Santa Claus is Coming to Town

December 25, 2010

This past weekend was CHRISTMAS!!!! To celebrate on Wednesday I went with Sarah, Kristi, Rachel and Richard to see the movie Little Fockers which was hilarious. I also got to eat at Burger King which is not as good as the American one but was good enough. Rachel and I also got asked about the differences between America and here by a gentleman and his two sons.

On Thursday Sarah, Kristi and I took Rachel to Heathrow Airport to see her off and pick up Kristi’s boyfriend Joe. It is a loooonnngg ride to get to Heathrow. About two hours on bus/train/tube. It is a little ridiculous but we said goodbye to Rachel (a sad goodbye) and said hi to Joe (a happy hi). After picking up Joe we made our way back home to relax a little before heading back into London to see Big Ben, Parliament, the London Eye, the London Bridge, eat dinner at a pub (fish and chips) and The Tower Bridge (which you could see from our restaurant and we walked across it!). We went home and drank a little bit and chatted before bed.

Friday was Christmas Eve! However, everyone had left either to go home or into London. Therefore I was all alone at the Palace. So I cleaned my room, watched movies, packed my bags and made myself a delicious dinner. I made stuffed peppers with a salad and French fries. It was wonderful and I didn’t mess anything up! Or set anything on fire! I enjoyed my dinner then Chris and Tim picked me up and we went to Richard’s house for a bit. We ended up watching part of the Christmas movie with Chevy Chase. After that we went to Anna’s parents house where we stayed the night (I was given my own room) and waited for Santa to come!!

Saturday- Merry Christmas!! This morning Anna woke me up and I went downstairs to eat breakfast. Then we went into the living room to do stockings. Ken and Sue had made a stocking with my name on it just for me. They had put little presents inside. So we all took turns opening our gifts. It was so sweet of them. I took a nice long, hot, shower (finally a nice shower compared to the ones in our building), then Richard came over and we headed to the pub. After a Christmas drink (I had already had one at home and here another I was already a little tipsy) we picked up my Christmas presents sent to me from home and went back so I could skype my family! It was so exciting being able to see them for Christmas. They opened their gifts I sent them and then I got to open my gifts. Santa (a.k.a. my mom) packed a lot into a little box. I got some scarves, a hat, lotion, gloves, nice warm socks (for Scotland), a bracelet and ankle bracelet, a movie, and some things to hang around my room. But the best part of it all was seeing everyone on Christmas! After skyping we hung out for a while before enjoying Christmas dinner. Before we could eat we had to open our crackers (a traditional beginning). Basically its a tube that you pull both ends of and it cracks open revealing a clever joke, a paper crown hat (that you must wear all throughout dinner) and a little prize (mine being a little deck of playing cards). Dinner began with a salad and prawns (a traditional starter) then the main course was Goose, roast potatoes, regular potatoes, purple cabbage, mashed carrots, asparagus, green cabbage, and much more. It was all wonderful! We had two helpings of it. Then we needed a little break. We went and opened up more presents! I even had some. I got a bath set from Chris and Anna, and tissues, chocolate, and cookies from the Jarvis’.  After presents I skyped home again because my Uncle Tony was over and I wanted to see him. It was really nice talking to him, even though he cried J. Then we decided to do dessert. The tradition is to have Christmas Pudding (which really isn’t pudding at all its more like a cake) and pour brandy on it and set it on fire. Our fire lasted forever until we had to put it out lol. I tried some of the pudding although I was informed you had to have a special taste for it which is completely true because I did not like it even with the cream on it. So instead I had the Chocolate Mousse pie, which was really, really rich. I also put cream on that. After dessert we lounged around in our jim jams (p.j’s) watching television until bed.

Sunday- Boxing Day (don’t ask my why I can’t remember why it is called that but a lot of people go shopping). Phil (Anna’s brother) took me home. I was going to go visit my friends in Central London but there was a tube strike so I couldn’t get into Central London. Instead I lounged around at home all day. Then Richard called saying they were going to a friends house to hang out. So I went with him and we played Scene It (on the wii- which was really fun) and I had a good partner Tim who knew the answer to the billboard about Mean Girls by the first drawing on it, and he also knew the sequel to Dirty Dancing was Havana Nights! Then we played wii tennis. I was partnered with Jon (the guy whose house it was) and we beat everyone about 20-30 times in a row until finally Tim and Richard beat us (even after we had switched wii remotes/players/sides of the court to make sure it wasn’t any of those things being the reason we were winning). I even continued playing and won while talking on my phone on skype with my cousins! After tennis we decided to try bowling. Again I kicked butt with a 181 and beat everyone else playing. Then Richard brought my home where I video-skyped with my cousin Toni Rae and her babies Madison and Mason (who do in fact remember who I am…despite what my mom says ;) .)

Monday- Today again I lounged around not doing much, until Tim text me saying to come over and hang out. I did and his friends came over and we watched all three pirates movies in a row. All seven hours worth! It sounded like a good idea and it wasn’t too bad, but by the end I was definitely ready to not sit on the couch!

Tuesday- And finally here we are today. I am getting ready to go to Scotland. Packing everything! My next blog will not be for a while, since I am going on a 7 day tour, I will not be back until the 5^th of January. However, I will have lots of stories to tell!  So HAPPY NEW YEAR everyone!!!

Until next time,

~D~