas and I have changed the rules I guess since Estelle's godparents are from Thomas' side and Léna's from mine!
Thomas and his cousin "Malou" (Marie-Helene), Daniel and Francoise' sister. She is an actress in Paris.
Sylvette below did a yeoman's job in the sink throughout the entire meal, keeping things clean and moving.
Meanwhile, upstairs in Estelle's new room, Ugo's big sister Annaelle plays. She was 3 weeks old at my wedding.
A view to the terrace from the suspended walkway upstairs.
Looking down.
Outside, Thomas gets help with Léna from 2 of his cousins - Joelle and Vincent, who are brother and sister and more of Josette's 6 children. Joelle lives in Calvinet and Vincent and his family live someplace called Revel near Toulouse I think.
Upstairs, the next generation of cousins place Trivial Pursuit. These are 5 of Josette's 8 grandchildren. They were so kind to Estelle.
Thomas down at the end of the property, looking at some geese and roosters in the next yard over.
Here we are on the first course, a delicacy called "Ris de Veau". A "ris" is the thymus gland from veal calves which is quite delicious and rare. It is prepared in a dark sauce with mushrooms served over a flaky pastry. So good. You can see one of the square pastries swimming in the sauce in front of Thomas.
The view from above. In the corner on the left you can see the masterminds of this whole day, Andrée and Guy, strategically place in close proximity to the kitchen! Next to Andrée is her one living brother "Riri" (Maurice), husband to Torocq and father to Daniel, Malou and Francoise (who came later as she is a nurse and was working during the day).
Andrée and Guy made this whole day happen so well! Especially in a "new" house!
Guy shows off one of the side dishes for the 2nd course from the caterer, called "Truffade". This is a specialty of the region - it is sauteed potatoes smothered with a local cheese called "Tomme". Incredible. Tricky to do as the cheese must melt just the right amount. This was served with braised ham in a champagne sauce along with another side of gratin de courgettes and leeks.
After the main course, we had salad and then a cheese course with local cheeses that are an absolute pleasure to put in your mouth. Then we took a break before dessert, by which point the lady of the hour had awoken from her slumber.
Dessert was a special chilled cake called "Vacherin", which is cream, cake, ice cream layered on a meringue cookie base and topped with whipped cream and sided with chopped nuts. yowza. As you can see we had about 2 more than we needed!
Léna liked the cream!
Sylvette made jokes about the size of the pieces since we were all so stuffed by then!
With the dessert came the champagne, and us giving a toast...
After the meal, some fun outside with bubbles - Annaelle demonstrates....
A close-up of my dragées...
And that's that! Here's a few shots of the days before we left Nice, when my friend Larissa and her mom stopped in for a few days on their way from Toronto to Aix. Larissa and I worked together in 2004-05 at the University. Now she is back in Toronto and is a primary school teacher in French! Her fiancé is French from nearby St. Tropez.
Little did they know they would get drafted to help me put together my dragées!
They brought lots of cool Canada gifts for the girls:
It was so great to see them again, even if just for 2 days....
Before leaving for Calvinet, Léna got some baptism gifts in the mail from Aunt Martha - a Peter Rabbit puzzle:
...and whoopie pies, which started out like this:
And ended up like this:
It has been a week since I have seen my girls, who will return in 4 more days. We are enjoying our "time off" and making the most of it!
