Is it still ok to talk about Christmas?  It appeared and left so quickly this year...last year (still getting my head around saying that), that I feel like it is an exception.  In fact it appeared and left so quickly that I didn't get the opportunity to feel remotely festive at all.  Speaking to others over the Christmas period, I know I wasn't alone in that. Something about how rapidly December decided to fly by meant that aside from all the ultimate festivity that would usually accompany Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day, the entire run up to it just felt like any other weather indecisive month in London.

I had the opportunity to be at Christmas at Kew this year for the first time on more than one occasion.  Now this could have either gone two ways, it could have either ended up with me feeling incredibly festive by the end of it or just turning into a massive Scrooge from being there so much.  I had imagined that the latter would have come into play, but it didn't, because unlike other festive attractions in London, I think this is something the Christmas at Kew do very well.  It is not in your face, it is not over the top, it is not overly commercial and even though it is a Christmas event, it is still very much a Kew Gardens event and anyone who went would know that just by seeing how beautiful, or should I say even more beautiful the Palm House was.

If you don't know what Christmas at Kew is, it is essentially a light trail that is set out with a series of lights in and around the surrounding trees and interactive light installations featuring other activities and attractions along the way like toasting marshmallows, seeing Santa in a panto, walking through singing Holly Bushes, (yes, I said singing Holly Bushes), seeing probably the most amount of Christmas trees you'll ever see in the space of one evening, a carousel, a helter skleter and of course, mulled wine to purchase at every food station, which was the best mulled wine I've had might I add.

Most of the guests I spoke to whenever I was there said they thoroughly enjoyed it and it was better than previous years.  Fans this year included the likes of Tom Fletcher from McFly and his family along with David Tennant and his family, who are annual visitors of the event.  There were one or two nights when it unfortunately rained but even that didn't seem to dampen anyone's spirits.  It was festive enough without being too much, family friendly and also, just completely stunning.  It completely saved Christmas for me and for that I am very grateful.

So if you've never been to Christmas at Kew, put it on your list of things to do in December 2016, in fact, if you've never been to Kew Gardens, put it on your list of things to do in 2016 too.