La Vida Laura

I always figured the holiday season in Paris would be sort of wonderful, but I had no idea just how decked out the city would get. They call Paris the City of Light, but it seems no time is that more true than Christmas: there are twinkling holiday lights every which way you look, and even the smallest of shops get into the spirit, decking their halls with all sorts of finery. I found myself constantly in awe.

The star of the show is without a doubt Galeries Lafayette. For years, I have seen people Instagram the gigantic inverted Galeries Lafayette Christmas tree, so of course I was dying to see it for myself. They put up the tree in early November, and I think I was there on maybe the second day it was up – I just could not wait. It was stunning:

Next door at Printemps, things are equally festive. The Printemps windows are a joy: each is fairytale-themed and sponsored by a different company (think Burberry, Christian Louboutin, and Sonia Rykiel). I loved the Burberry window, with miniature figurines decked out in the signature Burberry check.

One of my favorite things about living in Paris this fall was my walk to work; every morning I would pass through Le Village Royal on the way into the office. This little shopping corridor got fancy for the holiday, too, with trees blinking in gold lining the entire street. So charming!

All around the city, fashion designers pulled out all the stops to decorate their shop windows. I found myself snapping photographs constantly. At Christian Dior, the windows were filled with mountains of Christmas bulbs:

I loved the shiny orbs of the Sisley windows:

The Dolce & Gabbana windows were luxurious and fabulous:

I adored the homey, eclectic feel of the Gucci windows:

At Tara Jarmon, the little reindeer dog was adorable:

At Coach, I loved the non-traditional color scheme that still managed to be perfectly festive:

And at Ferragamo, I thought the zigzag shelves were super fun:

My office is located in Place Vendôme, which is gorgeous on an average day but even more so during the holidays. I loved the gigantic Christmas trees everywhere, and all the jewelers lining the square decorated their shops so beautifully.

At Patrick Roger, the gourmet chocolates are fantastic – but so are the chocolate sculptures filling the shop windows. For Christmas, there were big chocolate Santas, and inside the shop, Christmas trees made entirely of chocolate. If I had an extra 120 euro to blow, I certainly would have brought one of them home.

I lived nearby La Madeleine, a beautiful church in the 8th. In December, the church was illuminated each evening with lights whose colors were constantly changing. It was striking.

At Place de la Concorde, a gigantic ferris wheel was erected for the holiday season. While I never rode it, I loved seeing it illuminate the Paris skyline.

And Avenue Montaigne, a high-end shopping pocket in Paris, was beautifully decorated, but no place more than Dior. The gigantic chandelier (roughly three stories tall!) was incredible.

It is true what they say: there’s no place like home for the holidays. But it’s also true that there’s no place quite like Paris either. I wouldn’t have thought it possible, but Christmastime made me fall even more in love with the city.