The holiday season is here. For me, the American half of Aaron and I, Thanksgiving is the beginning of the season and also my favorite holiday. How can it not be? All you do is eat, digest, eat,digest and visit with good friends and family . You get the idea. I love it.
We decided to start the holiday season by decorating our tree 2 weekends ago. Aaron loves getting the tree up. I pretend not to since I am Jewish and hate to admit that I am like a little kid when it comes to Xmas. I love the tree, the decorations, the colors, the excitement of opening my gifts no matter what they are and the extra time Aaron and I get to spend with each other. Even though Chanukah is 8 nights I prefer all the excitement rolled into one evening.
Last year was our first Xmas with each other and it was everything that we wanted it to be. We did differ in one area. I wanted a real tree and I could not believe it, Aaron grew up with a fake tree and wanted to keep it that way. Tradition is tradition I guess. The only part I liked about the fake tree is that there were no needles to clean up. I agreed to the fake again this year so all I have to do is drag the box out from under our bed and stick it in the holder. Last year in his rush to get our tree, since all the stores were closed because of Covid he ordered a pencil tree by mistake so it looks more like a stick than a bush.
I promised Aaron I would have the stick up for him a week from when he first asked. He seemed to forget this and every night that week he kept asking where’s the tree. He not only wanted the tree up, but decorated also. I got the tree up but had to put my foot down on decorating it without him. If I had been nice enough to get the lights and ornaments up I know he would have had one complaint after another about how I did it and we would have had to take it all down.
Anyway on the evening we decorated the tree I learned an important lesson. Last year we spent hours trying to make it look beautiful. This year we spent 30 minutes throwing up the shit as quickly as possible and it looked just as good. Go figure. Lesson learned: don't spend 10 hours doing something when 30 minutes will do. Also if you have enough presents under the tree no one will notice the tree.
We did the tree a little early because our real kick off to the season was a trip to Paris for a wedding. I was looking forward to our Thanksgiving dinner there almost as much as I was looking forward to the wedding. It was Aaron’s first time having Thanksgiving dinner even if it was in Paris. I knew he would love the Thanksgiving dinner as he is crazy about Xmas dinner, (and food in general,) at his Grandmother’s house in the South of Ireland. For those of you not familiar with the American Thanksgiving dinner it is very much like Xmas dinner.
I do not know why it always happens to us. Our flight to Paris was leaving at 6:00 AM so we had to be up at 3:30 to get ready to leave. One day I am determined that we leave for a trip at a normal hour. We were in Paris 4 days. Aaron had never been to Paris before. I don't think he was prepared for all the walking we would be doing. One day we actually walked 12 miles. I tried to make this up to him by making sure he also ate and drank his way through the city, I was doing well until he had too much good wine, great chocolate and excellent pastries and and he seemed determined to spend the afternoon in bed feigning a stomach ache. We stayed in the Marais area. I had never stayed in that part of the city before. It is the gay and Jewish area of the city and supposedly one of the hottest so it was great to investigate it together. It was to bad that for most of our visit it was cold and rainy not exactly Paris walking weather.
It was my second time staying in an AirBnB. The hotels were so ridiculously expensive we decided to give it a try. From the pictures I saw online it looked great. Just what you would imagine a Paris apartment to be. In an old building with what looked to be 15 foot ceilings, beautiful windows from floor to ceiling ands old wood shutters. It was a deal compared to the hotels. When we arrived at our Airbnb I realized a great photographer must have taken the pictures. It was not quite as good as the pictures, but it was a nice place to call home for four days.
I was never quite sure why Paris was called the City of Lights and am still not. To me Paris is the city of romance.. The minute we walked into our little pied-a-terre the only thing I could think about was making it our home. Aaron is not much of a morning person but he must have had the same idea as I did. After a quick tussle in the sheets with some intense sweating and exploding we were kind of sorry our apartment did come with a housekeeper. What a great way to start our stay in Paris. I think we could have gone again but it was time to see the city.
I was afraid I was I was going to have to forcefully stop Aaron from eating everything on Thanksgiving as on Friday we were going to one of my favorite spots for a late breakfast Le avenue on Avenue Montaigne. It has great food and is even better for people watching. It is near many of the great shops, including one of my favorite stores in the world, Chrome Hearts. (That is after Costco, of course.) For dinner we went to a restaurant tucked away in the Louvre called Cafe Marly. It is owned by the people who run the restaurant in the Costes Hotel which is my favorite in Paris. I knew we would never get in there for dinner as they only take reservations 48 hours in advance and unless you are somebody you aren’t going to be eating there. One of the pluses of a hotel is you have a concierge who can work magic for you. Cafe Marly was great, not the scene that Costes is but great food, atmosphere and you could hear yourself talk, which I love.
Saturday was the wedding day and I knew it was going to be a long one. We had a lay in Saturday morning as after dinner Aaron and I wanted to get a feel for, "gay Paris," and did not get back to our place until the wee hours of the morning. We had just enough time to get over our hangovers, stuff some food in our mouths, shower and make sure our tuxes still fit after 2 days of eating too much.
The wedding was something special. Two very good friends of mine from California were getting married. It was held at the Plaza Athenee, one of the best hotels in the world and the dinner was being catered by Alain Ducasse, one of the most renowned chefs in the world. Another reason I had to stop both of us from eating too much on Thursday and Friday. The wedding itself started at 3:00 PM, followed by cocktails and horderves for an hour and a half, a four and a half hour dinner, followed finally by drinks and dancing in the hotel club. The affair ended at 2:30 AM. I anticipated Aaron wanting the evening to go longer but I had been ready to call it a night a few hours earlier so we Ubered home.
I had been told by the bride that all of the women would be wearing gowns so we better be wearing our tuxes and look damn good in them. Aaron has not let up on me since I relented and said I would wear my tux since I would not even wear my tux when we were married last year. Mind you it was during Covid and we were only allowed six guests. My promise to you is this Aaron, if we ever have a proper reception I will wear my tux if you ask me. No complaining on my part. You have it in writing and all of our readers can stand behind you.
The wedding was wonderful, but for us the best part took place in a sneaky visit to the bathroom. While everyone was drinking waiting for the wedding to begin copious amounts of wine was had by all. Add to that cocktails before dinner and I would say the majority of us were pretty plowed. Aaron and I had to use the bathroom and by chance or our good luck the attendant must have been on break. What more could I ask for? There I was with my gorgeous husband looking so hot in his tux I practically jumped him. Lucky for me I think he was just as horny. I think just being in the bathroom at the Plaza Athenee added to the excitement of the moment or maybe we have just watched too much porn. Regardless it was great.
Sunday morning we had a great brunch after which we will did some more walking. I also insisted we go to my favorite museum, The Musée de l'Orangerie where Monet's famous Water Lilies are. Walking in Paris is an absolute must. If you ask me it is the best walking city in the world. We left Paris late Sunday evening and returning back to Dublin.
It was probably a good thing that Aaron took Monday off from work. I think he needs a few days of rest after doing Paris in 4 days. Anyway we are back now and I cannot believe Xmas is only 3 weeks away. It will most likely be a quick few weeks. I have to get Aaron a few more gifts before Xmas. Then it is down to Waterford to spend the holiday with his family. Last year was my first Xmas with them and it was much fun. More holiday news and antics to follow.