A Few Christmas Shots

I didn't capture as much as usual this year, probably due to the convergence of Christmas, two January birthdays, and a baby about to be born, but here are a few photos. (We did actually eat savory food, too, but I seemed only to photograph the sweets!)

 "Painting" Christmas cookies

 

Christmas Pudding I bought (very moist, as it's steamed not baked), which I prefer to Christmas Cake, although the ingredients are similar (fruitcakes, basically).

Sophia requested cake as a Christmas dessert, so I made cupcakes for Jesus--an idea I got from my mother-in-law. The girls spontaneously started singing Happy Birthday to Him when these came out!

"A tent" made using some of their Christmas gifts

Year 2 Choir

Sophia has enjoyed being in choir on Tuesdays at lunchtime this year (an option that wasn't available to her in younger years). Here are a few snippets of Christmas songs they performed at their school's annual Christmas Fair:

Lyrics:
Rocking' around the Christmas tree,
Let the Christmas spirit ring,
Later we'll have some pumpkin pie and we'll do some caroling!
You will get a sentimental feeling when you hear,
Voices singing, 'Let's be jolly! Deck the halls with boughs of holly!

Here's to the message the angels sang,
Here's to the Savior who came for all men,
Born for you and for me,
For strangers and friends!
There's a world still needing to hear good news,
More than presents and Christmas food,
May you find the love that God has for you,
This Christmas time.

And they call His name Jesus, Son of the Most High God!

Children of the World

Sophia's Christmas performance at school this year was a look at how children in different countries of the world celebrate the birth of Jesus. Here's her class' representation of the USA:

Lyrics:
Come to the manger on Christmas Eve, alleluia!
Come to the manger all who believe, alleluia!
God has sent His own Son down,
Spread the message all around,
There's a new King in town! Alleluia, alleluia!

Come to the manger you shepherds and kings, alleluia!
Come to the manger on angels' wings, alleluia!
Come and join the gospel choir,
Raise your voices higher and higher,
We can set the world on fire! Alleluia!

Come to the manger from every land, alleluia!
Come to the manger o'er sea and sand, alleuia!

Transcript:
"We brought some candy canes for Jesus, the Good Shepherd who watches over us all."

"American Christians come from all over the world, and so we have many different traditions in our country, but we all love celebrating the birth of Jesus our Shepherd and our Friend."

Innkeeper to Mary

After being an angel in our church's toddler group nativity play last year, Alathea had high hopes of being chosen for Mary this year but was asked to be a Bethlehem innkeeper instead.

Here was our first attempt at a somewhat feminine innkeeper's look. (Alathea's speaking to a lady from our church who's 90+ and until a few months ago helped weekly at the toddler group.)

Then Alathea discovered this velvet robe and prepared to say, "No room!" in it instead.

(Our vicar and a "donkey" relay the story of Jesus' birth to the children.)

But when the girl chosen to be Mary didn't come in time for the children's reenactment of the story, Alathea quickly switched parts.

Here she is querying Gabriel's news and singing a song about the Christmas story.

Thanksgiving Tree 2013

The girls have really gotten into our Thanksgiving tree this year, wanting to put up a new leaf each day. This is the first year we've done the tree that Alathea was largely able to write for herself, so that added an exciting new dimension to the experience.

"Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

Sophia's Year 2 Assembly

Every year Sophia's class takes a turn at leading their school's daily act of worship. This year the topic was the importance of thankfulness, illustrated by the parable of the ten lepers in Luke 17:11-19, in which only one of the ten men who was healed comes back to thank Jesus. (Sophia narrates part of the parable in the video below.) So the children thanked God in the assembly for a number of things, including the many talents He has given them. Sophia demonstrated one of her talents by playing "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" on the guitar:

Rainbows

I'm not keeping up very well on the communication front lately, as the first half of our autumn term has been quite mad. But here are photos of the face-painting the girls got, among other colorful things, at a party at a nearby church.

 

Harvest

Alathea's preschool celebrated Harvest today (Thanksgiving, essentially, but it's a time of year here, rather than a specific date). The children sang and performed actions to several songs, which, sadly, I wasn't allowed to capture, but here are a couple of shots of Alathea and what she contributed to a local food bank.

 

Peanut Butter Bears

Alathea went back to preschool a few days after Sophia went back to school, and one of the things she wanted to do with this extra time we had was bake with Mommy. She chose this recipe from The Toddler Cookbook by Annabel Karmel, which Aunt Chelsey sent us:

 

 What does Bear think of the peanut butter bear?

Year 2

Sophia was pleased to be going back to school again--new teacher, some different children in her class, new shoes (thanks Grandma H), new glasses, and a new mode of carrying her belongings.

Experiment 4: Foaming Fish

What happens when you combine vinegar, dish soap, and baking soda? Something so great that Alathea kept requesting a repeat demonstration... 

(This idea comes from 50 Science Things to Make and Do by Usborne.)

Hampton Court Palace

For a long time we've been meaning to visit this historic building, most associated with Henry VIII, but also adapted by subsequent monarchs. It was Henry's summer palace, which he took from Cardinal Wolsey after Wolsey failed to secure Henry's divorce from Catherine of Aragon. Apparently the hunting was good out here in what was then countryside, away from London. It's possible to get here by boat on the Thames as the Tudors would have done, but that can take hours, depending on tides. We opted for trains, which was long enough.

 

This fountain flowed with wine in France in the Field of the Cloth of Gold--the meeting of Henry VIII and the French King and an ostentatious display of wealth and importance. (Sophia donned a Tudor-like cloak during part of our visit.)

A re-enactment of heated words between two Tudor noblewomen. The lady in black is Anne Boleyn.

The main kitchen fire with lots of racks for roasting meat on spits.

 

 Seated at the head table in the Great Hall

 We completed the maze!

 

Behind is a baroque exterior to part of the palace, renovations which due to financial and other problems William & Mary (c.1689+) were never able to complete. But Sophia preferred William's part of the palace to Henry's (c.1509+).

Tree tunnel

 

King William was known as William of Orange (he was Dutch) and imported orange trees, as well as many other exotic plants, to Hampton Court Palace.

 Lots of wildlife in the gardens: heron,

 Deer,

 Family of swans,

 Geese,

Nesting coots. The male kept bringing sticks back to help bolster the nest.

A honey mead cake with beetroot and carrot that Wes and I tried in the cafe. This was a Tudor-inspired recipe, and it was good. It tasted nearly like carrot or spice cake.

Isle of Thanet

We spent a few days' vacation with my parents in a part of the UK none of us had ever visited. Interestingly the Isle of Thanet is no longer an island; it's more like a peninsula jutting out of the southeast of England, but in Roman times Thanet was separated from the mainland by a channel of water a mile wide in places, where ships sailed. This channel has filled in overtime. Unique geological history, but we engaged in more touristy pursuits:

Sophia climbing and going down an enormous slide

 

 The girls ride in a ladybug.

 Sophia braves the cold sea.

 Broadstairs beaches

 

 White cliffs and lots of seaweed

 

The following are from the Shell Grotto in Margate:

 

Unknown persons at an unknown time decorated walls of several underground rooms with millions of shells in complex patterns.

 Hole in the ground through which the Shell Grotto was first discovered in the 1800s.

 Wes in the Shell Grotto.

 The colors the shells in the Grotto would have been originally.

Sophia & Alathea outside a pub where we tried a lot of different seafood.

At the Broadstairs Water Gala