I'm pretty busy most of the year round, and Christmas time just adds to that stress on occassion. Sometimes, I'm worried I won't be able to get anything done on time. Recently however, I gained an interest in seeing the Christmas lights in London with my mother. Given the nature of the lights, this means heading up to London by train in the afternoon, just as it's about to get dark, and then heading back once it's pitch-black and we've seen everything. In a way, I'm doing it as a means of working on my mental health and anxiety - sure, there's the risk of train delays and not getting back until late, but otherwise I get to unwind just looking at what London has to offer.
I first started travelling to London to see the Christmas lights in 2019, though my brother was able to see them when he was younger. This year we headed up on the 2nd December, just so we could see them before London got busier as it go closer to Christmas Eve.
We started off at Bond Street, which has had the same peacock feather lights each year and in fact doesn't even turn them off outside the Christmas season. The photos came out pretty badly, so I'll show on from 2020 instead (keep in mind that it was taken before Britain went into another Covid-linked lockdown).
Oxford Street is arguably the one that everyone remembers the most. After all, Coldplay does reference it in their "Christmas Lights" song. That said, aside from the trees with the coloured fairy lights on, the lights there are pretty simplistic most of the time when compared to the other streets. In 2019 and 2020, they were mainly sheets of lights that would form words and occasionally snowflakes. I know this photo is pretty blurry, but it was the only message I didn't take a photo of from the back.
This year though was different. They had these really nice star lights hanging between the buildings.
Another major aspect of London around Christmas is all the extravagant displays they have in the windows of the major department stores. Selfridge's is just one of them. They seemed to have a general theme this year. I particularly liked the clapping hands on the spinning wheels.
In 2020, they had different Christmas trees, some of which were made out of toys. I'll upload the pink Christmas tree here because it was one of the few that came out good quality, and also because I like the colour.
2019 was fairy-tale themed, referencing works such as Cinderella and Jack and the Beanstalk. Thus the giant foot they had in this window.
Regent Street has practically the same angel decorations each year. I've never seen them use any different ones before. That said, they are still very pretty. Most of the good-quality photos I took were when it wasn't completely dark yet.
Like Selfridge's, the Liberty's department store had some really good window displays too. Besides there being quite a bit of pink this year, it also involved a string of envelopes.
Next was Carnaby Street. Honestly, this is the real hotspot when it comes to London's Christmas decorations each year. This year, they had these beautiful butterflies in shades of pink, yellow and blue. There're not necessarily lights, but that's okay because they still look great and they look especially nice when it's not completely dark out.
Last year, they had signs with messages on about love and hope. Not as extravagant as their usual displays are, but they were doing it in the time of Covid after all.
The year before, they had pretty marine creatures such as seahorses, starfish and even whales.
Fortnam & Mason's is another department store famous for its Christmas window displays, and they never fail to impress. The upper windows are done to resemble advent calendars each year, with each number lighting up as the days progress. None of the pictures I got this year were particularly great, so I'm showing one from 2020.
On the ground floor, like with the other shops, they had displays matching a different theme each year. This one was so adorable - it consisted of animals having Christmassy dreams involving different types of food. For instance, here is an owl dreaming of tea and biscuits (Americans, you'll know them best as cookies).
Last year was Fortnam & Mason's anniversary so they recreated the covers of the catalogues they had over the years. Here is one of the recreations.
And here's the catalogue cover it was based on.
In 2019, they had cats in smart tuxedos getting things prepared for Christmas.
Afterwards, we needed to warm ourselves up, so we went to get a hot drink at Waterstone's. I chose the hot chocolate and chocolate orange cake whilst my mother chose the coffee and chocolate brownie, and we also swapped parts of our cakes to share with each other.
Waterstone's also had a nice Christmas tree in the children's books section. Sure, I'm in my early twenties, but somehow I always find children's books to be the best ones to read. Along with graphic novels, which sometimes overlap with them and sometimes don't.
Once we were finished, we went into Soho to see the Christmas lights there. These were an absolute JOY. Currently, they're having kids from primary schools design Christmas lights, with the winners having theirs become a reality. It started in Glasgow, but now other places are getting in on it, even my local town. Naturally, they end up looking exactly how you expect children's drawings to look. And I love it. :)
Here's one of an angel that I particularly loved.
And I really liked this reindeer as well. I would have probably shown you the whole lot, but the glare of the street lights above kind of interfered with some of them.
And that was pretty much it - we got home just before 7pm that night, with no problems with the trains at all. So there really wasn't any need for me to show concern about my timetable after all. I just got to enjoy seeing what London looked like around Christmas time.
I will say that I am aware of the problems of commercialism around the Christmas season - in fact, I would barely go to those department stores on a normal day since I can't really afford anything from them. But being someone who normally has a hectic schedule and doesn't have time to spend the evening out on a normal day, it's nice to just take a break and see what the city has to offer with its decorations and lights. Some people would see the city as fast-paced, but whenever I go there in the holiday season, it's oddly soothing. Especially with the Christmas lights designed by children. :)
