Deck the Halls

Things are looking pretty Christmasy around here, despite the fact that the weather's been on the mild side. Parisians don't have front yards to decorate but the shopkeepers and restauranteurs really go all out.


Flocked Christmas trees for sale at the florist. Several of these white trees were already marked "vendu."


Go traditional or modern with your wreath.


This may look like a jewelry shop but it's actually a chocolatier. Chocolate is serious business.


No such thing as too many bows.


This is my favorite..classic, festive, nothing crazy or overdone.


The city of Paris goes all out on the Champs-Élysées. I don't care much for the banners that let you know the whole deal is brought to you by MasterCard but I dig these colored balls in the water around the Rond Point.


The menu at one of the stalls in the marché along the Champs-Élysées. No one said that Christmas was a good time to eat healthy. Add a few sausages, tartiflette, and some churros and you've got yourself a meal or a massive stomachache. Street food is street food.


Even the dudes who live on the street are getting into the spirit.

If you want to see what the windows look like at Galeries Lafayette and Printemps, head over to Eye Prefer Paris or Peter's Paris. Between the crowds and the reflection on the glass, my own pictures were less than satisfactory. Frankly though, I think there's something profoundly unsettling about the little gingerbread men scampering among the mannequins in their underwear. It makes me wonder what would have happened if the principal character of "Can't Catch Me, I'm the Gingerbread Man," had a chance encounter with Kurt Weill. But maybe it's just the Puritanical American in me talking.