When I submitted my latest post to My French Life, the global community of French and francophiles connecting like-minded people in English & French on 11th December, I firmly believed that the fireplace renovation would be finished. We still plan to celebrate New Year in front of the fire – it might just be a few days late!

An earlier article on My French Life™ by Hannah Duke, called Christmas en Français: Festive Vocabulary, included the word réveillon,which set me thinking about New Year because the same word is used for both celebrations.

When I was growing up in Australia, I don’t particularly remember celebrating the New Year and I certainly didn’t stay up until past midnight as implied by the word réveillon, which contains veiller, meaning to stay awake. Read more