London Christmas 2011

It has been much milder weather-wise this Christmas.



No snow, and it has not been very cold.









Instead of snow and ice, we've only had a fine mist and occasionally rain.










One learns to accept the weather here as unpredictable, and I've come to enjoy the suspense of the uncertainty a bit.

















We went ice skating at the Tower of London, where they set up an ice rink in the moat. It is the coolest location I've seen in London to go skating and I enjoyed it much more than at the Somerset House where we went last year.









Both of us are mediocre skaters, but we are happy in our mediocrity.










We went with our friend, Fiona, who, though from Scotland, never learned how to skate very well.






It was a fun afternoon in an amazing location.












Even our little Frozen Yoghurt shop was in the holiday spirit with Festive flavors such as Cinnamon and Mulled Wine.









Starbucks won the coveted award for the 2nd best Mini Mince Pies. It lost only to Harrod's. Being a bit of a Mince Pie connoiseur, I thought they were okay, but the pies from Walkers featuring 12 year old Glenfiddich Whiskey are my favorites.






Buying a Christmas tree in London is very easy, and we walked 5 minutes from our place up to the High Street and bought a tree and carried it home again.











We decorated the tree with the ornaments we've collected over the years. They always bring back fun memories.










This year we added an egg ornament we bought in Salzburg.











We also put out our new Nutcracker that we bought in Nuremberg. We love buying something Christmasy on our travels, as we get to remember the fun we had on the trip each year when we put out the decorations.







Gluhwein from Nuremberg also played an important part in our Christmas festivities this year. Unfortunately, Tony doesn't like it - that just made all the more for me.










Even Pepper got into the festive mood.











We tried our hands at cooking an Italian themed Christmas this year with a Pork Roast stuffed with pine nuts and raisins.




And a Strufolli, which is made of a bunch of small fritters and hazelnuts with a honey orange caramel syrup drizzled over the top. It is shaped in the form of a wreath.









Christmas pudding was a running theme in gifts given to me. Tony isn't a fan of it, so I got some ribbing about how I like it. I got Christmas Pudding flavored smoothies, cakes, and mints.


All in all, it's been a lovely quiet Christmas this year after a year of so much fun and exciting travel.