Everyday French – Ep.8 : Mon anniversaire

Welcome everyone to this eighth episode of Everyday French, a podcast to help you listen to the most natural French possible. And today I'm going to tell you about a special day for me, because it's my birthday, so I'm going to tell you a bit about what I like to do on this day.

Let's go!

And yes, today is my birthday — it's December 30th, so I was born on a December 30th. My birthday falls between Christmas and New Year's, so it's not really a date I like celebrating, because you know, in France we already celebrate so many things at the end of the year. We've already got Christmas Eve, we've got Christmas, and we've got New Year's. So that's already a lot of days where we eat tons of junk food. On the 24th, in my family anyway, we eat a lot of toasts, lots of little sausages, lots of little greasy things. And for the 25th, we have a huge family meal, where again we totally overindulge — we've already got the aperitif with some chips, some peanuts, some little appetizer verrines. Then we move on to a starter, a main course, a dessert, not counting the cheese, the coffee, the little chocolates, etc. And generally by the end of the 25th, we've got leftovers for the 26th. So all in all, that makes the 24th, 25th, 26th, 27th, 28th, where we eat an enormous amount of stuff.

Then my birthday arrives, and I'm already exhausted from having done the… having done the shopping for presents, having had to organize the house, organize the meals. So generally on December 30th, I really don't feel like celebrating my birthday. Plus my friends are often on vacation, they've left… so there's not really anyone around to celebrate with me. And then I'm tired, actually — I'm tired, all I want is to rest. Even on the 31st, honestly, there are years where I don't really feel like celebrating New Year's Eve, because it's exhausting to organize, to prepare, to think about presents, and also it's a lot of money, actually, that we invest — that we invest for Christmas, for giving people things, for preparing the meal.

So on the 30th, I prefer to celebrate quietly at home, with of course a little cake if possible, and maybe some small gifts from my friends and family, but I never do anything extraordinary on that day — I don't throw a party in an event hall or at a restaurant. No, generally it's just quietly at home, we don't prepare anything special. I really want — whether it's me or my family, my friends — for nobody to feel stressed that day, because we've already been through so much for Christmas, so… I want it to be a quiet day, that's it.

So how do you like to celebrate your birthday? Are you more the type of person who likes celebrating with tons of people — renting a venue, throwing a party, going on vacation — or on the contrary, are you more team quiet, staying home, almost celebrating alone to keep it calm?

Feel free to tell me in the comments, and I'll see you next week for a new episode.

See you soon.