A little London Christmas

Christmas Lights throughout London

You know that week between Christmas and New Year? The one where nothing is happening, no one is in school and you, if at all like me, devolve into the basest human, eating only sugar and alcohol, sleeping intermittently, and achieving nothing, despite any good intentions you might have? Its the week I begin to morph into slime mold, and its overall not a good look. And thus this year we planned a counter strike – a 4 day trip to London a couple days after Christmas, primarily to see Hamilton (!!!), but also to see London all decked out for the holidays for our first time.

It was, I warn anyone planning a similar trip, extremely packed with tourists, so its not going to be an idyllic, quiet London winter getaway. But the manic atmosphere, with all the Christmas lights, busy restaurants, and crowded shopping streets, was also pretty fun. So here goes – what you can see in 4 days in London at Christmas. First up, Christmas lights.

Carnaby Street – the most unique and definitely a popular one with our teens, this Soho spot was galaxy-themed for Christmas 2023. Super colorful, highly recommended.

Regent Street – Classic and classy, big decorations

Leicester Square – has a Christmas market and lights. The Mary Poppins & Paddington statues were a hit.

Piccadilly Circus – another big boulevard, this one was prettiest, in my opinion.

Soho kid-designed Christmas displays – we stumbled upon these Insta-famous Christmas lights, from the kids at Soho Parish Primary School. We managed to find a bunch of them, which was really fun.

Chinatown

We had bao from Bun House for dinner in Chinatown and wandered around, enjoying the atmosphere. The bao were great, rave reviews from the youngest who says they are some of the best she’s every had.

ART!

The Vaults & Southbank – a went in search of street art in action and weren’t disappointed. Looking for some graffiti lessons for the little one now. Also saw the Bansky here. Plus, an amazing Stranger Things themed bar (which we would have gone into but alas, not for kids).

Tate Modern & Bankside – then off to a museum at warm up & check things out. Quite a few faves, the chess board by Anna Boghiguian, called ‘Institution vs. The Mass’, being very memorable. We would have loved to see the Kusama, but you need to book well in advance and we hadn’t done that.

I made my own art with a few photos of the Millennium bridge that I really love.

Brick Lane – we hit up a bunch of vintage markets and book stores wandering down Brick Lane. There’s so much to see, I think I was physically exhausted from shopping!

Hamilton at the Victoria Palace Theater

Oh wow, do you know that you can get tickets to see Hamilton on the ground floor of the Victoria Palace Theater in London for like £120 each? I know its still a lot of money, but the balcony is cheaper still. And this theater is way smaller than many of the theaters in New York, so even a balcony seat is a good view. Considering Broadway prices, its very possibly cheaper to fly to London, stay in a hotel, and see Hamilton in the West End than it is to get tickets in NYC. And the show, amazing. My girls are still singing ALL THE SONGS, 3 months later.

Shopping – Harrods, Selfridges

Being winter, we needed to find a few spots to warm up. So we decided to check out the toy section of Harrods. It was very, very busy, but if you’re in the market for an extremely lovely and ornate £6,270 rocking horse, I have good news for you.

Out & About – Bus Rides, St. Paul’s, Westminster, Knightsbridge, Hammersmith, Portobello Road

We made sure to do a lot of wandering about, and also tried as many hot chocolates as we could manage. Probably the best one’s were at La Petite Bretagne (super milky and creamy) in Hammersmith and at the Scooter Caffe (a thick, almost spoonable Italian style) in South Bank.