The Yule

While Paris has cranked up the festive lights, inside the apartment (aka dorm room) we've dropped the ball on holiday decor. Nevertheless, we did a few holiday type of things in our Paris place, which I'll now describe, using a bulleted list format. 

• People in France seem to be eating oysters all over the place around this time of year.  We bought a box of oysters which are sold on the sidewalks and in the bistros. On Xmas Eve, Mari Homme shucked them with a butter knife, after watching a one minute oyster shucking video.  He did an expert job.  I wish we had bought an oyster shucking knife, but maybe we'll do that next year.  
• On a walk along the Seine, I found a plastic dog toy buried in the sand.  This represented my only Xmas gift.  We went off the gift grid this year and come to find out, I really like gifts, so that's a wee downer. I'll compensate for this next year.
• We did buy and eat a buche de Noel.  These loggy cakes are everywhere you look right now.  We enjoyed eating the buche de Noel very much. I wish all cakes looked like logs. 
• We also watched some favorite holiday movies. Elf was awesome once again and Home for the Holidays, which I know focuses on Thanksgiving, is still excellent.
• Sadly, we failed miserably at our jigsaw puzzle, which had 1000 pieces and featured a Van Gogh painting. After a few hours, we gave up.
• We talked to 30 Something and #1 Son who are not here with us in Paris, but are doing fine.  We all miss each other, but we'll see each other in April in New Orleans, so dry the tears, People. 

Even though we're boostered, we've decided to stay out of crowded spaces for awhile, what with the omicron going wild all over the globe. We've taken long walks--- around the Marais and around the Oberkampf neighborhood and around Place Des Vosges and also in the Belleville neighborhood where we saw some cool street art on Rue Denoyez. 

Hope you all had fabulous festivities and I hope you received some fun gifts.