With Christmas a mere few days away, I know many of you are probably rushing around in search of those last gifts and final festive preparations. Seeing as I seem incapable of accept the supposed perfect romantic gifts offered up early by Santa (see previous post), I thought I should open my heart to helping readers… and some of the blog’s best characters… get into the holiday spirit with these last minute holiday gifts.
“Can’t Santa bring me a good new boyfriend for Christmas?” asked Maude, at the end of telling me about her latest dating cauchemars at a holiday party the other night (story to appear in the new year). I sighed into my glass of champagne. Tell me about it! Unfortunately, it seemed that we’d obviously been writing to the wrong Monsieur Claus, something had definitely been lost in translation. Case in point when later that night in a nearby cafe where some of us were enjoying a greedy last glass of Sancerre, I was followed to the restrooms by an admiring young Serbian boy who could only say “you are beautiful.” We laughed, blushed and that was that — somehow the language of love would probably not be enough to make that flirt advance anywhere! I’ve given up on Santa – but I haven’t given up on you! Here are some fun little last min gift ideas!
Great Gifts for International Men or Women of Mystery… or Love
Dans le Noir, le Spa – While innocently walking down rue Montorgueil the other day, I didn’t run into another kissing flash mob like I posted about last week on Facebook, but instead, I was handed a flyer for the Dans le Noir le Spa (a spin off of the restaurant). They still have some great deals online and voila you’ll have a nice voucher to present. Couples classes and massages and a massage called Je T’Aime particularly drew my attention.
Sweet Talking Sweet Tooths – Some of the best chocolate and pastry shops in Paris have online boutiques (and a few have courier service and are even sold at airport duty free shops if you’re really on the fly!). The gifts might not arrive exactly on time, but I’d be in savory heaven just knowing that I would be shortly receiving treats from Patrick Roger, Debauve & Gallais or Ladurée (whose coffret Mademoiselle Noelle shown above looks parfait).
Intrepid Internationals – If you’ve got an adventurous expat gal to still cross off your list, a subscription to the fabulous Girl Gone International Magazine is a great option. Alternatively, if you know anyone doing some travel next year, a gift certificate to Context Travel for an expert-led walking tour in cities around the world could fit right into their step. And lastly for heart-driven lovers of Paris, you can still get copies of Je T’Aime Me Neither at a 20% discount!
And… a few gifts for Les Mauvais Garcons of JTMN
After all the holidays are about being generous, I’m sure the lives of these blog characters (and possibly mine) will be made much happier/easier with these little special pressies. If you have any ideas to add feel free to put them in the comments!
Le Mexican: It’s been ages since we’ve heard anything from our hombre, I don’t think he’s been deported and very well could be living with the girl half his age he managed to entrance, but in case he isn’t, I think we’d all love some more stories about his romantic adventures (or rather trials and tribulations) in his chronicle the Mexican Minute (the collection can be read here). Hence the gift of this beautiful journal, it even has a heart on it – perfecto!
The Film Guy: I couldn’t believe my eyes when I was in the gadget shop La Chaise Longue a few weeks ago and came face to box with the ideal present for him. He doesn’t need to send me text messages pleading me to go give him a massage if he had his own Lili Masseur right at home 24/7! I actually sent him a photo of it the last time he tried to get me to come over, I think it even got him to crack a tiny smile on his fickle French face.
Zeven: I was debating over the present for Zeven, the Armenian ex whom I ran into at the airport back in November (Part I and Part II). Since he has this amazing talent for disappearing, I was tempted to gift him some magic classes, maybe he could learn a few more tricks? Then I hesitated over a one way ticket to l’Enfer, since we’d run into each other while traveling – that’s the best destination for him. Nevertheless, this little assignment was supposed to be a show of generosity … so I thought he could benefit from a Little Black Book, or perhaps there’s an app that way he could take a photo of a girl and save it in a LBB database on his phone?
The Catalan: A little trickier to decide… I was thinking a Euro Millions lottery ticket might be appreciated since he seems to have trouble spending money, he might have less trouble doing so if he had a little more… however, not necessarily. Therefore, I decided I should be a little sensible, opting for a practical piggybank – I tried to find a handcrafted Catalan one, but I came close with these friendly ones from Valencia, one of them might be acceptable enough.
The Wank Manager/Farming Banker: Well, I have to say this was the easiest of them all… I couldn’t really choose anything for him besides a tractor. He has to start planning ahead and working towards his own person collection. As he doesn’t like spending money, the least I could do is help him out. This one looked pretty fancy! He’d certainly be thrilled!
Wherever you’re celebrating, with whomever and in whatever language… Happy Holidays! Bonnes Fetes! Срећан Божић*!
New Year’s Resolutions can hold off until 2014!
*Merry Christmas in Serbian 😉