We at MyWay LOVE celebrations, and Christmas… it´s such a special date! We love the time of first snows, this climate of excitement in the air, but also a feeling of warmth, family and love around the Christmas tree (Sapin de Noël, as we call it here).
Of course, it’s also a time to give, to shop and to trade. With less intensity than we see in Brazil, Latam or the United States, for example. The typical Christmas presents in Switzerland are very personal, preferably homemade, or with a regional flavor, something unique, artisanal and uncommon.
Cards and candles are all handmade and unique at the Christmas fair in La Tour-de-Peilz, a small town where Lilian and myself live.
Each hut has its own way of assembling its decorations, which enlighten the neighborhood doors and fences.
The most celebrated tradition is the famous “Marché de Noël”: an outdoor Christmas market. Every city makes its own, with festive lights and unique shops, usually owned by small producers of the region. The grace is to go through these markets with family and friends (keep in mind that it is freezing cold), meet people, drink hot wine, do decorating and gift shopping, get enchanted with the party lights, which turns everything into wonder. We visited several markets this year, including the famous Marche de Noel de Strasbourg, considered the best Christmas Market in Europe.
The ‘Marche de Noel’ in Lausanne
Strasbourg market: Sophisticated and famous
Tourists from all around the world come
All joyous, a more of a winter mood, that runs by staying together, warming up by the fire, resting to get that energy for dark and cold days ahead. With luck, there is enough snow to start the ski season.
Holidays here are short, schools start after the first week of January, and everyone prepares to face the long winter that comes around.
Christmas seems to have a different meaning here: more simplicity, less consumerism, it´s about enjoying being together with family and friends. Take some time to laugh and relax. That’s the real confortt to the cold.
And it is with this spirit of warmth, illuminated by the friendship, the love, the laughter and the joy of the street markets and the good conversations by the fire, that we wish all our friends and readers of myway2blog a happy year end festivities! And may good, creative and enlightened thoughts inspire us to move forward and close with the golden key another year that is about to end!
A big hug,
Lilian and Serena
