Now, don't get me wrong - I love Christmas in New Zealand, with the sun, and of course spending it with family. But there is something magical about Christmas time in the Northern Hemisphere. Maybe it's because we grow up with these images on Christmas cards and TV, and all the mention in carols of snow, cuddling up by the fire and so on..... but Christmas in the Northern Hemisphere just seems right. It's how it should be. I love the lights - that come on at 3pm, you don't have to wait until 9 or 10pm like at home - wrapping up warm to go outside, the little carts on the street corner with the nuts roasting, egg nog everywhere..... everything seems so cosy and CHRISTMASSY! Even the bus drivers would often have little handheld "jingle bells" that they would jingle as they drive along - giving the feeling like you were on a sleigh or something!! The photo above is of Robson St - the main shopping street in Vancouver, 3 blocks from our house.
The photo the the right is the hospital, one block from our house. I love the lights! I had to make sure we had a Xmas tree this year - I've made the mistake before of saying "no, no.... we don't need one" in the interest of saving money - only to go out and buy one two days before Xmas as I couldn't take it anymore!! So the tree went up the first weekend of December, just a little one as we don't have a lot of space.
On Robson St there is an outdoor ice-skating rink, so there are a lot of people there, especially in the evenings and weekends. Also with the mountains being so close (there are a couple of skifields closer than Whistler that you can get to by public transport), you'll often see people on the buses with their snowboards. Vancouver is a great city in that respect - very accessible to be able to go out and enjoy the great outdoors.
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