Poisson d’avril

Hello April!

Well here in France they have April Fool’s day – but they call it Poisson d’avril.  According to the French Wikipedia http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poisson_d%27avril, this holiday originated in France.  It seems that they changed the calendar for the year to begin on January first instead of the traditional April 1st back in 1564 – the people living out in the country didn’t find out and kept on celebrating the new year in the spring – they became known as April Fools…. So, why the fish?  Maybe because it begins the zodiac period for Pisces, or falls during Lent – but no one really knows.  So, here in France, the traditional gag is that you try to stick a paper fish on someone’s back before they notice it – then they walk around all day with a fish on them.

Callie came home with paper fish she made in class and the kids spent over an hour this morning cutting out dozens and dozens of fish and taping them to the doors of all the neighbors in our courtyard –hopefully they have a good sense of humor! 

 

I made an April Fool’s breakfast.  Sunny side up eggs, burnt toast and milk.  Of course, none was what it first appeared to be.  

                                        

It’s fun to watch the kids attempt to be ‘tricky’.  They try to trick me with things that are ludicrous, most of  the time.  Callie said: “Did you notice that everything in our world has turned yellow?”  When I said this wasn’t a great trick because it was obviously false, she next attempted “Look mom, you have mice crawling all over you!” an improvement, I guess.  Also, they are so obvious about accomplishing tricks- Zander says “Mom, can I give you a kiss?  and obviously smashes something on my back – then, as soon as I turn around – he starts laughing and pointing and calls Callie in to see how silly I look.  Subtle, they are not.

It is so easy to trick them as well.  I put a fish on each that stayed on for a half an hour – only coming off when I told them about it.  I also told Callie this morning that someone came over the house to buy her last night for a million dollars and so we were going to spend the day packing her bags.  Her response (with crinkled brow)… “Really mom?”  You have to be careful though, not to take jokes too far. (I reassured her I was joking). Zander especially can get hurt if you trick him too often – he doesn’t like to feel stupid.

At work, Olivier messed up everyone’s computer mouse settings and they all worked together to totally destroy Regis’ desk – guess that’s what he gets for coming in last. 

Tonight, all the kids played out in the courtyard – they were running around and sticking fish all over each other.  Zander was in high spirits – chasing people down using his bike.  It was great to see him so happy.

So, thanks for listening yet again to another quirk of French culture.  I’m definitely running out of things to say that are interesting though, so I’ve decided that this will be my last blog – this is just taking up too much of my precious time.

  

And, if you bought that one, you really are an April Fool!