Your eyes are glued to maps and your feet are stomping the bricked lane with hurried steps. Just when you’re sure you’re lost, you spot golden lights and huge carnival rides going up in the air. You turn your phone screen off and decide to follow the lights instead, and soon enough you’re part of a happy crowd of people in a snow-covered park. It’s scattered with cottages with fumes of vanilla and toffee coming out of their chimneys, and there’s a huge Christmas tree in the middle.

You spend some time walking around the market and do your usual rounds at the teddy bear ring and carousel. Then you stop at a stall to pick plum cake for dinner as you sip on hazelnut coffee. You decide to lie down in an empty patch on the grass under the tree and stare at the golden lights till they blur and blend with the smell of mulled wine and marshmallows. You’re far from the crowd but close enough to be a part of their happiness. As the carols grow faint in the distance, you close your eyes and decide to hold on to this moment till the next Christmas Eve.