Day Out in London

We went into London several times over the holidays but this particular day was a lot of fun since we got to meet up with our good friends, the Austins. We decided to visit St. Paul's cathedral and climb to the top. I haven't done that since 1997 when I first came to London. Abby had done it when she was about 2 years old and other than that, no one else had even been there in our family. So we all climbed the 356 stairs or whatever it is to the top and the girls loved it. I on the other hand, was sore fro several days after. (I haven't been to the gym in a while people, that's how out of shape I am...)

This is not at the very top, just the first level.

The view



 



It was a gorgeous day but a little chilly at the top but it felt so good after climbing all those stairs...

St. Paul's is the big cathedral where Princess Diana and Prince Charles were married in 1981, in case you didn't know... 

Resting in the crypt

Photos out front




We then made our way to southeast London to the cable cars that go across the Thames. They were built by Emirates Air Line for the Olympics and we had not yet been on them. It was a lot of fun and very scenic since we went at sunset.

 

There is the O2 centre where concerts are held and some of the Olympics events

Nice sunset eh?




 All  the girls were up in one of those cars ahead of us. I got stuck with the men.

We also went to Greenwich and walked around a bit but it was too dark by then to see much so we hopped on a boat taxi across the Thames and had dinner at Wagamama right near the millennium bridge. We then walked all through London in search of the world's best hot chocolate at Café Verdana. This hot chocolate was so thick, it was like they melted a chocolate bar in mug and gave it to you. It had the consistency of mousse. Abby was in heaven and has been dissatisfied with any hot chocolate she has had ever since.

Alex was exhausted on the train ride back. Poor girl. She looked like a little ski bunny in her new hot pink coat and boots!

This little one was happy all day. She loved all the attention she got from everyone.

Good thing the train wasn't crowded. The girls eventually passed out on the way home...

Christmas 2014

Decorating the tree

One of our traditions during the month of December is to read one Christmas story each day. We also have three advent calendars that are dutifully changed each day to show the correct number of days left til Christmas. Another tradition that we all love is sleeping under the Christmas tree (this is done on a night a few days before Christmas) as a family and watching Christmas movies all night.   

Alex was a shepherd in her school nativity. It is always the highlight of my year. It was so adorable. They sang a song about the donkey that just kills me. I make her sing it over and over.  

Little Sadie may not get the sweets but she sure loves to play with the boxes.

Here is Sadie in her gorgeous little outfit from Auntie Lori. I called it her elf outfit.

Thank you Lori!



On Christmas eve we have a "shepherd's meal." We had lamb shawarma sandwiches this year on pita bread with hummous, tabouleh and cucumbers and lots of olives on the side. We ate it on the floor in the living room while watching "The Nativity Story" movie. This is the nativity made by Hollywood. We think it is quite good. At one point in the movie, they are eating flat bread while sitting on the floor and we felt like we were joining them. I think next year we may have to dress up to get the full effect.



Christmas picture in the front of the tree after all the presents have been torn open.

Anh, Kat (Anh's sister) and Mai (their friend) joined us for Christmas day. It was so fun to have them and share Christmas dinner with them. They also slept over that night in the living room with the girls watching Christmas movies all night. The next morning (Boxing Day here in the UK) we all played the game of LIFE that we had just gotten for Christmas. They loved it. We love having them at our house to celebrate holidays and birthdays. After Anh, Kat and Mai left in the early afternoon, we prepared for our next guests, some friends of ours from the village who have come over every year since we have lived here. We munched on all the leftovers and had our traditional cranberry muffins with butter sauce. We played board games and watched a movie. We also had guests the following day as well. More food was made, more board games were played but no movies, just some dance performances from all the girls. Good times!  

Here is our little Christmas pudding in her Christmas day crown. It was actually from Anh but our neighbour thought it was the crown that came out of her Christmas cracker. He thought we were all quite posh for having cloth crowns instead of paper ones like the commoners... Ha ha!

Here is our fancy Christmas dinner. We have tasty ham (a Jamie Oliver recipe), Charles' famous cheesy potatoes, Serbian Christmas bread (with a one pound coin hidden inside to bring someone a year of good luck) and veggies.

The girls with make-up and hair done by Anh.

Our Christmas crackers didn't actually have crowns in them this year. They had these silly props instead for photos.

We also had quite the crowd on New Year's eve. We had loads of food (including three cakes), a white elephant game, and aerobics at 11:30. When midnight struck we watched the fireworks in London and celebrated with our own homemade hats, noise makers, 100 balloons and 100 party poppers and some bubbly! It made for one messy, noisy but happy New Year celebration.