I’m spending Christmas Day in London for the first time in over 15 years.
It’s Christmas in the Roaming Tales household. With just the two of us and no children it’s going to be a low-key affair but no less enjoyable for that. We have a bouquet of sparkly branches and red berries strung with silver ornaments in lieu of a tree and I have indulged in a bit of festive cooking – I’m most impressed with my homemade mince pies and I’m planning a roast lunch tomorrrow.
This is my first Christmas in London since I was fifteen. I was an exchange student in Überlingen am Bodensee in southern Germany for four months in 1991 – my first big trip away from home. I came to the UK for two weeks to spend Christmas with my aunt and uncle in London and then New Year’s with my other aunt and uncle in Cardiff. On that first trip to London, I recall seeing Cinderella at the Lyric Theatre in Hammersmith with my aunt and five-year-old cousin, playing in Holland Park and seeing squirrels, and shopping on Portobello Road with my uncle.
How is it possible that this is my fifth Christmas since moving to the UK but the first time I’m spending it in London? The reason, my dear friends, is travel.
Christmas 2004 was our first since leaving Australia and we wanted a White Christmas. The odds of getting one in London are not great, so we opted for guaranteed snow and spent Christmas in Innsbruck in the Austrian Alps. In 2005, we spent Christmas at home in Sydney with our families. In 2006, we headed for the Sahara Desert in Tunisia – we thought we might skip Christmas altogether by heading to a Muslim country but we ended up with a lame hotel version of the holiday instead. Then last year, we spent Christmas in New York at a friends’ house in Brooklyn.
I’ll be staying up late tonight to call family in Australia and then sleeping in tomorrow. Public transport shuts down on Christmas Day in London so I imagine we’ll be going for a walk in our local area, in between exchanging gifts, eating delicious food and playing games.
Happy holidays!
Recent comments