Trimming the Tree

I noticed that a number of the other English speaking Paris bloggers have been gushing about Christmas decorations so I'll spare you the duplicate post. (If you're interested, take a look at some of the shots posted by Pearl and Eye Prefer Paris.) Everything's definitely all a-twinkle here with lots of trimming around shop doors and windows. And in most neighborhoods, lights in different decorative shapes and greetings span the thoroughfares. For the most part, the decorations are all quite low-key, noncommercial, and dominated by displays of greenery and other natural materials, ribbons, and glass balls.

If you're in the market for a tree here in Paris, you won't find any dedicated Christmas tree lots. Instead, your neighborhood florist shop is the place to go and there are usually half a dozen on the sidewalk, still in their netting, trunk pierced into a log, like the ones pictured below.



But there also seems to be a pretty big market for flocked trees, not just in white, but also blue, red, orange, and other crazy colors not found in nature. I even saw a black one the other day, trimmed with pink ribbons. (When I went back with my camera this afternoon, regrettably it was gone so you'll just have to take my word for it.) These must be considered chic because the high-end shops are thick with them. Personally, I don't know what it is about these trees that give me the creeps; I guess it's that the texture puts me in mind of the sofas you sometimes see sitting out at the curb, worn out from use and only getting worse from exposure to the elements.



The tree below, erected outside the fire station in the Marais, gets the prize for most excessive use of garlands. It kind of makes you wonder whether the pompiers had had a few before getting busy with the decorating.