London offers more holiday attractions, activities, and cultural variety than a traveler can absorb in a week or even a month of seasonal exploration. However, don’t let the vast wonderland of Christmas sights and sounds in Britain’s capital overwhelm you. Enjoy these three seasonal British traditions to experience authentic London-style Christmas cheer.
London’s Trafalgar Square Tree
Arrange a walk or ride to Trafalgar Square to view the city’s official Christmas tree. The stately annual holiday tree at Trafalgar Square is traditionally a Norwegian spruce tree. In its annual commemoration of mutual friendship dating back to 1947, the nation of Norway donates a tree to London in deep appreciation for the British city’s support and aid during World War II.
Before the Trafalgar Square Tree is sent to London, it’s felled in one of the many forests near the city of Oslo, Norway. Trees chosen for the honor are usually between 50 and 60 years of age and measure between 65 to 75 feet in height. The Trafalgar Square Tree is always harvested during a ceremony attended by both Norwegian and British dignitaries.
London’s gifted tree has undergone many holiday fashion changes over the past 70-plus years. The modern Trafalgar Square Tree is decorated in sparse Norwegian style and minimally illuminated with vertical strands of fixtures. The Christmas lights are energy efficient, and the tree is put to use as landscape mulch at the end of the 12 days of Christmas.
Trafalgar Square is an interesting, accessible, and public space and serves as a central spot to rewind between visits to historical sites and seasonal attractions. If the holidays have you stressed out during your London travels, stop and listen to a few of the choral groups that routinely assemble to sing carols around the Trafalgar Square Tree during the holidays. Feel your winter cares float away as you hear the words to familiar, beloved seasonal melodies.
London’s Christmas Lights
Let your holiday spirit shine under the magic of London’s Christmas lights that glow from early November through the Epiphany in early January. City light displays in the capital charge up your Christmas energy and give you something fun to do as you await Christmas Day in London. Whether you tour London’s holiday lights on foot or by vehicle, the area’s imaginative, twinkling winter displays are a delight to both locals and visitors. Gawk at holiday decorations that range from sparkling, animated department-store window visions to dancing overhead installations of flying angels and giant, glittering ornaments.
Book a bus tour of London’s Christmas-light districts in advance, or stroll down the decked out streets on a walking tour. Window shop for special ornaments and souvenirs as you take in the marvel of London’s boulevards and buildings brightly gleaming with joy and good will.
Look for delightful seasonal lights on the following London rights-of-way:
• Oxford Street
• Oxford Circus
• New Bond Street
• Regent Street
• South Molton Street
• Carnaby Street
• Covent Garden
• Piccadilly Circus
• The Strand, North Bank
• South Bank
Seasonal Decorations and Lighting
schedules vary from year to year in London’s public spaces and high streets, so check lighting schedules and access requirements as you map out your holiday light-seeing outings. Since many popular holiday events book well in advance throughout the U.K., reserve your spots as soon as possible to experience the amazing light creations set up in areas like Kew Gardens, Wembley Park, Canary Wharf, Stratford’s East Village, and Eastbury Manor House.
If you miss your chance to book popular London Christmas light shows, check local tourism websites for events in areas in and around London. You’ll find plenty of seasonal festivities, gift bazaars, and holiday events happening in London’s neighborhoods.
Christmas Crackers
While attending a private Christmas dinner in London, or witnessing a Christmas dinner being shared among friends or colleagues at a restaurant in London, expect to hear the quick snap of traditional Christmas crackers. Don’t stare open-mouthed if you see a table full of people suddenly wearing funny hats of all colors, but do enjoy the resulting giggles, groans, and laughter flowing from the table of fun-loving diners.
Christmas crackers are must-haves at traditional London Christmas dinners. The party favors may be laid on the dinner plate, arranged on the side of each plate, or presented in a basket that’s passed around the table. Christmas crackers resemble medium-sized to giant tube-shaped, wrapped candies with twisted ends. Christmas dinner guests open and share crackers before turkey and all the trimmings are served and consumed.
You need help from a second person to open your brightly decorated Christmas cracker. When both you and your dinner companion tug in opposite directions, each one holding on to one of the twisted ends of the cracker, a piece of cardboard snaps and makes a popping sound. The person with the tube still attached to their end of the cracker keeps the goodies inside. (However, sharing is encouraged, so all diners receive a cracker full of prizes.)
Christmas crackers date back to Victorian London, when a confectioner named Tom Smith came up with the original favors to increase sales of his sugared almonds. Smith began placing love poems in his wrapped almond gift packages, then added small trinkets, and later created the “pop” mechanism that gave crackers their modern name.
Each of today’s common Christmas crackers typically include all or most of the following family-friendly contents:
• Colored tissue-paper crown
• Corny jokes, puns, trivia questions, charades cues, and/or silly dares
• Tokens including puzzles, card games, whistles, or toys
• Wrapped candies, sugared almonds, or other treats
Specialty, high-end Christmas crackers range from elaborate, adult-themed gifts shared between couples and grown ups to deluxe, custom Christmas crackers containing jewelry and keys to luxury cars. More often, Christmas crackers provide G-rated, ice-breaking laughs to adults and small tokens to keep restless children busy during long, boring, British Christmas dinners.
Start your own fresh Christmas traditions as a single person, a parent, or a couple by visiting London during the winter holidays. Spend your vacation in the bustling city at one of the ice rinks, museums, fine dining locations, and live-music venues peppered throughout London. Whether you spend a weekend or all twelve days of Christmas celebrating in the U.K., you create memories on your journey that you’ll cherish for all of your Christmases to come.
This article is from the
EY December 2024 Issue