A few things to do before and after new year

After having recovered from New Year celebrations, a few reminders of things to do around this time of year:

• Profiter de la trêve des confiseurs - un confiseur is a candy/chocolate maker. une trêve is a break, a truce. La trêve des confiseurs refers to the break between Christmas and New Year, when one likes to enjoy candies. It was formerly known as the trêve de Noël in relation to a short truce between British and German troops during WWI to celebrate Christmas (as told in this 2005 movie)
  
• Envoyer ses vœux - sending New Year greetings. Un vœu (pronounced veu, the x is silent in the plural form) is a wish or a vow
• Donner les étrennes - giving New Year gifts. A long-standing tradition of giving gifts to family, now mostly replaced by a number of professions (firefighters, mailmen,...) making rounds to offer small gifts (mostly calendars) in exchange for donations
• Manger la galette des rois - I already covered that topic, and now's the time of year to enjoy a delicious galette and get a chance to be the king or queen for a day!