French Festivness

Christmas has arrived in France! Lights are going up, parties are being planned, and the shopping is being kicked into high gear. My roommate and I haven't done much to our room except me playing Christmas music all the time, but the girls' dorm has been decorated a little...

I'm not sure why we have a mistletoe since boys aren't allowed up here, but I guess it still looks festive. 

We also get a little advent calendar action with chocolate presents from one of the German girls, Annalena. So a different girl gets to open one every day. Mine is tomorrow!

And the clock gets a little facelift...and the plant gets a friend...

The Paris shopping scene has also changed for the holiday season. Lights are up all over, and they set up these booths at major spots so people, both tourists and parisians can get their Christmas shopping done. This one is on the Champs-Elysees at the end of the regular stores down to the Place de Concord. They have quite a variety of different stuff to get: scarves and hats, sweaters, knives, jewelry, decorations, etc. Also, there are some of those kind of "as seen on tv" gadgets that people are demonstrating, mostly kitchen stuff. There were also a lot of booths with different kinds of yummy food: candy, hot sandwiches, crepes, ans palleas, and churros. And lots of hot wine every other booth...

The other one we went to was at the Grande Arch in La Defense a little outside of Paris. This is where a big majority of Parisians work, so this little village is more for the working people I think. It was set up more in a square shape with aisles. 

There's the Grande Arch, just to give you an idea of the size of it.

And I found this poor santa who had been "goldfingered", only with red paint. Poor little santa...

This lovely little sign beckoned to us all the way down the aisle since it was below freezing the whole time we were there, and anything hot sounded so good. I really wanted to try christmas beer, but since beer is usually cold, I went with the hot wine. Sooo good. : )

And one of my favorite parts of the pre-Christmas festivities...the street decorations! Every little town has their own streetlight additions, and these are Nogents'. "Bonnes Fetes" means "good festivals" literally, or like "happy holidays". As soon as it gets dark, this is what my street looks like! So pretty...