Everyone's excited for Christmas. The kids wrote a letter to Santa (who we're not calling Father Christmas - it's Santa and that's, that. Although Liam has just decided he would like to use both names). When we went to the post office to send it to Canada, the man next to us thought it was ludicrous to think Santa lived in Canada. I tried to set him straight, but he wasn't havin' it. His loss.
The kids also watch their videos that Santa sent each of them each night and Gemma yells at the screen throughout most of it when she sees photos of her or Liam.
The kids and I met up with Mark in Manchester one day when he didn't get called into work. I was quite proud of myself getting on and off the train with the pram on our own - with help from kind strangers:) It was the coldest day of the year at that point at about -5C, so still not too bad. We strolled through the lovely Christmas Markets - a definite must! We tried mulled wine and bought a few gifts. It really put us into the Christmas spirit!
A garden centre in a nearby town, Hazel Grove, has a steam engine that you can go for rides on and at Christmas they have a Santa's Grotto (Santa's Village). So we took a bus to Hazel Grove to do the do. It was surprisingly busy for the first weekend of the Grotto (still November) and even more surprising was that people reserved tables at the cafe for lunch - AT A GARDEN CENTRE! We got there just in time before things got nutty and had a bite to eat before the train ride and grotto. The train was great and it actually runs on coal - Liam LOVED this! Visiting Santa here was a different experience - each family went one at a time through the cave-like grotto to see Santa in his private little room - I know, it sounds creepy, but it wasn't. It's actually less intimidating for the kids because mum and dad go in too. Then there was no photo, but you could take one yourself. Liam and Gemma liked it and got pretty good presents for visiting - cars, which went over very well, and a big teddy bear.
New Mills had it's Annual Tree Lighting night, 'Lights On' on the last Monday in November - again the community really came out to celebrate together - again with a bouncy castle - they love these here! The main street in town was closed for the rides and festivities. The tree at town hall was lit and a local choir sung carols. Free mulled wine and mince pies for everyone... with a small donation:) The festivities went on into the evening with rides for the bigger kids. A real good turnout for a Monday night.
The kids have been doing lots of Christmas crafts at home and at the Children's Centre to decorate and personalize the house and tree. The tree - we were wondering where we would be able to buy a tree - we've seen some sold at pub fronts during off hours and also at garden centres. The small garden store in New Mills had lovely trees so we walked over and picked one up. Well, Mark picked it up and got lots of 'that bloke's crazy harcore' looks on the way home. He said if he couldn't chop it down himself this year, he was going to carry it all the way home! Then I reminded him that for the past two years, we got Ikea trees:) Trees are smaller here and are more pricey due to the lack of supply. Ours is an English grown fir and is holding up quite well considering our tree holder doesn't hold water! I tried to MacGiver something, but it's not cuttin' it. The woman who sold us the tree advised us to water it a bit when we got home if we could and mentioned that most people don't water. It's not as dry here as in Canada so we're hoping for the best - it only needs to last another 2 weeks! Please tree gods, be kind.
We've been baking, decorating and eating lots of cookies and treats. Liam helps out a lot in the kitchen and does most of the mixing. Gemma is still at the 'will eat all and any ingredients' stage so she just watches for now and pretends to mix with her empty bowl and spoon .
The recession is still loud and clear here bringing deals for Christmas and grocery shopping. The shops and supermarkets are really busy too making it quite challenging to go shopping with two little ones.
There are lots of outdoor decorations and lights up around town and something we noticed was that lots of people have trees and Hanukkah candles up. I asked my Mummy neighbours and they do it just because they like the candles, not because they celebrate Festivus/Christmakah. I had the same Mummy neighbours and their kids over for tea, gingerbread cake (thank you milk calendar), and cookies to see each other before the Christmas craziness begins. It was great to see them, but we couldn't hear much with 6 kids 6 and under running amuck. Yowzers!
We are so looking forward to having Mark's brother, Paul and his family over for Christmas. They arrive at exactly our half-way mark on our stay in the UK. It's going to be great to see everyone together again, just before they move to Malaysia for 2yrs for Paul to work there - talk about one-(or two)-upping us on the adventure - LOL. After Christmas we will all head over to Prague for another little holiday together - we're totally tagging along on their trip since we couldn't decide what to do. We're glad to see them for longer as they won't be in Guelph when we get back.
There are a few things we miss from home this Christmas, besides family, friends and our dog:
1. The Tim Horton's Christmas cup (although Starbucks has filled the void - and so have the Gingerbread lattes)
2. The Festive Special - Greggs bakery shop (the closest thing to Timmers here) has a Festive Pasty, not bad, but it doesn't come with chocolate Lindt balls.
3. Maple. I'm not sure why we've decided we miss this now - maybe it's the frozen maple lollies rolled on snow you can get. But we're thinking about getting maple krispy kremes from Selfridges - we know it won't be the same as a Canadian Maple, but it'll do.
Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and all the best for 2011 Everyone!
The Nicholson Family
Photos: Facebook
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