I just can’t get into Christmas anymore. I have no Christmas spirit and, to top it all, I don’t have that gene needed for arts and crafts and decorating. Last year I put out some candles and I bought a poinsettia and that was it. I stopped decorating for Christmas when I got divorced from my first husband years ago. It broke my heart to decorate a tree and I think all of the decorations were left with him to boot. Just hearing a Christmas carol sent me into depression so I decided to not do anything. My daughter still lived at home the first year and finally I decided I had to do something for her and put up a half hearted tree for her. I even went to Las Vegas one Christmas -surely the least Christmasy place one can visit, at least in my mind.
Of course, time passes, hearts heal, spirits lighten and, to my surprise, I found Maurice. This year Maurice wanted a Christmas tree, a real one, so I decided I should shelve my inner Scrooge for him. They cost alot here in Paris but we managed to find a nice one at a food market for only 15 Euros. I bought inexpensive decorations at Monoprix and put them on the tree and, voila, Christmas.

Then I looked out my bedroom window and there across the street is someone, not even an American, who really got into the Christmas spirit. She decorated the outside of her windows that she can’t even see from the inside, except from the back and I imagine that few people can even see them from below. I’m impressed.

A nice type of leftover from the past-a hat box for one of those fancy top hats that men once wore.

By leftovers, I don’t mean food. I do have some food not eaten here and there and I often end up throwing it away when we don’t get to it soon enough. I try not to over cook since there are just two of us although it is nice to have something left over for a light lunch.
Anyway, I digress.

The inside of an old trunk, back in the days when you used trunks to travel. God bless the person who thought of putting wheels on suitcases.

No, the type of leftovers I am talking about is what is left from selling our twin beds. We are down to one bedroom now and one bed. When the people came to pickup the beds I was going to offer to sale the duvets, duvet covers, sheets, pillows and dust ruffles. Maurice wouldn’t hear of it. He thought we could use them in Provence. So now we have them all stuffed in a closet or armoir and I’m pretty sure they will never make it down to our place in Provence. They don’t even go with the color scheme there, such as it is. And now, we have eight pillows on our bed where we only had four before. I’ve seen photos of really neat beds with wonderful pillows all color coordinated piled on beds but I’m not too happy with the results on our bed. I am going to keep on eye out for some neat pillow cases. Maybe I can find something at a brocante.

I saw this at a brocante recently. I’d love to get it for one of my grandkids for Christmas.

http://www.sideroadsofeurope.blogspot.com/

The apartment renovation really went smoothly looking back on it. They finished on time, cleaned up their mess, were pleasant to deal with and didn’t go bankrupt, always a plus. They even cleaned my windows, something which will always brighten my day.

I haven’t taken an photos because we’ve run into a bit of a snag. It involves the TV/bookcase unit that we bought at IKEA. We didn’t think of looking at how the display we saw was put together when we purchased it so, after we put all of the individual components together, we discovered that a heavy middle section was only going to hang in space with the four little screws given us to attach to the bookshelves on either side. I could see it could all come crashing down on top of the TV. Maurice called the helpful guys there and they said it all had to be bolted into the wall. Sigh.
I dearly love Maurice and he has many wonderful qualities but carpentry isn’t one of them. I’ve seen his handywork up close and personal in our place in Provence. I went to the hardware store with him and I could tell he wanted to get some god awful, huge metal bracket things to hold up the middle section. I don’t want to see metal bits sticking out here and there. So, right now, the unit is sitting there in its individual pieces while we decide what to do. Another problem is than it doesn’t fit flush up against the wall because of the floor boards and Maurice wants to saw out parts of the book case at the base so it will. I see trouble ahead. Plus, he thinks I can hold the middle section up-it weighs a good 75 pounds-while he bolts it to the wall. I’d like to hire a carpenter type person to do this but Maurice wants to do it himself. I wonder if IKEA would come pick up the whole thing and take it back?
So, instead of photos of our finished apartment, I posted photos of this intriguing covering of a building that is undergoing renovation. It is near the George V hotel, a very posh area, so they can’t just throw up any old ratty thing to cover it but put up something that must have cost a lot of money. Just up the street is Louis Vuitton which, while they were renovating, had a giant suitcase covering that unsightly renovation work.

(my new blog)

It has been rainy here in Paris and sometimes when I am trudging along the wet sidewalks and the toes of my socks are wet-I discover that my shoes aren’t waterproof-and, even though the temperatures are in the 50’s, I start to feel a little chilled because there is a wind-then I start dreaming of a few ways to cheer myself up.

I was in the Marais neighborhood and the thought of some Christmas tea sounded good. Why not treat myself? I went in the warm little store right there on rue Bourg Tibourg, filled with the scents of teas mingling in the air and bought a little sack of their Christmas tea. It has cinnamon and orange peel in it and a cup of a tea with this flavor is always guaranteed to brighten your day. They handed me my little paper sack and, darn, if they didn’t put a little raincoat over it so my sack wouldn’t get wet.

See the little raincoat?

My sac of Christmas Tea

A closeup of their label.

I had to run into the grocery store before coming home and as I was checking out I saw something only available at Christmas and Easter around Paris. It is candy, not the handmade, expensive, exclusive candy for sale in marvelous shops around Paris, but the packaged stuff. Still, I love it. I love the chocolate covered cherries that used to be available in the States-I think they stopped making it. This is called Mon Cheri and along with a cherry inside, there is also some cherry liquor. My, is it good. So I bought a package of five pieces and ate it in ten minutes. At least I didn’t buy a package of twenty.

Side Roads of Europe

The George V is one of the most luxurious hotels in Paris, if not the world. I always like to drop in when I happen to be in the area and look at the flower displays ever since I met the floral designer, an American, a few years ago. At the time he got one million Euros a year just to buy the flowers so, as you might imagine, they are really spectacular. I stopped by the other day to see what the displays would be now that Christmas is coming. I was a little disappointed as it is all purple, trees, and neon lights but I have to admit that it was striking.

Here is one of two trees in the entry lobby

The chandelier got a nice purple hue

There are some interesting reflections in the Christmas balls too.

Side Roads of Europe

The sun was coming down from skies of blue-perfect for taking a look around the Bastille area.

The leaves are almost all down from the trees now

Rue Lappe near Place Bastille-it used to be a place with a very bad reputation. It is mostly filled with places to eat or listen to music now.

The angel at the top of the column is shining brightly.

A nearby boulanger with the angel again but he is holding a baguette and a little bag filled with some French pastry.

Side Roads of Europe