City Sidewalks: A Christmas Writing Challenge Prompt

I love the buzz of a city at Christmas

Some of my favorite city memories of the festive season at Christmas!

Boston: Boston does Christmas exceptionally well. My Mom is from Massachusetts. I remember the first time we went to the Christmas wonderland in Filene’s Basement; I think I was in the third grade. We also went to Faneuil Hall, which is about as Christmassy as it gets with its long hall decked out for the holidays, with a multitude of varied shops and food places. The surrounding area is lit with many Christmas lights and everything feels terribly festive.

When I lived in Massachusetts in high school and college a pilgrimage to the city at Christmas was always a must. With the multitude of cobbled streets and often snowy winter weather, few places can compete with Boston’s old-school Christmas charm. There’s something very Dickensian about certain streets. They always have a great production of The Nutcracker too, we went one year and it was a dream.

The old Boston festive atmosphere sounds perfectly captured by this yearly event Candlelight Carols:

The Candlelight Carols ceremony at Copley Square’s Trinity Church, a tradition since 1909, is quintessentially Boston: historic, dignified, and contemplative. The church resembles no European cathedral, yet it boasts the same jaw-dropping splendor, from the William Morris stained glass to the murals by John La Farge. Simple pine garlands decorate the balconies and pulpit, while unadorned trees stand on the altar.*

Edinburgh: Edinburgh has a wonderful Christmas market, probably the closest to a European-style Christmas market you will find in Scotland. Mulled wine and hot snacks from the stalls are a must to stay warm, as is a ride on the giant Ferris wheel. They also have a “Light the Night” festival at the Royal Botanic Gardens which is meant to be beautiful, I have never been but hopefully someday!

Everything is so pretty there but especially at Christmas. For a special treat have lunch in the fancy department store Harvey Nichols, browse the designer goods with a deep wallet or a confident window shopper’s gaze!

Enjoy a pub crawl or a night at the theatre (pantos are generally the done thing here, I admit I have never been to one!) or if you’re very brave, a guided walk around the reputedly haunted sites of the city like Mary King’s Close (I think some of the underground vaults might be closed in the winter although I know I visited in December once so check which ones are open).

New York City: Look, nowhere else can compete with New York when it comes to Christmas, surely? I lived in the city for three years, and like all good New Yorkers, I mostly took its festive splendor for granted. I was too busy working, hurrying around, being young, whatever. Silly me.

But I do have some fond memories, like the first time I saw the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree lit up (which was also on my first visit to the city), it was hard not to fall in love with the Big Apple.

I went to acting school in the West Village, which is surely one of the most charming places in the world at Christmas, with the brownstones all decorated in their finest sparkling lights.

My mom and I had some fun days out Christmas shopping and window gawping at the famous big stores along 5th Avenue. I also love Macy’s at Christmas and Soho for shopping.

I would say skip ice skating at Rockefeller Center unless you really enjoy waiting and overcrowded rinks, and head for Woolman Rink at Central Park instead, it never seems quite as crowded. I also always think of late nights at diners as a winter in NYC thing for some reason. There is nothing like a grilled cheese and tomato sandwich in a near-deserted diner to make you feel like you are one with the city.

If I were visiting New York as a tourist I would want to check out one attraction I never made it to as a resident, the New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx. Their Christmas light show is meant to be spectacular, and they are bringing back their Holiday Train show after a hiatus (presumably because of Covid) but it has been running for thirty years! I admit I only recently saw a charming look at this that piqued my interest on my Martha Stewart Living 90s re-watch, where Martha visits the gardens and they do truly amazing things with natural materials to recreate many buildings and sites in New York.

I think what I love most about big cities at Christmas is all of the things to do and see and the hustle and bustle. It gets me excited for the holidays to be engulfed in the festive chaos of it all I guess! I live in a smaller city and it’s not quite the same.

Do you have any favorite cities this time of year, or are you happier in small towns or more low key places for the festivities? I think I enjoy the access to a big city at this time of year but I prefer to be someplace a little quieter when the actual festivities happen.

*Yankee Magazine’s Boston Christmas Guide

Thanks for reading, this is day 29 (!) of my 30-day writing challenge. Almost there, phew!

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