It’s funny that after November 1st and 2nd many “Christmas shops” open and are established in some of the bigger garden and home stores. I decided to check out a new “Christmas shop” at Jardinerie Grassot in Brignais. It opened officially on November 3rd and will remain open until December 24th. I was impressed by the scale of the shop and variety of items on sale. It reminds me of the Christmas shops in small villages outside of Colmar. On the 11th I will check out Gamm Vert as that store has always been my favorite. Their Christmas shop is more compact and seems smaller, but I could be wrong about this. So officially, people in this area of France start to get ready for the Christmas season. I used to think the US started w-a-y too early when it came to Christmas decor, music, buying presents, etc., and I still think that. Now some countries (Ireland and the UK come to mind) in Europe have been pushing Christmas earlier, even a “black Friday” day. I hope the trend stops at November and doesn’t go any earlier.
