Holiday Outings

I can't believe it's only two weeks until Christmas (I say this every year). It feels both more and less like the holiday season this year. London loves Christmas, but I'm still getting over the change in weather this time of year. No snow, more rain, less sunshine.

More holiday-esque because there are so many activities going on at our schools for Christmas right now, which is really different from the States. Christmas is widely celebrated in schools here - anything from Christmas jumper day to a Santa mile run to Christmas parties and lunches to Christmas movies at the local theater. C goes to a church affiliated preschool because it is so close to our house, but they are definitely all in for Christmas, 100x more than the Catholic preschool my boys went to in Colorado. We have Christmas bake sales and Nativity plays and a lunch and a morning at the local church. It is very festive around here, and in the States, at least at our school it was a very much so "holiday" worded and really very few activities leading up to winter break. No opinion here, merely observing the differences.

Last weekend we went to Kings Cross to check out the markets and the big Christmas trees they have in the plazas. We have truly been having to embrace the idea of there's no bad weather only bad clothes because it has been so rainy. I'm actually proud of us for grabbing our raincoats and umbrellas and going anyway. And sometimes that is actually nicer because there are way less crowds.

So we umbrella'd up and hopped on the tube - well, we took a bus to a different tube stop because the Northern line was closed at our normal stop. I love all of the tidbits of decorations in London. Everywhere you turn there is something. Hardly any place ignores the season. The kids splashed in the rain, and we checked out the secondhand Christmas market they had at Coal Drops Yard. R bought himself a tie with his own money - he was very proud and I LOVE that a tie is what he chose. C wanted me to buy every sequined dress we saw, and G desperately wanted an Arsenal scarf but we didn't find one.

There was a glorious handmade market - Crafty Fox, but it was really crowded because it was inside and attracted all the people avoiding the rain. Had a lovely talk with one of the stall owners about whether a worm is a bug or not (most of her creations were of bugs except the one random worm).

Next up, food trucks at the Christmas Under the Canopy Market for lunch. This market is always there, it just changes names depending on the season. Highly recommend the Pad Thai or Steak Frites. Kids love the dumplings and they had some hot apple juice at a seasonal stand. (Don't order apple cider for minors - it's alcoholic here).

Now it is Tuesday and I am sitting here thinking about opening the windows in the house because it is nearly 60 degrees and the sun is shining (Hallelujah!). We are still awaiting the arrival of our artificial tree that we ordered over a week ago, and the kids (and me) are getting antsy. I might have to hop up to the corner store and buy a small real one for the in between. I know most of you voted real tree on my Instagram but the cost situation just didn't make sense long term.

And as always, I'm working on toning down buying things for Christmas and instead focusing on experiences. Always a work in progress especially for little kids, but hey, you can buy me tickets to Paris any day.

I'll post some more Kings Cross pictures on my Instagram (@tracislondonlife).