More than a month has passed since Christmas, but it did come to us here in London. We loved being here at home and enjoying the relaxing time together.
Our Christmas in pictures:
Christmas Cards
Christmas cards were a family activity this year. It went so quickly with so many hands!
Cami’s sense of style didn’t impede her concentration, aided by her classic tongue.
Gingerbread House
Our Gingerbread House took on a different shape and flavor this year, but it is tradition! We couldn’t NOT do one!
The finished product was colorful, but sadly, not very appetizing. We miss American sweets! Most of our creation went in the rubbish bin.
Smashed Car
I’m sure this picture sticks out a bit, but this is what we found when we walked out from our neighbor’s Christmas party. Our car, quietly parked outside our own home, was hit by a car speeding through an intersection, which was clipped in the rear by an unsuspecting car coming perpendicular to it through the intersection. This red car just happened to be stolen so the occupants all split, leaving the car behind. This was definitely not something we wanted to deal with over Christmas, but thankfully none of us were inside the car or had to go anywhere during that week. However, all the shops were closed as well so getting the car fixed was a month long process.
Christmas Eve
We had been warned, but there is no warning that can really prepare you for trimming a turkey bought in England.
It was even wrapped in plastic packaging, frozen from Costco – not fresh! Thankfully, Chris took care of finishing cutting off extra body parts and getting the rest of the turkey smoothly plucked.
Dinner turned out great! We missed American cranberry sauce (from a can!), but were grateful to find stuffing at the American store! Of course, we will probably wonder what we’re going to do without frozen Yorkshire puddings if we ever move back to the states!
We had our annual Christmas story reading/acting out.
Then the kids opened up their Christmas pajamas and were set to go right to bed – it was only 6:30 p.m.!! Caleb immediately had fallen asleep because of not feeling well, but we got the girls up and had them watch a movie. We did NOT want to be up any earlier than 7:00 a.m. the next morning!
Christmas Day
This is the picture I will remember of Christmas all year long! This is actually one small part of a bigger picture (thus it’s not very focused), but Cami’s face of sheer joy and excitement should have been a picture all of its own. I love it!
We had such a great day! I love taking our time through Christmas and savoring the feeling. But, it doesn’t matter how much we try to drag it out, it always seems to be over too soon. Such great memories were made!
The girls had fun playing with their new things, trying on their new clothes, and hanging out. Caleb spent his entire day at the dining room table creating his newest Lego treat.
It’s hard to believe it’s already been more than a month since these events. Time flies, but we are enjoying these great moments being together as our family continues to grow up.
Great pictures! The turkey legs looked so gross, I laughed out loud. Thanks for that!
Looks like a GREAT Christmas! I agree that the turkey legs were gross/funny. Yea for hubbies who will do the “dirty” work! I can never clean the turkey – it just makes me sick. 🙂 Hey, we LOVE cranberries with our turkey too so this next Christmas you are going to receive a package before Thanksgiving with enough Cranberry sauce to last at least a few holidays! It’s a must!!
What a fun Christmas! I think the ones with just your own little family are the best. That picture of Cami is so cute! Her age is so magical for Christmas cause everything is so exciting for them.
That turkey was a bit scary. Glad you had Chris around to take care of the extra work! That is too bad about your car! Loved the pic of Cami, too cute.
We loved getting your Christmas card in the mail!! I am so sorry we didn’t one to you. I went to the post office in JC in early December to get a package off to Peter’s brother on his mission in Taiwan, but I didn’t have your address at that time and I never needed to go to the post office again and I would guess you might remember 🙂 what a pain parking is in this area. And the post office in December is an experience I prefer not to have. So, anyway, I still have a Christmas card for you guys. I’m not sure when I’ll be at the post office again but the next time I do go I’ll probably send it anyway even though it will be very belated. 🙂