For me, one of the special things about Christmas is that we take time to create, make or do beautiful or meaningful things that we don’t do the rest of the year. When I first met Vincent, I was very curious to learn about some of the Southern French Christmas traditions from his Mum, Simone. Christmas in France is very different from Scotland, and over the years Vincent and I have meshed together our own family traditions that make sense to us and bring meaning. I love that things I learned from my parents, grandparents and in-laws have become part of my kids’ lives, and that already it brings memories and meaning to them, in fact sometimes I am surprised to hear from our kids what they love about Christmas, what makes it special, what makes them feel nostalgic! Vincent and I have always been diligent to ensure that our family, and the children of Parfums de Vie, enjoy the fun and festivities surrounding Christmas, but so much more importantly, that they truly know, connect with and comprehend the true message of Christmas.
Several of the traditions that I learned from Simone help me to do that. The first one is the Provençale tradition of making “La Crèche de Noël”: a large and decorative nativity scene in our home with plant cuttings and moss from the garden and sparkling lights and hand made clay figurines called “santons” – which can only be found in this region of France. Every year, it brings me so much joy to make one of these nativity scenes in our home and a second one at the Parfums de Vie Center. It’s truly magical, the kids love helping to gather leaves and cuttings and moss, unwrapping all the figurines that have been stored away all year and putting it all together to tell the Christmas story. Then they love looking at it, talking about it and asking questions. Every year it looks slightly different, depending on what we find to decorate it. It’s such a lovely tradition, and so full of beauty and meaning.