Christmas Day: Exchanging Christmas greetings and well-wishes

💬 The two dots on the ë tell you to say the o and e separately, so it is two beats: (no-ell).

🇫🇷 Said freely on the day to neighbours, shopkeepers and strangers alike. People usually stop saying it the moment Christmas is over and switch to New Year wishes.

💬 This works as a reply to almost any wish: someone says Bonne soirée "Have a good evening" and you answer À vous aussi !. With a friend you call tu, it becomes À toi aussi !.

💬 Journée means the day as something you spend or live through, while jour "day" is the day as a unit on the calendar. Wishes always use the longer word: Bonne journée ! "Have a good day!"

💬 Passer here means to spend time, not to pass. Swap in other stretches of time: Vous passez de bonnes vacances ? "Are you having a good holiday?"

💬 Bonne ends in -e because it still describes journée from the question. Talking about a repas "meal", you would say très bon instead.

💬 Là literally means "there," but in everyday speech it often just means present or here. Il est là ? "Is he in?"

🇫🇷 On Christmas Day the déjeuner is often the big family meal, and it can easily run long into the afternoon.