I’m fighting the urge to open this week’s column with a carol as the city finds itself immersed in festive cheer. While I took a total of three days to put up my Christmas tree, I can say that at the end I was mighty pleased with my efforts. Around the city, all our favourite hotels invited guests to witness the ‘ooh’ moment with their tree lighting ceremonies… almost one tree for every day of the week. Starting off the fun was the Courtyard by Marriott with an environmentally friendly tree, followed by ITC Grand Chola where we met their tree ‘Windy’, made of LED lights and topped by a wind turbine, powered entirely by renewable energy. At Citadines, it was made out of cut and coloured drinking water bottles while at Somerset, it was made out of plastic drain cells. The ‘thinking’ outside the box continued on our ‘tree trail’ which ended at InterContinental with an under-the-sea-themed tree sculpted from sand and seashells. At Phoenix Marketcity the focus was more on Santa, with everyone lining up for photos (and their Christmas lists).
Alongside the decorating fun was the battle of the Christmas pop-ups with multiple exhibitions happening this weekend. I managed to make it for ‘Storybook Christmas’ by Madras Finds at The Folly and was impressed to see the home bakers in full swing, alongside a range of other handcrafted products. Later in the week I got to enjoy a pre-Christmas brunch at Novotel Chamiers road, giving us a sneak peak of what we can look forward to. We loved the Roast Turkey, Lamb Wellington and specially crafted cocktails.
The rest of the week flew by in a blur of parties with anniversaries galore. December is that time of the year. Dank the Restobar celebrated their annual festival with a brunch while Level Up celebrated their first anniversary with much pomp and live music.
And deviating a little bit from the overall theme but drawing quite a crowd was a sari styling workshop by Sundari Silks, curated by stylist and costume designer Sunil Karthik. The fashion showcase aimed at reliving Indian weaves while putting twists on the classics.