Fa-la-la-la

Catching up on the blog today about our month of December. With all the holiday activities leading up to Christmas, December has the tenacity to get overwhelming. However, I think our family did a good job this year of finding a nice balance of holiday fun but also plenty of down time to relax and reflect on the true meaning of Christmas.

We launched the Christmas season with a visit to the girls' school where they had a Christmas fair one Saturday morning. Fun activities included reindeer petting, Santa's grotto and Christmas crafts.

The girls both had Christmas concerts at school. Olivia's class sang about Christmas crackers (a British holiday tradition). Ashton's class had a medley of different songs and poems, with Jingle Bells being the biggest hit.

Our Christmas Cracker fourth from the right

Our little snowman

Christmas Jumper Day at school (fyi, the British call a sweater/sweatshirt a jumper)

The girls had a make-your-own-pizza Christmas party after school on the last day of the term. While the Olivia and Ashton both had fun, I had my first "What have I gotten myself into?" moment since having a third child. Not only was the space very cramped for 25 child plus parents and the noise level/general chaos head spinning, but I had to manage helping the girls make their pizzas while holding/feeding a small baby. I can feel the tension in my body rising just recounting it!

Geoff's annual Christmas party was held at on old estate turned country club/hotel outside of London. Thanks to some coordination efforts and babysitting provided by grandparents and our nanny, Geoff and I were able to spend the night at the hotel after the party. Granted, Quinn was there with us too, but only having one child in the hotel room with us was a good as it was going to get and we enjoyed the brief night out.

The girls and I turned to baking once they were on Christmas break from school. They were great helping with making the cookies, decorating them and of course the most important part, eating them!

Geoff's parents came to visit us and meet Quinton. They left to go back to Texas on Christmas Eve, but not before gifting the girls with Frozen dresses. I don't think they took them off for 5 days straight.

On Christmas Eve afternoon, we headed to Winter Wonderland at Hyde Park. After hearing lots about it when we first moved to London, we went our first Christmas here and were disappointed to find it was just an oversized carnival. So we avoided it for three years. This year, we decided to give it another go. It still was an oversized carnival, but the girls loved all the rides, especially the massive ferris wheel we rode that gave us panoramic views over the city. We also took the girls to their first circus there with they sat with eyes bugging out of their heads as they watch the acrobats perform.

While we don't actively promote Santa Claus in our family, we don't debunk him either. The girls, especially Olivia, had lots of questions about him this year. The typical Santa questions: "If he's fat, how can he get down our chimney?" "How does he travel the whole world in one night?" "Why does he wear a red suit?" "If someone doesn't have a fireplace, how does he get into their house?" It was sweet to see her curiosity about him and the wheels in her little brain trying to figure it all out.

Christmas Eve treats for Santa and his reindeer