Mondays are for dreaming: Christmas in London

I know that I’ve mentioned London before in my Monday dreaming posts, but as Christmas approaches I can’t help but think of it again. I’ve never been in Great Britain during the holiday season, but somehow I’m just guessing that it’s really magical or a the very least Dickensian, in the very best Scrooge-after-he’s-been-converted way. Here’s a sampling of what we would do were we spending December in London:

• Get in the holiday mood at the Geffrye Museum a jewel of a decorative arts museum housed in what was once a poorhouse. The displays here show typical middle-class British interiors throughout time and they get them all gussied up for Christmas of course, with special events for families going right through Epiphany.

• Visit Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park where my children could have their requisite carousel ride and I could indulge a fantasy of ice skating in the middle of London.

• Check out the amazing paper theaters and puppets at Benjamin Pollock’s Toyshop in Covent Garden. While we were in the area, we’d be sure to also visit the London Transport Museum and enjoy the many buskers who alway throng the cobblestones.

• See a panto. I’m a sucker for all things Anglophilic and Christmas pantomines are the quintissentially British thing to see at the holidays (my desire to see these shows was cemented during a childhood of reading books like Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfeild). I’m thinking I’d choose the most over-the-top version of Cinderella I could find.

The picture above is Tommy, Matt, and me straddling the Prime Meridian in Greenwich, where there is a daily market offering all kinds of beautiful and yummy handmade goods throughout the holiday season.

While you’re dreaming with me, why not take some of that holiday spirit and visit the Passports with Purpose page? For a ten dollar donation to Heifer International, you can be registered to win a Flip video camera or other great prizes!