I am not ashamed to say it “I love Christmas”, I love the whole experience, the stress, the frenetic shopping and the food. Come December I have no difficulty in getting into the Christmas magic groove. If you, like me, love this time of year, the naff crackers, Christmas lights, mince pies, Christmas pud and, oh yes, let’s not forget singing your heart out to carols and the old favourite yuletide songs, which incidentally my family have banned me from singing in the house so I have to sing my heart out whilst alone in my car.
If this description applies to you, then you must indulge in a holiday in Austria where the atmosphere is abundant, especially if your holiday includes a visit to 'Christkindls Werkstatt' one of Vienna’s Christmas markets. It’s the biggest, the best and most atmospheric. Situated in front of the magnificent Rathaus City Hall, this grand majestic building with tall spires is the perfect backdrop for the prettiest Christmas market in Europe.
Ok, I admit it, I am a confirmed shopaholic and what better time of the year could there be? Spending hours shopping, buying lovely scrummy presents for loved ones, and you don’t have to feel guilty about it. It can be justified as a self-sacrificing act. I love the buying and the wrapping presents in secret, I am told I can become very childlike, spending hours on the trimmings where my dining room table turns into a workshop of ribbons, bows and gift tags. I put a lot of thought into my presents and I really enjoy watching family open them and, of course, I’m not adverse receiving the odd gift either.
This place even worked its magic on my husband who is a member of the ‘bah humbug’ fraternity, well he would be if one existed. Even he, after smelling the spices and taking in the heady atmosphere, was affected by its charm or perhaps it was the copious amounts of glasses of glühwein. I noticed that, as he mellowed and he became infected with the spirit of Christmas (pardon the pun), you couldn’t help thinking that perhaps he was seduced by the Christmas magic fairy. More worryingly, he even became attracted to all things shiny. So I am convinced this magical Christmas wonderland would melt the hearts of the most ardent Christmas abolitionists.
The next day however, even the plink plink fizz could not restore his Christmas spirit, until someone suggested hair of the dog and more festive brew was used to revive his flagging spirits.
I am not sure why, but all of this came about (our holiday in Austria I mean) after a family gathering in June. We were all getting along famously, and filled with bon homie and unanimous for once, everyone agreed that we would spend Christmas together and have a real Christmassy time. Not such an easy task when there are 18 of you. So after trying to find a holiday house, holiday villa rental, call it what you may, to accommodate all of us, I was overjoyed to find this beautiful Austrian fairytale castle on the www.selectholidayvillas.com website. The welcome, the food, the ambience and the roaring fires of this beautiful castle made it a Christmas to remember. We even had a carol singing evening where I was not banished to the car. I even had a solo part of 5 gold rings in ‘The 12 days of Christmas’.
Oh well, t’is the season to be jolly fa la la la la - la la la la!
