Christmas

10 great things that made our last Christmas in England memorable.

 

10.  Having so much fun with the 3 sweetest girls in Europe.  We even sent their mom and dad away one day so we could have them all to ourselves!!

 

 9.  Plenty of time for long encouraging talks with Craig and Claire, after those precious girls were tucked in at night.

8.  Enjoying Christmas Day with Claire's parents and brother - Doug, Hilary and Tim Jefferies.  

 

Festive turkey dinner and lots of side dishes, followed by supper a few hours later.

 

 7.  Seeing the girl's eyes light up as they opened their gifts.  They will enjoy countless hours on their roller skates from their parents and electronic games from their maternal grandparents.

 

 

 

6.  Being with the girls when they first tried their roller skates.  We are sure they will get hours and hours of fun with them. 

 

 

5.  Receiving a unique nativity set, home made by Craig, Claire, Ellie, Bekah and Lydia.  It is something we will treasure for years to come.  

The little figures were made from air drying clay, then hand painted.

Isn't it the best?!?!

 4.  Snuggling with 3 priceless girls who came crawling into bed with us each morning.    

Their welcome sign above them.

3.  British Breakfast - Our lovely British daughter in law went downstairs early one morning to surprise us with a proper English breakfast - the whole nine yards - bacon - sausages - beans - tomatoes - toast - eggs, and of course served with TEA!!

2.  Being treated to a day at Black Country Living Museum.  (For all my Nova Scotian friends, it reminded me so much of Sherbrooke Village.)  Lots of old shops, a lesson on writing the alphabet as they did in the 19th century, a tour of an old coal mine, and a demo on adding a link to a chain at the blacksmith's shop.  

 

 

 

 

1.  Stopping by to see our cousin and her husband on our way back to North Cotes, was a great way to end our week before the packing begins.

Marie is very interested in her Faroese roots and we had a book for her that was recently printed in the Faroes on the Niclasen family.

 

 

Leading up to Christmas Day

A few Christmas Activities leading up to the 25th

Christmas Carol Service

Each year we have a Christmas Carol Service in our gym here on the college campus.

Everyone in the neighbourhood is invited. A great opportunity to relax with our neighbours, hair dressers or car mechanics in a completely different atmosphere! 

Choir - college students and staff.

Nativity puppet show.

Christingle

We experienced our 1st Christingle Service when we first moved to England.

This year we had the joy of helping to prepare for it.

The tradition started in 1747 in Germany and found its way to England in 1968.

The orange is a symbol of the world.

Red ribbon - blood of Christ.

Fruits skewered on sticks - fruits of the earth.

Lit candle - Christ, light of the world.  

While most of us were in the assembly line for getting the Christingles ready, Ragnar was giving classes on how to use the new coffee machine!!

Ladies Prayer Meeting

A group of ladies from our church meet together each Thursday morning to pray for various needs in our church family.

I have been blessed by being able to join them the last few weeks.

When I arrived at our friend's home last week, I was pleasantly surprised that our time around the Throne of Grace was followed by a  Christmas Dinner, fit for a King - turkey, stuffing and all the trimmings!

What a fun, early Christmas celebration with my British friends. 

Student Party
A great Saturday night with the students!!
They sure know how to have fun and keep us entertained.

Creativity shows here as they made a model of the campus with Ginger Bread cookies!!

 Some fun photos of a few of them.

Afternoon at the Parsonage

Our pastor and his wife invited all of us to their home on Sunday afternoon.  We enjoyed the casual afternoon at the Parsonage with folks popping in and out. 

 Lots of traditional mince meat pies were served by their 2 sweet daughters. 

Kids receiving Christmas gifts at the church.   

Staff Party

The staff from all of our departments on the college campus meet together once a month to bring each other up to date.

We are usually all in a festive mood though in December, and this gathering ends up being a fun Christmas Party.

Here we are unwrapping gifts and being caught 'stealing' them from each other!! 

Volunteers

We miss having the Volunteers over each Monday night.

Having our traditional Christmas meal together followed by a great evening of fellowship and trying on their new scarfs from unheard of yarn, didn't have to be left out of the picture though.  

Most days while Ragnar was away were more than full, but keeping those needles clicking each time I sat down, trying to get these 3 scarfs done on time, filled even in those few 'spare' moments.