Top Ten places to spend Christmas? Santas, Elves, Mangers, Trees or BBQ on the Beach?

Christmas street Lights in London, England. 2106. Photo by Trevor Sharot.

Problem
Where do I go for Christmas?
Nazareth? Maybe save a trip to the Middle East for Easter. 'I'm dreaming of a White Christmas.'

Answers
Christmas themes and traditions

1 Assissi in Italy
- 'away in a manger',  birthplace and burial place of St Francis of Assisi. Midnight mass in a Cathedral.
Assissi and the Vatican too busy? Come to Perugia, and Umbria, says the tourist board.

2 London, England -
 Carol singing under the Norway spruce and stars at Trafalgar Square. Pantomimes in theatres in the warm. Lights in Regent Street and Oxford Street. Window displays at Selfridges, Harrods and Hamleys.

London, England. Trafalgar Square with tree and illuminated fountain. Wikipedia.

London Street lights. 2017. Photo by Trevor Sharot.

3 America -
For giant scenes of Santas galloping in neon lights across rooftops; and skyscrapers lit like candles and parcels. Go north towards Canada, New York, Washington DC, for springtime snow. Go south to Florida for warmth.

Ohio, USA. Photo from Wikipedia.

4 Santas' grotto in Finland.
5 Singapore -
Every shopping mall is lit from floor to ceiling. So are the atriums of skyscraper hotels.
6 Elves Hideaway
in Finland.

Elves Hideaway, Finland. Photo courtesy of the company.

Get Away From It All Christmas

7 Spain,
Europe for a quieter Christmas in December - celebrating Jan 6
8 Russia -
celebrating Grandfather Frost.
9 Scotland -
More fuss over New Year in Edinburgh.
10 Australia -
For guaranteed warm weather on the opposite side of the globe, BBQ by pool or beach.

Finally, home sweet home, in your own home or a holiday hotel suite. Celebrate and watch the Queen's speech; or celebrate not having to work and write your memoirs or great novel, fast instead of feast and ignore the frenzy.

Those who are not Christian, such as Orthodox Jews, often offer to take over in hospitals so that Christian hospital staff can spend Christmas Day with their own families. It was a source of surprise and amusement to me to learn that the Santa in costume visiting sick children in hospital in London's East End on Christmas Day is often an Orthodox Jew performing a mitzvah (good deed). Now the Moslems and Hindus, agnostics and atheists can offer their services.

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.
See my other travel blog:
http://luxurytravelforless.co.uk