Au Printemps and Galeries Lafayette, Paris’s biggest department stores in central Paris, side by side on the boulevard Haussmann.

I had to push my way through the crowd to view the windows.

Is Christmas for kids only?

I don’t think so. I love the Christmas season … am I just a big kid at heart?

I do get nostalgic at this time of year. Like the big clocks in this window above, time passes…TICK TOCK, TICK TOCK. But my excitement for the season does not wane. It’s linked to my childhood, of course. Christmas in our house was magical. And outside, it was always snowing; there were heaps of snow in the Toronto suburbs.

One year I received a gift of blue ice-skates. Not powder blue or periwinkle blue, but a true robin’s egg blue. I loved those skates (everyone else at our neighborhood rink had white skates.)  I have no idea what happened to them.

More festive photos to come. Next week I’ll head over to the très chic department store in the 6th arrondissement, Le Bon Marché, to see their Xmas windows and visit their fabulous Food Hall.