Holidays
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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Away from family for Christmas...help!
My husband and I are living abroad (in London) for the rest of the year...Its going to be the first time we are away from our family's for Christmas. What are some good ideas for us to celebrate alone? We are moving back in January so we cant buy huge gifts for each other. How can we make this Holiday memorable, and fun without our families?
Re: Away from family for Christmas...help!
Find out what festivities are going on in London for the holidays and take part! here's a list I found: http://bit.ly/bk06ZM and while most of it looks like stuff you can do Stateside you could still make it a very London-y Xmas. Where else will you find a Great Christmas Pudding Race?
And then make sure to get on Skype for Christmas day!
Can you travel w/in Europe or do you need to stay in London? Either way there are some really cool things you can do.
If you can travel I'd definitely go to one of the Christmas markets in another city for a weekend. Not necessarily Christmas but sometime during the season. They are wonderful and it would be a great memory.
If not, just do stuff around London. You can go figure skating at different ice rinks around the city and do walking tours to see all the decorations. Shopping in London is crazy during the holidays but definitely memorable. You could take trips outside of the city, the train is so easy to use, and go visit different national trust sites that are open for the holidays. And the food will be amazing this time of year. English pub food is just made for cold weather. You can make a lovely meal at home or eat out - lots of places do holiday meals but you have to make your reservations way in advance (not now, but early for sure).
I would say for Christmas day itself maybe try to exchange gifts that reflect your time together in London so you'll have something to remember this special time together. That or maybe decide on one joint gift that you can do along the same idea.If you do a Christmas Market in another city and are at all religious I would suggest a hand carved nativity. DH and I took our oldest to the markets in Munich last year and as our big gift to our family we bought a really gorgeous nativity. For my parents we bought a traditional nativity pyramid/spinning nativity/whatever you want to call it - they're wooden and they have a little windmill on top and candle holders that when you light the candles it makes the thing spin around. My family had one when I was little but during a basement flood it had been destroyed so my mom was really happy to have a new one.
We hired a cottage in Snowdonia in Wales, for the week right after Christmas two years ago it was lovely. Or in the Cotswolds. Everything is all Christmasy and you can sit by a cosy log fire or enjoy it at one of the local pubs. And enjoy some mulled wine. Sold everywhere in the supermarkets.
Everything is mostly closed on Boxing Day, just so you know. New Year in London is suppose to be really cool, with fireworks at the London Eye. Very memorable.
Thank you all so much for your great ideas!
I will definately check out everything! I love ice skating
I definitely agree with the other girls and making sure you experience a British Christmas the one year you'll be spending it there.
As far as presents, you could do giant stockings for one another opposed to big gifts and fill it with little goodies like favorite candies, a special ornament to have as a keepsake for your Christmas in London, books, games, etc. It can get pricey, but you can keep it low budget too.