Christmasy in Cambridge

Every year in our house we have a little conflict: I think Christmas celebrations should be full of festive outings, while my kids think celebrating Christmas means staying home in your pajamas and eating cookies. In spite of there being all kinds of tempting options around the country every single weekend, I've severely cut back my ambitions to suit their tastes. We've mostly been staying close to home. Luckily, it's quite Christmasy here in Cambridge.

Mill Road here in town had a winter festival a couple of weekends ago. We ended up missing the parade due to my mistaken belief that all parades start at least 15 minutes behind schedule.

The shops in town are all decorated for the holidays.

It's time to hang the mistletoe.

The buskers have all switched over to Christmas carols.

It's always a good idea to stop for a mid-morning or mid-afternoon hot chocolate and scone.

I've been a little suspicious of England's traditional Christmas treat of mince pies. So it goes without saying that I'm REALLY suspicious of McDonald's version. Camille likes the store versions though, and Mike enjoyed a homemade one he tried at work. (I was so relieved to find out no actual meat is in a mincemeat pie, because I'd been seeing them boxed up on the warm, grocery store shelves for weeks. I'd been confused because hamburger meat is called mince).

Anya is getting into the silliness at the Christmas panto.

One English holiday tradition I had to try was going to a panto. Every December playhouses across the country put on an adapted fairy tale for the holidays, with modern songs (ours included "Don't Stop Me Now" and "What Makes You Beautiful"[sung by the Evil Queen as "What Makes Me Beautiful"]), Christmas carols, audience participation (you boo the bad guys and shout warnings to the heros), a hero played by a young woman and a lead played by a guy in drag. The whole thing is full of silliness. We saw a version of Snow White and had a grand time!

Tonight Mike and I are off to see The Messiah sung in a candlelit cathedral. It seems like a nice way to top off the Christmas celebrations. Christmas is almost here! Are you ready?