Our first London Christmas....
No matter where you live, Christmas is just the best time of the year. And, we were especially looking forward to our first Christmas here in London. Almost every street in the city is strung with ornate and colorful lights- all of Oxford and Regent Streets (our local "mall") are totally decked out and store window displays are top-notch. Its magic.
But, the very best part of all of it has to be the feeling in the air- people trying harder to be nice, thoughtful, and eagerly serving others. And, I have to believe there is one reason why (click for video). Which is also why when we were asked to play Mary, Joseph and four angels in a living Nativity the week before Christmas, we had to do it. And, it ended up being one of the best things ever. We were really late because of traffic and had to cut our time slot in half, but we rushed to get outfitted and into the handmade stable that sat on Exhibition Road, right in the crosshairs of the Victoria and Albert, Natural History and Science Museums, which makes it a very busy place. There were a lot of people that stopped and watched, took pictures, and even climbed in with us for a quick picture, and even more that went inside the chapel to watch a video about the birth of Christ. It was absolutely amazing and humbling to play the part of such a pinnacle moment in our world's history. It definitely made the Christmas Spirit come alive for our family and hopefully for a few others. The only downside was that it wasn't long enough! We cannot wait to do it next year.
The clothes we wore were the very outfits our church uses for their Bible videos so they felt and looked very authentic.
Carnaby Street is one of my favorite parts of London. And at Christmastime its that much better!
Santa found us at our new home!
We survived without television here for 6 months...so Santa thought we could use one ;)
Tessa doesn't ever lack for attention in our house...she's such a sweet girl, but also has a huge diva inside of that tiny little body. We love her so much.
The kids were so happy to see that Santa had no trouble finding our house on Christmas morning...we had a much more simple Christmas and it was just right. It always amazes me that kids think every Christmas is the best one, even if there aren't always piles of gifts to open. It really is all about spending time together and giving more than receiving.
Public transport in the city completely shuts down on Christmas and because we don't have a car, we decided to just stay in our pajamas all day long and watch movies, eat yummy food (way too much candy!) and watch movies. How often do you get to do that?? It was pretty perfect.