UK2016 Part 2b: Cambridge
We left off on December 22 with Rachel and I doing our part to rid the world of wine and cheese. On to the 23rd…
Tag: christmas
UK2016 Part 2a: Cambridge
Read about our time in Wales here.
Wednesday morning, the boys and I caught the train to Cambridge. I was nervous about the journey because I had three boys and two suitcases to deal with and we had to not just switch trains in London, but switch stations by way of the Underground. But not to leave you in too much suspense…it was fine. (George’s journey the next day, by contrast, did not go so swimmingly, but that’s not my story to tell.)
Rachel (Gareth’s sister) picked us up at the train station and we headed to a shopping center to meet up with her boys (Dan, 13, and Ethan, 9) and Pat, their grandmother. The boys were so excited to see Dan and Ethan, and it was really cute when they saw each other and were all shy for about 12 seconds. (You might remember, they visited New Orleans back in May and the boys became fast friends.)
A real British mall! Looks….just like an America mall.
The streets of Cambridge all decked out for the holidays
Pretty!
We were going to be experiencing something extremely British that evening – a panto! Before showtime, we wandered a bit around Cambridge, getting a snack and seeing some of the sights.
Merry Christmas Eve!
We have been having an amazing time on our trip so far, but I didn’t bring my laptop so I won’t be posting much until we get home. But I can’t resist sharing a few from my phone….
Quick Christmas recap
Christmas 2015: It was hot.
There.
Oh, well, there’s more.
I made us all steak and crispy gnocchi for Christmas Eve dinner (and now I’ve found that they love gnocchi so win!) and put a batch of eggnog French Toast in the fridge to soak overnight. And then drank the rest of the eggnog with Winter Pimm’s, which I’m sorry to say is impossible to buy in the US but is really good in eggnog.
I also spent made lemon cake and lemon bars from the lemons on our tree in the backyard. I am quite proud of that, I have to say.
Christmas morning, the boys were kind enough to not leave their room until 7 am (remember that one Christmas when I got up before them and got to enjoy my coffee and sit in front of the fire? (Of course I mean “the fire channel on TV.”) Yeah, that was nice. Maybe it’ll happen again when they’re teenagers.
So at the stroke of 7, the gift opening commenced!
Gifts from Santa were opened first…Linus got a 3DS game that he’d been coveting, Oliver a couple of books and a Rubic’s cube, and Miles got some accessories for his faux GoPro. I think Oliver got a bit cheated, Santa-wise. Dang that Santa. Sigh.
Their favorite part is opening the gifts from each other. Miles got Linus an Amiibo, Oliver got Miles a DVD with the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books and some kinetic sand, and Linus got Oliver a Diary of a Wimpy kid activity book and a little binder for Pokemon cards.
I got to open my gifts next. A silly ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ mug, some dog toys (well, they’re for me in that…the dog will stay occupied while I work?) and an Instant Pot. I’m really excited by that, I’ve been wanting a pressure cooker for a while. I made hard boiled eggs in it (easy!) and a pot roast (may have overcooked that.) So if you have any pressure cooker recipes that you like, send ’em my way.
My mom and Larry came over for Christmas dinner, which was delicious.
It snowed!
Later, we went to Chris and Steph’s house where we, you know, ate a little more, and Ziggy wore himself out playing with the other dogs.
All in all a pretty calm (I was going to say “chill” but it was SO FREAKING HOT AND HUMID I cannot even use that word) Christmas, and hopefully next year the boys won’t be so dang hard to shop for.
Merry Christmas 2015
My cards this year were such a debacle, I hardly ended up sending any out. Hopefully next year I’ll do better.
It’s Christmas Eve Eve!
And the boys’ Christmas present is feeling much better. Which equals more hyper and more chewing on random things, like my favorite pillow that I brought back from London, and the loop on Oliver’s stocking.
I mean, nothing too bad, nothing that can’t be clumsily repaired or anything. But still. My main concern is my beloved ottoman that I got this summer. I’m sure it’s extremely tasty. Oh, and his harness. So that means we can’t go for a walk until I go get a new one, which means he has a lot of energy that he may funnel into chewing inappropriate things.
We’re just learning as we go along. But even with the occasional accidents (Ziggy does not like going outside in the rain, I mean, I don’t blame him or anything, and it’s been raining all week) he’s been a good doggy.
He also keeps my treadmill warm for me.
In other news, I’ve taken all three boys shopping for gifts for a brother and Daddy, and it was nice yet again to get that one on one time with them. For my records: Oliver went first, and shopped for Miles; Miles went second and shopped for Linus; and finally, Linus shopped for Oliver.
We also watched Home Alone for the first time, which the boys found hysterical.
Oliver said it sounded scary, because being left home alone is basically his worst nightmare, so I had to prove that it actually isn’t a horror film.
Holiday decorating has taken somewhat of a backseat this year, between Ziggy and annoyingly warm temps, but I did get this adorable Wapuu ornament. Awwww!
We took the boys to see Star Wars last weekend. It was entertaining! High praise considering I’m generally not a fan of the franchise or anything. It was very bright when we took this picture. Heh.
Today I’m off work and the boys are at holiday camp, so I am going to enjoy my day with some solo shopping (for a dog harness) and a movie with a friend.
Meanwhile, on social media…
Even though I support bloggers all day long, I still tend to post more on Facebook and Twitter than on my blog. I guess because I get more immediate feedback, and I crave feedback in the form of likes and comments. (At least one thing I’ve learned as a Happiness Engineer is that I’m not the only one.)
But there are of course huge drawbacks. Even though, of course, Facebook will store everything we ever write or think and use it against us one day, it’s really hard to go back and find old posts. So I’ve decided I’m going to start sharing some of my FB, Twitter, and Instagram posts here on my blog so I can archive them better.
So here we go, the week of December 21-28, 2014:
December 24, 2014, 1:37 pm
Rip my heart out, Oliver. “I like shopping alone with you because then no one says, ‘ooh triplets!'”
December 25, 2014
December 27, 2014, 9:20 pm
December 28, 2014, 7:14 pm
For the first time ever, I can hear the boys talking to each other in French!*
*it seems to be about poop, the universal language of boys.
Ah, social media. Ain’t it great?!
Christmas morning!
Every Christmas with the boys just gets more and more fun. This morning was just wonderful.
The boys got up around 6:45, but I made them stay in bed til 7 because I’m mean like that. Last year I got up before them (miracle) and was able to have coffee and turn on the fireplace channel before they got up. I was kind of hoping that would happen again this year. Not so much. Oh well.
First, they opened their stockings and got their presents from Santa.
Checking out stockings
Reese’s Pieces!
Miles was excited about the snowman he asked Santa for.
What’s this?
Santa really hopes the boys will play outside more now.
Then, in the most heart-melting part of the day, they opened their gifts from each other. I’ll let the photos speak for themselves.
The rest of the morning was spent opening the rest of the gifts, and then I cooked, and all of the grandparents came over, and we ate a ton of delicious food, and then after they left, I went to Steph’s house to hang out with friends and drink wine.
More random pics from the day:
Christmas ornaments from Granny and Grandpa
MORE PRESENTS!
Gifts from my Mom and Larry. Perfect!
Saying hi to Granny
My date cake came out of the bundt pan perfectly.
A frenzy of gift opening.
The necklace George gave me. Love it!
A bottle from my own little troublemakers.
Such a great Christmas!
Merry Christmas!
Photo by the wonderful Christina Childress.
Merry Christmas Eve!
Nothing says Christmas like snowmen, candy canes, and Creepers.
Christmas fun with my boys
Yesterday, the boys and I had a fun Christmas adventure that hardly involved any whining or tears. It’s a holiday miracle! But truly, it was a wonderful day with my boys, and lucky for you…I brought my camera.
We took the ferry over, which we haven’t done much lately since it costs so much for us to make a round trip ($2 per person, each way) but it is way more fun than driving.
Posing at the big tree by the ferry terminal
First, we went to Christmas in the District, which is held in the Convention Center. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I knew there’d be a Santa. Well, it was awesome. One thing that wasn’t there that I was anticipating was crowds. It was the Sunday before Christmas and it was dead. There were no lines for anything. It was nice, but also made me a little sad.
Visiting the giant Santa
Miles running
Linus running
Giant fire!
Don’t get burned!
They loved this guy
It was great. Santa was there with his elves, as well as a snowman who chased the kids around and Mr Bingle. There were inflatables and a rock climbing thing…
Inflatables…
Rock climbing.
Not very high.
Oliver gives it a try.
Sure looks like he got up there, eh?
Don’t be fooled.
At least he had fun.
MR BINGLE!!!!
…and amazing gingerbread houses and a really cool wall of beads that the boys got to contribute to. (Another one made the Guinness Book of World Records, and they’re trying to beat that, so maybe the boys will be a tiny part of making it!)
Linus’s favorite was this one of the inside of Galatoire’s
Beautiful decor
Ollie loved the Superdome (it was very impressive)
My favorite was the replica of the Roosevelt Hotel, complete with their famous lobby decor
Miles loved this one
Adding beads
It’s Natchitoches, in beads!
Natchitoches!
After Christmas in the District, we hit the Riverwalk (a mall that recently re-opened as an outlet mall) and did a little Christmas shopping for Daddy. And some cookie eating.
We got on the ferry, where a nice (or drunk post-Saints loss) man paid for our ferry fares. Yay!
I’d like to say the evening finished quietly, but no, after that, we drove to the mall and searched for new sneakers for the boys. Didn’t get home til 9. Exhausting. But the boys started camp today, and Miles and I are going to have some one-on-one time this evening so he can get shoes and a gift for Linus.
Yeah, this year we’re starting a thing where the boys will pick out a gift for one brother (Miles for Linus, Linus for Oliver, Oliver for Miles – only because I’m cheap are they not getting gifts for both brothers.) We’ll see if they’re able to resist picking out something they really want instead. Ha.
One week to go
So I’m assuming this is the last year the boys are going to believe in Santa. I mean, I could be wrong, but either way, we’re in the home stretch. It’s hard to believe their childhood has gone so fast. I know that sounds dramatic, but not believing in Santa kind of seems like the end of that truly innocent childhood era and on to more cynical times. Maybe I’m being a little dramatic.
Anyway, one the boys had mentioned (I think it was Linus, and it’s indicative of this problem that I can’t remember exactly who told me this) that he didn’t want the same present as his brothers. It’s become habit to either get three of the same thing (so everything is fair) or three equivalent, coordinating things (three different video games, three different stuffed animals, three different books.)
But he wanted something different. Something just for him, (you know, now that I think about it, maybe it was Oliver) something that only he wanted, not something that his brothers got as well.
Case in point: my brother sent three gifts for the boys. Three completely different gifts, all meant to be shared amongst them. But when the boys saw three completely different packages under the tree, they decided they each wanted to pick one for themselves.
So I let them each claim one of the gifts, but it’s not exactly the same as choosing a totally different present for each kid.
But no problem, I can do that. That’s easy! I’ve spent the boys’ entire childhood trying to treat them like individuals. Most of the time, they weren’t dressed alike. They’re in different classes. They played different sports. But when it came down to knowing right off the bat what Oliver would prefer, what Miles would like, and what Linus would want. Read More
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