Christmas musing in Woking

(Aileen)
It’s 10:06 on a Saturday morning. Christmas music is blaring over the speakers here at the Starbucks in Wolesly Mall, Woking (London suburb). It’s a work day for the Smalls. Or at least a work day for Ed so figured I’d tag along, and hang out/work in the mall.

It’s been a crazy busy week for the both of us, and it will be so for the coming weeks. Before we know it it’ll be X-mas. But between now and then, there a numerous X-mas parties to attend, a 2-day training seminar for me, a business trip to Liverpool for Ed, a mortgage to finalize, another flight across the pond to Philly for me, a flat to buy, and finally, a trip to Innsbruck, Austria for a dose of gluwein and X-mas markets (and hopefully snow! We do miss snow).

Christmas season is in full swing here in London. Oxford St Christmas lights are on, ice skating rinks are all open, Nutcracker’s on at the National Ballet, Christmas carol shows are on at Royal Albert Hall, Christmas music is wafting through the air in public places, and to top it all off, it’s been sufficiently nippy the past week, with temperatures falling to 4C.

I have to say despite having growing up in the tropics, I do love winters. I love the warm coats, fluffy hats, coming in from the cold, the occasional whiffs of pine, and wood burning (fireplaces). We both miss NYC winters, the quiet and stillness that comes with snowfall, the crackling sound with each step from the mix of ice, snow and salt on the ground, knee-deep snow in Central Park and of course the big tree at Rockefeller. But we've also come to love the flavor of the season this side of the Atlantic. I'm still on the fence about mince pies (Ed seems to like them), but we do love Christmas markets - gluwein (to warm your hands and belly), the smell and taste of outdoor grilled sausages and roasting chestnuts, stalls of Christmas trinkets, the sight of horse drawn carts.

I’ll be singing a different tune in February no doubt (the most depressing month of the year) when I’ve had enough of the darkness and wet coldness. But till then I’ll relish this warm fuzzy feeling.