Across the Pond...: Happy New Year!

Really, is it already 2013? All of the fun activities of December and having a full house have left me a little behind of blogging about this beautiful season...

As is tradition in our family, Christmas began right after Thanksgiving. On that Friday, I had the privilege of organizing a special Christmas coffee morning for my friends. I was able to share some songs and treats and, hopefully, a time to prepare hearts and minds for Christmas. About 50 ladies showed up in the back room at Jubilee from St. Piran's, my Thursday morning coffee group (Las Chicas del Cafecito) and church. Despite struggling with my voice for the weeks leading up to the event, God was good and we had a beautiful time together.

After my birthday in New York (which included a little bit of Christmas fun with a visit to the see the tree at Rockefeller Center) and our family trip to Lapland, we came home to England - which was covered with a beautiful layer of frost.

The kids had lots of fun activities at school in December, including the Christmas Fair (where Ryan was obsessed with the tombola - a sort of raffle for goody bags), a Christmas lunch for Lane (which she claimed was a Thanksgiving meal!) and a field trip to a panto for Ryan. We enjoyed the kids’ carol service at St. Piran’s, our own carol service at Jubilee and a wonderful evening of Christmas music with our friends at River Church as well.

After our quiet Christmas Eve together eating our traditional homemade pizza and watching It’s a Wonderful Life, the kids went to bed and the parents got to work. (Little did we know that the instructions for the drum set from Nana would be in German!) And then, on Christmas Day, our best present arrived… the cousins! We had a wonderful week together, but I’ll share more about that later… Right now, I have a desk to clean off!