My first Christmas in London

This year I spent Christmas in London....Not by choice but by an unfortunate series of weather related events. A week prior to Christmas, the UK was hit with a really bad snow storm. See the pic below taken in my neighborhood of the snow a few weeks earlier that also disrupted travel. While this is not the actual snow that caused the delays, it wasn't much worse than this.
The UK is not used to getting snow nor were they prepared. Heathrow had severe delays and was operating with one runway. The travel delays had a ripple effect on Christmas travel and European travel overall.

Lately, when I've gone back to Chicago, I fly on standby because my friend works for the airline. Getting on a flight is dependent on the available open seats. Because of the delays, flights were canceled and passengers were pushed to other flights. My flight that had been wide open for the last month suddenly was oversold.

My friends and I were mentally preparing ourselves a few days prior for the possibility of spending Christmas in London. My friend Holly actually choose to stay in London so we all said that we would spend Christmas at her flat.

My other friends had delays but eventually were able to get home. Like it or not, I was spending my first Christmas in London. I have to say that it was not the worst thing. While I missed seeing my family, I didn't miss the stress of traveling from house to house and being on a schedule to visit this family and then go to that house.

For three days (Eve Eve, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day), I'd wake up late and take nice long relaxing baths. In the early evening, I would walk 10 minutes to my friend Holly's house. Our other friend Maria Ann flew in from Milan and we all celebrated together. Holly would serve me a nice glass of cava or something fizzy and we'd eat then sit and relax on the sofa watching the endless Christmas movies that were showing on the Tele. Christmas tele is really good compared to the US. They play popular movies. I watched Elf, the Grinch, Muppets Christmas Carole, Santa Clause the Movie, Fred Claus....See how much time I had on my hands.

On Christmas Eve, I cooked chicken mole and rice to keep my Mexican tradition alive. We went to Midnight Mass. It was absolutely beautiful. The mass opened with everyone holding candles and singing religious Christmas caroles. It was kind of funny to hear a Catholic sermon given in British English. After mass, we bumped into some really drunk guy on the street. Apparently, people get really pissed on Christmas Eve....Kind of like our Black Wednesday.

On Christmas Day, Maria Ann cooked homemade Italian meatballs, lasagna, and sauce. It was great. I usually have lasagna on Christmas Day so while it was different, it was still the same. Later in the evening, I came home and caught up with my family and friends.

London in general was a ghost town. Everything shuts down. There were maybe 5 shops open. Mostly convenient stores. On Christmas Eve, the supermarket was flooded with people stocking up on food for Christmas and Boxing Day. Taxis are double fare on Christmas Day. Even today, there are still not that many people in town.

I am not sure if I would want to spend next Christmas in London but it was a good test for me. It showed me that I really do love London and can be okay with being far away from my family around the holidays.