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Heavy snow provided a back garden winter wonderland, a welcome couple of days off work, and a chance to invent snow margaritas.
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Inspired by Jamie Oliver's 30-Minute Meals, we made a fabulous Thai meal with Gordon and Neil in (just over) 30 minutes.
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Shopping at the local Christmas market always puts us in holiday mood. We met friends Bryn and David there.
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It was our turn to host the annual family Christmas meal and we turned it into a Mexican fiesta.
December rowers
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During our after meal walk, we encountered this rather crazy group of rowers braving the very cold weather in very little clothing.
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We had a piñata in the back garden and churros for dessert, surely a reason to purchase that deep fat fryer.
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Next stop, the Vendée, one of our favourite places to expierence Christmas. We drove through heavy snow getting there, but we made it.
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This is a huge Christmas spectacle at Puy du Fou. I marvelled at the projected backdrops, shown above. At one point there were 80 actors (I counted) playing tambourine in a line across the stage.
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Our special Christmas tree, with our collection of ornaments from around the world, Nick with Père Noël, and Rudolph, George's favourite.
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Sights in the Puy du Fou gift shop
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Nick at Puy du Fou, a poster for a show we missed, a market seller, and the source of our long searched for a Vendéen wooden heart, symbolizing the local people's allegiance to the king during the French revolution. Napoleon's armies put a bloody stop to all that, but the local pride remains.
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Playing pool beforehand, we later heard a wonderful youth choir at the ancient Nieul-sur-l'Autise abbey.
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Frolicking in Fontenay-le-Comte
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The Fontenay market was moved to Friday from its usual Saturday because of the holiday. Here we bought organic pork and Turkish delight.
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An ancient laundry site, a typical manger scene (with sheep on rooftop), and Nick beside an iron bridge designed by Gustav Eiffel.
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Beside the deep, dark lake in Cheffois, inside it's little chapel, and the river in Vouvant
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One of hundreds of crèche scenes in Vouvant's church, this one shows the bustling rural Vendée community. We never saw this many people out.
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Detail from the Vendée crèche and some of our favourite ornaments; these are from New York, Dijon(?), and Naples.
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The Mouilleron windmill(s), The Pétosse were-cat in the church that dates from 1003, and photographing our Christmas tree from outside.
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The streets of Vovant at night, about as lively as they are during the daytime.
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We had the seasonally crowded Plages des Dames on Noirmoutier all to ourselves for a winter picnic. Also shown are the château and a glasses ad.
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The domain of the fabled Salt Boy, always worth a pigrimage. We waited for low tide to drive across the Gois, a natural causeway.
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The market hall in La Rochelle
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In La Rochelle, Nick bought a wonderful Eden Park duffel coat, we spotted these chocolate shoes, and observed the French love of firemen.
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I lost my zoom lens after leaving it near this shot, but returned half an hour later to find it still there. Luck-ee.
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A trip to Sauveterre beach, where Nick sympathized with a surfer whose board snapped. We also saw the Église de Saint-Nicolas-de-Brem, which dates from the 12th century.
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Église de Saint-Nicolas-de-Brem. The statue is of St. Nick, surrounded by acrobats so our guidebook tells us.
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Back to Vouvant for our final day, sipping hot chocolate and cider in the local café. We'll be back again one day!
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Click HERE to see our past Christmases and HERE to see our last summer trip to the Vendee
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