An American in Provence

Père Noël (or rather, Tata Noël) saw a hut at the Christmas Market in Aix-en-Provence selling a zoo of such stuffed animals- pig, bear, tiger, lion, monkey, elephant, etc. Not just any stuffed animal, oh no. They are filled with beads or something, lavender and other stuff, that smell nice. You can put the stuffed animal in the microwave for a few minutes, and it heats up and smells nice.

I chose the elephant, (whoops, Tata Noël chose the elephant) as Manon, Anna's older sister, loved elephants, so like sister like sister it was figured.

The one thing that I don't like about Christmas here in France is that all Christmas presents come from Père Noël, rather than just some that are received at home versus other gifts that come from relatives. Oh no. Here in France, the entire family is required to keep up the farce "Père Noël left this at our house for you..." Whatever.

Anyway, Anna ripped open her present and screamed "Barry!" Apparently, it is a character in a cartoon.

She was quite happy, carrying him around by his trunk all New Year's Day, which made me cringe. I kept telling her "hold him by his body, not by his ear or his trunk." I had visions of him ripping open and the beads pouring out all over the floor.

I told her that he could be heated in the microwave, and she was very excited to try it out.

She kept saying "on va chauffer barry". (we're going to heat Barry).

She was very cute, sitting on Alain's lap, and he was playing with her, making Barry dance and sing "Je suis Barry, babababa..."

Today, I called Lucie, Alain's sister, and asked how Anna liked Barry. She said that she adores him, that it is her new nightime ritual- they put Barry in the microwave and when the microwave bings, she says "Ca y est! Barry est prêt!"

(This is it! Barry is ready!)

Ah, to be a kid again.