This year my husband and I agreed to spend Christmas apart.  Fear not, this is no  dramatic announcement of impending divorce, but rather a reflection on the bloated airfares during the season of goodwill.   In due time, I will tell of why we presently live one on either side of the Atlantic Ocean, but for now I will keep my council.  It was my very own idea and I feel that it was a worthy protest, though I imagine it was inconsequential to the point of silence to those responsible for  pumping up the  prices with such unfettered glee.

Unwilling to risk being peeved by my own decision, I settled on a different solution to the celebrations than sitting in solitary splendour brooding over a meal for one all the while being eyed meaningfully by The Beady Greedy Bean.

In France, as in many other countries, la veille de…