Christmas in London (2nd of 3 Parts)

Here’s the 1st of the 3 parts series.
It has been a crazy week so this is a quick post . . . 
It has become a tradition at our church here in London, to have an annual Candlelit and Cantata Service at Christmas. We had it on Sunday last week and it was a joyful day of worship with congregational Christmas carols, special music by the adult and children choir, as well as lots of eating and fellowshipping. The catering/event committee prepared a Vietnamese-themed meal. Thanks to the choir, catering/event committee members, cleaning crew, and others who helped out.

On Monday morning my friend Adiben phoned to say that she just got out of work, and we agreed to meet up for breakfast. She came over to Notting Hill and after a quick chat on where we should eat out we decided to go to this place but more on that later.

In a strange coincidence, we bumped into Vic and so we abducted him. 😉 We went to Claridge’s Hotel to see their ‘upside-town’ tree (not your typical Christmas tree, I must say, it was designed by Karl Lagerfield), walked around Mayfair, took photos of the street lights and storefront display, had pizza and tea, and walked more until it was dark. So the breakfast extended to lunch, tea, etc. 🙂

London is magical at this time of the year; every nook and cranny of the city center is practically decked out with lights and decorations.

The Cartier flagship store, my favourite building (only at Christmas time I must add), truly stands out.

Our breakfast: pastries and coffee — the famous Cronut (not my fave but Adiben wanted to try it so we shared one), DKA (my fave), gingerbread and chorizo croissant (my first time to try — both very good!). I’ve been to Dominique Ansel Bakery 3x prior to Monday’s visit but haven’t done a proper review, may be after Christmas I will do a post about my dining experience there.
The last but not the least. I got to visit Maxi — my favourite one-year old girl in the whole wide world! It’s safe to say, after working with little kids at our church in the last 17.5 years, that Maxi is the best baby ever — not fussy, hardly ever cries (and when she does you’ll just see tears running down her little cheeks), and she’s just a happy little girl. It’s a joy watching her every Sunday. When she is away traveling with her parents and/or can’t come to church for whatever reason, I do miss her. It was nice being able to visit her on Thursday, we did some baking (notice her chocolate-filled face after eating chocolate chip cookies!), played a little bit and had chit-chat with Momma Mavy. 🙂 Can’t wait to do it again soon!
Two more days before Christmas. I’ve got to get some gift wrapping done tonight, and prepare for church. I wish you all a wonderful day of worship tomorrow. Love to you all, dear family and friends.
Have a happy christmas!