Bonne Epiphanie

I know that Epiphany is actually on January 6 when the 3 kings came to visit baby Jesus. However, it is something that is celebrated throughout the month of January in France and today we were invited to attend a typical celebration at the home of one of our friends. We had a great time! There were 6 families present with 4-5 kids each. They had 6 galette des rois present to eaten during the celebration. This is a king cake typically made of frangipan (almond butter) and layers of cake that are similar to a croissant. There are other flavors as well such as apple, pear with chocolate, etc but the frangipan is the traditional. In each cake, a little ceramic favor is baked in. So, the youngest child of each family got under the table and then the person slicing the cakes would ask them which member of their family got the 1st piece, 2nd piece, etc so that all pieces were doled out fairly and no one had an unfair advantage of seeing the pieces before handing them out. The cake is then to be eaten all at the same time with your hands and with no peeking. You must therefore, bite carefully so that you don't end up biting the ceramic figure! If you get the favor in your piece, you get a crown and then get to choose your king or queen and you then give them a crown. You also get to keep your little favor and apparently there is quite a tradition of collecting these favors and saving them for years to come. My one friend had probably a hundred of them dating back to her mother and grandmother's times. Originally the favors were a baby Jesus but they have now evolved into becoming just about anything that is popular. Tabitha and I were each fortunate enough to get a favor in our pieces tonight so we each became a queen. I chose Max as my king but Taba chose to rule on her own, stating that "she did not want to have a king". My favor was Princess Leia while Taba's was Jean Charcot. After we were crowned and the other 4 kings/queens were discovered, the kids all ran off to play with the other children while the adults sat around a fire in the fireplace and visited and ate clementines. A very nice and relaxing Sunday afternoon....
The rest of the day was spent packing and preparing to move. With everyone home, the weather warm and the kids big enough to help..... we almost have the whole house packed and ready to go already.