I am a fan of the Christmas. Big time.

I like the decorating and the baking and the present exchanging. I like making big elaborate meals, picking out a hulking tree (and decorating the monster), and wrapping gifts till my finger ache. Hot cocoa, peppermint taffy, advent calendars, class parties, shopping, cookie decorating, garland, lights, endless Bing Crosby tunes? Yes to all. And, yet, (you knew there was going to be a yet) I've always wanted to, well, not do all of it one year.

The dream wasn't to ditch Christmas per se, rather, ever since I was a teenager (I was a weird teenager), I've had this idea in the back of my head that one year, in lieu of all the holiday brouhaha, I'd pack up my (then fictitious) family and get out of dodge. We'd steal away for the holiday, forgoing the tree and gifts and whatnot in favor of adventure and togetherness.

We'll friends, it's happening. Next week, my little family of four is skipping town, embarking on a 10-day trip to, yep, (as you probably guessed from the post title) Paris.

Paris!!

For 10 whole days!!!

We'll be Louvreing and d 'Orsaying and Centre Pompidouing our hearts away, stuffing our bellies with croque monsieurs and macaroons and all manner of stinky cheese. Sure, to make this whole extravaganza possible we nixed all other holiday bells and whistles (save the scant bits of festive featured in those photos above). But I figure it's a small price to pay for adventure and togetherness.

And I'm thinking on Christmas maybe we'll cruise over to the Eiffel tower... After all, it sort of looks like a really big tree, yes?