Thanksgiving 2018

This year, as in the recent past, we had a low key Thanksgiving day, and celebrated with a proper meal at the weekend.

Normally, the school does a morning celebration for the younger classes, with games, crafts, and turkey lunch. However, it was put off this year due to the World War I centenary celebrations. The teachers still talked about the holiday, but there was no parental volunteering or special meal. It was slightly disappointing if I'm being honest, but logically I don't expect people here to join in my cultural celebrations. (The lady at checkout at the drugstore told me Happy Thanksgiving, and I was a little excited about being acknowledged.)

Anyway, this year Matt decided to work on Thursday and take Friday off. So Clara and I hung out just like it was a typical day. As is our expat tradition, we ate turkey dinner pies on the actual holiday. Miles was very disappointed that we did not have pumpkin pie (don't worry, we made up for it).

We had a proper Thanksgiving meal with friends on Saturday. We had such a nice time that I forgot to take many pictures.

For dinner we had turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, green bean casserole, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, succotash, and rolls. Of course it was all delicious.

The kids had fun playing before and after the meal.

And for dessert we had pumpkin pie, sopapilla cheesecake, and gooey butter cake. With all of the food plus drinks, we were completely stuffed.

Miles must have eaten half a pie on his own

The adults had good conversation afterward, while the kids played upstairs, downstairs, and outside. Lily was especially excited to see her good friend who has recently changed schools.

Friends since nursery

I do miss being in the US around the holidays. It does help though, sharing Thanksgiving with friends, and we did have a wonderful day. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Remembrance Day 2018

The 11th of November is Remembrance Day in the UK, which is very much like Memorial Day in the US. This year was extra special, as it was the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I.

There were special events all over the country, including the lighting of 10,000 torches at the Tower of London. This website shows just how many events there were to choose from.

Our school had a special  World War One assembly on Friday, and all year groups participated. The entire hall was decorated, as was the outside.

The children in the different classes read poems and performed songs. The mood was very solemn, and I was impressed with the behavior of even the youngest kids.

Miles had written a poem in class, and had received a commendation for it, but it had been read at an earlier assembly.

On Remembrance Sunday, Lily and I went to a local church that had an open exhibition going. Many of the kids from the school had decorated jam jars for this display, and Lily wanted to see if she could find ours.

The church was floodlit just for the weekend (although the exhibition will go on for a few months).

The jam jars were spread around the church. There were 879, one for each name on our town cenotaph (each name of those who died in WWI; there are an additional 314 names of those who died in WWII). Each jar had a name tag on it.

It's one thing to read that 879 people died 100 years ago, but seeing a symbol set out for each life really brings the message home.

This location was also involved in the There But Not There installation. Transparent figures of soldiers were placed in church pews across the nation, signifying those whose lives were lost in each parish.

This next piece of art included pictures of nurses and soldiers.

The last little area had pictures of fifteen local soldiers who lost their lives in the war. There was a case that held a few scraps of letters they had written, as well as a "Dead Man's Penny."  There was also a large framed display of the poem In Flanders Fields.

Since staff had talked about all of this at school, Lily knew that it was a very solemn event. I was very impressed with her behavior.

We did find Miles' and Lily's jam jars, but weren't able to spot Clara's. There were just so many.

Lily's is on the far right, very similar to her brother's

Miles' jar in the center. He wanted it to look like a close up of poppies

The part that affected me most was seeing the soldiers' letters and knowing that they didn't make it back to their loved ones. It was a very moving exhibition, and I'm so glad I made it a priority to go.

Halloween and Bonfire Night

It's hard to believe that this was our third Halloween and Bonfire Night in England!

We went trick or treating again this year, in the same neighborhood as last year. This time we invited a new American family who had recently moved to the area. There aren't tons of houses that participate, but it was still fun (and the kids certainly have enough candy).

Clara was Gecko from PJ Masks, Lily was a vampire, and Miles was a Minecraft creeper.

Poor Miles could hardly see out of his mask. We led him around until he decided to ditch it.

Just a few days later, we went to a local Bonfire Night celebration, which is always a family favorite.

Walking to the bonfire area

We were lucky to have very mild weather, so we didn't have to fight the crowds to stay close to the fire.

We met up with some friends, and let the kids loose on the bouncy castles. It was a great way to have some adult talking time without boring the little ones. Then the kids all got glow sticks and we hung out closer to the fire.

Miles did a glow stick show while we waited for fireworks (he's doing the green blur).

During the wait, Lily decided that she wanted to have her face painted. Matt took her to get in line, and there they stayed until after everything was over and most of the people had gone home. Luckily she was able to see the firework show from the queue.

Miles and Clara stood with me during the show, and they loved it.

After the fireworks, we said goodbye to our friends and waited for Lily to finish having her face painted. She was so patient for the hour that she was in line. I bought all of the kids some sweets, and soon we were on our way home.

When we got back, Matt took out some sparklers he had bought, and Miles and Clara held them on the sidewalk.

Overall it was a fun evening, and I'm glad that we get to celebrate English and American traditions with the kids. I hope the weather is as nice next year!