BY: SUSAN HAYS

IT SEEMS THE MINUTE THE sunshades and parasols have been stored away for winter, they’re replaced by twinkling lights and thoughts of Christmas holidays. We’ve become aware over the past decade that there’s been a general change in France when it comes to the matter of decorating for Christmas; slowly it seems to be getting more commercial, probably in line with many other countries in the world. At one time there was scarcely an acknowledgement of the season before December, but this year we already had decorations in shops and beautiful jaw-dropping displays as early as mid-October, and that was not in just one shop but almost everywhere. What does one do? Do we jump on board and celebrate with the rest of them or stoically stick to our ancient traditions?