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| Decorations on the Champs Elyssees |
There's a well-known Christmas carol about chestnuts roasting on an open fire and yule tide carols being sung by a fire, and growing up in suburban Brisbane I used to dream about the day I would get to experience a white Christmas of my own.
The idea of white streets made quiet by softly falling snow, lit up Christmas trees gleaming through frosted windows, cosy nights and days spent cuddled up on a chair next to a fire and all the other cliches used to fill me with longing, especially when Down Under we were entering into the third month of sweltering swimming weather and I knew there were at least another three ahead of me.
As a child I used to cut out snow balls and stick them up on my bedroom window to help out with the daydream, so it seems pretty damn surreal that at 27 I'm finally about to have a Christmas in a European winter.
All across Paris there are Christmas markets popping up - and I've already decided there's no better way to waste an hour or so than by wandering around Montmartre or up the Champs Elysees and browsing the gift and food stalls while cupping a mug of Vin Chaud to help keep some feeling in my fingers. Bright Christmas decorations and lights are lining the streets and brightening up shop fronts, transforming an already beautiful city into a fairyland - with a side bonus of a steady supply of Christmas lollies and drinks.
But despite the daily joy I'm feeling when I ride a Velibe home from work (and constantly trying not to ride into the gutter because I'm distracted by the sparkling lights up side streets) because the realisation of this dream is finally here, I've also discovered the lack of the scent of frangipanis and suncream wafting on the hot air, summer storms and way too many mangoes and plums means in the end not actually feeling a whole lot like Christmas for me. A problem I'm attempting to rectify by the constant playing of Christmas carols and movies, much to The Boy's amusement.
It's strange how we can want something for years and years only to have it dawn on us that although the realisation of it makes us happy, we already had everything we wanted.
Merry Christmas everyone!
