and the other two: HO! HOs!

I’d like to finish out the Advent season, with admiration for the beloved Santa Claus. Of course, the Paris-Eiffel Tower ornament also takes center stage with this final Advent post now shifting to what’s happening all over the world on this magical evening….Christmas Eve and Santa Claus IS Comin’ to Town!

A google search told me this: “Santa Claus is called Père Noël in French or Father Christmas. Small children may also call him Papa Noël or Daddy Christmas. … Rather than the red Santa hat, Père Noël wears a red cloak with a hood trimmed in white fur. He often wears the hood up and so it’s a small difference that can easily not be noticed.”

That is a quote from a discussion about one of the differences between celebrating Christmas in the USA and France. However, the Santa/Pere Noel in the featured image is a photo from a window of the BHV store in Paris a few years ago. And, in that photo, he is donning a hat and not a cloak. So, what can I say, but ‘the times, they are a changin’….https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90WD_ats6eE (Bob Dylan)

Here is a quote from Wikipedia about Le BHV Marais:

“The Bazar de l’Hôtel de Ville or Le BHV Marais is a department store on rue de Rivoli in the 4th arrondissement of Paris, facing the Hôtel de Ville. It is part of the Groupe Galeries Lafayette and served by the Metro station Hôtel de Ville. It occupies four other smaller specialized stores, in the neighborhood, and has also opened several other shops in France and in Beirut, Lebanon. BHV currently operates several stores in the Paris metropolitan area and two in the Lyon metropolitan area.

The store slogan is “Style as lifestyle” (“Style comme style de vie”)”

When I think about BHV, I think of it as more of an immense hardware/home store and I have not had to tap into its supplies on any regular basis. According to the article, it has had a total revamp in recent years with the article spelling out the types of products sold on each floor. Please see the link for more information, including BHV’s interesting history: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bazar_de_l%27Hôtel_de_Ville

It seems that Santa has changed his mode of transportation for instance, too. Don’t quote me on this but I only found a few ornaments depicting reindeer but they were not with Santa.

In fact, it seems Santa has decided, depending on his location on Christmas Eve, to use a variety of transports as shown below. I’m not sure they qualify as an upgrade though. What do you think?

As said, ‘the times they are a changin’…and then maybe it’s just in Paris that elves come with life-sized chocolate bodies! Yes, even his head and hat are chocolate, along with his appropriate ‘work boots’. A magnificent specimen of Patrick Roger, the clever chocolate artist: https://www.patrickroger.com

But I do know one thing for sure–‘Santa Claus IS Comin’ to Town!’…https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBNbs2hNy-8

And, let’s hope Santa makes it to EVERYONE’s home this year–2020. And, the gift I would like for ALL follows the theme of ‘the times they are a changin’–from pandemic to good health with a little extra thrown in: PEACE for ALL.