A Bit of Christmas Flavor

Under the tree beneath the famed dome of Galeries Lafayette, 9th Arr.

Christmas in France tends towards the traditional. There are carnival rides set up around festive markets, where you can buy gift items and holiday treats such as vin chaud (warm mulled wine) and nougat sliced from huge slabs. The patisseries swap in desserts such as bûche de Noël, which are basically thin, buttercream-frosted cakes, rolled like Hostess Ho-Hos into logs (bûches) and decorated with sugar mushrooms, ivy, mistletoe, and other woodland symbiotes. These are not to be confused with Catalonia's tio de Nadal, the Christmas log that Catalan children whack with sticks until it shits out candy and presents--like a scatological piñata, with delicious turds substituting for delicious internal organs.

More traditional are galettes de rois, flaky cakes stuffed with a creamy almond paste called frangipane. Named for the three kings from the Gospel of Matthew's nativity story, they are traditionally served on the Feast of the Epiphany but seem to be available for the entire month of December. The French eat them with champagne, naturally, although cider is also a popular choice. Besides being tasty, the gimmick with galettes de rois is that each cake contains a small porcelain or plastic figuring called a fève baked within it. If you get the piece of cake with the fève, you are anointed king for the day and entitled to wear the paper crown and receive an extra present (or maybe just a second piece of cake). I can't recall who got the fève from our cake last year, but the prize was a little peasant woman carrying baskets. Not surprisingly, with her pale face and piercing eyes, she looked a bit like Bela Lugosi to me.

Last year's Epiphany spread, with brut cider in lieu of champagne.

The eerie paysanne that lurked among our frangipane. Second prize was a set of steak knives.

Nougat, cut right from the slab at the Tuileries Christmas carnival, 1st Arr.

As far as holiday decor goes, with the exception of big retailers such as Galeries Lafayette and luxury brands such Christian Dior, it tends towards tasteful and understated. A tree and a few strands of lights will do for most local business and for the lobbies of apartment buildings. On the other hand, if there were a neighborhood prize for "minimal effort, worse than nothing," I'd have to give it to the Embassy of Czechia. One Charlie Brown tree might move people to contemplate the meaning of Christmas; add a second one, and it starts to look like your heart is two sizes too small.

Not even the Czech Embassy's Grinchy decorations could stop Christmas from coming to the 7th Arr.

Rue Cler, 7th Arr.

  
Good taste usually guides the decor of apartment entries.

 
Outdoor decorations in the 4th Arr.

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