Noël en Octobre

My first trip to Carrefour this year was in the middle of October, and it seemed as if nothing much had changed. The bread was still in the back, the electronics and appliances on the right, and the vegetables and milk products in the middle.

Deciding I needed a boutielle de vin rouge (a bottle of red wine) to celebrate being once again in the country of cheap, delicious wine, I marched over to the wine aisle thinking I knew the place pretty well.


The alcohol side of Carrefour.
I was mistaken. Although the alcohol was still on the left side of the building, the cave de vin aisle was no longer where it used to be! It had been replaced with a cave de champagne aisle.

When I expressed my shock at how much chapagne there was in the aisle, FBF replied “oh, oui, ils préparent pour noel” (oh, yeah, they’re getting ready for Christmas).

“Déjà?!” (Already?!) I asked, incredulously.


Half of the cave de champagne aisle.
I know that Christmas preparations have started earlier and earlier in the States, but October seems a little excessive to me. I think the reason they start so early is that the French do not celebrate Halloween or Thanksgiving, and lacking the intermediary holidays, they go straight for the good stuff.

Not that I’m complaining, mind you. I love me some delicious champagne. Plus, they have the adorable micro-sized bottles out on display.

On the top shelf are the gigantic bottles, on the far right and the bottom two shelves are the normal sized bottles, and the rest are the tiny bottles!