Well behaved French children placed their shoes near the fire on Christmas Eve in hopes that Père Noël might leave some small presents while they slept. However this was not the event they most looked forward to. “Et que veux-tu pour tes étrennes?” (or, What would you like for Christmas?) was the question every child hoped to hear as the holidays approached. But since Christmas was celebrated as a primarily religious holiday in France, these gifts were not exchanged until New Year’s day.
In this this translation from La Poupée Modèle, circa December, 1863, Chiffonnette needs every ounce of strength and character to restrain herself, as she visits all the best shops in Paris to see the étrennes.
Enjoy window shopping along with Chiffonnette, and have a wonderful holiday!
Causerie sur les Étrennes
Lily, my dear Lily, I don’t know where I am anymore! I have seen so many wonderful things over the past few hours that my eyes are watering, and I wonder how I will ever be able to tell you all about it.
To start at the beginning, this morning, while snuggled up in my pink bed, I was pretending to sleep so as not to get up so quickly, our old doll came into my room.
“Still in bed, Chiffonnette! she cried; it’s a shame . . . I almost intended to take you with me.”
“Where then, good friend?”
“Buying gifts for some little girls that I really like, because they are always good.”
“Oh! Good friend, please take me! I’ll be ready right away!”
“Of course? You won’t be Madame Lambine, like the other days?” (Lambine is slang for “daudler” or “slowpoke”)
“You’ll see!”
And already my two stockings were on.
“On reflection, I would prefer that you stay, my child. If you accompany me, you will desire everything you see, and as I cannot satisfy you, it will cause you sorrow.”
“But no, my good friend, I assure you! I’ll be very reasonable, try me! I know very well that many of the presents we’re going to see can only be bought by very wealthy girls; I’ll admire anything that looks nice, but I won’t regret anything, you’ll see. …. . . Don’t we have as much fun with a two-franc toy as with a two-hundred-franc toy?”
“This is very well thought out, my dear little one. However, there is still a drawback. . . You’re a bit talkative, Chiffonnette; you won’t be able to help but tell everything you have seen to your friend Lily, who, in turn, will tell it to her little provincial companions. . . And who tells you that these young ladies will be as reasonable as you promise to be?”
“Oh! I’m sure yes, good friend. They will listen to my stories as one listens to a pretty tale, and will be very happy, I assure you, to know that we see such beautiful things in Paris.”
Is it not, dear Lily, that it is the truth, and that you will not envy the happiness of the happy little girls for whom these splendid New Year gifts are intended? Moreover, alongside these very expensive gifts, there are much more modest ones and just as pleasant to receive. I will talk to you about both. It will be up to your good little mother to assess her purse and. . . your merit.
You can imagine that once permission had been obtained, I was quickly dressed: a dress in soutaché tan poplin, a similar pelerine, a round hat in tan felt adorned with feathers and velvet of the same shade. My toilette was distinguished, wasn’t it? We began by going to Siraudin’s, you know, the famous Siraudin? The one that makes such delicious sweets that last year both of us, and our little mistresses too, had to get sick from eating them?
Well, this Siraudin, who is a very kind man, was kind enough to show us all the new products that he is hiding until the big Christmas displays.
Oh, my Lily! What seductive things! You may remember that in fairy tales, there’s talk of marvelous fabrics where gold, silk, jewels, lace and butterfly wings mingle. I used to say to myself: These fabrics must be superb! But what does it look like? My dear, it looks like Mr. Siraudin’s boxes and bags, there’s no doubt about it… His candy bags, another happy invention? Imagine that they’re made of red, green and white moire, framed with a pretty gold twist with tassels at the ends, and that the name Siraudin is inscribed on them in diamonds; or, my Lily, in diamonds! Our old doll says they’re glass diamonds, but what does that matter? Diamonds are always diamonds, aren’t they, whether they’re glass or not? Do you have any idea of the joy of the young girl, big or small, who will receive such a bag full of sweets?
But that’s not all, Mr. Siraudin made a doll for New Year’s Day so magnificent that we have never seen one like it. She is the queen of past, present and future dolls. It will cost over twenty thousand francs. She’ll have to be beautiful! Her court dress, in lace-covered velvet, was made by Madame Barenne; the blond hair framing her charming wax head was arranged by the Empress’s hairdresser, Félix, and adorned by him with flowers and diamonds. Her comb, bracelets and necklace are made of diamonds. No glass, these! Mounted by Marcet and Baugrant! She is 1.25 meters tall. And to top it all off, her crinoline, from the waist down, is an enormous bonbonnière (a container for candies). M. Siraudin calls her his blonde devil. How many other dolls could bear that name!
While I’m on the subject of dolls, I’d like to tell you about a beautiful baby I saw on the Passage Vivienne, in Madame Guillard’s home. He’s crying, my dear, this baby… He moves his arms, his legs, his head, his eyes like a real child; he says papa and mama, and all by himself, without anyone touching him… That is, without being touched, I’m mistaken: a little spring is pulled up under his dress, but this spring is so well hidden that you’d swear the baby was alive. By comparison, it’s very expensive! To make up for this, there are some next door, whose prices are much more moderate, and they’re almost as pretty!
Ah! There is something in Madame Buillard’s stores that will make many little girls happy! And if I hadn’t wanted to keep my word, I ‘d have been longing for many things!
That lovely milliner’s workshop, for a start, with its boxes of flowers and ribbons, its hat boxes, its mushrooms, its forms, all that paraphernalia that would be so much fun to use.
This doll’s mantel set, then, with its gilt-bronze clock working like a grandfather clock.
This magnificent cardboard game with which you can build the entire Jardin d’Acclimatation on a table.
And those cherry- or blue-striped Nadar balloons, whose basket can hold a doll braver than me!
And these Guignol theaters. . .
If I told you everything that tempted and charmed me, I would never end it. . .
Our old doll has bought a laundress basket for one of her girlfriends, which contains everything you need to launder the doll’s trousseau yourself. The basket contains everything from irons of all shapes to a miniature stove and a blanket to lay on the ironing board… . It’s a jewel of a toy!
Leaving rue Vivienne, we went to boulevard des Capucines, to the Giroux house. That’s when I thought I was in the middle of a fairy tale. . .
We were ushered into apartments each more magnificent than the last, and as brightly lit as the salon of your little mistress’s mother, on days when we’re sent to bed early because she’s expecting company… . The parquet floors were covered with carpets, and the walls were lined with such seductive gifts that I didn’t know which to admire first. And then there were the ladies and gentlemen, so polite that they showed these beautiful things as long as you wanted to look at them, and seemed to want nothing better than to let them be taken away.
Oh! If our old doll had not held me back, how quickly I would have taken for my room this pretty pompadour toilet, all upholstered in rose and lace! And those little round armchairs! And this planter adorned with flowers! And this rosewood chiffonier! And this charming fireplace tongs holder with the cutest feather duster imaginable hanging from it!
How lightly I would have climbed into that coupé, just my size, pulled by horses at 25 francs a piece!
How I would have loved to have played shopkeeper in the Champs-Elysées boutique, so well-stocked with penny items!
But, alas, alas! I had promised to be good… And, whatever the cost, I wanted to keep my promise. However, I won’t hide it from you, when my good friend stopped my hand, ready to seize the beautiful things offered to me, I felt like crying. . . SO,
To console me, she showed me a big book on which was written: “A little girl’s day”.
“How!” I exclaimed, frightened, “will the little girl to whom we give this be obliged to read everything in it on the same day?
In reply, our old friend opened the book. Guess what I found: a beautiful doll, her trousseau, her furniture, her perfumery, etc.! And on the other side, in the company of thread, needles and scissors, dresses, coats and petticoats all cut out for her and ready to be sewn! Wasn’t that a delightful surprise?
On another floor, just as resplendent as the first, we see the cartonnages and the books. Here again, we could spend hours! Unfortunately, to tell you everything that charmed me, it would also take pages, and our old friend is already scolding me for babbling so much.
Listen quickly: all this cardboard is charming and not at all expensive, and I recommend it to you. There are brand-new games of patience, geographical lottos, shadow puppet theaters… There are splendid books and albums … Ask a gentleman who is there and who is good enough to take care of what interests little girls; he will tell you the names of the prettiest books, while waiting for me to speak to you at length about them myself, and you will be able to rely on his good taste, because he understands them wonderfully. . .
Now I’m going to leave you. . . Not before telling you, however, that I saw at Galeries de Fer, chez MM. Werry fils (boulevard des Italiens) the most charming theaters and the most charming fellows in the world; these fellows in tulle, cardboard, satin and velvet, have the costumes and attire of actors from the great theaters. You can order from MM. Werry any play you like: Fra Diavolo and his brigands, Peau d’Ane and her fairy tales, Aladin and his ballets; in eight days, they’ll give you the whole play. It’s a charming innovation, isn’t it?
These galleries, which are free to enter, also contain all kinds of toys and trinkets suitable not only for children, but also for ladies and young girls, at very reasonable prices.
This time, I’m done! You can imagine that after a day like that, I’m going home very tired. All the same, I hope to see again in my dreams all the beautiful things I admired during the day.
A good kiss, my Lily; imitate your Chiffonnette, be good; be content with whatever your little mama wants or can give you, and love me next year as much as I love you this year.
Chiffonnette