Christmas

We had quite a busy holiday season this year. It seemed to sneak up on me and then it was just madness until Christmas was upon us.

We did visit the local Christmas Market again this year.

It was really crowded

Then Matt and Clara went to the Leeds Christmas Market.

Mad because she had to wait

Not so crowded

Look Ma, no seat belt!

She shared two bites of this massive doughnut with Dad

"She cold"

The big kids had their Christmas program at school. The infant classes (Reception, Year 1, and Year 2) all were in one play, so Miles and Lily were together. The premise was that there was a family who hadn't found their holiday cards yet, so elves magically took them to the card factory to pick one out. The children acted out different scenes from the cards- there were festive pirates, cowboys, penguins... It was cute. Miles was a snowman in a winter scene, and Lily was a sheep in the nativity. They both did a great job!

The school had its annual Christmas Fair, and this year Matt worked the fair (cooking hot dogs) while I entertained the kids. They had fun doing crafts, eating cakes, and shopping. They even got to see Santa (this is a terrible picture of a picture).

Another fun event was Matt's work Christmas party. We dressed up, got a babysitter, and had a wonderful night out.

Adele and Beyonce were there!

The kids also had special days at school, including a non-uniform day, an infants Christmas party, and a Christmas luncheon for the whole school. The last week of school before their break was busy and fun. Then after their first week of break, Miles and Lily had a joint birthday party. We rented out a screen at the cinema, and the kids loved it. There was an attached bar area where the adults could relax and enjoy tea or coffee, which was also very nice.

And finally, it was Christmas. We had told the kids that they couldn't wake us up until 6am, and at 6:01 Miles crept into our room. He said he'd been pretending to sleep for a long time, and he just couldn't wait any more. We had a long lazy day, with lots of toys and Nintendo.

Lily found the pickle!

We had ordered a selection of heat and eat food which turned out really nice (and easy!). We had pork roast, cauliflower cheese, steamed carrots and brussels sprouts, and roasted potatoes and parsnips. With salted caramel cheesecake for dessert.

The day after Christmas is called Boxing Day, and is a bank holiday in the UK. Most shops are closed, and we just took the opportunity to have another lazy day. We realized that we had forgotten to do our Christmas crackers on the right day, so we did them the next day. And forgot to get any pictures of that. Like I said, really lazy day.

Now that the craziness is over, it all seems worth it. Happy Holidays!