I LOVE Christmas! I always said that when I had my own house I would have a Christmas room. A little place that would always be eternally Christmassy. When you opened the door there could be a crackling fire, a cozy Christmas tree decorated with glowing twinkle lights, Christmas music playing and a warm chair to curl up in with a book and a cup of hot chocolate. A girl can dream, can’t she?I have yet to find the true Dicken’s Christmas experience in England, but I suppose a lot of it has to do with where we live and since working schedules somehow get crazier around the Holidays you never seem to have enough time to do everything you want. I have yet to go ice-skating at Somserset House, but I plan to!
Every year we always arrange for one day that we go into Centeral London to just window-shop and look at all the Christmas lights. We watch the entertainers in Covent Garden and take a stroll down Carnaby Street where there are always interesting street displays. This past year there were giant puffy air-filled snowmen floating above your head, while the year before shiny metallic “paper” chains, draped the street. Fortnum & Masons does the most extraordinary windows and most recently in conjunction with the Royal Ballet. This past year, “The Snow Queen” came to life in all her icy glory.
I love our house at Christmas, its cozy tininess works all the more in its favour during the season. Our cottage is so small that the Christmas tree can only fit in our bedroom, so we have a romantic sparkle of lights as we slip off to the land of nod. The downstairs mantle and banister are swathed in pine garlands with fairy lights threaded through and Danish ornaments hung in amongst the boughs. When we can’t sleep we usually come downstairs at some ungodly hour to make a cup of tea, turn on the Christmas lights and a little music and just chat till we are tired again.
Being in England this time of year I always miss the stores at home that do fabulous “Christmas in July” sales, if I had my own store here, I would! Even the Family channel would do Christmas in July TV specials, showing "Frosty" and "Rudolph". It just makes for a little fun in the summertime haze.
