One Long Catch Up Post

My last few posts have been mostly about sleep (interesting to me, lame to you), so this is what we have been up to the last month -

Started off trying to take family photos for a Christmas Card, we put the camera on a timer and this is about the best we got (love the radiator in the background). I finally chose a picture of just Hadley bc she is the cutest one and called it good.

We then headed out to London on the first weekend for a party with the other EY Americans, we took the chance to check out Harrods and the lights downtown. Harrods was breathtaking with gorgeous window displays - I loved the toy section, coveted the 400$ little girl dresses that I would never buy and the food section was a high end Candyland. The place was packed so the only picture we got was from the party!

The second weekend we went hunting for a tree - we had heard of a place called "Christmas Common", we figured a town that was literally named after Christmas had to be amazing! It ended up being a very large barn with trees stacked a la Home Depot and it appears that trees are shorter here. We did find one, and although it is about my height, we love it.

Jamie turned 30!! I had a big trip planned to Barcelona where he served his Mission and then decided to wait for better weather. It worked out well because Jamie had the flu of death that week. We ended up celebrating at home with a hideously ugly cake.

We went into Reading and did some shopping for presents we couldn't order online and checked out the lights. We went to the church party as well, the people were so very kind, I kept hearing how reserved the English were but they have been extremely welcoming.

Then it snowed and England shut down. Literally, everything stopped. England doesnt have snowplows and last year they ran out of salt. Airplanes, trains and cars were all stuck in 3 inches of snow. We had planned on heading to Hampton Court (Tudor Palace) and to a traditional service at Church of England but couldnt make it out of the driveway. So we....

Built snowmen...

Hung out in our jammies...

Wrapped presents....

Ate lots of pumpkin bread...

And played inside all day, especially with our favorite - clementine peels.

I really, really wanted Hadley to meet Santa on her first Christmas. They dont have him visit the major stores and the few places that had him booked up online. Jamie's work had a party and we heard Santa might be there so we busted out of our house and took the trip. He didn't have the kids sit on his lap but we did end up with a photo of her next to him!

That about sums up our December! We listened to lots of Christmas music (streamed it from CA) and danced, Hadley will bop to Rudolph, and ate lots of Christmas cookies. Now we cant wait to open presents!