There have been many Christmas’ to me that have been memorable, and this is because in the last seven years we have been abroad for all of them so there have been lots of fun bits and bobs along the way. I will be talking about those more in depth later in the month so today i will talk about most memorable Christmas days. I have had lots of fun on Christmas day but there are three that definitely stick out among the rest.

Chicago, 2012

A House in the suburbs lit up on Christmas Eve

Chicago is one of my favourite places in the world but at Christmas time it turns into something magical. On Christmas Day we were staying in the suburbs and decided to go for a morning walk in the cold ice weather outside. The local diner was open so we went in and had a late breakfast – it was lovely the Christmas Spirit in the whole Diner and it felt very American.

On our way back we bumped into our next door neighbour who was our landlord and they invited us into their family home to have a bit of Christmas with them. It was lovely we were welcomed with egg nog and christmas food which was placed like a buffet on the kitchen counter tops.

We had met the landlord and her husband back in June so we had brought them over christmas presents so we gave them to them as well. It was a lovely Christmas and from someone who is from a very small family – it was lovely being around a big one and being welcomed in to experience a different type of holiday tradition.

Universal Studios 2013

Dr Seuss land at Christmas

When we went to Tampa for Christmas in 2013, we decided to get the Amtrak up to Orlando so that we could have a really Christmassy Christmas – well, if you are going to have something completely festive then why not go to somewhere as make believe as Universal Studios or Disney!

Universal Studios was a great place to have Christmas Day, because it was just so happy and fun! It didn’t matter that it was sunny outside, it was still great fun, walking around, going on rides and enjoying the festivities. We deliberately bought fast passes for Christmas so we could jump the queue and for a busy day like Christmas it’s a great idea.

It really was a great place for Christmas the best place to spend it was the area of the park that dedicated to Dr Seuss creations – it was decorated so beautifully and just felt extraordinary christmassy.  They even put on a production of The Grinch which was great fun (we saw it on Christmas Eve). We had Chrsitmas Dinner in The Simpsons Land and went to the All You Can Eat Shrimp Buffet and had coconut shrimp. They also had a huge Christmas Day parade with lots of inflatables of candy canes, snowmen etc. One of the best Christmas Days because it was just so magical.

Switzerland 2014

A Penguin in Basel zoo

For Christmas of 2014 we went interrailing around a lot of Switzerland (2000 miles of it to be precise) so when it came to Christmas Eve and Christmas DAy we wanted to stay in the same place so that we could chill out and that place was Basel.

On Christmas Eve we went and got all the food that we would need for Christmas Day – over the festive period the whole city pretty much was to shut down so for Christmas Dinner we were to have a picnic in the hotel room (luckily in a lot of European hotels there are Fridges because a lot of the time we end up having to do this). For Christmas Day we realised that the Zoo was open so that’s where we went in the morning.

It was so so weird going to a zoo on Christmas Day, don’t get me wrong I love animals and there was no other place I would rather be but it was still very random. Being Switzerland and being the winter meant that it was so cold – bitterly cold, so before we even went walking around the zoo we went into the cafe for hot chocolate. The best thing about the cafe was that they had Christmas Trees on the table made of Christmas Tree branches and Chocolate Coins. Being Swiss Chocolate the coins were divine and I am not ashamed to admit i may of eaten all of them ones on our said table..ooops. We went round the zoo afterwards but as much as we loved animals we didn’t stay that long as it was absolutely freezing. It was still a great Christmas because it was so random!