The French for Christmas

Fiona Valpy

Bookouture

For Friends and Family,

who make Christmas merry and bright.

Every December sky

Must lose its faith in leaves

And dream of the spring inside the trees.

How heavy the empty heart,

How light the heart that’s full

Sometimes I have to trust what I can’t know,

Sometimes I have to trust what I can’t know.

Beth Nielsen Chapman

Contents

1. Deck the Halls

2. Jingle Bells

3. The Twelve Days of Christmas

4. Les Anges dans nos campagnes

5. I Wonder as I Wander

6. The Boar’s Head Carol

7. In the Bleak Midwinter

8. See, Amid the Winter’s Snow

9. Bring a torch, Jeannette, Isabelle

10. Love Came Down at Christmas

11. Epilogue:

The French for Always

A letter from Fiona

Also by Fiona Valpy

The French for Love

Stillbirth: sources of support

Acknowledgements