Showing posts with label Christmas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Christmas. Show all posts
Sunday, December 25, 2011
Saturday, December 24, 2011
Sunday, December 18, 2011
Friday, December 16, 2011
Sunday, December 04, 2011
Saturday, December 03, 2011
The tree has arrived!
We rearranged the living room furniture starting last Wednesday to make room for the incoming Christmas tree. As usual, we picked on out by height (10.5' tall) but forgot to measure around. Oh well, no one needs to get into the living room anyway.
Friday, December 02, 2011
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Christmas Creeping
Recently there was a flurry of people posting this sign from the entryway of a Nordstrom store,
Bravo! Way to go! Good for them! Or as I said, "Poor things."
You see, in a former life, I was a Christmas Elf. Not the kind that stands next to Santa and places your screaming child on his lap. No, I was a display person at Nordstrom.
It was my dream job and I was thrilled to get it. I started in the summer and had no idea of what was coming my way in November. My first job was at a "mini-Nordstrom" in my home town. A scaled down version called Place Two, that was basically Cosmetics, Men's and Ladies Shoes, Brass Plum and Brass Rail with a few other clothing items thrown in to round out the mix. It was one floor.
My first Christmas trim began in October. Aisle Units (those things that hang over the aisle) and column wraps were built, fluffed, and then stuck out of the way to wait their turn to go up. The funny part of "out of the way" at Nordstrom nearing Christmas is there is no "out of the way". Every single stockroom and floor space is packed with back stock merchandise for the holiday sales event of the decade.
When we received our wreaths thee was nowhere for them to go, we placed some in the personal office and some in the store manager's office. No space was safe from display.
The windows get a transfer on the outside of the glass and we were allowed to close them the week of Thanksgiving. This way we could spend all day Monday and Tuesday installing our two windows, leave them covered on Wednesday and then reveal them late Wednesday night in time for Thanksgiving reveal. How lucky we were to only have two windows. Imagine having a store with 12 windows (oh yes, that was my life later).
On to the main event. On Wednesday while most people are scurrying around to get their Thanksgiving dinner supplies in order, we slept in until eleven. The visual staff arrives at the store between Noon and three. At 5:00 there is an announcement that Nordstrom wishes you all a Happy Thanksgiving and reminder that we will be closing tonight at 6 pm to prepare for the upcoming holidays, we will reopen at 8 am on Friday for your shopping convenience.
Take a deep breath. ALL HELL IS ABOUT TO BE SET LOOSE.
That 5 pm announcement is the foil ripped off the champagne bottle. Every single department in the store has not been able to show a single Christmas item yet. They are all in the back stockrooms along with signs and pressed holiday table cloths (courtesy of the display team). 5 pm means they can start cheating those totes out. 5 pm means that display can start lining items up behind the doors.
5:30 pm, the early closing announcement is repeated. Basically the cage is off the champagne bottle top. Its unpredictable now. Anyone could just loosen that cork and POP, pandemonium! But no.... the store manager is there. He is walking around reminding people that we are still open. Customers first. No totes on the floor.
The problem is, every single employee in the store is stuck there until their floor has been re-set for Friday morning. No one can leave until released by the store manager. Some will be there until 8 pm. Some until 10 pm. If you are leaving town for Thanksgiving, too bad. If people are counting on you to cook tomorrow, no prep time for you tonight. And that is the pact with the devil that you make when you beg for a job in retail for minimum wage plus commission.
6 pm, "Ladies and gentlemen, Nordstrom is now closed. Please join us on Friday when we reopen at 8 am. Thank you."
POP! That cork is OFF! Everyone breaks into a run for the stockroom doors. Rolling racks, totes, and here comes display with EVERYTHING THEY CAN MOVE ON WHEELS. I'd call it controlled chaos, but let's be honest, there is very little control.
And there we were. Two display people and an additional 10 we had recruited from friends and co-workers. We would work from noon that day until 6 am the following morning. Windows revealed, cosmetic ledges filled (that's the space inside the cosmetic islands), wreaths up, column units up, aisle units up... then down, then up... Everything is pre-prepared to look it's best but has now been sitting for anywhere from a week to a month in storage somewhere. Now it has to be fluffed again. Last minute trim items added. Everything is wired to the display so it can't fall off. Every power cord hidden in the ceiling, painted out to match, timers attached to make the lights go on and off on schedule.
The loading bay doorbell rings, "Live tree delivery!" The 12' "live" tree has been painted over with a hearty dark green (probably lead based) non-flammable paint. The certificate will need to be kept on file in the office and it will be checked by the fire department. Since the tree couldn't arrive early, it is not lit nor decorated. That will take 2 people the entire evening.
At midnight we take a break. The last of the sales floor staff left about 11 pm. Now it's just the die-hard visual crew. We wash our hands (they are FILTHY) and eat a late dinner of sandwiches. No one is allowed to order turkey for fear of it making them sleepy. Caffeinated sodas abound.
Back to work by 12:30. Everything hurts. Up the ladder, down the ladder. My boss was brilliant when she told me to bring a second pair of shoes for the night. I change and feel like I have brand new feet on, for about an hour.
As tasks are completed, we send people home. The 12' tree is finished around 1:30, that crew goes home. By about 2 am there's only 4 people left. We open the mall door and go out into the corridor and scrape off the "At Nordstrom... we won't be decking our halls until Friday..." sticker on the window. On Friday, HA! It's Wednesday... no wait, now it's Thursday, oh Happy Thanksgiving... not.
The windows are revealed, and adjusted. We stand outside the front door and look over the store as the customers will see it first thing at 8 am on Friday morning.
"Cord hanging funny on 2nd column wrap."
"2nd Aisle unit is crooked."
"I can see the timer on the wreath in customer service."
It's 4 am and we are all tired, but its fix it now or come back at 4 am on Friday morning to fix it then. Of course we opt for now. We drag the ladders up to the 2nd aisle unit to adjust it and as we touch it, the aircraft cable that is holding it into the ceiling snaps and the entire unit swings down from one end of the sky, brushes past my ear and smashes into the glass cosmetic counter BAM!
The glass case is surprisingly alright. The aisle unit is broken. Repairable, but not tonight. Now it must come completely down. We examine how the aircraft cable was able to break and discover that the installation into the ceiling may be faulty and then have a debate about whether any of the aisle units can stay up in the ceiling because aren't they all just waiting to come crashing down onto the floor? And what if they do that while the store is open? And after much discussion, as we were just about to call it a night, the ladders come out and all the aisle units come down and go into the back for storage. Later that week a construction crew would come in during the night, reinforce those aircraft cable and we would hang the units again.
We left the store at 6 am. The sun wasn't up but the sky was getting lighter. Everyone says, "You okay to drive?" and we all promise to drive very carefully. I get home, slightly wired from all the sugar and soda, but need to "sleep fast" because Thanksgiving dinner will be at 1:00. I leave a note, "DO NOT WAKE ME UP. EVER!" for my family and go to bed.
And this became my life for 8 years. I do not remember any Thanksgiving dinners. I've attended them, but have no recollection. I became a visual manager or a Nordstrom that was 3 floors, with 6 windows and a set up crew of 100. We still left there at 6 am on Thanksgiving.
Each display person has their own horror story. The 6 foot fiberglass ornaments that fell from the atrium to the first floor, the holiday carpets that were glued down with carpet tape that would never come off the marble, the window lights that short circuited and knocked the power out to the whole store...
And then there is that smug little sign "At Nordstrom... we won't be decking our halls..." and all I can see after that is "...because we don't believe our visual department deserves a Thanksgiving."
Bravo! Way to go! Good for them! Or as I said, "Poor things."You see, in a former life, I was a Christmas Elf. Not the kind that stands next to Santa and places your screaming child on his lap. No, I was a display person at Nordstrom.
It was my dream job and I was thrilled to get it. I started in the summer and had no idea of what was coming my way in November. My first job was at a "mini-Nordstrom" in my home town. A scaled down version called Place Two, that was basically Cosmetics, Men's and Ladies Shoes, Brass Plum and Brass Rail with a few other clothing items thrown in to round out the mix. It was one floor.
My first Christmas trim began in October. Aisle Units (those things that hang over the aisle) and column wraps were built, fluffed, and then stuck out of the way to wait their turn to go up. The funny part of "out of the way" at Nordstrom nearing Christmas is there is no "out of the way". Every single stockroom and floor space is packed with back stock merchandise for the holiday sales event of the decade.
When we received our wreaths thee was nowhere for them to go, we placed some in the personal office and some in the store manager's office. No space was safe from display.
The windows get a transfer on the outside of the glass and we were allowed to close them the week of Thanksgiving. This way we could spend all day Monday and Tuesday installing our two windows, leave them covered on Wednesday and then reveal them late Wednesday night in time for Thanksgiving reveal. How lucky we were to only have two windows. Imagine having a store with 12 windows (oh yes, that was my life later).
On to the main event. On Wednesday while most people are scurrying around to get their Thanksgiving dinner supplies in order, we slept in until eleven. The visual staff arrives at the store between Noon and three. At 5:00 there is an announcement that Nordstrom wishes you all a Happy Thanksgiving and reminder that we will be closing tonight at 6 pm to prepare for the upcoming holidays, we will reopen at 8 am on Friday for your shopping convenience.
Take a deep breath. ALL HELL IS ABOUT TO BE SET LOOSE.
That 5 pm announcement is the foil ripped off the champagne bottle. Every single department in the store has not been able to show a single Christmas item yet. They are all in the back stockrooms along with signs and pressed holiday table cloths (courtesy of the display team). 5 pm means they can start cheating those totes out. 5 pm means that display can start lining items up behind the doors.
5:30 pm, the early closing announcement is repeated. Basically the cage is off the champagne bottle top. Its unpredictable now. Anyone could just loosen that cork and POP, pandemonium! But no.... the store manager is there. He is walking around reminding people that we are still open. Customers first. No totes on the floor.
The problem is, every single employee in the store is stuck there until their floor has been re-set for Friday morning. No one can leave until released by the store manager. Some will be there until 8 pm. Some until 10 pm. If you are leaving town for Thanksgiving, too bad. If people are counting on you to cook tomorrow, no prep time for you tonight. And that is the pact with the devil that you make when you beg for a job in retail for minimum wage plus commission.
6 pm, "Ladies and gentlemen, Nordstrom is now closed. Please join us on Friday when we reopen at 8 am. Thank you."
POP! That cork is OFF! Everyone breaks into a run for the stockroom doors. Rolling racks, totes, and here comes display with EVERYTHING THEY CAN MOVE ON WHEELS. I'd call it controlled chaos, but let's be honest, there is very little control.
And there we were. Two display people and an additional 10 we had recruited from friends and co-workers. We would work from noon that day until 6 am the following morning. Windows revealed, cosmetic ledges filled (that's the space inside the cosmetic islands), wreaths up, column units up, aisle units up... then down, then up... Everything is pre-prepared to look it's best but has now been sitting for anywhere from a week to a month in storage somewhere. Now it has to be fluffed again. Last minute trim items added. Everything is wired to the display so it can't fall off. Every power cord hidden in the ceiling, painted out to match, timers attached to make the lights go on and off on schedule.
The loading bay doorbell rings, "Live tree delivery!" The 12' "live" tree has been painted over with a hearty dark green (probably lead based) non-flammable paint. The certificate will need to be kept on file in the office and it will be checked by the fire department. Since the tree couldn't arrive early, it is not lit nor decorated. That will take 2 people the entire evening.
At midnight we take a break. The last of the sales floor staff left about 11 pm. Now it's just the die-hard visual crew. We wash our hands (they are FILTHY) and eat a late dinner of sandwiches. No one is allowed to order turkey for fear of it making them sleepy. Caffeinated sodas abound.
Back to work by 12:30. Everything hurts. Up the ladder, down the ladder. My boss was brilliant when she told me to bring a second pair of shoes for the night. I change and feel like I have brand new feet on, for about an hour.
As tasks are completed, we send people home. The 12' tree is finished around 1:30, that crew goes home. By about 2 am there's only 4 people left. We open the mall door and go out into the corridor and scrape off the "At Nordstrom... we won't be decking our halls until Friday..." sticker on the window. On Friday, HA! It's Wednesday... no wait, now it's Thursday, oh Happy Thanksgiving... not.
The windows are revealed, and adjusted. We stand outside the front door and look over the store as the customers will see it first thing at 8 am on Friday morning.
"Cord hanging funny on 2nd column wrap."
"2nd Aisle unit is crooked."
"I can see the timer on the wreath in customer service."
It's 4 am and we are all tired, but its fix it now or come back at 4 am on Friday morning to fix it then. Of course we opt for now. We drag the ladders up to the 2nd aisle unit to adjust it and as we touch it, the aircraft cable that is holding it into the ceiling snaps and the entire unit swings down from one end of the sky, brushes past my ear and smashes into the glass cosmetic counter BAM!
The glass case is surprisingly alright. The aisle unit is broken. Repairable, but not tonight. Now it must come completely down. We examine how the aircraft cable was able to break and discover that the installation into the ceiling may be faulty and then have a debate about whether any of the aisle units can stay up in the ceiling because aren't they all just waiting to come crashing down onto the floor? And what if they do that while the store is open? And after much discussion, as we were just about to call it a night, the ladders come out and all the aisle units come down and go into the back for storage. Later that week a construction crew would come in during the night, reinforce those aircraft cable and we would hang the units again.
We left the store at 6 am. The sun wasn't up but the sky was getting lighter. Everyone says, "You okay to drive?" and we all promise to drive very carefully. I get home, slightly wired from all the sugar and soda, but need to "sleep fast" because Thanksgiving dinner will be at 1:00. I leave a note, "DO NOT WAKE ME UP. EVER!" for my family and go to bed.
And this became my life for 8 years. I do not remember any Thanksgiving dinners. I've attended them, but have no recollection. I became a visual manager or a Nordstrom that was 3 floors, with 6 windows and a set up crew of 100. We still left there at 6 am on Thanksgiving.
Each display person has their own horror story. The 6 foot fiberglass ornaments that fell from the atrium to the first floor, the holiday carpets that were glued down with carpet tape that would never come off the marble, the window lights that short circuited and knocked the power out to the whole store...
And then there is that smug little sign "At Nordstrom... we won't be decking our halls..." and all I can see after that is "...because we don't believe our visual department deserves a Thanksgiving."
Saturday, December 25, 2010
Merry Christmas
Every year I try to write a funny little somethingSum up the year in rhyming tome, a talent that ain’t nothing
This year is a kicker, cause I don’t feel the spirit
But drag your holiday all down? Oh, I couldn’t bear it
It’s a blur! It’s a curse! It’s a bird! It’s a plane!
Look! Up in the sky!
The highs and lows came fast and faster!
From “jump for joy”, to “I could cry.”
Jim went to Vancouver and caught Olympic Fever
Lyle was left at home with dogs, glued to TV receiver
Then sad news, Jim’s Uncle Ed passed away this Spring
Family support gathered round, so tough but strengthening
On the home front, the back of our house, sprung a nasty leak
The roof gave way, the water came and things were looking bleak
Then came construction or more correct, then came tearing down
Months went by but finally bed, bath and closet are spiffy town.
Summer arrived with our house was tore up, so we headed East
Palm Springs every weekend, tanning never ceased
Friends and family came and visited, we enjoyed each one
Who will visit next year? Oh I could use some fun!
Summer in Grande Prairie, we caught up with great friends
Don’t ask about “the meat fight”, this group’s party never ends
We bought a cute convertible, her name is “Mrs. B”
White and tan with just two seats, she’s vintage Mercedes.
But summer ends and Fall arrives and the cycles do remind us
That time is fleeting, love of friends and family is what binds us
Our precious Lola passed away, she brought us so much joy
Our hearts are broke but on the mend, now Cooper’s our single boy.
Life continues on its course and travel lies ahead
Paris this December, then perhaps skiing or a sled?
We’re living our lives, we’re forging ahead where does time disappear?
Merry Christmas one and all, have a happy New Year!
Friday, December 24, 2010
Paris Christmas WIndows, Printemps
Printemps sits next to Galleries Lafayette. Galleries Lafayette runs for two blocks with a satellite "maison" store across the street from it. Printemps runs for two blocks with their men's store filling another block just behind it. To walk for four blocks of amazing window after amazing window is one of the most overwhelming things to see. Clearly at Christmastime, these two store try to outdo each other and for my money, Printemps wins this year. (click on any image to enlarge, and honestly, you really should see some of these LARGER.)
Exterior of Printemps by day.
Exterior of Printemps by night.
Under the awnings.
Okay, so you're not really wowed yet. I totally agree. Galleries Lafayette won on the lighting and under the awning portion. But the windows, oh the windows!
You have no idea how difficult it is to get great window shots at night. To not get reflection of the stores across the street. And particularly at this time of year, to not get a thousand people in front of the window. I did my best. I grabbed my shots in a hurry. A few may be blurry. I could never get far enough back to get in the entire window. Lucky for me, I am tall and just held my camera over my head and shot over people.
This window was animated with puppets.
This window was also animated with puppets.
Printemps also did Chanel windows.
SERIOUSLY, I NEED ONE OF THESE COCO DOLLS!
It's really in the details. Here's this mannequin just sitting over here on the far left in a pile of hay. In the most amazing outfit.
The Drama, starts, here.
I pieced this window together to show you the breadth of the windows. Each and every inch of it in its glory.
Check out the shoes.
Exterior of Printemps by day.
Exterior of Printemps by night.
Under the awnings.Okay, so you're not really wowed yet. I totally agree. Galleries Lafayette won on the lighting and under the awning portion. But the windows, oh the windows!
You have no idea how difficult it is to get great window shots at night. To not get reflection of the stores across the street. And particularly at this time of year, to not get a thousand people in front of the window. I did my best. I grabbed my shots in a hurry. A few may be blurry. I could never get far enough back to get in the entire window. Lucky for me, I am tall and just held my camera over my head and shot over people.
This window was animated with puppets.
This window was also animated with puppets.
Printemps also did Chanel windows.
SERIOUSLY, I NEED ONE OF THESE COCO DOLLS!
It's really in the details. Here's this mannequin just sitting over here on the far left in a pile of hay. In the most amazing outfit.
The Drama, starts, here.
I pieced this window together to show you the breadth of the windows. Each and every inch of it in its glory.
Check out the shoes.Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Paris Christmas Windows, Galeries Lafayette
Galleries Lafayette is another large department store. And by large, I mean it takes more than one city block. (Click on any image to enlarge)
The lights on the front of the building looked like stained glass and they did a whole show. Which, as I stood and tried to capture with my video camera, is exactly when they stopped.It was cold. I had to move forward.
Under the awnings, they have hung numerous chandeliers made of Christmas lights. Each window has a raised platform for small children to stand on so they may better see the windows. In between each window is some sort of street vendor. So that as you walk by, you must go in for the window, out to go around the vendor, back in to see the window, back out to go around the vendor... it's a bottleneck of people nightmare. We did this while the store was closed. There are thousands more people out here when the store is open.
Each window was themed to a new twist on a Broadway musical title. This had Sally Bowles spinning on a disco ball like Madonna.
No idea what this title was supposed to be. The over riding theme for the store was "Show Chaud Noël" which translates as "Hot Christmas Show".
The animation here was dolls acting as the Rockettes.Again, all marionette from above.
This was "Singing in the Snow."This one was small dolls doing the show "Mamma Mia."
The windows were very well done. A lot of them obviously there to entertain, but not necessarily to sell much. And so much of the focus was on the details close to the front and bottom of the windows, if you weren't a child you couldn't really see much going on in the animated windows. And I think some of the humor was a play on words in French, which I obviously didn't get. But the lights were IMPRESSIVE.
Monday, December 20, 2010
Christmas Windows Paris, Hermes
The view of the Hermes store as you approach.I love Hermes. Everyone knows that. I also thought that the Hermes windows were stunning. However...
Not so Christmas-y for December, are they?
Lyle and I both thought they looked like beautiful Spring windows. Except it was December.
Still, I'd take two of everything you see in any window. If it's the wrong size, style or color, I can always exchange it.
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
No matter where you go, there you are
I'll post more pictures and stuff about Paris later on, but first let me share a few thoughts on our recent trip.
You know the old phrase, "no matter where you go, there you are"? That was us on this trip. We went pretty far (5000+ miles from home) and yet we were still very much the same people. We were tired and we were sad before we left. We were tired and sad in Paris.
When we planned the trip a year in advance, we were happy energetic people. We had two dogs. After Lola passed away, we talked about canceling the trip. I said, "We can be sad here, or we can be sad in Paris. Either way we're going to be sad. We can't get our money back so let's go be sad in Paris. Hey, it'll still be Paris!" Turns out I was quite right. And I hadn't factored in how much grief takes out of your body. We were incredibly tired. Me being me, I refused to slow down and pushed us both to see and do as much as possible. Sunday evening when we came home to change shoes, laid down to have a little half hour rest at 6 pm and stayed in bed until 9 am the next morning. Yep, we needed sleep.
I have found the hardest moments of grieving over Lola the moments when I am calm and quiet and my mind is able to really pause and feel the loss. So I run around in a frenzy and try to keep my mind busy, busy, busy. Kicker is, grief is very patient and just waits for me. So we go on a plane for 12 hours and I cried three times. Look at me... Headed to Paris... Crying! What a pathetic sight.
So that sets you up for our arrival in Paris. But as I said, it would still be Paris. Right?
I had this dreamy scenario in my head:
We would arrive in Paris to a cold but clean city covered in white twinkling lights. As we slept on our first night there, a light snow would begin to fall. I would hear this in my sleep and get out of bed at 5 am, head out with my camera and capture the virgin snow covering every monument in a twilight of light before anyone started walking through or making tracks in the ever deepening white. All over town neighborhood "March Nöels" would pop up and we'd fill a piece of luggage with exotic handcrafted old world Europe ornaments and decor. The snow would stop and the city would come out to play in front of a background of hundreds of Christmas pines that have been brought in to make Paris more festive...
Now let's talk about reality.
It snowed three days before we got there. DEEP SNOW. When we landed there was still a ground cover of white out by the airport, as we drove further and further into the city, the snow turned darker gray, more icy and diminished. As we began to recognize landmarks and get our bearings, I could see the street clearing crews out with their wheelbarrow full of salt and their shovels scrapping the last frozen remnants into the gutter. Paris was clear and dry except for just a few patches of ice here and there on lesser traveled sidewalks. (Oh, and it has 2 inches of snow predicted for Thursday. Cruel, cruel weather pattern.)
When we travel, you'll never catch us in the busiest places at the peak of tourist season. We've been to Paris in June (just before the tourists), in April (it was still cold), in January (great sales) and we thought this would be just like those other trips. But it wasn't. The city was PACKED. We finally gave up on the idea of shopping altogether. Can you imagine?
Paris is the equivalent of New York City. Christmas is a VERY popular time to go into the big city and see the sights and do your shopping. You could not walk through the department stores. Every subway train was packed.
The city does indeed bring in thousands of Christmas trees and place them all over the streets. But ten trees in a group every 15 blocks with one string of lights on each tree... uh, I am from America where it's not done until its OVER DONE. It was... uh quaint, but not what I had pictured in my mind.
And this is where two topics need to be addressed. First, my expectations. THEY COULD NEVER HAVE BEEN MET. I needed to check that the very first day. It's not as if I have ever had unrealistic expectations of a Christmas fantasy before... oh wait, that's my entire life. So the good news is, I was able to see that for what it was and adjust accordingly.
The second issue is cultural divide. It took a few days for me to wrap my head around the difference between my American culture and the French culture as it treats Christmas. In France it seemed there are two options on how you observe Christmas. It is either a holy holiday with the nativity on display, or you throw out all religious connotations and add strobing lights and tinsel and make it all about the FLASH. No in between. In the US we smudge those lines closer and closer to the point where you have light up nativities, and Santa ringing the church bells.
We are also a lot more about the consuming of Christmas. I found the Christmas ornament section at Galleries Lafayette (a huge department store) and came back and told Lyle that if I took out all my Christmas ornaments, I'd personally have more ornaments in my house than this store had for sale. And I wouldn't have any repeats. If I lived in a small Parisian apartment, where would I store all that?
The Christmas Market. I had read so much about these. I had a very clear mental picture of what these would present. We went out on our first day to the largest Christmas market of them all, the one along the Champs-Elysees. Now let me clear this up for anyone else going, they were more like a carnival or a swap meet. I know that sounds mean. I'm sorry. There were unique vendors selling all sorts of amazing meats and cheeses (which I could not bring home through customs, so they were off my list), but the rest of the stalls were Alpaca knit hats from Peru, toys from China, amber jewelry (at every single market), Russian nesting dolls (from China), food stalls offering hot wine, churros, snails (okay, that was different), Belgian waffles and of course there were the carnival rides. I'm spoiled. I have been to Peru (and just gave away my Alpaca gloves), I've been to China and I live in LA where I can get just about EVERYTHING including much of the meat and cheese I am not allowed to personally import. I was disappointed in the Christmas market.
In an ever more frantic search, I dragged Lyle to the markets at Champs-Elysées, Trocadero, Saint-Sulpice, Saint Germain-des-Pres, Place des Abbesses (never go to this subway station! It's a spiral staircase to get out and about 3 stories climb!) and Gare de l'Est. I skipped La Defense, Place de la Nation, Montparnasse and Disneyland Paris. That gives me a 60% coverage rate. I even dragged Lyle to the Maison de l'Alsace which promised traditional Alsatian goodies, only to find out that tradition dictates the goodies be mass produced.
Now I sound like a complainer. But I promise I am not. I am just dispelling my expectations and adjusting to the reality of the situation. I would even recommend going if are considering it. (But don't go with my original expectations. Go with my new adjusted reality.)
The crowds of people viewing the windows at Galleries Lafayette.
The retail windows were amazing. Many of them animated with special raised viewing platforms for small children to stand on so they can better see. The food we ate was incredible. I've already mentioned we were tired, so we didn't try any new restaurants, we repeated ones we know and appreciated. Isn't that something to say? "We just went back to restaurants we already knew in Paris." I just impressed myself!
The city was decked out in glittering lights and it was an experience I will never forget. There were so many things we loved and I will post more photos. But I like my house at Christmas. I like my over the top decorating style. I told Lyle I think we should stay home in December and enjoy being at home. I've also heard that Strasbourg has a really amazing Christmas market and if it's not exactly what I'm envisioning, it's not too far to hop over into Germany... the land of the nutcracker...
You know the old phrase, "no matter where you go, there you are"? That was us on this trip. We went pretty far (5000+ miles from home) and yet we were still very much the same people. We were tired and we were sad before we left. We were tired and sad in Paris.
When we planned the trip a year in advance, we were happy energetic people. We had two dogs. After Lola passed away, we talked about canceling the trip. I said, "We can be sad here, or we can be sad in Paris. Either way we're going to be sad. We can't get our money back so let's go be sad in Paris. Hey, it'll still be Paris!" Turns out I was quite right. And I hadn't factored in how much grief takes out of your body. We were incredibly tired. Me being me, I refused to slow down and pushed us both to see and do as much as possible. Sunday evening when we came home to change shoes, laid down to have a little half hour rest at 6 pm and stayed in bed until 9 am the next morning. Yep, we needed sleep.
I have found the hardest moments of grieving over Lola the moments when I am calm and quiet and my mind is able to really pause and feel the loss. So I run around in a frenzy and try to keep my mind busy, busy, busy. Kicker is, grief is very patient and just waits for me. So we go on a plane for 12 hours and I cried three times. Look at me... Headed to Paris... Crying! What a pathetic sight.
So that sets you up for our arrival in Paris. But as I said, it would still be Paris. Right?
I had this dreamy scenario in my head:
We would arrive in Paris to a cold but clean city covered in white twinkling lights. As we slept on our first night there, a light snow would begin to fall. I would hear this in my sleep and get out of bed at 5 am, head out with my camera and capture the virgin snow covering every monument in a twilight of light before anyone started walking through or making tracks in the ever deepening white. All over town neighborhood "March Nöels" would pop up and we'd fill a piece of luggage with exotic handcrafted old world Europe ornaments and decor. The snow would stop and the city would come out to play in front of a background of hundreds of Christmas pines that have been brought in to make Paris more festive...
Now let's talk about reality.
It snowed three days before we got there. DEEP SNOW. When we landed there was still a ground cover of white out by the airport, as we drove further and further into the city, the snow turned darker gray, more icy and diminished. As we began to recognize landmarks and get our bearings, I could see the street clearing crews out with their wheelbarrow full of salt and their shovels scrapping the last frozen remnants into the gutter. Paris was clear and dry except for just a few patches of ice here and there on lesser traveled sidewalks. (Oh, and it has 2 inches of snow predicted for Thursday. Cruel, cruel weather pattern.)
When we travel, you'll never catch us in the busiest places at the peak of tourist season. We've been to Paris in June (just before the tourists), in April (it was still cold), in January (great sales) and we thought this would be just like those other trips. But it wasn't. The city was PACKED. We finally gave up on the idea of shopping altogether. Can you imagine?
Paris is the equivalent of New York City. Christmas is a VERY popular time to go into the big city and see the sights and do your shopping. You could not walk through the department stores. Every subway train was packed.
The city does indeed bring in thousands of Christmas trees and place them all over the streets. But ten trees in a group every 15 blocks with one string of lights on each tree... uh, I am from America where it's not done until its OVER DONE. It was... uh quaint, but not what I had pictured in my mind.And this is where two topics need to be addressed. First, my expectations. THEY COULD NEVER HAVE BEEN MET. I needed to check that the very first day. It's not as if I have ever had unrealistic expectations of a Christmas fantasy before... oh wait, that's my entire life. So the good news is, I was able to see that for what it was and adjust accordingly.
The second issue is cultural divide. It took a few days for me to wrap my head around the difference between my American culture and the French culture as it treats Christmas. In France it seemed there are two options on how you observe Christmas. It is either a holy holiday with the nativity on display, or you throw out all religious connotations and add strobing lights and tinsel and make it all about the FLASH. No in between. In the US we smudge those lines closer and closer to the point where you have light up nativities, and Santa ringing the church bells.
We are also a lot more about the consuming of Christmas. I found the Christmas ornament section at Galleries Lafayette (a huge department store) and came back and told Lyle that if I took out all my Christmas ornaments, I'd personally have more ornaments in my house than this store had for sale. And I wouldn't have any repeats. If I lived in a small Parisian apartment, where would I store all that?
The Christmas Market. I had read so much about these. I had a very clear mental picture of what these would present. We went out on our first day to the largest Christmas market of them all, the one along the Champs-Elysees. Now let me clear this up for anyone else going, they were more like a carnival or a swap meet. I know that sounds mean. I'm sorry. There were unique vendors selling all sorts of amazing meats and cheeses (which I could not bring home through customs, so they were off my list), but the rest of the stalls were Alpaca knit hats from Peru, toys from China, amber jewelry (at every single market), Russian nesting dolls (from China), food stalls offering hot wine, churros, snails (okay, that was different), Belgian waffles and of course there were the carnival rides. I'm spoiled. I have been to Peru (and just gave away my Alpaca gloves), I've been to China and I live in LA where I can get just about EVERYTHING including much of the meat and cheese I am not allowed to personally import. I was disappointed in the Christmas market.
In an ever more frantic search, I dragged Lyle to the markets at Champs-Elysées, Trocadero, Saint-Sulpice, Saint Germain-des-Pres, Place des Abbesses (never go to this subway station! It's a spiral staircase to get out and about 3 stories climb!) and Gare de l'Est. I skipped La Defense, Place de la Nation, Montparnasse and Disneyland Paris. That gives me a 60% coverage rate. I even dragged Lyle to the Maison de l'Alsace which promised traditional Alsatian goodies, only to find out that tradition dictates the goodies be mass produced.
Now I sound like a complainer. But I promise I am not. I am just dispelling my expectations and adjusting to the reality of the situation. I would even recommend going if are considering it. (But don't go with my original expectations. Go with my new adjusted reality.)
The crowds of people viewing the windows at Galleries Lafayette.The retail windows were amazing. Many of them animated with special raised viewing platforms for small children to stand on so they can better see. The food we ate was incredible. I've already mentioned we were tired, so we didn't try any new restaurants, we repeated ones we know and appreciated. Isn't that something to say? "We just went back to restaurants we already knew in Paris." I just impressed myself!
The city was decked out in glittering lights and it was an experience I will never forget. There were so many things we loved and I will post more photos. But I like my house at Christmas. I like my over the top decorating style. I told Lyle I think we should stay home in December and enjoy being at home. I've also heard that Strasbourg has a really amazing Christmas market and if it's not exactly what I'm envisioning, it's not too far to hop over into Germany... the land of the nutcracker...
Wednesday, December 08, 2010
Angry with the Universe much?
Sometimes the universe has strange plans for you, but forgets to let you in on the secret.
Last year as we were taking down the Christmas tree at New Years, Lyle said, "What would it take to get you to go less crazy for Christmas next year?" I told him he loved me because I was crazy for Christmas. He told me he loved me in spite of it.
We were in a hurry to get anything "alive" out of the house because we had to go to Vegas for work for ten days. We got the tree undecorated, handed the keys to the house sitter and offered him an extra fifty bucks to take the lights off because we had to leave the next day.
In late January, as I was taking down the "non living" decorations, Lyle said to me, "What would it take to get you to go less crazy for Christmas this year?" I told him it would go a lot faster if he would quit asking me questions and help me. He told me that if I didn't put so much crap up it wouldn't take so long to get it all put away.
At the end of February, when Lyle and I both were taking down the Christmas decorations in the kitchen, Lyle asked very quietly, "Seriously, what would it take to get you to go less crazy for Christmas this year?" And I said, "Book a trip to Paris in December."
In August, he asked me if I was serious, and I said, "Yes." and then the negotiations began in earnest.
"How much less would you do?"
I will just do a tree.
"Seriously, I've met you. You can't do that."
Okay, just a tree and the outside lights.
"No mantle?"
Uh, maybe a light mantle, but no garland.
"No dining room?"
No garland, well, maybe just the chandelier?
By now you can see that instead of negotiating me DOWN, Lyle is actually negotiating me UP. What he didn't know is that inside my head I was planning the WORLD'S LARGEST CHRISTMAS TREE. My plan was to place it smack in the middle of the house between the dining room and the living room. I'd even had a new outlet installed in the Spring with its own circuit breaker so I could put THOUSANDS of LIGHTS on it.
And then he called my bluff and bought tickets to Paris in December.
I kept planning a tree for the house that would compete with the tree at Rockefeller Center. Chandelier arms! Full size nutcrackers! Maybe a small tree on the roof to imply that the I burst through the ceiling?
And then in November, Lola passed away. And I wanted to curl up in a ball and cancel Christmas. No tree. No lights. No nutcrackers. Covers over my head. At least we had that trip to Paris planned and that kept me thinking I had something to look forward to.
And I was PISSED OFF at the universe for pre-planning a subdued Christmas. I was mad that it knew what was coming. It knew I wouldn't want to decorate. And I wanted my baby puppy back and would trade all my Christmas decor to get her, but it doesn't work that way.
So I forged ahead. I made sure we got a tree the day after Thanksgiving because I was afraid if I waited, I really would skip it all together. The tree arrived on Friday and it took me until Monday to get it lit. Then it took until Wednesday to get it decorated. It took help and I am grateful for it.
The tree has 2400 lights on it. No chandeliers arms, half the nutcrackers. No garland on the mantle and none on the dining room chandelier. I love my tree and am glad to have this scaled down Christmas.
Tomorrow we go to Paris. I am hoping for snow.
Last year as we were taking down the Christmas tree at New Years, Lyle said, "What would it take to get you to go less crazy for Christmas next year?" I told him he loved me because I was crazy for Christmas. He told me he loved me in spite of it.
We were in a hurry to get anything "alive" out of the house because we had to go to Vegas for work for ten days. We got the tree undecorated, handed the keys to the house sitter and offered him an extra fifty bucks to take the lights off because we had to leave the next day.
In late January, as I was taking down the "non living" decorations, Lyle said to me, "What would it take to get you to go less crazy for Christmas this year?" I told him it would go a lot faster if he would quit asking me questions and help me. He told me that if I didn't put so much crap up it wouldn't take so long to get it all put away.
At the end of February, when Lyle and I both were taking down the Christmas decorations in the kitchen, Lyle asked very quietly, "Seriously, what would it take to get you to go less crazy for Christmas this year?" And I said, "Book a trip to Paris in December."
In August, he asked me if I was serious, and I said, "Yes." and then the negotiations began in earnest.
"How much less would you do?"
I will just do a tree.
"Seriously, I've met you. You can't do that."
Okay, just a tree and the outside lights.
"No mantle?"
Uh, maybe a light mantle, but no garland.
"No dining room?"
No garland, well, maybe just the chandelier?
By now you can see that instead of negotiating me DOWN, Lyle is actually negotiating me UP. What he didn't know is that inside my head I was planning the WORLD'S LARGEST CHRISTMAS TREE. My plan was to place it smack in the middle of the house between the dining room and the living room. I'd even had a new outlet installed in the Spring with its own circuit breaker so I could put THOUSANDS of LIGHTS on it.
And then he called my bluff and bought tickets to Paris in December.
I kept planning a tree for the house that would compete with the tree at Rockefeller Center. Chandelier arms! Full size nutcrackers! Maybe a small tree on the roof to imply that the I burst through the ceiling?
And then in November, Lola passed away. And I wanted to curl up in a ball and cancel Christmas. No tree. No lights. No nutcrackers. Covers over my head. At least we had that trip to Paris planned and that kept me thinking I had something to look forward to.
And I was PISSED OFF at the universe for pre-planning a subdued Christmas. I was mad that it knew what was coming. It knew I wouldn't want to decorate. And I wanted my baby puppy back and would trade all my Christmas decor to get her, but it doesn't work that way.
So I forged ahead. I made sure we got a tree the day after Thanksgiving because I was afraid if I waited, I really would skip it all together. The tree arrived on Friday and it took me until Monday to get it lit. Then it took until Wednesday to get it decorated. It took help and I am grateful for it.
The tree has 2400 lights on it. No chandeliers arms, half the nutcrackers. No garland on the mantle and none on the dining room chandelier. I love my tree and am glad to have this scaled down Christmas.
Tomorrow we go to Paris. I am hoping for snow.
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