The Feast of Saint Nicholas

Yesterday was the Feast of Saint Nicholas. We braved the Parisian rush hour to head to the Champs Elysee. There, between the Louis Vuitton, Chanel, and other high end stores was a small tourist office for the Alsace region. This is where will be heading to on Sunday and is considered to be the magical place to celebrate Christmas in France.

A children's choir had trained in from Straussbourg that morning. While they were singing, St. Nicholas arrived with hot chocolate and gingerbread cookies bearing his image. He made a fantastic job of making sure that every child in the crowd received their sweet treats from him. The girls really enjoyed it, although unfortunately Maria was a little surprised that he looked more like a bishop than like Santa Claus. (Apparently the Veggie Tales movie about St. Nick didn't clear that up for her as she though St. Nick would look like a carrot.) Amazingly, the crowd wasn't too crazy and nothing about it was commercial- just perfect for starting off the Christmas season!

While there, Mark made a horribly funny remark. Our gym back in Colorado is a wonderful, cushy, over-the-top place. While we love the gym, we don't always appreciate the other patrons. Usually conversations sound like a "snob-off". Mark said, "I think you can now have something to beat everyone else's snobby stories- just tell them you took your kids to see St. Nick on the Champs Elysee." Maybe, we'll keep most of that story to ourselves when we get home.
After Saint Nicholas, we went over to the major department stores Printemps and Galleries Lafayette for their over the top Christmas decorations. Printemps had store windows with puppets who were supposed to represent various parts of the world. It was tres-Parisian. I don't think our American, style-lacking, minds could comprehend just how any of it had to do with Christmas (little Karl Lagerfelds, Harajuku girls and American airline stewardesses), but it was a lot of fun to see.