After opening the Christmas presents, we headed into town to investigate the ice-skating. Both the eiffel tower and the hotel de ville were absolutely mobbed, so we simply watched for a while and then headed back. Sasha got me a wonderful bottle of port fr Christmas, which we opened upon our return. After a sip or two, we determined we would never go back to cheap port. Now we are getting ready to eat, and after dinner, the bouche de noel - a traditional christmas dessert, in the shape of a log. Apparently originally the log was a real log that was intended to burn the whole day of christmas, but the days of large fireplaces are gone, and thus the log of christmas is now made of chocolate.

So why chocolate? Why isn't it made of something else? A yule log made like a large pretzel stick, for example...

Do you really want a pretzel stick for Christmas? I have to say that I prefer cake. It could be living in France doing that to me, tho - all that 'let them eat cake' stuff (with apologies to everyone who knows that's a mistranslation).