Absolutely! Too many Euros floating out of the pocketbook to cut corners on an illegal rental. :)

Vacation in Paris, If they give you Joseph as your meet and greeter tell him you will get to the apartment on your own. He will want you to use his driver who is not legal for Airport pickups, did not have a sign, kept us waiting for over an hour, texted while he drove, did not know where he was going and charged us 65.00 My husband was mad but I was even madder when he basically said I lied about where we were to meet. Car rental was the meetup and he was there but waiting outside the gate, not at the inside counter or even the outside building. Freezing cold, we had a person at both locations. My husband finally went asking random people if they were our driver. Then he did not want to give me two sets which we had agreed on. He is a nightmare. We had been in France for a week and had returned our car at 2 and never got to the apartment till five.

I swore I would use hotels from then on but found a legal apartment for upcoming trip with Airbnb.

The "children" are all in for iceskating at Hotel de Ville, too; talking them into looking at holiday windows might be a stretch, we'll see.>

Well all ages love the Christmas windows and they can do some shopping too!

We have found an apartment in Saint Germaine through Vacation in Paris,

It is actually Saint Germain, US tourist usually pronounce as Germaine, which is the female form in French. Germain was a man, it is pronounced closer to 'German' than 'Germaine'.
- I know that this doesn't bring anything to the topic ;-) but since I mentioned it I join the life of Germain, Bishop of Paris in the 6th century.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germain_of_Paris

I don't think that the fans of "Saint Germaine" will ever pay attention, not even if we tell them if it were really Germaine, it would be Sainte Germaine instead of Saint Germaine. Just a silly detail for them.

Some tourists DO know it is more like 'german' than 'germane'

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Overheard from a (very loud) young Canadian tourist on a train in Italy: "They made us study French for four years in school. A complete waste of time! I just didn't get it. What's this gender thing, anyway?"

thibaut, thank you for the correction. I know the correct spelling is Germain; must have been a typo. And, I also know how it is pronounced; though if I did not, our DD who is B2 is French would have promptly corrected me. :)

Macross, thank you. We plan to take the RER to Sainte German (see what I did there?) and can easily walk to the apartment.

Joseph Ran***** I don't want to type his whole name out. If you have not received his emails then you are all good. We have rented with them three times and he was our meet and greeter once. My husband has a medical issue and sometimes needs to go back to the apartment and rest, also likes to do different things than me, why we like having two sets of keys. I saw pictures last night of the Christmas lights going up. So exciting. I am not even a Christmas person.

Macross, our "meeter and greeter" is David Somebody, so I think/hope we're good.

I am totally a Christmas person. Though, I did feel a bit like a slacker at the grocery today when the Oma behind me hoisted a case (12kg) of flour; 6 cartons of eggs; and around 12 packages of dried fruit onto the conveyor. I will probably smell the baking Stollen on my afternoon outings with DDog this week. :)

Well, I went to see the Christmas windows on boulevard Haussmann today, and as usual they have spared no expense.

Kerouac, I'm looking forward to viewing your annual videos of the Christmas windows!

We've got a four-week holiday in Paris coming up that will cover Christmas and New Year's...
already some good recs here but a couple more: pre-order a bûche de Noël from a recommended patisserie and try to go for an afternoon holiday tea at a special salon, if you like that kind of thing. We do and have reservations at two places.
We plan to order and pick up a good roast chicken for Christmas Eve. NYE we have tickets for the gala at the Garnier opera house, so no dinner plans, but will lay in charcuterie favorites for eating at home on New Year's Day.

Or buy one of the amazing bûches at Picard and save a bundle.

Okay, I'm no expert but this is one of my favorite memories. Paris at Christmas. Walking from the service at the American Church in Paris to the restaurant where I made a reservation for lunch. I was shocked to see a patisserie open on Christmas afternoon and a team busily working on more! So I googled to find the name and location -Aux Merveilleux De Fred
94 Rue Saint-Dominique, 75007 Paris, France

http://www.auxmerveilleux.com/home_en/

Here are some photos -
https://lechocolatdanstousnosetats.c...de-fred-paris/

But more amazing than anything else, I just learned they have one in NYC!!! I've always regretted not buying one on Christmas Day then. But now I'll have a second chance! ((l))

After lunch, I walked another block to sit on a bench and gaze at the Eiffel Tower and pinch myself. Visited the Christmas market at the base (no longer there I understand) and watch kids ice skate.

Honestly, an amazing way to spend a Christmas Day.

Edited to add a link to a photo from the NYC FB page -

And learned they were chosen as the top bakery in NY state. Excited to visit them soon!

How many are on the trip? 3 or 4.
If 3, I have a fabulous idea!

If you are interested in the bouche de Noël you might want to look into taking the special class offered at La Cuisine Paris. I took it last year and brought home my masterpiece to bring to Christmas Eve dinner at my friends house.

Bûche de Noël, not bouche. Une bouche (d'égoût ?) is not that appetziing, Xmas or not.
I also recommend the Picard one.

Entrance to a bouche de Noël:

Sorry it was a typo