Lasting Impressions...

The anticipation, the surprise, the gratitude and joy… this part of Christmas never leaves me. 

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Joyeux Noël | Merry Christmas

May your Christmas be filled with joy, and then more joy!

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Joyeuses Fêtes

I love love love holiday decorations.  If it wasn't for the snickering that comes with having a Christmas tree hanging around in the middle of Spring, I would no doubt yield to my nudging desire to keep it up indefinitely. The glow of white lights, how it captivates and fills hushed darkness - that's my favorite part…

So now Christmas is only days away,… on to wrapping presents!

How are your decorating and holiday doings moving along?

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Café des 2 Moulins + Amélie

The nice thing about cold wintry evenings is they invite you to stay indoors and enjoy what you love to do in the comfort of home … lately, for me, that's meant queuing up movies new and old and watching favorite films long forgotten.

One that I loved and haven't seen since it came out nearly twelve years ago is Amélie, the immensely enchanting French comedy starring Audrey Tautou. Have you seen it? If you're a fan of that movie, you may remember Amelie's workplace, Café des 2 Moulins (above), a little cafe that sits quietly on a busy corner of Rue Lepic in Montmartre… passing by it in Paris last month offered the perfect reminder to add Amélie to my growing list of must-see agains :)

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Snow | La Neige

The first snowfall is always the most magical…

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Famille: The Older Boy...

My 8-year old boy is just like any other young boy I suppose. He asks questions about the mundane, the mysterious, the metaphysical… some of his inquiries match mine, and I tell him that I'm still seeking answers myself. At 8, I don't remember wondering about such heavy subjects, but then again it was so long ago and the only visual I can fully recall is of my beloved third grade teacher Mrs. Lippel and the big brown curls that framed her soft wrinkly face. 

Being 8 is a great age though, the young mind is filled with magical spaces. On our recent trip to France, however, mine spent hours in his imaginings and little magazines, many times curiously more immersed in Pokémon than the surroundings of Paris. Hopefully that will change, real soon…

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Calme.

The days following Thanksgiving passed so quickly, and in the short time between now and Christmas, amid the sweeping rush of holiday doings, I long to slow down and enjoy the rhythm of shorter winter days, watch the migrating birds overhead and savor every bit of the waning sunlight…

How do you carve out time to find calm during the holidays?

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