CHRISTMAS EVE IN PARIS

One of the unexpected benefits of moving to a new country and culture is stepping out of the familiar way we've always celebrated holidays.  I'm not saying this is an easy step, but it is one I have slowly embraced in the ten months we've been in Paris.

So, instead of having a big family Christmas Eve celebration at our house with food and gifts followed by a Christmas Eve church service, David and I prepared for a quiet evening followed by a 10:00 p.m. Christmas Eve service.

Our evening began around 4:30 as we hopped on a bus to take us to Notre Dame.  This fall when many friends were visiting and wanting to visit the famous cathedral, the lines were terrible and no one wanted to stand in the long line.  Christmas Eve there were people on the streets, cafes open and Christmas lights twinkling, but the wait to get into Notre Dame was short and fast.  We did have to pass through security even before reaching the plaza in front of the church, a sad reflection of the world we now live in.  The tree in front of the cathedral was beautiful,  and we were able to walk into the church with a minimal wait.

The Notre Dame Christmas Tree

Outside the cathedral was a lighted creche.  Baby Jesus wasn't there yet....

Still waiting....

Inside a mass was in progress and the place was filled with people sitting and standing.  They had the priest on side screens on both sides of the sanctuary so everyone could see and hear.  There was a huge star over the altar, an Advent wreath hanging over the seats and a beautiful Christmas in one corner.  It seemed the perfect place to be on this night when Mary and Joseph were trying to find a place to stay.

The evening was a little cold but clear so walking in the streets was nice and enjoyable.  Because so many families are together Christmas Eve night, it seemed a little quieter than most evenings.

From Notre Dame we went to Hotel de Ville, Paris city hall.  I think they change what they do here each year, and this year is a forest-like area with forest scenes, small rides, and, of course, Santa.  As always, there were places for hot chocolates or mulled wine.  It was very pretty and, surprisingly, not overcrowded.

I love all the carousels I see here!

Here's a little Santa train

And here's the real Santa with a little fellow who's a little unsure...

From here we walked to the Champs Elysees strolling down the red-lit tree-lined street that, for once, was relatively quiet.  Here's a picture, though blurry, but it gives you the idea.

By this time, we were hungry and it was time to head home for food and a Christmas movie.  We had planned a simple charcuterie board dinner and a second viewing of "White Christmas".  

French with a little "Tex Mex twist" of chips and guac!

At 9:30 (or so) we headed off to church not expecting the crowd we found there.  We ended up sitting in the back row of the balcony..a terrible place because there's not much you can see from there.  The service was filled with classical music, readings from five Scriptural references both New Testament and Old, and congregational singing of the all our favorite Christmas songs.  Our pastor delivered a beautiful and powerful "Receiving the Gift" meditation (sermon!!!) that was the best I've heard in many years.  

Walking home we talked about what these past ten months have taught us and shown us about ourselves, our faith and our world.  We missed being with our children and grands, but, sometimes,  you have to step away so you can come back with more to give.  

Christmas morning we had friends over for brunch which lasted into early afternoon.  Then we talked to all of the kids and grands.  The rest of the evening was quiet as we prepare for Courtney and her family on the 27th.  Then we'll have Christmas again!!!!!

A little postscript--David and I have decided to stay in Paris another year (providing we can get our visas extended!!!).  This was a tough decision but one we're excited about as we continue to live our Parisian adventure...language classes are on the horizon!!!!!

TOUCHES OF CHRISTMAS

One of the things I didn't consider when we moved to Paris was the difficulty I would have in finding "just the right thing" to decorate the apartment for holidays, Christmas especially.  And, because we were unsure of the space we would have here, I didn't bring hardly anything from home.  Big mistake. Big!!!!

So, slowly, we have done little touches in the house (aka apartment!!) to give it a sweet Christmas spirit.

It's a cute little tree shining bright!

I previously posted our Christmas trees, but I don't think I had a picture of the tree in our bedroom at that time.  So, here it is!  Actually, I think, as is often the case, I like this tree the best.  Because we've had to decorate our room with white and green (because of the cute little green chair that was here), I decided to decorate our tree with white and gold ornaments.  It could use some green ornaments but it's fine for now.  We put it in front of the window (as you can see), but it's kind of difficult to get the window open to open and close the shutters at night.  Oh, well.  It's a perfect place to do my quiet time...you can just barely see the little green chair!!

I love this scene! We chose a little old couple (on the far left) to represent us!

Our pretty tree fits perfectly in this corner-we had hoped to see if our fireplace worked, but decided for now it's fine unused

Here's our living room tree I posted earlier.  We put our nativity and santon village on the fireplace mantle.  The nativity scene (to the right) was given to us by David's dad before our wedding.  One of his customers had given it to him.  All these Christmases (nearly 45) I have gently put this little creche out..even with my small children.  We have a three-legged sheep now and some slightly chipped noses, but it remains close to my heart,  and I was deliberate in bringing it with us.  As some of you may know, santons became popular during the French Revolution when the government banished anything religious so manger scenes were gone.  People began creating figures of the people in the village to use instead.  Later these figures were added to the creche scene.  David and I bought ours at a little shop here as our gift this year to each other.  Forever it will be a memory of our time in Paris.

Dining room mantle

The dining room mantle has taken some work.  I finally ended up with a pretty simple look.  We bought the candelabra (which I love) at a flea market.  I had it on the table at Thanksgiving,  and it was absolutely lovely lit!  Fresh greenery, red/black checked ribbon (compliments of Nikki in a box she sent earlier!!) and small red poinsettias.

Since I don't have a window view, I love this little area as I do dishes.  It makes me happy!

Nikki sent this hanging basket in a fall box she sent.  It's been wonderful to change out for the season/holiday. Since the tiles in the kitchen are white with red and lime green fruit, I decided to make the most of the colors and filled the basket with fresh greenery, lime green and red shiny small balls, a few berries (fake) and a distressed star to top it off.  Greenery, green balls and pinecones around my calendar (which I love because at least I know the month and date even if I'm never sure what day it is!!!!lol) and a red checked bow on the teapot.  Oh, and a red striped towel (you can barely see it!).  I also have a little artificial tree on top of the microwave.

Here are some other little spots I tried to touch this year...

Old picture of David's grandmother and fresh Christmas greens

Just a touch on a small wall in our teeny tiny toilette

This works this year since I don't have my Christmas dishes😢 but I'm still looking!!!!

I guess that's it for now.  Our calendar is getting pretty busy as the holidays get closer.  We had lunch with friends Friday (they live about an hour or so outside Paris so we had to take the train) that lasted into the evening (and was a blast by the way!!), tonight (Sunday) we've been invited by friends to a small concert by their best friend at his apartment followed by dinner at a restaurant and then this week there are hair appointments (me!!), Bible studies (both of us), and lunch with another couple.  Sometime I have to try and do some holiday baking...

Hope you are enjoying this season, remembering the Reason for it and taking the time to make some memories you'll carry with you for years to come!!!

CHRISTMAS IN PARIS - FINKELSTEIN STYLE!!

We couldn't wait any longer to decorate the apartment!  Everywhere around us looked like Christmas and our apartment (cute as it may be!!) seemed plain and sad.   So....last Friday (I think) we walked to the end of our street where our florist was selling Christmas trees.  Though his flowers are pricey (we think), his trees weren't bad compared to others we'd looked at.  Plus they would be easier to get home!!!!

Price chart-easy to follow!!! Each tree with a different color ribbon!

We had decided to get one larger tree for the living room then two smaller ones for our bedroom and the guest room (for the kids while they're here!).  We could've gotten a really tall tree since our ceilings are so high, but really didn't want to spend that much money plus getting it home could be a problem.  As it was, we picked a really nice tree and he netted it up for us.

All wrapped up and ready to go!

We couldn't get them all home at once, so David took the big one first.  He'd  had this "When Harry Met Sally" Christmas tree moment in his head for days!  His reality was a little easier than Sally's dragging her tree in the snow, but I think ours might have been heavier!  Let's just say David got his strength training in that day!!!

He's smiling now but later he was glad he didn't have farther to go!!!

You may notice they put the trees in a block of wood (actually a tree stump cut in half it looks like) so they can't be watered.  This is one of the reasons we waited to get our tree hoping it will stay presentable til after the holidays.  I am spritzing it with water every day,  and we do keep the apartment cool so, hopefully, it'll be fine.  I wondered what I could cover the bottom with (I have no tree skirt) but, actually, we think it looks good without a skirt.  Very natural!

The smaller trees were easier to carry.  David brought them to the apartment and placed them inside the building, I held the door (a big job!!!lol) then we took them to the apartment via the lift.  I can't even imagine having to drag them up four flights of curving stairs!!!!!

I did get in with the trees!!

The taller tree got the lift to itself (plus us, of course!). Anyway, chosen, paid for and taken home.  Now for the fun part!

Obviously, we have been decorating Christmas trees for 45 years so have accumulated tons of ornaments, most of which at this point have sentimental value to us.  Now don't judge, but I didn't bring any ornaments except for 2-3 because we didn't really know what kind of space we'd have.  Big mistake. Big. We'd been out buying ornaments with our tree themes in mind (we wanted the guest room tree to more kid friendly since Jacob and Jonah will sleep there).  What a job!!  And not a fun one as far as I'm concerned.  All three trees could use more ornaments, and the living room tree could use more large ornaments (we've been out multiple times buying additional ornaments), but, really, they're fine and look nice.  However, I always loved looking at our trees (I've had one in every room for many years) and the memories they evoke in me.  It's okay....this year is Paris!

It's a great tree,  and I love when it's one at night while we watch movies!

The guest room tree is cute in red and white!

I don't have a picture of our tree, but I did it in gold and white since that's what's in our bedroom (with a little green).  We turn it on at night when we go to bed while we're reading....the only problem is I have to get up when we're ready for lights out to turn of the tree lights!!!

Yesterday I did Christmas cards.  In France it is more traditional to send New Year's greetings rather than  Christmas so we had a little trouble finding cards.  Ironically, our cards are English (as in the UK) but here we are in France.  It's all about timing and planning and, obviously, we didn't consider either!!!  It took me all morning, and I listened to Christmas music as I worked.  Music always makes working nicer!!!

David found the wreath-it's a keeper!!

How do you like my funky Christmas centerpiece??!!  I originally was going to get the traditional green wreath and candles then saw this (or something like this) and it "called my name"!!!!  The tablecloth and accessories will change but I liked it for our Paris Christmas!!!

Tomorrow a few more pics of little spots in the apartment...now all I need are some Christmas dishes!!!

CHRISTMAS IN STRASBOURG

Everyone talks and writes about the Christmas markets in many European cities.  Among the oldest of those markets is the one in Strasbourg, France.  So we decided to check it out to get us in the spirit of Christmas...market style!  We only stayed Tuesday-Friday which ended up being long enough to see what we really cared about seeing, shop more than we needed to shop and fill our hearts up to the brim with Christmas spirit!

The train was, as always, a relaxing way to begin the trip.  It took about two hours to get to Strasbourg then they have trams within the city to get you to the City Center.  Our small, quaint hotel, Hotel Guttenberg, was right in the midst of the activity, which was wonderful!  As on other short trips we've taken, my trip advisor (David!!) got us a hotel in the perfect location...a quiet street off all the "action" streets.  We were on the top floor so our hallways and our room had some slanted ceilings which proved interesting for us...we both needed to be shorter people!!!!  We both felt as though we were stooping half the time.  And the bathroom was TINY!!!!  But it was new, clean and nice and met our needs....we weren't there that much except to sleep.

These gals were in the lobby of our hotel!!!

Here's our room and bath..cozy, huh???!!

I'm definitely an out-of-the-window watcher (#thinkrearwindow!!!) so I loved seeing the patio on the bottom picture though I never saw people there.  But what a lovely place to have in an apartment.  Much of the time there was also smoke coming from the chimneys...kind of cozy!!!

I love rooftop pics-see the balcony/patio on the right??

We spent most of our time strolling...we went through the markets multiple times.  At night everything was lit up,  and I felt I'd been dropped at the North Pole or in a Hallmark Christmas movie!!!  I've never been anywhere where so many of the businesses were decorated...and decorated very elaborately.  It was a magical place!!

All the lights were phenomenal and gorgeous!!

We found the markets to be pretty much the same once you'd made the rounds.  There were many stalls of various kinds of foods,  many stalls of ornaments and vin Chaud (hot spiced wine!) was everywhere!!  We were hoping to find some unusual Christmas items, but most were trinket-like, craft-like or just things we weren't interested in.  That said, we strolled through the markets many times because the atmosphere was so wonderful.

One thing we also really liked was a street brocante on Wednesday.  There were quite a few separate stalls with people selling old, vintage goodies.  I really love this!  I didn't find any real treasures, but I did snag some vintage ornaments and some old skeleton keys.  From there we strolled on and found some antique stores (another fav of mine and even David's) where we picked up a few more vintage ornaments.  Along the way, we window shopped (I found a Christmas throw pillow I later went back and bought!!!!), admired outside window decorations, and had lunch at various cute places.

Perfect weather for strolling

Loved this antique store and went in several times!  I just needed more money!!!!!

I loved these windows!  There are chairs hanging from the windows!!!

A cute little cafe where we ate lunch outside-a croquet monsieur and hot chocolate!

There were many churches around the city but, unfortunately, most weren't open to the public. I was frustrated by that since most of the churches in Paris are open and we, as you know, frequently (almost always) go in and enjoy the quiet.  There were two, however, we were able to visit.  One was a church that houses both Protestant and Catholic worshippers.  There are two distinct entrances at L'eglise Saint-Pierre-le-Vieux, one for Catholic services and one for Protestant.  Sadly, the Protestant community has become so small they no longer meet here so that side of the facility is used for concerts, seminars etc.  We were able to speak to the young woman who helps manage the scheduling for those events.

This is the Protestant side-beautiful, old architecture-sad it's not used for worship

The Catholic side is still used for worship and we were able to walk in and see where they worship.

The Catholic side-beautiful and serene

This same evening we took a boat ride around the city.  The boat was covered so the cold weather wasn't prohibitive,  and it was a relaxing break from all the walking!!  They had an audio in various languages so it was very interesting to hear about places we'd already seen (and even been into like churches) or go past places we had walked past and learn more details.

We tried to see the inside of this church the next day-not open!!

This was a huge tree we walked by during the day then later saw on the boat ride

In the center of the market area was a huge, beautiful church, Cathedral Notre Dame de Strasbourg.  It had this towering steeple that lit up at night and it seemed a quiet refuge in the midst of all the brightly colored markets and the noise of all the crowds.

Cathedral Notre Dame de Strasbourg

I loved the hanging Advent wreath

We finally got a chance to go in after reading about a creche scene they have each year.  It was wonderful!  It had been set up on one side of the sanctuary and walked you through the Nativity story from Gabriel coming to Mary to Jesus being presented at the temple.

Here's Mary getting the news

Mary greeting Elizabeth

In Bethlehem and the shepherds

The visit by the wisemen-interesting baby Jesus is a toddler which is more accurate than the wisemen coming to Bethlehem at His birth

Simeon sees Jesus and blesses God - Luke 2:25-35

Surprisingly, or not, people seemed to have a reverence as they passed these scenes.  Maybe, like me, they felt the reality of Christmas and the birth of Jesus.  Or is that my "Hallmark" mindset???!!

Following a Dublin-pub dinner (a much too-young crowd for us, but fun and good food!!), we strolled the dark, Christmas lit streets as we had each night.  It was probably my favorite time of day because it was peaceful, the lights were beautiful and it was a nice time to reflect on the day.

Would I care to return to Strasbourg some other time??  Probably not.  But it was a fun few days,  and I'm glad we were able to visit this city that becomes so magical at Christmas.   Then it was home...and Christmas in Paris!!!!