I have a confession to make.

Every year I hold out, hard as it may be, to refrain from listening to Christmas music non-stop until after Thanksgiving. I don’t like to rush through Thanksgiving, and I try my best to savor each holiday as they come. (I once snapped at Michael and proclaimed he was “ruining Christmas” by playing holiday tunes in July. It’s serious.)

So while I can still say in good conscience that I haven’t blasted my Mariah Carey Merry Christmas album just yet, I do have to come clean. I saw the Christmas displays the week they went up (first week of November) at Galeries Lafayette and Printemps. It felt a little wrong and it wasn’t even very cold out, but I couldn’t contain my excitement. It all worked out though in the end - despite this little excursion, I didn’t ruin Thanksgiving :-)

I patiently refrained from sharing these pictures with you until after Thanksgiving was celebrated in the States, lest any of you felt adamant about focusing on the holiday at hand. So without further ado, let’s walk along Boulevard Haussmann together.

First stop is Galeries Lafayette. Each year it seems like this department store has fun window displays that capture the attention of children and adults alike. They are playful and animated, and this year is no exception. The theme is Le Noël Monstre (The Christmas Monster), and like it suggests, monsters have taken over the store!

Gustave and friends have taken over Galeries Lafayette! To see a short clip of this window's animations, take a look at my YouTube video.

Monster trapped in ornament in Galeries Lafayette's Christmas window display in Paris

Gustave the monster and his friends decorate the windows. Every year Galeries Lafayette puts up a huge Christmas tree in the center of the store (not to be missed!), and this year the monsters “got” to the tree, turning it upside-down. It is cute to see how the theme continues throughout their holiday decorations!

Don't we all feel like this (maybe minus the smile) when trying to untangle Christmas lights?!

Definitely the creepier part of the display! Alien bunnies?

Galeries Lafayette continued the theme with monster handbags (not part of the "official" windows these were in a display on rue de la Chaussée d'Antin) — Galeries Lafayette continued the theme with monster handbags (not part of the "official" windows these were in a display on rue de la Chaussée d'Antin)

Then there’s Printemps, which in contrast to Galeries Lafayette always seems to have chic, classy Christmas displays. Top designer brands take turns elegantly designing the Printemps windows, and this year was no exception. Burberry brings us “The Magical Christmas Journey by Burberry,” a story of a young boy who ventures from London to Paris via his umbrella. As you can only expect from Printemps’ Christmas display, each window is beautifully decorated with artistic details to tell this story.