Christmas Day 2021

We had a lovely, low key Christmas in Paris. Kelly and Carter ran 11 miles in the Bois de Boulogne in the morning while Kate and I went on a long walk with Luna, who sported her Christmas pjs.

Kate and Luna on the rue Cler

Luna met some frenchies running out of a café where they were offering oysters for the traditional French Christmas meal.

Luna meets some friends

Lots of Oysters

We love all there is to see in our neighborhood, from the Eiffel Tower to Napoleon's Tomb and the dome of Les Invalides. We also walked past a lovely Art Nouveau door and building. 

Art Nouveau

View of Eiffel Tower in the Fog

Les Invalides

Luna the Parisian Pug

We hurried home to bake our brioche French toast with pecans for Christmas brunch. We had gotten a fresh loaf of brioche bread at the bakery Thursday and Kate, the master chef, prepared a heavenly version of French toast. It finished baking just as the guys returned from their run. We sliced bananas on top of it and it was so delicious. Kate is amazing!

Brioche French Toast

Luna and her Snaggletooth

Santa Luna

After brunch Kelly and Luna napped while we went to one of my favorite museums-the Jacquemart-André. It is in a large mansion on Boulevard Hausmann. Carter had never been. The couple who lived in the mansion collected art-especially Italian Renaissance and Florentine art. 

Musée Jacquemart-André

My favorite Rembrandt painting was back hanging in the library at the museum. It had been on loan when I visited the museum in 2020 and I missed it. I love how the profile of Christ is mostly in shadow and the light glows around Him as the man across the table recognizes who He is.

Dinner at Emmaus

Grand Staircase with
Venetian Frescoes 

Kate and Carter on the
Musicians' Balcony

The couple owned four Botticelli paintings. These two are my favorites. The frame on the Madonna and Child is spectacular.

Madonna and Child

Flight into Egypt

The museum had a special Botticelli exhibit. It was interesting to learn more about him. Botticelli originally trained as a goldsmith so he was an expert draftsman. I didn't realize that he was a student of Filippo Lippi and Lippi's son, in turn, was Botticelli's student. He had a workshop where he trained other artists and produced commissioned works. He would have his assistants paint from his drawings and then he would finish the more difficult parts like faces and hands. Eventually, Botticelli spent most of his time designing. The star of the exhibit was his allegory painting of La Belle Simonetta. It was our favorite.

La Belle Simonetta

We made our Christmas dinner that evening with the fresh ravioli from the marché. And finished dinner off with a large Bûche de Noël. We are so grateful to be in Paris with Kate, Carter and Luna and enjoyed our simple Christmas together. We just wish Andrew could have been here with us, too.

Bûche de Noël

Christmas in Paris 2021

Kelly and I are back in Paris for the semester. This time we decided to come for Christmas and have Kate, Carter and Luna join us. We arrived on Tuesday, December 21.

Paris welcomed us at the Airport

We caught our first glimpse of the
Tour Eiffel from the cab

We are back home at the BYU apartment near the Eiffel Tower. We were able to get essentials at the grocery store and partially unpack before collapsing with exhaustion. We were up early the next morning and ready for Carter, Kate and Luna to arrive.

Kelly shopping on the rue Cler

We were so excited to see jet-lagged Kate, Carter and Luna by 10 am Wednesday. Luna took to the apartment right away and quickly learned which door on the street opened to our building. This is such a fun time to be in Paris with all the Christmas decorations and yummy Christmas treats at the bakeries and patisseries.

Luna makes herself at home

Kate and Luna check out the
White Bakery which is now
officially the Green Bakery

Window Shopping on the rue Cler

Christmas Lights on rue Cler

Fighting jet lag, we decided we had better make the trek to the east side of Paris to Bercy Village to a large pet store, Animalis, to buy a crate for Luna to sleep in. We had never been to Bercy Village. It consists of a cobblestone courtyard with 42 stone storage buildings on either side that were used for storing wine. It had been the largest wine market in the world but now has cute boutiques and shops. The suspended umbrellas were really fun.

Bercy Village

Thursday morning was market day at the Marché Avenue Saxe not far from our apartment. We were shopping for Christmas dinner and chose basil and pine nut homemade pasta. We bought a half flat of brown eggs (15) with dark yellow yolks. The clementines were big and juicy. We love the view of the Eiffel Tower as we walk up the market. Kate spotted her favorite fisherman in in his yellow apron who she remembered from years past. The brioche at the market is to die for. Always so much to see at the marché.

View of the Eiffel Tower

Purple Artichokes

Brioche loaves and buns

Cheese, yogurt and more

Fisherman at the Market

We have been out for lots of walks with Luna in the neighborhood. She loves the bakery and keeps trying to go inside. There is a temporary building-the Grand Palais Éphémère constructed at the foot of the Champ de Mars to house art exhibits that are normally at the Grand Palais while the Grand Palais is being renovated for the 2024 Paris Olympics. The Grand Palais Éphémère will also house judo and wrestling for the Olympics.

It has been mostly grey and cold since we arrived in Paris but we did get some blue sky briefly Thursday afternoon. 

Kelly and Luna in front
of l'École Militaire

Eiffel Tower reflected
in glass of the
Grand Palais Éphémère

A Pug in Paris

Luna and Kate
at the Green Bakery

Carter and Kate stocking up
on frozen food at Picard

We decided to take advantage of the good weather and take Luna to the Eiffel Tower in the French clothes Carter's mom, Michelle, bought her for Christmas. She received lots of attention and was so cooperative.

Friday we took the bus over to the Latin Quarter near where we lived in 2018 and walked up to the Panthéon where Josephine Baker was recently reinterred. We walked back down towards our old apartment and stopped at our favorite Boulangerie de la Tour for a palmier. We crossed the bridge to gaze at Nôtre Dame. It looks like they are making progress on the restoration. They have put huge wooden buttresses in to support the flying buttresses.

Panthéon 

Bakers busy working in the back 
of the Boulangerie de la Tour

Boulangerie de la Tour

Nôtre Dame from the bridge

Flying Buttress Buttressed
with Wood

Nôtre Dame

We had lunch at our favorite café on Île St. Louis-the St. Regis. Carter had an amazing Croque Madame with the egg on top. I loved their goat cheese salad and their frites are so good. We walked back to the left bank and over to our favorite crêpe stand at Odéon. We were happy to see a familiar face running the stand and making yummy fresh crêpes. We enjoyed the Christmas decorations everywhere we walked.

In front of the St. Regis

Ordering crêpes

Street near Saint Sulpice

We read together from Luke that evening about the birth of our Savior. Luna was all cozy for Christmas Eve in her Christmas pjs and Santa hat. We are ready for a nice quiet Christmas in Paris.

Santa Luna