PARIS (Reuters) - Shoppers are not allowed inside, and the pavement outside is nearly empty, but the French capital’s Printemps department store lit up its Christmas window display on Tuesday because - global epidemic or not - it is an annual tradition.“During this special context, this difficult moment, it’s even more essential to continue this tradition,” said Printemps Artistic Director David Moliere. The display this year at Printemps group’s flagship store on Boulevard Haussmann features fashionably dressed puppets on strings who jig along to music in a variety of winter settings including a ski resort cable car and a ship at sea. In one tableau, a band performs in an Alpine clearing. In another, puppets on trapezes rotate around a Christmas tree on a Parisian rooftop. In most years, the pavement outside the window is jammed with a crowd of shoppers and tourists craning to get a picture of the display on their smartphones.