Michael let me snap this photo on our last night in Paris. He surprised me with a tiny jaunt to the square around the corner for a glass of wine from plastic cups and a chocolate bar with hazelnuts. It was très romantic.

As it happens, it was the perfect photo to use to say Merry Christmas (or Happy Hannukah or Kwanzaa, or whatever your persuasion may be!) to all of you. I hope that whatever you celebrate, wherever you celebrate, you are surrounded by those you love. May you have a blessed holiday. Warm wishes from Dublin.

As promised, photos from our trip to Paris – at night time. Thank goodness the City of Light lived up to its name or I never would have managed any photos! It is such an intentionally lit city, highlighting huge, dramatic statues and moody cafes. Bonne chance!

{This might be my favorite photo from the trip. Michael and I (like slots online true, clueless tourists) decided to walk up from the Metro at Abbesses, while the locals all stopped for the elevator. We scoffed and decided to hit the stairs. A million steps later, huffing and puffing, all was redeemed by this mighty graffiti.}

{Our lion, standing guard out in the square near our apartment. See? Lit so well.}

{Why yes, yes I did manage to catch a horse drawn carriage with the Eiffel Tower in the background. So pleased with myself! Is it not epic?}

In case you missed the daytime version, here!

I’m sure I promised you photos of our decorated Christmas tree a few weeks ago.

It’s small and sweet and I never want to take it down.

{The star at the top of the tree is one we I made, from cardboard and covered in tin foil, just like the one that has hung at the top of my parents’ tree since they were first married.}

{I’m sure I would have nailed the whole twinkly lights photography thing with a tripod. Just saying, I was this close!}

There’s no real theme with our ornaments, although it leans toward gold and glittery. Our first year in Dublin, I found gold glitter pine cones at a pound shop (the equivalent of the dollar store) and they have way more sparkle and shine than I could have DIY’ed myself. And we have a sweet little collection of ornaments hand-me-downed from Michael’s mother, or mailed from my parents. It’s my favorite tree yet.

Is your tree up? Is it monstrous or Charlie Brown? Colored lights or white?

We arrived home in Dublin late last night, and spent the day today running errands, cleaning and re-stocking the fridge for the weekend’s festivities. Tonight I finally sat down for a few hours of photo editing and Food Network watching in front of the Christmas tree.

Oddly, the weather has me thrown for a loop this year. Today, it must have been 60 degrees out! That’s nearly summer weather here! So, in an effort to make our holidays more festive, I convinced Michael we should bake and decorate a gingerbread house together tomorrow. We have very different artistic styles, so we’ll see how that goes!

Only a few days until Christmas. Are you feeling festive yet?

And now, Paris in the daytime, and a whole lotta photos. With absolutely no regard for importance or geography. Enjoy!

{the sky was totally dramatic when it wasn’t misting, Dublin-style}

{this building was decorated with the longest strings of tinsel!}

{these darling photos of yours truly, included only because of the expressions – the sun came out just as Michael was taking these and I was blinded!}

{Mike wanted me to take a photo of the tables with painted chess boards. I wanted to take a photo of those chairs. So lovely.}

{I love the contrast of beautiful architecture and gritty graffiti in Paris. It’s so jarring and arty at the same time.}

{The outside of some shops were decorated with real boughs and berries. Many of them had real little Christmas trees above the first floor.}

{See? Like these! So sweet!}

{My hat‘s from Target. It’s remarkably warm, especially when it’s 50 degrees and you convince your husband to walk up 15 flights of steps to the top of the Sacre Couer.}

{Ah, look at the sky.}

{Or look at this weird courtyard ceiling made of slabs of wood. Either way.}

{And this was my favorite people watching spot – or as we’ve been calling it, culture watching. Through a window of spray on snow, to the hustle and bustle of the street outside.}

Tomorrow, Paris by night. Decidedly fewer photos, since taking photos at night takes entirely more skill and patience. Until then, hope your house is filled with cheer!

I think I’ve mentioned before that when we travel, Michael takes the lead. When we’re at home in Dublin, I try to keep us fed, clothed and clean, and sometimes that seems a bit unbalanced. But let me tell you, the moment we step foot in the airport, I shut off and simultaneously realize exactly how balanced our system really is.

When we travel, Michael is the navigator, the planner, the researcher when it comes to trips. He is directionally gifted, happens to know exactly where we are at all times, and has the patience to troll through AirBnB for hours, finding exactly the right place for us to stay. And once we’re on the road, he makes, researches and executes almost all the plans.

Yesterday, he downloaded two Louvre visitor guides to our iTouches (early Christmas presents from my parents – thank you!) so we could cruise through the museum at our own pace, but still learn more than just blankly looking at the French captions below each painting! It was the perfect way to spend an afternoon.

We decided to do the Christmas Story trail and the Masterpieces trail. They both had us moseying from one end of the Louvre to the other, but at our own pace. We didn’t have to trudge along after a tour guide, and if we had wanted to, we could have cut out halfway through and no one would have known!

The visitor guides don’t have tons of artistic information, but they had just enough facts so we felt like we learned a bunch of interesting tidbits by the end. And it gave us a good range of pieces, from stained glass and paintings to sculpted stone and metal. All in all, a great way to spend two hours at the Louvre!

{This last blurry shot is the scene in front of the Mona Lisa. At least a hundred people all crowding around, taking photos of it. Now what, exactly, are they going to do with those photos?! Taking photos of art baffle me!}

My job on this particular trip, was apparently to follow Michael around with a camera. I swear I’m on this trip too! And I’m sure there will be proof of that one of these days!

Michael and I have so been enjoying our little trip to Paris so far. I’ve been wandering, taking photos (man, I wish I knew how to use my camera better!), and we’ve managed to see the Louvre, the Champs d’Elysees, the Sacre Couer. And, we’ve done a ton of walking around, observing people and shops, food and customs.

{I loved their logo, so I took a photo from my coffee cup! They serve excellent, strong coffee, even if their staff is a little pretentious!}

One of the things that’s struck us in our strolling is how Parisians seem to have perfected the art of people watching. We stopped by the cafe Les Deux Magots this afternoon – the same cafe Hemingway, Sartre, and Picasso used to spend hours chatting and working – and noticed that everyone was sitting along the back wall of the patio. Everyone. There wasn’t a soul sitting with their back to the street.

{Michael and I didn’t realize the no-sitting-with-your-back-to-the-window rule until we’d already sat down. Here he is trying to check out the lady in the fur coat nonchalantly. Not so easy!}

During our people watching foray, we made a few observations and broad generalizations about the French:

– they dress their children like little chic grownups

– they are slim (no news there!)

– they wear the hippest suede boots. how do they get away with that when it snows?

We also noticed the following happen around us inside the cafe:

– a girl wearing sweater pants (seriously, made of knit material) writing mathematical equations on the paper tablecloth

– a very eccentric grandma not letting her grown grandson get a word in edgewise (we don’t understand French, but he looked like he’d given up!)

– a midwestern American couple speaking French just like we do – “May I please have deux cafe au laits, please, I mean, merci..um..s’il vous plait?”

In the afternoon, we headed up to the Montmartre area, where we stayed a few years ago. It felt like our old ‘hood! Strolling around, I snapped this photo of the outside of a cafe. They’re all facing the street – except that one girl, maybe she was American!

During this trip to Paris, I’ve realized two things: one day, I’d like to move to France for a year. Two, in the meantime, I want to adopt a few Parisian characteristics in my life in Dublin. So far? Hip suede boots and people watching for hours.

What about you? Do you take life inspiration from your travels? Do share, I’d love to hear!

Wouldn’t you be thrilled to receive this gift under the tree?

Take your favorite jam or maple syrup (I used a jar of Stonewall Kitchens Maine Blueberry Jam because it’s heavenly on pancakes), make a cute tag offering your pancake-making services, and wrap them together with a little ribbon. Et voila, a sweet gift in a flash!

Keep in mind you might want to gift this to someone who lives in your house – and be prepared to have the recipient drag you out of bed on a Saturday morning to redeem their gift! The good news is that you’ll definitely have to take a test bite or three!