December/Christmas in London

This post is a bit long but only because there was so much that happened in December and I wanted to include so many pictures! :) The "Christmas season" in London begins quite early since there is no reason to wait until Thanksgiving is over since it is not celebrated here.  So Christmas decorations, music and the famous Christmas markets started popping up around the city in early/mid November.  I was really excited to check out the Christmas markets which are made up of little wooden stalls selling various items, lots of food and of course the popular mulled wine (warm spiced red wine)! The larger Winter Wonderland market in Hyde Park actually even had a huge area with rides/carnival games which reminded us of a smaller version of the MN Statefair.  We found it funny that it was called Winter Wonderland since we never saw a hint of real snow anywhere. We also were very spoiled by having temps in the mid 40's and even some 50 degree days in December! Being from MN of course this seemed tropical to us and couldn't have been better, not to mention no snow! Here are some pics from the markets...

Drinking Mulled Wine!

Beautifully lit Regent Street

Being that there was no snow and the temps so warm I'll admit it didn't quite feel like it should be about Christmas.  In hopes of getting more in the Christmas spirit and since our good friends from home Paul and Angie were going to be traveling to London to spend Christmas with us it seemed only necessary that we must find a Christmas tree!  This was somewhat of a tricky task while living in the city... since our flat is so small we had to find the perfect size (didn't matter how tall but had to be not too fat taking up much real estate in our tiny living room). The street right out front of us was filled with vendors selling them but they were all to fat and would require a tree stand which we didn't have.  After much debate looking at many trees together one weekend, Christmas approaching and still not coming home with a tree I decided to take matters into my own hands... I went to the B&Q (similar to a Home Depot in the U.S) with my friend Amy and found the perfect size tree, not to fat and also in a pot so no tree stand would be required.  However then the "city living factor" came into play... I had to take it with me on the bus to get it home!  Definitely wouldn't have been brave enough to do it if I hadn't seen others bringing them on! Guess it is just a normal thing here! I was quite proud of my tree once getting back to our flat after the experience getting it! Finally it was beginning to feel like Christmas!

Our friends David and Amy decided to host a party at their flat the week before Christmas for our group of friends.  We had a great time drinking festive drinks, eating apps and desserts and even doing a Yankee Christmas swap! We also opened Christmas crackers which are a huge tradition here... There will be a picture of them to come further in this post but basically they are the shape of a toilet paper roll (come in different sizes) then they are wrapped with fancy paper and ribbon. Before Christmas dinner everyone crosses arms and holds onto them and then you pull and they crack open and little prizes go everywhere... Along with paper crowns that you are supposed to wear! You can buy all levels cheap ones to expensive. Ours had measuring spoons, pens, mirror, sewing kit, etc. Kinda random but fun! Here is us at the party... 

Wearing our crowns from the Christmas crackers!

Once December 23rd rolled around we finally were able to head to the airport to pick up our great friends/neighbors from back home, Paul and Angie! We had been counting down the days for them to arrive and not only were they going to be our first visitors but we felt so blessed to have them spend their Christmas and New Years with us here in London! I could hardly contain myself standing at the arrival gate at Heathrow waiting for them to come through!! Once they arrived about 1:00pm we were SO excited to see them and show them where we have been living! 

Turns out the day they arrived was a terribly rainy and windy day!! London wasted no time showing them that side and learning to walk in the rain! We braved the weather (and their jet-lag) and headed into the city to show them the sites! We even surprised them with a trip to the IceBar for a drink to toast to kicking off the trip! Not exactly the best thing to do when you are soaked and cold but we still had fun! It even helped to wake Paul up who was fading fast to the jet-lag shortly before! Funny enough though they had us bundle up and when we went in none of us even thought it felt that cold being the Minnesotans we are!  The temp was about 10 degrees Fahrenheit roughly. 

Their first full day here was Christmas Eve! We hit up the Christmas market and a walk through Harrod's in the morning! My favorite part of Harrod's is always the food hall! Take a look at some of the yummy looking things! 

In the afternoon had a very special event planned... Christmas Eve Service at Westminster Abbey!  Back in November I had gone online to reserve us tickets (they are free but there is limited quantity).  They booked up quickly so we felt very lucky to be going!  The service was a Sung Euchanist Carol service which means that basically the entire service/sermon is done through singing.  It was amazing to be in such a massive, incredibly beautiful church where events such as Princess Diana's funeral was held along with the recent Royal Wedding on Christmas Eve. The choir sounded amazing and the service ended by the entire congregation singing "Hark the Hearld Angles Sing" while holding burning candles with the lights out.  

Truly an amazing experience! 

We then enjoyed Christmas Eve dinner at Carvosso's a  restaurant near our place in Chiswick.  I was excited to have turkey dinner with all the trimmings since we did not have any over Thanksgiving!  

After dinner we came back to our flat and Paul and Angie turned into "little elves."  They had brought an extra suitcase with things that our families had sent for us to open, so they got everything ready for us.  I was most excited about my Mom's sugar cookies making the journey all the way here! We sure got spoiled with gifts from the other side of the world! 

On Christmas Day in London there is no public transportation running so it gets tricky to get around.  However we wanted to make the most of Paul and Angie's time here so we hired a private car to bring us into the city to do some sight-seeing.  We got dropped off near the Tower Bridge and wandered along the river all the way back to Buckingham Palace. 

Once we arrived back at our flat we started cooking our Christmas meal.  Brian and I were excited about it as we had never hosted a holiday meal before!  Everything turned out great and we had a nice relaxing evening, everyone was pretty full and tired by the end of the night!  While it was different being away from our families we could not have been more thankful that two of our greatest friends were here to share the holiday with us!

Notice the Christmas crackers as described earlier

Truly a Merry Christmas!!!