Don't bring ME a figgy pudding...

Lots of Christmas treats in this town if you like music...the famous carol service from Kings, lots of advent services in beautiful college settings or even candlelight. By the way, Craig, you would probably be one of those people who camp out up to a day before to get into the Kings carol service...but ahh, when it comes to food, the Brits are not...how shall I say it...not known for their culinary delights. The traditional Christmas dessert here is known as Christmas pudding. I guess this is kind of lame of me, but instead of describing it, I will paste a description of it here, that I got from the internet:

Christmas pudding is the dessert traditionally served on Christmas day in Britain and Ireland, as well as in some Commonwealth countries. It has its origins in England, and is sometimes known as plum pudding, though this can also refer to other kinds of boiled pudding involving a lot of dried fruit.

Many households have their own recipe for Christmas pudding, preferably handed down the family; it is probable that there are also regional variations. Christmas pudding is a boiled, or rather steamed, pudding, massively heavy with dried fruit and nuts, and usually made with suet. It should be very dark in appearance - effectively black - and moist with brandy and other alcohol (some recipes call for dark beers such as mild, stout or porter).

Traditionally, Christmas puddings were boiled in a pudding cloth, and they are often represented as round, but at least since the beginning of the twentieth century they have usually been prepared in basins. Anyway..it's me again..a lot of people here just buy them from the grocery store, (who has time to go to all that trouble any more anyway, except Martha Stewart), as opposed to making them from scratch. Another Christmas tradition here, is mince pies (again common to get them from the grocery store, and they are usually mini ones). All the rage at Christmas functions once December rolls around. I used to despise them, but they're not so bad if you get the right brand. I order my groceries online these days, and the company I order from has sent me a certificate for free box of Mince Pies. Guess I will enjoy them, since they're free:)

Name your wish...

Last night Charlie told Lexie that Santa would bring her a Barbie for Christmas if she could stop getting up and coming in to our room. Then, as it emerged that that was not possible, he told her that he had actually SPOKEN to Santa himself, and learned that he could bring her one TOMMOROW if she could manage to restrain herself. Unfortunately, (ss much as I'm not especially eager for Lexie to HAVE a Barbie doll, esp at the tender age of 3) that bribe did not prove incentive enough, as she came in no less than 12 times. Thankfully, Charlie shouldered that burden and let me sleep....And...now Arthur has 2 suspicious looking spots on his face.

A pox be on you, lady

We were out earlier and the kids fell asleep in the stroller so we decided to keep walking into town. After a while, Lexie woke up and had a meltdown or 2, and Arthur woke up too, and wasn't too happy. He kept losing one of his socks and shoes, and it started raining so there were some moments of pure irritation...On the way home, Lexie started kicking up a huge fuss again. Guess I would be a bit ornery too if I had chicken pox in my mouth.

...Anyway, as the her ruckus reached a crescendo, we passed one older well dressed woman who slowed down and looked up at Charlie, and then at me, as if she was about to ask something. I kind of thought...oh no what does she want. Then she had the nerve to say "She's cold", with a look of pity on her face as if she was doing her duty telling us young folks to take better care of our poor suffering child. "On the contrary, madame, if you will take a closer look you'll see that she is extremely well wrapped and good thing too as you might not like to ACTUALLY see her face" Wish I had said it now ...one of those things where you think of some very choice comments after the heat of the moment passes. The nerve, and utter stupidity of the comment actually makes me laugh now.

Storm in a teacup

If you are a New Englander, you will fondly recall those school 'snowdays' in your youth, when winter came around. Well, I bet none of you ever had the misfortune of being stuck AT school because of the inclement weather. Today, hundreds of school kids in one particular area of the UK have been stuck at school. Some areas of the country got snow, and in this area-Cornwall-the weather wreaked havoc with the traffic on the 'motorway' and backed things up so much, that parents weren't able to pick up their kids. Yes, it was only a dusting...not more than an inch anyway, to make the whole story more pathetic still. On the news, there was talk about the gritters (sand trucks) having been out, but it still wasn't enough. Oh my...the latest news is that the locals have responded magnanimously, and some of the pupils and staff may be spending the night in a local hotel.

Thanksgiving in the Mother Land

The other day, my American friend Alysia (Lexie's friend Sylvia's mom) told me that there had been a request that we (as the token Americans) come in and give a little 5 minute talk/presentation about Thanksgiving to Lexie's nursery--a group of about 20 kids. We hashed out some ideas, and I ended up writing up 1-2 paragraphs explaining Thanksgiving and its origins. I could have called it:Thanksgiving for Dummies, ah, er, that is, preschoolers. Alysia dropped in to pick up some construction paper to make a couple Pilgrim hats, and a couple Indian headresses. We also decided to bring in some popcorn for the kids to eat. Yes, I did mention that we now call the Indians Native Americans, but partly because there is a big Indian (as in India) population here, and so that clarification was helpful in this case. I kept the whole thing very simple and started out by asking them if they had ever heard of a holiday called Thanksgiving. Then I went on to say that in 1620, some people who we call the Pilgrims sailed from England to America to start a new life there. One of them piped up...What are you doing back here then? No, not really...just trying to spice up my blog.

The dreaded spots...

2 posts in one sitting--this will bring all you blogging junkies out of the woodwork! Although... I'd have to really change my ways and keep busy if I'm going to get the audience that Claire has...Guess it's an attention seeking ploy, as I'm slightly housebound as you will soon see. The other day --a school day--Lexie slept in later than usual. She's usually up between 7:30 and 8, but that day-Wed. she slept until 8:30. I had to hurry her along as we had to get to school by 9. She seemed pale, and tired, and didn't seem herself. I told her she needed to come in with me, since I was supposed to give that Thanksgiving day talk, and told her she could come home again after that. Well, she did want to stay at the end, but I was worried about her. Alas, that night at bath time, I found the dreaded spots. Yes, Lexie has the chicken pox! She hasn't seemed too bothered by them so far, but we spent the day inside Thursday, and she didn't want to do or eat much. I tried to keep her fluid intake up which was a little bit challenging. I even dug out an ancient box of American Jello from the cupboard (you can get it here, but not the jello brand, and it's called jelly, not jell-o). The one thing she was still interested in was 'gasses milk'--something she regularly has--molasses mixed with milk.

Momz in the Hood

I had a fun evening at a progressive dinner last night. It was a great way to catch up with my neighborhood friends, and all proceeds from tickets went to the NCT. To back up a little, let me explain what the NCT is.. NCT stands for National Childbirth Trust, and is a non government supported charity here in Britain whose purpose is to support parents and parents to be from pregnancy through early childhood. There are different branches all over the country, and our local branch decided to hold this dinner to help raise money for the organization.
The NCT holds nearly new sales, helps run prenatal classes, etc...Our local branch has a weekly rota where different people have 'coffee mornings' in their homes every Friday. It's just a chance for moms to get together and chat while their kids play. A great way either meet new people or just keep up contacts with other moms...Last night we started with appetizers at one house--about a 10 minute walk from where we live. Then, the main course was across the street at my friend Sarah's house. Lexie goes to nursery school with her little boy. Then, we had dessert a few blocks away. I even got to meet a new American mom who has been living around the corner from us for 2 yrs!! We'd never met, although I'd heard of her. It's hard to believe that we have not crossed paths, but she is doing a PhD and her kids are in daycare, so she rarely gets out to events...

Guy Fawkes Day

Today was Guy Fawkes day, and the 400th yr anniversary of the Gunpowder Plot, a conspiracy led by Guy Falkes, to blow up the English Parliament and King James I in 1605. Google it for more detailed info...There are bonfire celebrations all over the country during which they let offfireworks. I can hear them going off as I write, as someone is shooting some off around here. Earlier we could actually see a few from our dining room, as we ate dinner. I read in the paper, that if Falkes had actually been successful, the resulting catastrophe would have been worse than 9/11!

Feeling outnumbered

Feeling outnumbered
Originally uploaded by yankeegal.

Tokyo Birthday Line Up

DSCN0868
Originally uploaded by yankeegal.

Here they are...Lexie's little friends...
Sylvia's (bottom right) crying because she
wants to sit next to 'her Lexie'....

New dolly named molly

New dolly named molly
Originally uploaded by yankeegal.

Here is Lexie on her birthday, after opening
her 'Daisy doll' which comes with a bottle,
potty chair and diaper. She decided to name her
Molly...

Don't ask

Don't ask
Originally uploaded by yankeegal.

The miracle of the photo of the pumpkin hat that stayed on for more than 3 seconds

Spooky little girl

Spooky fairy
Originally uploaded by yankeegal.

Little fairy Lexie