(Christmas lights on the Avenue Victor Hugo, Rodez)
This evening my eldest daughter announced to me, quite morosely, that the Christmas lights in Rodez were being taken down.
Mais bien sûr! The French are pretty quick about removing their holiday decorations, although perhaps not as swift as Americans or the British who, from what I've been reading, seem to feel that "everything must go" no later than January the 2nd.
The situation is different in our house. We have made a conscious decision to keep the Christmas tree and other holiday decorations up until...late January.
Of course this means having an artificial tree -- something that, as a Pacific Northwesterner, I was originally loath to do. But the desire to keep Christmas cheer in our home after la rentrée de janvier won out a few years back.
Since the whole family loves Christmas lighting, I think we were right in our choice. This year, I was struck by all the Facebook updates and tweets from friends who were sad, even "depressed," about taking down their Christmas decorations.
At least we have found our solution to that problem. By the time we finally pack ours away, we are actually pretty sick of them!
Mais bien sûr! The French are pretty quick about removing their holiday decorations, although perhaps not as swift as Americans or the British who, from what I've been reading, seem to feel that "everything must go" no later than January the 2nd.
The situation is different in our house. We have made a conscious decision to keep the Christmas tree and other holiday decorations up until...late January.
Of course this means having an artificial tree -- something that, as a Pacific Northwesterner, I was originally loath to do. But the desire to keep Christmas cheer in our home after la rentrée de janvier won out a few years back.
Since the whole family loves Christmas lighting, I think we were right in our choice. This year, I was struck by all the Facebook updates and tweets from friends who were sad, even "depressed," about taking down their Christmas decorations.
At least we have found our solution to that problem. By the time we finally pack ours away, we are actually pretty sick of them!
8 comments:
I agree being a Northwesterner it is hard to imagine a fake tree (allthough I have about 14 of them) but the big one is always real. I wasn't happy about it but we took ours down this weekend and it was still in great shape, I would love to have left it up longer. But I did get to keep my French decorated christmas tree up, at least for a bit longer I hope. Everything looks so sad when the lights all come down..... enjoy your tree! great job on day 4:)
No fake tree here! In our last house, the previous owner had put up little colored Christmas lights in the kitchen, and we kept them. I think I may do that here, at long last. They are very cheery.
Oh, Betty, I'm already running out of ideas, and it's only Jan 4! Do you know about Theme Thursday? Every Sunday a theme is agreed upon,and put up and then all who want to participate link via the main page and publish something on Thursday. I'm part of this, so here is the link. Takes care of one day of the week, anyway!
http://themethursday.blogspot.com/
I keep some of my Christmas lights up all year long... The snowmen cling-ons stay on the windows until spring too. :)
My neighbors all take their lights down before January 1, but I remember as a child having them up until January 6, which is I think Epiphany. Or Twelfth Night.
Good for you for lighting up the world a bit more.
It's strange, I'm not a big fan (or a fan at all, really) of Xmas lights in/on the house, but I really like them downtown on the trees, there's a lovely, expansive streetlight quality to them.
Here in Chicago, it is quite snowy and cold, and we need as much cheering occasions and light as we can find them.
This is why we do keep our lights and decorations on our Wisconsin- grown "sapin de Noel" until after the epiphany.
Hope yourself and your family enjoy a good Galette des Rois on January 6.
I also hope that you will eventually get back to writing a few pieces about food in Aveyron.
I miss them
Alain
French Virtual cafe
Alain! How lovely to hear from you again. It's comments like this that help me stay determined to revive La France Profonde...and I will try to do some food posts, perhaps even this very month since I am trying to post every day.
Happy New Year! Bonne année!
The Brits take down their decorations today, although it's true some take them down earlier - but can you blame them? Many of them put their Christmas trees up back in November, so they're truly sick of them by now :-)
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