Valérie Trierweiler

Valérie Trierweiler’s notebook: Christmas as a singleton

Plus: Throwing out books, and #BringBackourGirls

Christmas will be a very warm occasion for me. I’ll be spending it with the Massonneaus — my family — as I do every year. It will be five brothers and sisters, gathered around our mother in our childhood home, a council house that, for us, felt like a palace when we first moved in. As always, our mother will try very hard for everything to be perfect, from the meal to the mountains of presents. With 12 grandchildren, who are all at an age to bring around a special someone or a ‘fiancée’, it usually becomes quite boisterous. However, this will also be my first Christmas for a very long time as a single woman and it will be my last Christmas in my forties. In two months, I will cross the threshold of 50. I am preparing myself, getting ready, with a firm resolution to accept my wrinkles. Or not.

The anti-poverty organisation Secours Populaire, which I sponsor, is 20 years older than me. It celebrates its 70th anniversary in 2015. Julien Lauprêtre, who has been its president for more than 50 years, has 80,000 volunteers and one objective: solidarity. With them, there is no charity make-believe, political correctness or fancy language. A poor person is a poor person, not a disadvantaged person. ‘Le Secours pop’ gives out 181 million meals every year and is active in about 50 countries. They also launched a movement called ‘Copain du monde’ which introduces children to each other from across the world. Their greatest success? Bringing together small Israeli and Palestinian children.

My new year’s resolution is — wait for it — to learn English, though I should admit I have broken this promise before. I don’t really know what holds me back.

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