CREDIT: FSU PUBLICATIONS AND COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT

As a recent immigrant to Canada, I have found many activities to celebrate the Christmas season whilst I am in London. As I am still pursuing my education at Fanshawe, my exams tend to finish only a few days before Christmas, leaving a short amount of time to celebrate the season before I visit my home country. With that said, there are still activities leading up to Christmas that I find myself doing to keep the festive spirit flowing through me!

To start things off, I always grab a featured seasonal beverage at Starbucks and with Victoria Park being right next to one, it’s only right to brave the cold and take in the magical atmosphere. The snow starts to fall on the ground and there’s colourful lights in the trees. I love doing this with my friends whilst having constant laughs about how crazy we are for walking in the cold weather. This is one of my favourite ways to kick off the Christmas season and if you leave out the Starbucks, it doesn’t cost a dime.

As a Christmas fanatic, I am thrilled to watch Elf: The Musical at The Grand Theatre this year. For me, there is nothing better than watching a live production and appreciating all of the hard work that goes into it. Even just thinking about sitting down in a crowd and enjoying this Christmas classic gives me goosebumps. If you’re anything like me, you’ll make sure to take a friend or even venture out on your own to see this. I have high expectations of leaving this production in a cheerful and festive mood.


On that note, I can’t help but bring my inner elf to reality during the holiday season! It all starts with a list on my phone consisting of friends and family that I plan on giving a special present to. Once the list is created, I completely rack my thoughts on what they might have mentioned throughout the years of items they want. Whilst the action of giving the presents to my friends and family is by far the best part, I would be lying if I didn’t mention how much joy it brings me to wrap each and every present. That may come as a surprise to most as this is known to be quite a tedious task, but there’s just something about having Christmas carols in the background, sipping on eggnog, and wrapping presents for your loved ones.

When it comes to music, I love to blast the Christmas albums of Michael Bublé as well as the cast of Glee. Don’t get me started on Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers! Is it even Christmas if there isn’t “Hard Candy Christmas” playing through the house? My Amazon Alexa will be on full blast for the duration of December. Sorry not sorry to my neighbours!

One of the activities in London that I’m excited to do this Christmas, is to visit Covent Garden Market throughout December and support some of the local companies. I think this should be a great opportunity to purchase a few stocking stuffers and personally I’m excited to see what The Chocolate Factory will have to offer.

Another activity that I have heard all the rave about is visiting 100 Kellogg Lane during the holiday season. This is another destination that will be great for purchasing Christmas presents, especially during their Merry Market. With scouting most of the markets in London throughout the year, this event seems right up my alley.

These are just a few ways that I love to kick off the holidays and I hope that you give at least one of these activities a try. If you are in London and love to celebrate the season, make sure to do your research on the events that are taking place and take advantage of it.