Deck the halls and visions of sugar plums
It's December again. Getting close to the time for decking the halls and trimming the trees. I love christmas, and ordinarily the time leading up to it. I hum christmas carols at my desk while I'm working. Christmas shopping is not a trifling matter as not only do I like to spend time finding something people will love, but I also spend time on finding the right wrapping. Matching paper and ribbons and gift tags... I actually love wrapping gifts, and usually end up wrapping them for a friend of mine as well. I love all the lights everywhere. The Champs Elysées are brightly lit, and the big department stores try to outdo eachother. (Le Printemps has horrible decorations, but Galeries Lafayette's are pretty good)
Today I opened the first little gift in my advent calendar. My mother always makes advent calendars for my sister, my stepsisters and myself, even though the youngest of the four of us is 27, and the oldest a decade older than that. It's a sweet tradition though, and it's fun to have a little present to open each morning. Today there was a pack of christmas Kleenex. I don't know how she manages to think of 24 little gifts every year, but the four of us who benefit from it love it. Makes us feel like kids again, and that's always a good thing.
Tradition is important when it comes to christmas. Every year we eat the same thing on christmas eve, see the same people, the same programs are on TV, my sister and I go to the cemetary to light candles for my grandparents... I miss my grandparents all the time, but especially around christmas.
I tried to do some christmas shopping a couple of days ago. Galeries Lafayette had a special 'sale' for customers of a particular credit card. I ended up getting one gift out of a list of around 20, but I got a couple of things for myself. Not the plan at all. Somehow I fell in love with a coat, and decided I couldn't live without it, and then the top had the coolest sparkly buttons... there's no way I could have just walked away from that. Plan or no plan. I should have looked around for more gifts, but the store just got too crowded and I gave up on the whole project. I'm giving it another try today in a different store though, and I've made the list of what to look for, so hopefully I'll have better luck today.
Every year I usually go to London before christmas for a weekend to see friends and shop. (This year will be no different, but with less shopping) In a particular store they have a charity project that I participate in, where you buy anonymous gifts for kids. You pick a little heart from a christmas tree and you go choose gifts for the child whose name and age is on the heart. Sometimes it has a little hint as to what the child would like, sometimes it doesn't. I've tried to find something similar here in Paris, but I haven't found anything, so I'll buy presents for kids in London instead. I wish I could say the absence of such a project meant no chlidren in France needed gifts from strangers, but somehow I doubt that to be the case.
I'm going to Norway for christmas as usual, and this year I think i'm looking forward to it even more than usual. It'll be good to see the family and some friends, relax and spend time together. My family isn't very religious. Personally I don't believe that Jesus was god's son, and I think the bible is a collection of stories written by men and then translated and interpreted by other men, and have very little to do with what really happened. So to me, and most of my family, christmas is an occasion to spend time together, to relax, eat well, and just enjoy time in eachother's company. All in all, not bad reasons to celebrate christmas.
(Dec 1, 2005)
Today I opened the first little gift in my advent calendar. My mother always makes advent calendars for my sister, my stepsisters and myself, even though the youngest of the four of us is 27, and the oldest a decade older than that. It's a sweet tradition though, and it's fun to have a little present to open each morning. Today there was a pack of christmas Kleenex. I don't know how she manages to think of 24 little gifts every year, but the four of us who benefit from it love it. Makes us feel like kids again, and that's always a good thing.
Tradition is important when it comes to christmas. Every year we eat the same thing on christmas eve, see the same people, the same programs are on TV, my sister and I go to the cemetary to light candles for my grandparents... I miss my grandparents all the time, but especially around christmas.
I tried to do some christmas shopping a couple of days ago. Galeries Lafayette had a special 'sale' for customers of a particular credit card. I ended up getting one gift out of a list of around 20, but I got a couple of things for myself. Not the plan at all. Somehow I fell in love with a coat, and decided I couldn't live without it, and then the top had the coolest sparkly buttons... there's no way I could have just walked away from that. Plan or no plan. I should have looked around for more gifts, but the store just got too crowded and I gave up on the whole project. I'm giving it another try today in a different store though, and I've made the list of what to look for, so hopefully I'll have better luck today.
Every year I usually go to London before christmas for a weekend to see friends and shop. (This year will be no different, but with less shopping) In a particular store they have a charity project that I participate in, where you buy anonymous gifts for kids. You pick a little heart from a christmas tree and you go choose gifts for the child whose name and age is on the heart. Sometimes it has a little hint as to what the child would like, sometimes it doesn't. I've tried to find something similar here in Paris, but I haven't found anything, so I'll buy presents for kids in London instead. I wish I could say the absence of such a project meant no chlidren in France needed gifts from strangers, but somehow I doubt that to be the case.
I'm going to Norway for christmas as usual, and this year I think i'm looking forward to it even more than usual. It'll be good to see the family and some friends, relax and spend time together. My family isn't very religious. Personally I don't believe that Jesus was god's son, and I think the bible is a collection of stories written by men and then translated and interpreted by other men, and have very little to do with what really happened. So to me, and most of my family, christmas is an occasion to spend time together, to relax, eat well, and just enjoy time in eachother's company. All in all, not bad reasons to celebrate christmas.
(Dec 1, 2005)
posted by Annette at 7:31 PM
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