I've been getting into full holiday swing. My (tall) house plant is adorned with little gold ornaments, my balsam and cedar Yankee candle has been burning to mimic that authentic tree smell, and my 626-song Christmas playlist has been going non-stop.

After I got my apartment looking festive last week, I ventured out at night to Boulevard Haussmann to see how two of the major department stores had decorated.

First up were the windows of classy Printemps. Prada decorated the windows with its signature teddy bears and of course a generous dose of chic to create the "Noël, Joyeuse Obsession by Prada" display.

The displays have been out for a while now - since November 7th, when Gwyneth Paltrow helped unveil the window decorations. But as I might have mentioned before, I am serious about thoroughly enjoying Thanksgiving before moving on to the next holiday so I had no desire to pay a visit earlier to see the festivities. (I think I succeeded this year at fully savoring the holiday by celebrating Thanksgiving at four occasions lasting an entire week!) Now that I am excitedly anticipating Christmas, seeing the displays made a fun date night with my hubby.

As my Grammy says, "If it doesn't have bling, it don't mean a thing!" Good thing the teddies are on top of things...

Go at night when all the lights are on to get the full effect. (Which isn't hard these days since night falls by 5:30pm.)

Just down the street I continued on to Galaries Lafayette. Five of the windows were themed around Beauty and the Beast. The fairy tale classic is coming to movie theaters in February 2014 in France and the live musical La Belle et la Bête recently came to the nearby Théâtre Mogador in Paris.

The other twelve windows are themed "“Once upon a Christmas…Before the Clock Strikes Twelve” and feature the adventures of a doll, Lily, and a teddy bear named Martin.

I have to admit my preference between the two displays was Printemps' but my favorite character was this guy partying in the banquet scene at Galaries Lafayette: