Christmas (a post for grandparents, aunties and uncles)

Christmas eve:

Tommy's huge pile of gifts:

James, a popular gift:

Elizabeth, another gift that earned a pause:

My new super comfortable and cute boots!! Thanks Mom and Dad!!

Dinosaurs!!

Advent calendars

Here's the advent calendar I can't wait to throw away (in fact, already have) because it's been destroyed by Tommy and gives him a sugar high each day:

Here's the advent calendar I LOVE, sent by Grandma Nancy. Each day is an ornament to decorate the tree with -- and I'm going to keep it for next year (though I'm not sure we can use it again, it will just be a decoration).

Here's a cute story from this morning. Tommy and I wrapped Eli's gifts yesterday and put them under the tree. Before Eli went to work, we had pancakes, and as I was mixing them up, Tommy told Eli to come in the living room, "I got somethin to show you, Dad!"

He then pointed to a box under the tree and said, "those are your new shoes!" And Eli said, "well, you're not really supposed to tell me what's in there, honey." And Tommy said, "oh. [pause] what's in that box?"

School holiday

Tommy finished school December 8th, but last week he had a class for three mornings that was basically during the hours of preschool. So I didn't notice that he wasn't in school so much. This week, I'm noticing. The problem, of course, is that we can't get outside as much because it's in the 30s and that's pretty cold for Lizzie (even in her snowsuit and stroller sleeping bag thing). We go out in 20 or 30 minute bursts, and usually when we get in, Tommy tromps straight through to the backdoor so he can have more outside time. Unfortunately, the snow is melted and there's not much to do in the yard (more like a patio) without snow. Please feel free to add your ideas in the comments section.

Today we had twins -- Isaac and Edith -- over for a playdate. Edith is a very good girl, but the boys (or perhaps it was just my boy) pulled down the air conditioner in his room. It's a large thing that could easily squash a child, so I was both freaked out and angry when I discovered it. As I was yelling at Tommy (not too loud, because I've lost my voice), he "shot his webs" at me so he got a timeout. SIGH. Now he is having a nap, even though we're trying to give up the nap (in order to protect the bedtime). He was just too tired to make it to football without a little sleep.

I am somewhat exhausted and hopeful that the next two days go by quickly, until Eli is HOME FOR A WEEK.

Our weekend...

The big brother likes to help these days:

On Saturday, it snowed! Tommy loves snow, I love snow, Eli does not love snow (he spent much of Sunday afternoon helping direct stranded passengers at Gatwick), and Lizzie did not weigh in this year. Here's our back yard (we call it a garden here).

On Saturday afternoon, Eli and I went to the Royal Albert Hall for our Christmas sing-a-long. It was sold out, but the weather kept probably half the audience from attending. (The conductor's first words were congratulating us for making it and then he wondered if we'd thought about how we'd get home?) We had fun, but we will probably try something different next year, as there is lots to choose from for the holiday season there. It's a lovely place.

After the concert, we walked to the Kensington High Street tube, and here's how Kensington Gardens looked. So pretty!!

Tommy and Lizzie having a little moment:

and the little moment ending...

And now, the true focal point of the weekend -- nuts and bolts. My parents' amazing Christmas package arrived last week, and my grandma and aunts stowed some chex mix (nuts and bolts) in it (as well as buckeyes and peanut brittle). My family of four -- because Lizzie did eat some of the kix and chex -- consumed this entire container between Thursday and Sunday evening. Tommy in particular is a huge fan and every time he couldn't think of something else to do, he suggested that we share a small bowl of nuts and bolts. DELICIOUS.

I'm editing this post because I forgot to say that this afternoon we went to the Natural History museum because Tommy loves dinosaurs so much right now. There's a model of a life-sized T Rex there and he thought it was scary but loved it. I am not sure if he was adorable or obnoxious in the other parts of the dinosaur exhibit, but he yelled each time he saw a new dinosaur, and identified it. "MOM! It's a TRICERATOPS!" "It's a PARASAURALOPHUS!" (or however you spell that.)

ONE!!

As usual, I can't figure out how to move my photos around, so they are not in order. We have video of gift opening and blowing out the candles, but I haven't got it on the computer yet. I will update the post at some point.

Here is Lizzie after eating her cupcake (she's moved on to eating her dinner):

This is during Lizzie's baby class (Tommy attended because he finished school last week). It was a Christmas-themed class so they all wore Santa hats until they realized that they had hats on and pulled them off.

Here is Lizzie's happy birthday song and candle at her baby class. She had no idea what was going on. Of course.

Here she is during morning nap. She still looks like a baby. Phew.

Here she is right before singing happy birthday, with a balloon. Balloons are her favorite toy right now. (The paper plate on the tree is a wreath Tommy made at his art class this week, but it's backwards. Just how he wanted it.)

Here's Lizzie eating her cupcake. She got it to her mouth and didn't really move it for a while. She loves chocolate frosting (and who wouldn't, it was delicious if I do say so myself).

The HRRA Christmas Party

For only £5, we joined the Harbledown Road Residents' Association. It includes people from four streets: the two streets perpendicular to us and the street parallel to us one block to the west. On Sunday, we attended the Christmas party. The invitation suggested that we bring a "plate of savoury canapes" to share. Wine was free.

Here is what we learned at the party. First, the big issue in our neighborhood is a car pound. Nobody likes it, and they are all constantly complaining about it. I have never noticed it being a problem, and it's pretty much across the street from our house. Second, an older gent complained to the MP in attendance about how the directions on the parking pay stations are misleading and indicate that you must pay £2 for an entire hour when in fact you can pay for part of an hour. Third, the congestion charge is being lifted from Kensington & Chelsea and people are both excited and anxious that it will make our traffic worse (obviously). Most interesting of all, Eli learned that the owner of our house was married to a Russian and that the marriage didn't go well which is why she's back in the DC area.

The best thing that happened at the party is that I made a new friend. Her name is Caro and she is probably in her fifties, and I think she might just like me for my baby. But that's okay. She's very funny and she's very British (and we all know I need British friends) and she doesn't work on Tuesdays and Fridays and wants us to "come 'round." She liked holding Lizzie, and Lizzie liked her just fine because she had on interesting jewelry. I talked to her the whole time, while Eli mingled.

The Nativity Play

Here is a clip of the nativity play. The story is from the grumpy innkeepers' perspective, and they are upset at being disturbed so much during the night. (Don't worry, in the end they come around and are impressed by the baby.) The best part, which you will see, is that there was a doorbell. Mary and Joseph rang it twice, the three kings rang it once, and the shepherds rang it also. For some reason, Tommy had his finger in his mouth during the entire play. Oh well!

Sorry the video isn't better. Our video camera is relatively new and we didn't get the memory card deleted properly, so it wouldn't work. This was taken on my phone.

Stairs

Here's what the almost-one-year-old likes to do:

(Eli took this picture. Of course.)

More snow

So the morning after the disappointing morning, we woke up to snow. Eli says there were four inches. I would have said about half an inch, but Eli is far better with this type of stuff, so I think we should go with four inches. Tommy was delighted, and had a lovely walk to school stomping on it. Eli could not get to work on Wednesday and Thursday because the airport was closed and the trains to the airport were canceled. We had three fun days of snow and woke up today to melted snow. It was only in the high thirties today but it felt positively warm. Yay.

I know you'll all be relieved to know that I got a Joseph costume. I'll post pictures after the big show on Thursday. I am still curious as to whether Joseph will deliver his lines. We've been practicing the songs which are "We Wish You a Merry Christmas," "Away in a Manger," and "Twinkle, Twinkle." It's a big week for Tommy because they have the play on Thursday and go to the theatre on Tuesday. He thinks it's the same play they saw in July, and while I've tried to explain that there won't necessarily be a bug and a butterfly like there was last time, I think he's going to have to see it to understand that there is more than one play in the world.

I got to go to school on Friday for circle time. The moment I arrived, Tommy's little friend Isaac dragged Tommy over to me (they were holding hands) and yelled, very close to my face, "I WANT TO COME ROUND TO TOMMY'S HOUSE." Tommy nodded. I said that would be fine with me. "AND TOMMY WANTS TO COME ROUND TO MY HOUSE," Isaac continued. I agreed and said that I would speak to his nanny on Monday. They trotted back to the circle afterward. Isaac is a cute little boy who also is obsessed with swords and other weapons, and is, I believe, louder than Tommy.

Today we went to the Parsons' Green Christmas fair. It was a little bit weird. They had booths for local merchants to sell things, rides for the little kids, two reindeer in a pen, Santa ("Father Christmas"), and a bunch of people on stilts in fairy costumes. They also had a booth selling balloons. I saw many little boys with balloons that looked like tanks. War does not strike me as especially Christmassy. I was happy we avoided the balloons, even though I am positive Tommy would have selected the Dora balloon, given the choice.

We also ordered our Christmas tree which will be delivered between six and ten pm on Monday. I will not tell you how much that sucker is costing, but I will say that as we ordered it, I reminded Eli that it was cheaper than the $4500 it would cost to travel home for Christmas. Part of this is our fault as we didn't bring anything with us so we had to buy a tree stand and lights (which the tree company will happily deliver with our tree so long as we're willing to pay handsomely).

I'm going to bake a famous Kent family cookie tomorrow: pinwheels. I've never attempted them and I've enlisted the help (if one can call it that) of my three-year-old. If they turn out, I will post a photo. If they don't, I will not write about them again. Wish me luck. I'm forced to try a lot of new cookies as we don't have any cookie cutters and I don't feel like I can buy new ones for just one Christmas.