Welcome to Across the Cafe Table where every second Wednesday we ask a question and share our answers
If you HAD to spend the holidays away somewhere, where would you go and what would you do?
Briana’s answer:
Being from Boston, a December holiday spent someplace warm and sunny always sounds enticing. I imagine a few days feeling light and free, strolling around without wearing a jacket that makes me look like the Michelin Man.
But throughout all my travels I’ve learned that the holidays are best spent with family and friends. In the end, I love sitting around and stuffing myself on home-cooked food, watching the littlest ones get excited on Christmas morning, and laughing with my aunt the schoolteacher, who never fails to have us in stitches with some harmless yet surprising lewd joke.
So, I’m afraid this month’s Across The Café Table question just isn’t for me. And if I must answer it, I’ll do it by cheating a little bit.
Where would I go if Boston were off-limits this Christmas? Well, anywhere, as long as I could bring my sometimes-crazy family with me. From Alaska to Argentina, California to China, the destination really wouldn’t matter. In the end, I think the holidays are just like travel; they’re memorable not because of where you spend them, but rather because of who you spend them with.
Margo’s answer:
Hey Briana, you know how we love strange old Christmas traditions around here. But did you know that Christmas used to be banned in Boston? You can read about what the Massachusetts Puritans called “a profane and superstitious custom.” Also, I’m curious given that you currently live in Ireland about any similarities you have observed between Boston and Irish culture. Maybe another blog post? 
Also I anticipated that we might be tempted to cheat! Because, yes, there is an excellent chance that even the most intrepid of Travel Belles would choose to stay home or at the very least, only travel where spending time with family members as part of the package.
To answer this question as intended I must either pretend that someone is holding a gun to my head, or that there is a provision for taking all of my family members with me to imagined Christmas destination.
I will admit that someday I would like to go to Europe for Christmas. Here’s exactly where I’d go:
Strasbourg, France.
The city bills itself as “Capital of Christmas,” and the title seems fitting given the full calendar of events that are scheduled each holiday season. Additionally, Strasbourg is home to multiple Christmas markets, including the main one that dates from 1570 held in Place Broglie . Strasbourg also has its fair share of unique Christmas traditions and legends, including a tale about how glass ornaments came to be hung on trees following an apple shortage in 1850. Located in the Alsace region of France near the German border, the picturesque city laced with canals possesses a unique international flair.
Besides, although part of me would love to grab the family and head somewhere tropical over Christmas (I’ve always thought the British Virgin Islands would be very nice over New Years), but Europe for Christmas, in particular Strasbourg, with its seasonal weather would most likely accommodate me in my set ideas about holiday-appropriate cold and dark weather!
*Photo by Francois Schnell
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