Noël (Christmas)

Christmas Tree at the Élysée Palace/Tea and distribution of gifts by the presidential couple at the Élysée Palace (December 2008, 2009, 2010)

Traditionally, eight days before Christmas, over six hundred disadvantaged children aged between 6 and 10 from all over France are invited to a lunch with distribution of gifts in the hall of the Élysée Palace. Whether from Pas-de-Calais to Puy-de-Dome, from Morbihan to Seine-Saint-Denis, or from Bas-Rhin to Lozère, what unites these children is the fact that they have all had a difficult beginning to life. There are orphans of soldiers, police officers or fire-fighters, children affected by disability or from disadvantaged areas – in 2010, several school children of municipalities affected by the natural disaster of storm Xynthia in Charente-Maritime and the Vendée and the floods of June 15, 2010 in the Var region were invited to the show preceding the tea, followed by a tour of the Élysée Palace crèche. Child care associations were also present, working in hospitals (L’Enfant@l’hôpital), with children affected by the AIDS virus (Dessine-moi un mouton) or the fight against myopathies, or in the fields of literacy and education. On December 15, 2010, they were once again over six hundred children laughing, screaming, jostling for a kiss or an autograph, their mouths full of candy in the halls and salons of the Élysée Palace.