The Only Holiday Prep I’m Doing This Year Is Packing

Where in the world are the Damianos?

A Big Transition Week

This week we drove three hours south to see my cousin Jonathan, and three hours back, all in one day. I hadn’t seen him in about eight years. Then Lake Mary with my dad for my nephew Brayden’s birthday, with my dad’s birthday the very next day, and my brother flew in for it. Saturday morning I’m getting a new tattoo. Then we fly back across the pond.

The tattoo has been building for a long time. It runs down my spine. At the top, the constellations for all five of us around one small heart. Down the middle, our family phrase. Begin anywhere. At the bottom, a compass.

The stars are the lights that guide us. The compass is the direction. Begin anywhere is the whole philosophy. If you want something to change, do the thing you’re afraid of. You don’t have to do it all at once. You just have to start.

What I can’t wait for: our friends, walking to the markets instead of driving to everything, and most of all getting Poppy back. She didn’t come to Florida with us and I miss that dog.

What I’m not ready for: the cold. My sandals and I are in denial about winter, and all five of us need a new winter wardrobe.

Florida gave us quiet and slow days. I’m also really tired. This has been a huge business building stretch and I’ve worked the whole time we’ve been here. It’s a lot, and it’s exciting, and I’m not afraid to change my plans.

The headline story

Why Budapest, and Why Alone

I’m a YOLO woman. When Goway asked, I said yes.

They invited me on a Japan trip first. Japan is one of my top sellers and I was excited, until I read the itinerary and realized I’d already done all of it. I wanted something new. Europe is where I’ve been building my knowledge this year, and Budapest is an easy flight for me. A no-brainer.

This is what we call a FAM in my world. A familiarization trip. A supplier takes a group of travel advisors on the exact trip they sell, so we can tell you what it’s really like before you spend a dime on it. I go first. You know exactly what you’re getting.

And I have a theory I’m testing. If someone else builds the magic, do I get my holiday spirit back?

No tree to put up. No presents to wrap. No kitchen to clean. Show up in a warm coat, drink the mulled wine, and let a town that has been doing this for hundreds of years do the work.

I think that might be the whole point of these trips. You don’t have to make Christmas. You get to walk into it.

I’ll report back.

Market matchmaking

Which Market Is Right for You?

There are hundreds of Christmas markets in Europe and they are not all the same. Here’s how I match them to families.

Little kids: Nuremberg

One of the oldest and most famous markets in Germany, and a few steps away is a whole separate children’s market with a carousel, a steam train and booths where kids bake and craft.

Storybook kids: Strasbourg

France calls it the Capital of Christmas. Half timbered houses, canals, a giant tree in Place Kléber that lights up to music every hour, and more than 300 little chalets spread across the old town.

Theme park kids: Copenhagen

Tivoli Gardens turns into a Christmas market with the rides running and every light on. A Santa train, Father Christmas, ice skating, and roast pork sandwiches.

Fairytale seekers: Rothenburg ob der Tauber

A walled medieval town the size of a snow globe. The market fills the Marktplatz, and the Käthe Wohlfahrt Christmas store is open all year with a Christmas museum upstairs.

Big city sparkle: Vienna

The market in front of City Hall has a reindeer train, a Ferris wheel, an ice rink, and a children’s market with tables built at kid height.

Light show lovers: Budapest

Every half hour after dark a light show plays across the front of St. Stephen’s Basilica, and there’s a little ice rink for kids right in the square.

Crowd haters: Salzburg

Choirs sing in front of the cathedral, and the little chapel where Silent Night was first sung is a short train ride away.

Can only go at Christmas: Prague

The big tree in Old Town Square, a mini zoo and a stage for the kids, and it stays open right through New Year’s.

Make it the whole trip

Add a Grand Finale

The cruise is a week. Add three or four days at the end in one big city and the trip stops being a market crawl and becomes your family’s Christmas.

For the canal kids: Amsterdam

The Amsterdam Light Festival turns the canals into an outdoor art gallery after dark. See it on foot, or from a boat with a blanket on your lap.

For the Paris dreamers: Paris

The department store windows, the lights down the Champs-Élysées, a crepe on a cold corner. Nobody argues with Paris at Christmas.

For the castle kids: Munich

A huge market right under the Glockenspiel, a whole separate nativity market, and a day trip to Neuschwanstein, the castle in the snow.

For the music kids: Vienna or Salzburg

A Christmas concert, Mozart’s hometown, and the chapel in Oberndorf where Silent Night was first sung, a short train ride from Salzburg.

Pick the ending that fits your kids. That’s the part I love helping with.

Before you book

Nobody Tells You About the Feet

The markets close before Christmas.

Most German and Alsace markets wrap up on the 23rd or 24th. Thanksgiving week into early December is the sweet spot. Everything has just opened and the crowds haven’t hit. If Christmas break is your only window, go to Prague, Budapest, Salzburg or Copenhagen. They run right through New Year’s.

Weekends are packed.

Go on a weekday afternoon and stay until the lights come on. That hour is the whole reason you came.

Your feet will be cold.

Nobody talks about this. Wool socks, real boots, and a plan to duck inside every hour or so. A café, a church, a museum. The kids will last twice as long.

Carry some cash.

Plenty of stalls are cash only, and you need coins for the mug deposit.

It’s dark by 4:30.

The lights are the best part and the day ends early. With little ones, nap first and go out late.

Book early.

The Christmas market river cruises sell out close to a year ahead, and the family cabins go first. If you want this December, we need to talk now. Next December is already open.

Book it · ideas and specials

Holiday Trips I’d Put a Bow On

Christmas market river cruise: The Danube or the Rhine

A family cabin, the kids free on some sailings, and a new market every morning. If you want the Disney version, Adventures by Disney sails both rivers.

Christmas at Disneyland Paris: Disney’s Enchanted Christmas

A giant tree in Town Square that lights up several times a day, snow falling on Main Street, U.S.A., the Christmas parade, and this year the holiday reaches World of Frozen for the first time. Pair it with a few days in Paris.

Santa’s real address: Santa Claus Village, Rovaniemi

On the Arctic Circle in Finnish Lapland. Meet Santa, step across the Arctic Circle line painted through the square, mail a letter with the Arctic Circle postmark, ride behind huskies and reindeer, and watch the sky for the Northern Lights.

Hanukkah in Europe: Budapest, Prague, Vienna

All three have old Jewish quarters and public menorah lightings with klezmer music, dreidels and jelly doughnuts. In Budapest there’s even a lighting on the ice rink in City Park. You can celebrate your holiday and walk through theirs the same night. We’re a Jewish family who loves Christmas, so this one is close to my heart.

Send me a message and we’ll plan it

On the blog: My river cruise market picks · Planning a market trip with kids · When each market opens

Next week

Mexico, the Easy Button

Next week, Mexico all inclusives. The trip where dinner is handled, the drinks are included, and the flight home is short. The Riviera Maya, Puerto Vallarta, Los Cabos, and which resort fits who. The ones built for little kids, the ones for teenagers who need a scene, the adults only ones for the two of you, and the big family reunion kind where grandma gets her own pool.

See you Monday!