Pere Noel Is Coming

Provence is getting ready for Pere Noel.  All the towns in Provence are lit up with their own special light displays.  A dark, vibrant blue is a prominant color and is very dramatic. In Vaison, there are white lights across the new bridge, and then a combination of blue and white in town.  Some of the blue ones appear to be dripping out of the huge plane trees as droplets light up in succession.  There are clusters of "sapin de noel" around town, and pretty displays in the windows. 

We asked our friends how to find a sapin de noel and what they would be like.  Most of our friends use-- gasp--artificial trees!  They said there would be some out at the supermarket.  We found that to be pretty slim pickings, even considering we expected them to be small.  You can of course buy a living tree, our friends had suggested.  Yes, a living tree.  That sounds good.  So we determined to go to Gamm Vert ("Green Thumb"), the nursery and pet store.    First, we made the novice mistake of going on a Sunday.  How could we?!  Did we just get off the boat?  We obviously had to wait for a more appropriate day to buy a Christmas tree.  So Wednesday was good for us, there being no school and all, and Gamm Vert being open (so long as we did not go between noon and 2:00, which we would never attempt.)

Gamm Vert had what we were looking for:

 
This was the tree display.  They were not leaving the store by the truckloads, but it was a nice collection of pre-cut trees, and back behind AJ's head are the potted trees.  The pre-cut trees are ordinarily stuck into a slab of wood as a stand, we deduced.  We weren't prepared to have a tree that couldn't drink.  We took one of the potted trees. 

And I got a big beautiful poinsetta.  (Nevermind that we left it at the caisse (cash register) and I had to come back for it twenty minutes later . . . .)

I interrupt this blog to report a Pere Noel sighting.

Common at this time of year are the "Marches de Noel."  These are similar to the regular marches, but have special Christmas gifts, delicacies and decor.  Here the kids are outside a small one in Rasteau:

And here we are enjoying a lovely outdoor Marche de Noel with Asha's friend Camille and her mother and brother in Vacquyeras:

Hey, wait a minute.  That's not "us."  Okay, here we are:

Ho-ho-ho.  May the Christmas season fill you with good cheer!