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.  

What I loved about Christmas 2011.

No order to this list.  Some are serious, most are not.  Each one brings a smile to my face as I remember it.

1. Celebrating God's greatest Gift with these two (numbers 2 and 3 in my book!)


2. My girl started walking.  Like, for real.

She started taking a few steps in early December.  But they were few and far between.  During our week in Michigan, however, she became a walking fool.
 
 

She that proud grin?  Yeah, she bit it on the sidewalk right after I snapped that.  Check out the red mark on her forehead in some of the other pics.

3. Aiydan and Gray (my cousin's son) were so adorable, playing together on Christmas Eve.
 
 
Yes, I included a blurry picture on purpose.  That's because it's how I remember the two of them.

4. All of us kids got new PJ's. But Ben's stole the show.

Adult footie jammies.  With a back hatch and everything.

 Caroline's were too long, but Montoya fixed that with a pony-tail holder.


6. We met Mia, who is the new daughter of Josh's cousin Lacey.  Now that we've got a active, often-destructive, big girl on our hands, it's fun to hold little bitty babies that are so sweet and snuggly.  Here's Mia, Baylee (Lacey's older girl) and Caroline.  And "Lovey Dog," who is Caroline's constant companion.


5. Starting in early December, we attempted to sit down daily as a family and pieces of the story of Jesus, starting with his ancestors.  A Jesse Tree devotional.  Each day we'd sit down and read a different story - Abraham and Isaac, or Moses, or some other piece to the larger story.  We didn't do this perfectly, by a long shot.  But it's important to me to build traditions in our family, especially as Caroline gets older.  And those times of prayer and remembering and preparation for Christmas were precious to me this year.

7. Caroline loooooved Opa and Oma's Christmas tree.  We were lame at our house and didn't put one up.  (Don't judge!  By the time we got around to it, it was a week before we were scheduled to leave for Michigan.  AND now we don't the hassle of taking it down to look forward to.)  Anyway.  Caroline thought it was way cool.
 
 
8.  On Christmas night, we went over to my aunt and uncle's house for my cousin Natasha's birthday party.  A big group of aunts, uncles, and cousins sat around and told old family stories. Stupid pranks.  Grown-up shaving cream fights.  Hand stand contests. 

What a fun, if slightly dysfunctional, bunch of folks.  I'm thankful to be among them.

9. My brother's new girlfriend impressed everyone with her ability to slice the top off of a champagne bottle with a butter knife.  She fits into our family real well, that one.

10. Christmas in Grand Rapids is what I grew up with, and on some level just seems right.  I so enjoy being at my parents' house, opening presents in the same living room that I did when I was six.  The late-night drive through East Grand Rapids (where they put up luminaries) on Christmas Eve is a long-standing tradition.  As is having certain cousins over on that night.

Actually, growing up, we used to pile in a minivan, sitting on top of each other, and do the luminary drive.  During which time we both sang Christmas carols as loudly as possible and criticized everyone else's light displays.  But our numbers have grown and babies make it difficult to all get out late at night.  So we kissed that part goodbye for this year.  But the cousin part was mostly still there.

A late Merry Christmas to you, Internet.  Here are a few more pics of our festivities.

Fall 2011 Randomness

Now that we're out of the fall season (yay, Christmas season!) I thought it'd be fun to do a little recap of sorts as to what we've been up to.  You know, since I would someday like to look back on Fall 2011 and not have to guess as to what we did.

1. Caroline has new tricks every day.  It's exciting to sit and watch what new things she does.  And then amusing-meets-aggravating the next moment, as she learns to pull all of the freshly-folded laundry out of the basket and into a heap on the floor.   Or how to go after the toilet brush EVERY TIME she's in the bathroom.  Love that kid.  This post includes a gratuitous helping of pictures for any who are looking to pass the time.






2. I've started to do Bible Study Fellowship (BSF) for the first time.  It's been way too long since I've done an in-depth study of the Bible and I'm grateful for the opportunity to do so now. AND they offer fabulous, FREE childcare.  A huge, enormous, blessing.  I need to add those ladies to my Christmas gift list.

3. Our girl was Eeyore for Halloween.  We enjoyed some "Boo at the Zoo" the weekend prior and then had our friends over for some quick Trick-or-Treating on the actual day.  Our friends' baby, Mateo, was dressed as a lion, and mostly the kids sat and looked at each other.


Girlfriend loves her the aquarium.


Is it bad to go Trick-or-Treating for the following reasons: A) show off your baby, and B) get candy to eat yourself? Because that's exactly what we did.

4. Josh's parents got Caroline (and us) a membership to COSI, the local science center/children's museum for her first birthday.  We're big fans.  It'll be so nice to have a place to bring a rowdy toddler this winter when playing outside isn't an option.

The water table is Caroline's one true love.  I strip her down to a diaper and let her splish-splash away to her heart's content.

5. My friend Jamie (from college) made her annual visit in October. I's so nice to have friends that are willing to take their own time and money to come to visit you. Among other Columbus-area adventures, we went apple picking - a must!

Two years ago we went up to Cedar Point, which was a BIG bunch of fun. Last year I was 8+ months pregnant, so that wasn't going to happen. This year I was still nursing so didn't want to leave Caroline all day long. Maybe we can make another Cedar Point pilgrimage next year?  

6. Caroline and I flew to Chicago in late October.  Who knew - flying with an 11 month old is different than a 3 month old?  My mom met us there to she could watch Caroline while I did some work stuff.  And then we also got to see my cousin Michelle and her little girl, Inez.  So fun.

And yes, I call Caroline the "purple people eater" when she's in her winter get-up.

Caroline was an old pro at the plane ride. For the first 45 minutes.  I was just thankful that the flight to Chicago was only 50 minutes.

7. We discovered rotten subfloor in our master bath, next to and under our existing shower. So we've embarked on a very slow, mostly DIY bathroom project. What I've learned so far:
A. Demo is therapeutic.
B. It's always more expensive than you think it's going to be.
C. Drywall is a challenge.
D. The Internet is a DIYer's best friend.

Post-demo shot:


And here's where we're at today:

Done:
1. Demo of old shower and tile floor.
2. New subfloor is in.
3. New fixtures and drain are in.
4. Toilet taken out.
5. New shower pan installed.
6. New shower walls are in.
7. New drywall is up.
8. Drywall patching/mudding/sanding/etc is still (clearly!) in process.

To Do:
OH MY STARS TOO MUCH TO COUNT.  But this list includes:
1. Finish drywall repair.
2. Tear out existing carpet.
3. Tile the entire floor.
4. Hook up the toilet again.
5. Paint the walls.
6. Take out the existing vanity.
7. Create a vanity out of a piece of furniture from IKEA.  (I must be crazy.)
8. Replace light fixtures.
9. Install base trim.

Have you noticed that a simple problem of the need for a new subfloor, shower, and a very small amount of tile has ballooned into a full blown remodel?  It's true.  I am BOUND AND DETERMINED to do something about the ugly-as-sin vanity + light fixtures + curtain.


If you made it to the bottom of this post, I applaud you! In summary, Fall 2011 was a blast for the Browns.  And we may never get our master bathroom back.