My Best Christmas | Paris Baker's Book Nook

My best Christmas took place in 2011 when we went to New York. I’d wanted to go to New York – especially at Christmas – since I watched Home Alone 2 as a child, so it was amazing to actually go. I couldn’t believe I was actually there until we stood in Times Square and saw the view I’d seen on TV and films so many times!

We spent a week there and did the usual touristy things, like going up the Empire State Building and sampling American pancakes and cheesecake but we also got to take our daughters (who were 8 and 3 at the time) to see Santa at Macy’s, which was even more magical than I could ever have imagined. We also got to see the gorgeous festive windows displays and the gigantic tree at Rockefeller Center. Christmas Day was spent in Central Park, starting with a horse and carriage ride before we went to the zoo.

On our last night in New York, my oldest daughter and I went to see Mary Poppins on Broadway, which was brilliant. We had such an amazing time in New York and as we brought some Christmas decorations home with us, we have a reminder of our best Christmas when we put them up each year.

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Meet Jennifer

Jennifer is a writer of romantic comedies who lives in Manchester with her husband and their two daughters. When she’s not disappearing into her own fictional worlds, she can be found reviewing books on her blog or over on Novelicious as part of the Alternative Thursday team. You can read her Novelicious reviews here.

Her books, A Beginner’s Guide To Salad and festive short story A Beginner’s Guide To Christmas are available now.

Blog: Jennifer Joyce Writes

Twitter: @Writer_Jenn

Facebook: Jennifer Joyce Writes

Goodreads: Jennifer Joyce

Thank you so much for sharing your best Christmas with us, Jennifer. It sounds like a truly magical one.

I am very happy to be a part of Paris’s Christmas Corner project and I am sharing about My Best Christmas. Christmas for me is a million things, various definitions. However, Christmas usually only meant one single thing when I was a child – celebrating at my parents’ fave hotel and seeing my relatives. I loved and missed those days, don’t get me wrong. I have celebrated nineteen Christmasses so far and if I were to choose the best, I would go for the most recent one. Not just the best Christmas but the best holiday ever.

It’s my best not because it happened only last year but it was the best Christmas ever. It was a Christmas which I will always remember as the funnest holiday before I turn twenty, the last chance to do something crazy and reckless and truly let my hair down, forget about all the stress and put a proper smile on the faces I love. It was also the Christmas that we deviated from the hotel lounge tradition. Late December 2013, my parents, my younger brother and I ended up going to Singapore for three days.

I’ve always loved going to Singapore, the food are great, the place is clean and everything is wonderful. Nowhere fancy or snowy and no chance of a White Christmas, but yet I still think of this holiday a lot. It wasn’t a planned trip, out of the blue because my dad finally decided to take a break and go for a proper holiday. The hotel was fabulous and it’s the most Christmassy hotel ever!

I loved the food there and the pool was great. There was a tiny miserable part, I booked breakfast for only one person instead of four and we couldn’t add. I was enveloped with guilt and ended up at the breakfast café alone. So I guess, instead of blabbing about the horrible first morning, I should focus on the beauty of that Christmas.

We had only three days and Singapore wasn’t new to us and it wasn’t my first Christmas there. I was in Singapore in 1999, checking out the Looney Tunes statues. So we decided to do what was usual to us. We ate ice creams at malls, macaroons (first Laduree boutique in South East Asia), visited Universal Studios Singapore (the queue for tickets was bloody long!), shopped for gifts, splashed water in the pool till it hurts (just me and my brother) and took hell lot of pictures. IMG_20141009_193948

Not a huge fan of theme parks, all I did in USS was taking photos and buying souvenirs. My brother enjoyed the rides that I hated. Brr. I loved the kiddy feeling that gripped my heart when I was there but not the heart attacks from the roller-coasters. I took a couple of photos, only a few left as one memory card went nuts. I enjoyed the Sesame Street merchandise store so so much! Tried on the headbands there and if I was given a choice, I’d stay there till forever. Hehe.

We went to a mall with the most gorgeous Christmas trees! Not just the trees were gorgeous, they have the best macaroon boutique there! And did I mention the giant snow globe?

There was a Tiffany & Co. tree, huge and complete with cute tiny blue boxes. My dad is a camera shy man but a fabulous photographer, so the photographs are precious to me. We took a proper family Christmas photo there! I loved the Laduree Christmas Tree that’s made of macaroons! It’s pink but wasn’t as enormous as the Tiffany’s. You have to see the photos! The photos are rare!

I was so lucky enough that the Chanel The Little Black Jacket exhibition (held at the ArtScience Museum, Marina Bay Sands) was open to all. That’s where some great photographs by Karl Lagerfeld were displayed.

So, I went with my mom as the men decided to walk around. Some books about Chanel were on sale but pretty pricey. The overall space layout was pretty simple. A stack of books in the middle of the hall and posters everywhere.

All black and white and I saw pictures of Alexa Chung, Keira K and a few others. It was really an eye opening experience.

I know other girls went to Disney, New York and all sorts of exotic destinations, but I’m glad I experienced a very familial Christmas in a place that feels like home. Though there’s no mention of pressie, my family has given me the best Christmas present anyone could ever ask for.

Until next Christmas! xx

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Meet Evelyn

Evelyn is the owner of Eve’s Chick Lit Reviews from sunshiny land, Malaysia. She is currently chasing her dreams and doing an English & Public Relations degree programme. She loves blogging and reading chick lit novels. When she’s not busy hiding behind a good book, she might be playing an instrument with six strings. She is probably busy writing or designing Christmas cards as we speak. Other than that, she could be found in malls or hiding in a book store seeking for new colour pens, watching movies or maybe, drinking strong coffee or tea with family and close friends.