A northern hemisphere christmas

[shiningcuckoo]

I live in the Southern Hemisphere and haven't had a proper Christmas in more than 20 years. I've recently discovered that I have a chronic illness and not too many more years left. I'm considering taking my kids to the uk to experience a winter Christmas. I could stay with my cousin in the East Mids for Christmas itself and I have friends to catch up with but what else could i do for a really Christmassy trip? Cottage in the lakes or the Cotswolds? Edinburgh? London? Brighton?

Christmas for me normally involves:

During the run up
A visit to a cathedral to a carol concert, (with a choir)
A visit to a really good Christmas market (affluent market towns seem to do the best ones)
Dinner, B&B in a country house hotel (I cook in our house so this is my night off being self-indulgent)
Seeing as many friends as possible.

Over Christmas itself
Decorating a Christmas tree and our house
Wrapping stocking presents
Going to the pub on Christmas Eve
Walking home in the cold at 11pm and then sitting up with a bottle of something, gossiping & preparing the veg for the next day.
Smoked salmon, scrambled eggs, & champagne on Christmas morning
Dragging everyone out for a long walk before Christmas lunch.

after that, it all falls apart, becomes less organised and people go off and do their own thing.

Maybe some of these things.

I’m so sorry to hear that.
Here’s a bucket list of Christmassy things to do in London. I’m sure others can add to it.
Ice skating (Somerset House is one of the most atmospheric in London)
Watch a pantomime, ballet or musical e.g. The Snowman at Saddler’s Wells or Elf The Musical.
Walk down Oxford street, Regent Street, Bond Street and Carnaby Street for the lights and window displays

Have a Starbucks gingerbread latte and peppermint hot chocolate

Shop (or just browse) at Southbank’s Bavarian-style Christmas market
Merry Christmas x

i’ll add the Nutcracker ballet is a lovely Christmassy thing.
Liberty has a wonderful window display, as do the shops on Piccadilly.
Hamleys toy shop for your children, if they’re young enough.

I love Edinburgh before Christmas. They have the Christmas market, ice skating rink and we have booked the pantomime. You also have more chance of wintery weather up there.

The most Christmassy trip home we had was when we broke the journey, and had the week before Christmas in Amsterdam. DH then went back to work, andi took the kids on to my parents in the UK. Might have been helped by the (unusual) laying of snow for a day in the Netherlands. So, does your journey have a natural transit point somewhere you are likely to get snow?
We didn't do an extra flight to stop off - it was always 2 planes, we just picked the city to break in.