Monday 12 December 2011

I'll Be Home For Christmas!!!!

This time next week, I will be headed home to the U.S. for Christmas with my family and best friends!!!!! SO EXCITED!!!! :-) :-) :-) So to celebrate, I have included a few pictures below from some of my favorite memories from previous Christmases...Enjoy! :-)








Sunday 4 December 2011

M&Ms, Iceskating, & Museums, Oh My!

Wow...so i can't believe that it's been over two weeks since I was last on here...time flies! Anyway, so what have I been up to? Well let's see..I went into London a few days before Thanksgiving and I got to go see the new 4 story M&M's store right in between Picadilly Circus & Leicester Square!!!It was pretty awesome! :-)

Probably my favorite part of the store!
Then, I went and took the tube over to the Tower of London and I got to go ice skating at the outdoor rink that they have set up out there in the moat!! Pretty epic! :-)
This sign is especially awesome b/c if you'll note the dates, you'll see that it opened on Mary's birthday and it ends on my birthday! :-)

I also celebrated my first Thanksgiving outside the U.S. I have to say that it was quite weird for me that everyone was just business as usual, but at the same time they were all really awesome about making the effort to wish me a Happy Thanksgiving! It was really sweet! All I can say is that I am really glad that I get to be home for Christmas, and I'm so glad that I was able to skype with my family for about an hour and a half that afternoon! I really have become such a big fan of technology since I moved over here! It has been such a blessing to have! I'm not sure how I would've survived otherwise! Anyway, below is a pic of the fam from my Thanksgiving skype call. :-)


Later after my skype call, we had a Greenhouse Thanksgiving dinner, which was actually quite the multi-cultural event!! We had 2 Americans, 2 Austrians, 2 Germans, 1 Spaniard, 1 Australian, 5 Brits, & 1 British Indian. :-) My assignment for the meal was to make an American dessert, so I made an apple pie that everyone but me seemed to be super impressed with...haha.(It was just store-bought crust with apples, cinnamon, & sugar inside.)

Then last week, having celebrated Thanksgiving to the best of my abilities, I moved on to fully embracing my favorite holiday season of all...Christmas!!! On Tuesday, I went into London armed with my Christmas music playlist on my mp3 player and a mission. The mission? Christmas shopping for the fam and friends! I also got to check out the Victoria & Albert Museum, The Natural History Museum, & Somerset House!
Inside the V&A looking out at the inner courtyard.

This was hanging up in the front lobby of the museum.
The Natural History Museum

Somerset House
I also finally got to take some awesome night shots of London down by the River Thames! :-)
That's St Paul's in the top left corner. :-)

The London Eye and Big Ben & Parliament! I love this pic sooo much! It turned out sooo good!
Then on Wednesday, I continued in the Christmas spirit by going Christmas tree shopping with Jaynie to get her tree. While there, I decided that I needed a little Christmas cheer at my house as well, so I got a tree as well! :-)
Mine & Jaynie's trees.

Here's a close-up of mine! :-)
Finally on Saturday, I attended a Secret Santa/Christmas dinner party and got to have my first experience with Christmas crackers. What is a Christmas cracker? Well they are super popular over here!
This is what they look like, You and another person each pull on an end and it makes a popping noise and one of the ends breaks off. Whoever ends up with the biggest part in their hand wins the stuff inside. Inside, you can find a paper crown, a joke, and a little prize/toy/trinket. It's pretty fun!
Chris, Jaynie, & I with our crowns. :-)
So that is just a few of the things that I have been up to for the past couple of weeks! I have also been up to plenty of youth stuff as well, but this post is crazy long already! LOL Come back a little later this week, and you'll be able to catch up on the ministry stuff that I have been up to as well! Love, Me! :-)