Every year our big Christmas event is Ruadhri’s Christmas concert. The three schools of St Marien, Nouzerines and Bussiere St Georges get together and organise some festive fun. To be honest the first couple of years were a bit on the over-enthusiastic side. The concerts went on for rather a long while. The second one took the record – this was over four hours long. We had to slip out to go home to put the llamas away for the night, and then meet Benj and Caiti off their school bus from College, and when we got back to the hall, the concert was still going on!

We’re down to a perfect couple of hours now. And this year’s had a new feature – Pere Noel arrived in a caleche pulled by a little white Shetland pony. Through deep snow! The snow had begun in the morning, ‘quelques flocons’ (a few snowflakes) as France Meteo had predicted. But the flocons kept on, and on, and on … We watched it building up during the concert and it was a bit of a slithery drive home, but we made it safely.

perenoelarrive

But back to Ruadhri’s concert, on the 17th December. This year there was a lovely mixture of songs, dances and poems. Ruadhri starred as a butterfly! A butterfly in wellies, but a butterfly all the same! (I have no idea why Ruadhri hadn’t changed out of his wellies – he seems a bit vague about it too.) Pere Noel gave him a lovely dictionary and some sweeties. Rors was delighted.

rorsmanonbutfly

Anyway, not long after we got back, Benj rang up to say that they’d been told at the Internat (their dorm) to try and get home that night as a lot more snow was forecast for Friday. Chris and Caiti set off but had to turn back as the roads were too bad. We got Benj back Friday morning (18th). He got a lift back with his friend whose Dad managed to borrow a 4×4. The school buses weren’t running. Because of that there was no school for Ruadhri either. So the Christmas hols have started a day early, and rather chaotically. But we’ve had a great afternoon sledging and enjoying the snow.