Sunday 6 January 2019

So, the decorations are down ...

... packed in plastic crates and waiting to go up into the loft.

The lounge looks denuded and needs a good hoover.  Bits of that long fine shiny stuff that everyone used to drape over Christmas trees (no, not tinsel) get everywhere and there are always one or two pieces that only emerge once everything has been tidied. Bertie rolls on the carpet and then walks away with glitter in his fur.

Before I finally say farewell to Christmas 2018, some photos I took at our neighbouring farmer's house.  First time I've been through their door (only taken 11 years) and he and his wife proudly showed me their conservatory - filled with a "Village de Noël".  They told me it takes about a week to put up and take down.  Unlike in the UK, there isn't the tradition here of taking down decorations on twelfth night.  Perhaps as well! She tells me her village will stay in place for another couple of weeks.

It's difficult to do it justice with still photos.  Many of the models move: roundabouts, skaters, an airship, a train, windmills.  Lights flash and Christmas carols pipe in competition with one another through tinny (and tiny) speakers. She has been collecting the models since her now grown-up children were babies and admits to being addicted.  I'm not surprised.











4 comments:

  1. Good grief! And I thought our neighbour's extravaganza was the tops!
    But it explains why you never see anyone about in rural France...they are busy all year putting up and taking down the Christmas village...

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  2. Fantasy land! We often wonder what goes on behind the shutters! We used to laugh about a 'climbing Father Xmas' still climbing in May plus 12 months that was on an outside wall of one house near us. Lesley

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    1. Hello Lesley, you are so right about the climbing Father Xmases. One of our local factories had one dangling from a crane - there for weeks. I felt quite sorry for him!

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