MERRY XMAS TO ALL !

ENJOY EVERY MINUTE OF CHRISTMAS TIME :
- the weather , sunny, damp or snowy
- the joyful and glittery decorations
- the smells of candy, pine, nutmeg and cinnamon
- the atmosphere



from Linen and Lavender




from Desde mi Ventana

MERRY XMAS !

WHITE XMAS

Don't we all dream of such a White Xmas ?
Especially when you look out the windows and there are only the grey roofs of Paris for horizon !

SUCH A RACE FOR SUCH A XMAS !

Now that Xmas is over, I can tell you the hell I went through to make a splash of a day ! 
12 stops in all , a 3 pages list ( only kidding !) :
- the regular food store , unavoidable. Boring, uninteresting, so better get it down 1st. Which I did. Blinis, fresh clotted cream, soft drinks.... bla,bla, bla. You know what I mean.
- the florist to pick a whole bunch of White Lilies, white roses, white amaryllis, light green eucalyptus, white orchids and small azaleas.

- the butcher for the foie gras; didn't have time to catch the train to the Périgord to choose the veined damn duck.
- a whole sea of oysters ( fine de claire N°2) straight from the best waters of Brittany along with a few bright orangy-red-rosy shrimps.
- Petrossian for the king of salmon: the "Royal", s'il vous plait. Skipped the caviar this time, didn't get any bonus this year; thank you Mr Maddoff .




- Brie de Melun for a change ( even tastier than the Meaux), an 18 months old fruity Comté to die for, a few greyish whitish goat cheeses from the Niort and Touraine, a gooy and bleuy Gorgonzola spreading all his creamy blue fat all over my cheese board.


A real guided tour around France picked by Androuet.
- Brazilian coffee grinded right in front of you at the "torréfacteur"; what a big word for a few coffee beans.
- Grand Lapsang Souchong at the Palais des Thés where they always try to impress you with their 250 boxes all looking alike. A real maze. Who know, maybe half of the boxes are empty but how could you tell ?
- "Les Merveilleux" for the exquisite and most divine Xmas "bûche" I've ever had.



Whenever you see that sign, you HAVE to get in and try there pastries.



A meringue layered with lightly beaten chocolaty fresh cream and topped with chocolate chips.



Impossible to resist. And part of the pleasure is to see them elaborate  the cake in front of you: the meringue on one side, the huge bowl full of cream and mounds of chocolate chips. Ouh !!!
- the bakery for ... well, even at Xmas time you need the "Passy Passion" baguette ( a mere 1,40 €) from Desgranges and their "pain d'épices" for the foie gras.
- And with all this , aren't you drinking anything ? A stop at the wine cellar for some champagne rosé, white Puligny-Montrachet, Meursault and red Les Hauts de Smith.
- "Régis" on the Rue de Passy  for their scrumptious "marrons glacés" and dark chocolates or otherwise how could we ever serve coffee ? It's incredible how people are still hungry by the end of that wonderful meal !
There's even some space saved for the exceptionnal old rhum Clément ! Ouh ! And for a cigar !
- I almost forgot the fruit stand for the clémentines and fresh herbs.

I'm done. I'm exhausted, and it hasn't started yet ! Now anybody can understand why the host is falling asleep right in the middle of that feast !

MY LITTLE XMAS

My Little Xmas looked like this after my early morning jogging around the lake at Boulogne.

One of my great pleasures this year has been to  scrap book all my gift tags with collages that really had a link with each present and each person. Very time consuming as I had to dig in about a truck full of magazines but so much joy !

The BIG question after Xmas is : what did you get for Xmas ?

After the Wish List, there's the result: did anybody read your wish list and follow it ?

XMAS INSPIRATION.... IF IN LACK.

What an enjoyable moment to be in front of my computer and go through all my favourite blogs . So much inspiration that I want to share with you on that side of the ocean, the cold one, the closest to Siberia, I mean by that France.

So there you go !


From the calm space



From thecalmspace.com
the calm space


from The Decorista, my every day source of inspiration.



Pure white , and simplicity combined.



Add a touch of gold and everything sparkles instantly. Still from "The Decorista"





































Let's go towards drama as seen on this fabulous website http://www.sarahklassen.com/ where you will find different atmospheres set for Xmas time. This picture comes from Bergdorf Goodman's windows in 2008.... before the crisis jumped in and turned our cities in tarnished grey.

I'm kind enough not to show you any pîctures of the sad and rather non existant Xmas decoration in Paris. I looked all over to find ones. Avenue Montaigne is still clad in that sad red bringing even less light on that badly lit star avenue; rue Saint Honoré must have sold theirs to poorer countries, Place Vendôme is playing the game but cheapishly and well, the Champs Elysées is the only place where you remember that it really IS Xmas.

Sorry about that.

























Back to white and gold with that light and aery spirit .



























I'd love to wake up on Xmas morning and see my bedroom changed into such a poetic and fairy bedroom.
You need a little fun in life !

An all-white bed as seen at D. Porthault with virginal white voile bed sheets... Just divine !

Merry Xmas to you !

POLAR BEAR XMAS !

POLAR BEAR  XMAS THIS YEAR !



Why not ? Sick of all that green and red parafernalia called Xmas, fed up with all that pouring gold far too bling bling for you. Time for a polar bear Xmas then.

Don't you worry, you want turn into Snow White even if you wished to !

Feels like today !

A few easy tips to make the best of a stunning White Xmas :

1st, a car expedition to the nearest IKEA will be highly suggested; I'm like your banker, safe and sound, reliable and all that shit..Your IKEA safari will be without your Sweety Pie of a husband : he'll hate it, he'll hate you and you will definitely end up hating him... Merry Xmas to you ! A friend would be much wiser if I were to stay married as far as December 24th.

10 o'clock sharp : so there you are with your best friend ( that is, the stupid idiot who accepted your generous invitation to an IKEA safari ) on the parking lot of your nearest IKEA; start with the 1 € coffee to jot your white ideas on your white moleskine brainbook, honey.

- you'll pick a few white curtains to make a change from your dark chocolate ones. You're poorer by about 50 € + the 1 € coffee. Ok as far as it goes.
- settle on a white long hair rug like in the mist of Tibet ( well, right, they live in a yourte ) instead of your sisal carpet to give your living room that comfy chalet feeling. From there on, why don't you skip counting your expenses, you'll feel so much better !
- get hold of a bunch of white frames in which you'll post your whole family white style .
- heap your super large family cart with all the white candles you can grab, all sizes will do . They will give a totally Swedish or Norwegian cool look all cast together in front of your window or your mantelpiece.
Nicely set in a corner of your living room will give it a casual atmosphere.
Don't forget to place one in every room, that's the real Xmas spirit; it isn't secluded to the living room only. Xmas spirit is everywhere ... even in the loo, where you will keep a candle on , so that it feels real comfortable and inviting, a few white books will be appreciated too.  Well, if your family and guest don't ever come out, I would suggest then to burn it out.
- if you happen to get to the throws and blankets, pick a bunch of white ones to throw on your sofa, for the cosy touch.
- and if you're in need of a fuller decoration, stock about 5 to 8 white china vases of different shapes or sizes which will give an all new deco to your space. That's called easy interior decoration : 100 € budget is not a killer, and you're all new Darling ! You'll place them on the same shelf, or side table to the best of effects. Grand decoration !

We're almost done as you have already made the whole Ikea's day and it's by now only 11.
Time to hit the cashier reef, but be sure first to load your cart with as many white 9 € orchids as you can, you'll get a 2 months decoration benefit with them and they might burgeaon again a year later when you least think of it; so it's a 4 months decoration deal with of course, in the meantime fake orchids from SIA that you'll stick into the plant and all those stupid fools will never know the difference !

Now's the bad part of the day, bringing all that stuff home but you are so excited by all your fabulous buys that you don't even count the miles.

It's all there by now in your entrance hall; you've discarded your nice little friend ( you're so generous to let her up to her door even if she lives in Putnam by the Seine) so that you can hit home yourself and get to hands unto serious interior Xmas design  decoration ( bound to impress all your friends for life, there's a challenge !)