Spend Christmas in France
Skipping Christmas
When planning this trip, I found very little information about the logistics of being in another country over the actual Christmas holiday. Burning questions like “Will the trains be running,” or “How will we feed ourselves?” These are some of the important details that many bloggers seem to fail at answering because they traveled near the time of Christmas but not actually over the holiday itself. For those of you seeking answers, look no further, I have information for you!
To begin, Christmas is my favorite holiday; the food, the colors, the smells, and the sounds fill me with joy each year when I get to untangle my tree garland and cut out cookies that I’ll lose enthusiasm to decorate after the first two. That said, it often gets co-opted by obligations, reciprocal gift-giving, and spending money that hurts for months afterward. None of these later things are in keeping with what I enjoy most about the holiday season. For Christmas 2023, we decided to say “F*** it," and we left town.
With my mother-in-law in tow (It would NOT be Christmas if she were not with us), we packed our bags and boarded a plane on December 21st, bound for Zurich Switzerland.
Our First European Christmas Vacation
If you saw my posts about spending New Year 2022 in Salzburg Austria you might know that I’ve been obsessing over the opportunity to see more Christmas markets in Europe. I’ve been compiling a mental list of the length of my arm of the various trinkets and holiday bobbles I wanted to acquire, so when the time came to pounce, I was ready.
It’s important to know that when planning a visit to the holiday markets in Europe, many of them occur during Advent and conclude before Christmas Day.
However, after much research into the various markets, the cities hosting them, proximity to airports, and a variety of other factors, we determined that of the markets staying open the longest, the Alsace region of France, and most specifically, Colmar, was the place for us. Offering six markets that stayed open until December 28th, which offered us the flexibility to take our time and not have to rush through the markets right before closing for the season.
Another bonus to this location was the classic holiday ambiance baked into staying in a medieval city. Half-timbered houses line the narrow, car-free streets, leaving you feeling as though you are a character in a Charles Dickens novel. Adding to the overall holiday “vibe,” the Alsace region has been under the control of both Germany and France several different times, which has left a distinct impression on the area. People speak both languages, the food is mainly cheese and pretzel-based, and Walt Disney used Colmar as the inspiration for the tiny village that Belle (from Beauty and the Beast) was from.
Holiday Travel Logistics -
Unlike being at home in your own house over a major holiday, there are many logistical factors that need to be considered when traveling abroad. Things like getting your morning coffee, what will be open, how will you actually spend the day. I’m not an expert, but here’s what I can tell you about what Christmas Day was like in Colmar, France.
*An important detail to note, is the transit system has reduced operation on Christmas Eve, no service on Christmas Day, and again, limited service the day after. Make sure that you don’t have to get anywhere that requires more than your own two feet unless you want to deal with a rental car.
What was open on Christmas:
The Christmas market! That’s right, they all opened, including the food vendors within the markets. That said, the regular shops and most restaurants were closed on Christmas Day and the day after. On Christmas Eve, we made a grocery run and got everything we might need for a couple of days, not knowing that we would have options available to us. However, being that most food at the markets was savory or novelty, it was good to be able to make our own breakfast at our Airbnb.
What was there to do on Christmas:
For several years we have made it a point to book a photographer to take nice photos of us on vacation, this trip was no different. I found a photographer on Instagram (her profile can be found here) and reserved her services probably six months in advance of our trip (we reserved a time slot for on Christmas Eve morning). Later that day things started shutting down earlier than normal, with the exception being the holiday markets. We ate dinner at one of the main food tents and then rode the Ferris wheel that was setup nearby and then later that night, (a special activity worth considering) we attended a holiday service at the main church in town, which was a midnight Christmas service., As was expected, the service was totally in French (no one in my party speaks fluently), but they also sang the same classic Christmas songs that we know in our native English, which was very comforting. We’re not frequent church goers, but we greatly enjoyed opportunity to experience a service in one of the many beautiful old churches of Europe.
On Christmas Day, we slept in, made coffee and ate day-old pastries that we had picked up the day before. Back home, we would have opened gifts and then had the television on a continuous loop of holiday movies, but we didn’t find that this was an available option to us on French television, not that we would have been able to understand them any way. Given the time difference, we waited until early afternoon to start making calls back to our loved ones in the US, and then we got dressed and spent the rest of the day roaming around the markets and people watching.
What I bought at the Colmar Christmas Markets
This information may not be of any interest to you, but I was super eager to know what might be available to me before experiencing the markets for myself.
Every market is slightly different (Colmar had six or seven), each with a slightly different emphasis, some had more wine vendors, others offered more children-focused items, while still, others had more hand-crafted decorations. The thing we noticed is that while the overall “theme” of each market was slightly different, the mix of vendors was largely the same at each, so don’t feel that if you missed purchasing something at one market that you’ll not have another opportunity to purchase something similar from a different vendor, there are lots of very similar products and vendors.
With that in mind, hand-painted crockery is the signature item for the Alsace region, you’ll see it everywhere. Beautifully glazed and brightly colored, you’ll find platters, bowls, tureens, teapots, and various other baking dishes covered in patterns consisting largely of hearts and storks (both are heavily used symbols in this area). For our part, we purchased a beautiful blue platter and a small matching crock, but the platter broke into a million pieces on our way home.
Some of the other items that I crammed into my luggage included two springle cookie presses, an embossed rolling pin, one cookie cutter (for the springle presses), a nutcracker, several tree ornaments, two ceramic tabletop village houses, a wooden candle pyramid, and two embroidered table runners. Unfortunately, I failed to take pictures of any of these items during purchase, and are already packed away for the year.
Reflections And Things to Know:
Opting out of gift-giving and much of the other "normal" responsibilities of the Holidays allowed me to just relax and enjoy the season. That said, having skipped Christmas and gone to France, here are a few key takeaways:
Did I spend less money by going on the trip rather than buying gifts?
No. I probably spent more money. The cost of flights so near any major holiday is significantly more expensive than normal and the same is true for accommodations, our Airbnb was triple the nightly rate of what it charges the majority of the year.
Did I feel like I “missed out” by not being at home and seeing more of my family for the holiday?
Also No. This might have been different if we had gone somewhere tropical or someplace that wasn’t so Christmas-oriented, even our Airbnb host had thoughtfully decorated the apartment for us. Stripping back so much of what has become “normal” Christmas stuff made me feel some of the magic I felt as a kid before I had responsibilities.
Did I enjoy the Christmas Markets as much as I thought I would?
This one is tough, but I have to say yes, but with a caveat. I loved the markets, but as someone who struggles with crowds, staying so near to the markets, thereby engaging with the crowds every day for a week, was too much for me. I liked being able to go more than once because it removed the stress of needing to see and find everything in just one day, but I will need to limit my crowd exposure in the future… 2 to 3 days max.
Will I travel over Christmas again in the future?
Probably. I think many of the elements I enjoyed about this trip could probably be just as easily obtained by visiting earlier during Advent (aka earlier in December) and at a lower travel cost than over the holiday itself. However, the stigma of being “home for Christmas” feels much less important now, but maybe I’ll try to talk more of my family into skipping town with us ;)
If you would like to watch a short video about our trip, you can see it HERE.
