Christmas in London

So we're well into January.  How 'bout a (mostly boring!) Christmas recap?  It's more for me than for anyone who cares to read this.  But since it was Christmas, and Christmas in a foreign country, no less, I know I'll want to remember how we celebrated the birth of Jesus.

Get ready for some awful iPhone pics as well.

So London gets gussied up for the holiday.  Everywhere you look you can find huge trees, lights strung up over shopping districts, and Salvation Army bands playing carols on street corners.  And lots of craft fairs.  I was quite charmed by the whole thing!  And you know what?  Everyone says "Merry Christmas" or "Happy Christmas" here... no PC "Happy Holidays" for the Brits!  Of course, Christmas here in the UK focuses more on "Father Christmas" (A.K.A. Santa) and the commericalization of the holiday more than the birth of Jesus... not unlike the US. But hey, I still enjoy the lights and hustle & bustle and overall merriment of the season.



 
Above: Sloane Square, Chelsea, Left: Jubilee Market Hall, Covent Garden, Right: The Jack Daniel's take on a Christmas tree, Covent Garden


The Christmas Market
From what I understand, these are a major wintertime attractions in Germany.  And copycat markets seem to have creeped over to the British Isles as well (although I understand the ones in the UK have got nothing on the ones you can find on the continent!)  Sweet little stands selling everything from mulled wine to knit hats to fake snow.  Caroline and I met some friends at one in early December at the Southbank Centre, and it did not disappoint.  It's a really pretty spot just down the river from the London Eye, with the Houses of Parliament just across, and boasts a carousel to boot.  And the fair-style food?  YES PLEASE.  I'm already looking forward to going back next year for the warm doughy cinnamon cyclone thing we enjoyed this past year.






Winter Wonderland
Hyde Park ramps it up a notch with some pretty intense festivities.  Christmas market shops and treats plus all manner carnival rides and ice skating and even a German "biergarten".  We made the mistake of taking Josh's parents on a Saturday afternoon.  WALL TO WALL people.  But fun nonetheless.


Carol Service at St. Paul's Cathedral
This was high on my priority list for the season.  I mean, how many times do you get to go to a Christmas service in a gorgeous historic cathedral?  Not to mention you usually have to pay to get into St. Paul's, and this event was free.  The Saturday before Christmas they offered a family friendly option, so along with my in-laws we loaded up the kids (including 10-day-old Juliet) and took the Tube downtown for the service.  We even saw our friends, the Floods, there!  And the service was beautiful.  Not too long or short, with fantastic music and even a little Christmas message which was preached by someone wearing a donkey costume.  Worth standing in line in the rain, to be sure.








At Home
Decorations were admittedly basic.  A cheap fake tree that stood about three foot high.  Homemade (by both me and Caroline) garland.  Candles and holly and felt stockings with the kids' initials appliqued on them.  But for the first time Caroline was old enough to teach her about Christmas.  We read books about the story of Jesus' birth every night.  Josh's parents brought her a toy nativity set to play with.  And we opened the boxes of an Advent calendar each night.  Obviously her understanding of the magnitude of the event is very much limited, but it was fun to hear her point out Mary and baby Jesus as we were reading the stories. I'm looking forward to establishing even more Christ-focused Christmas traditions with the girls as they grow up. 

Presents!
Caroline drew on her recent birthday experience and was an old pro at opening gifts.

PRESENTS!  She yelled on Christmas morning as she ran to her stash.

But we quickly found out that with her, at this age, LESS IS MORE.  We opened presents with both Josh's parents (Christmas Day) and my parents (Boxing Day) and learned that she was only interested in the first couple of gifts.  And was completely content and excited to play with those first few, leaving the rest in a gift-wrapped heap next to her.

Notable favorites: a Peppa Pig stuff and an Abby Cadabby (not to mention utterly obnoxious) tea set.







Oh, and a three-wheeled scooter.  Here in London you find toddlers on them everywhere.  Here's hoping Caroline learns how to use it soon.

Juliet?  She got a stuffed animal.

Okay, and an outfit, and a couple of ornaments.  She was super excited.

But I'll just count her as one of MY favorite Christmas gifts of 2012.  She's such a treasure to us and we LOVED having her in our arms on Christmas day.

I tried - and mostly failed - to get a couple of family-ish pictures of us on Christmas.  I even dressed the girls in matching outfits two days in a row.  Can you tell?  Nope, me neither.  Such is life with two very small kids!  And even though I have yet to achieve that "perfect sister picture" that I have in mind, these shots still make me smile.
And my personal favorite: Squinty me, who had taken off her festive red sweater to cook and forgot to put it back on for picture time.   Yawning Juliet who was apparently "over" picture taking to such a degree that she put her hand in front of her face.  And tired/overstimulated/not interested in sitting still Caroline.  Yes, folks, this is real life.

A VERY late Merry Christmas to you all.  

Chicago at Christmas, 2009

I thought it would be fun to do a video for this one.

I'm not great at video slide shows. But I think they're fun. And who doesn't like some background music? Especially a version of Christmas is All Around from Love Actually that Josh managed to find somewhere in the deep recesses of the Internet.

Have an extra 3 1/2 minutes? Enjoy. And don't mind the abrupt transitions - I haven't quite figured those out yet.

Aiydan

I love this kid.

Isn't he adorable?

At this point, I consider him my nephew. And his sister my niece. And his mom my sister.

They're part of the family.

Christmas Presents #2

Christmas Morning 2009.

There were kids involved for the first time in a long time - since Ben and I were kids ourselves.

And little kids are way fun to have around for Christmas morning.

This was the year of the pajamas. Everyone got a pair. And the year of the American Girl doll, which Aiyannah got to pick out in Chicago the next day.

We toned down Christmas presents this year for two reasons.
One: we all felt strongly that we should "spend less and give more" (see my post on the Advent Conspiracy movement).
Two: on Christmas day after church we loaded up everyone and drove to Chicago, where we spent the weekend. Spending less on gifts freed us up to eat at fun restaurants, do a little big city shopping, and, for some of us, head to the aquarium.

And you know what? No one even noticed that the number of presents were fewer than last year. We had more people there, and thus more fun and fellowship. And our "big present" (Chicago) was an opportunity for us to spend quality time together as a family.

Perfect.

Christmas Eve 2009

Cheese fondue (Josh's favorite)
Happy family (including my aunt, some cousins, and Montoya and her kids)
Raclette Grill (a favorite for holiday parties at my parents' house)
Icy streets kept us from driving to see Christmas lights, a long-standing tradition
Small children underfoot
Tree, garland, and candles
Messiah (Handel's)
All kinds of people crammed into the living room for more Trivial Pursuit
Sounds of cracking fire, sizzling food, and drinks being poured

Excitement and anticipation of the next morning (especially on Aiyannah's part)
Very Merry
Emmanuel, God With Us

Witte Family Christmas Party

I have many, many memories of this party from years past. It always takes place on the Saturday night before Christmas Eve. And I've always enjoyed it.

There is a slightly different mix every year, which is the name of the game when it comes to large families. Because Josh and I split holidays between each set of parents, I only go every other year.

But many parts are the same.

The aunts. The hot fruit salad (SO good). The cousins. The casseroles. The rice crispy treats with M&M's (Aunt Laurie makes the best ones). The uncles.

My Oma.

The piano being played. Sometimes we sing Christmas carols in Dutch. But this year, Jonah (in green) treated us to a concert. He's really quite good.

The babies. More every year, naturally.

And the games. We're game players in this family.

From intense rounds of cards...

(Uncle Henk and Uncle Teunis were just too cute playing Uno with all of the kids.)

... To Trivial Pursuit.

80's edition this time. And yes, that is the butt of a Care Bear.

And really, what party is complete without Trivial Pursuit?

So fun. Such a blessing.

Christmas Is All Around Me

Love Actually, anyone?

And now for the belated Christmas post.

(I figure I have until the end of the month to write about goals for 2009 and reflections on 2008. I had also promised additional Josh & Jessica stories in December, which is the anniversary of our engagement, but forgot about that completely. So I'll work on that this month, too. January = my grace period.)

One of the blessings and challenges to married life is the need for two Christmas celebrations.  The drawback is that we can't spend Christmas Day with both families at the same time.  We're on an every other year rotation around here.  The benefit is that we get to celebrate Christmas with family twice. And that is enjoyable.

This year we were in Vail, CO for Christmas Day, and celebrated it with Josh's parents, grandparents, and even the family dog. We took the day off from skiing, and spent the day playing cards, watching Marley & Me, and veg-ing out.  That evening we managed to put on appropriate clothes and go out for a nice dinner.

Josh's parents' dog, Nikki, all dressed up for the big day.

Josh & his parents in Vail Village before Christmas Dinner.
Favorite gifts?  Our ski trip, of course!  We had a blast.  Can't wait to go again.

And then onto Witte Christmas Extravaganza, a few days later in Grand Rapids, MI.  After flying from Denver to Chicago and driving up to W. Michigan, we enjoyed dinner and presents with my side of the family.  I wore pajama pants the entire day and it was definitely a good decision.  

My dad examining his new golf clubs.  Oooh... shiny.  My mom broke her cardinal rule of Christmas gift giving and actually let him pick them out the month before.  But she insisted on wrapping them for him anyway.

My mom sporting her coordinating scarf and hat, which she got from my dad to go with her new red vest.
My brother Ben with his new laptop, bought on an excellent Black Friday special.
Favorite gifts?  Chickens, a new coat (see skiing pictures) and an ornament that looks like Riley.  Josh got a Best Buy gift card that he has since used for a Slingbox.  I feel that another of Josh's reviews may be in order soon.

In terms of my Advent Conspiracy goals, I think we did okay. Our Christmas celebrations continued on into the next week with significant time spent with family and friends. I loved it all - the card playing, the puzzle-ing, the late night chats. Gift giving was completely joyful and stress-free, but the level of worship wasn't quite where I wanted it to be. Something to work on for next year. But I'm thankful for a great holiday season. Thankful for two loving families that want to celebrate with us. Thankful for an abundance of good food and fellowship.  Thankful for ornaments that resemble beloved brown dogs. Thankful most of all for a God that gave this world the gift of Jesus so many years ago.

A Favorite Christmas Carol

Since for me, the celebration of the birth of Christ lives on past December 25th, I put set Pandora to "Classic Christmas" today. This first song it picked for me has long been one of my very favorites.

What child is this, who lays to rest,
On Mary's lap is sleeping?
Whom angels greet with anthems sweet
While shepherds watch are keeping?

This, this is Christ the King
Whom shepherds guard and angels sing.
Haste, haste to bring him praise,
The babe, the son of Mary.

So bring him incense, gold and myrrh
Come, peasant king, to own him.
The King of Kings salvation brings;
Let loving hearts enthrone him.

For me, this song gets at the wonder of a baby that warrants angel songs and visiting shepherds. What kind of baby could it be? Not just any baby.

Only the King of Kings. The One who would later suffer, and who, through His death, would conquer death and sin. The One who brings salvation, indeed.

What an incredible gift.

Let my heart love and enthrone Him.

One of my favorite things about the holidays...

I love, love, love getting Christmas cards.