Monday, December 25, 2006

Have yourself a Merry Little Christmas


... just like ours.

It's strange not being woken up by family members on Christmas morning, but we managed to get ourselves out of bed around 10am, turned on the music, poured a glass of Buck's Fizz (champagne and orange juice), plugged in our little tree, and opened our presents.

Our first caller from Canada this morning was Jeremy's mom. Since she and I are the chatty types (and perfectly capable of marathon phone conversations), Jeremy had to start grumbling about whether or not he'd be able to talk to his mother "sometime today" before I got the hint and handed him the phone. While describing our incredible experience at St. Paul's last night, she commented on how we wouldn't have had that opportunity if we weren't here. I'm glad for that reminder - we are very lucky to get to experience this, even though I miss them all very much and will not want to be missing any more family Christmases. How often does a person get to celebrate with two different (and wonderful) families every year without any worry or stress? For this year, we'll be thankful that we've got such fantastic people in our lives, and enjoy our non-traditional Christmas.

Speaking of which, it's time for our walk in the park, so I better get the coffee and Bailey's ready!


here are some pics of London at Christmastime (taken in the last few days)

Kensington Gardens in December



Harrods



Midnight Mass at St. Paul's Cathedral
(I should note that I didn't realize that we weren't supposed to take photographs inside - I thought it was just during the service itself. However this place is so incredibly beautiful that I just had to share them. And believe me - no picture will do it justice. The cathedral is so huge that it wasn't possible to take a picture of the entire place at one time...)




Christmas morning in Craven Hill Gardens


To "the Marys", Bill, Laurie, Romeo, Jim, Michaela, Nick, Scott, Giovanni, Kim, Pep, and the rest of our friends and family - we love & miss you very much and hope you all have a wonderful day!

Merry Christmas

posted by Melinda @ 8:33 AM  

5 Comments:

  • At 3:46 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Hi Guys,

    Wow!!! We just finished watching the educational tv station and they happend to feature,for the past 90 minutes, London, England at Christmas. It made me feel close to you. Some of the features were Hyde Park, Harolds, St. Pauls (Do you know it was completed in 1706) Westminster Abby where coronations have taken place since 1066. The lights in the shopping district were breath taking. It was gorgeous on the 'telly' so I can only imagine how amazing it must be to see it in person. As much as we miss you we are so very glad you are experiencing this adventure and pray things will be nothing but better as the New Year comes. One of the places I think you may be interested in is a skating rink at Summerset House. For $11.00, so they say, you can rent skates and skate for an hour. They recommend making a reservation and going later in the day as thousands of people a day skate there. Your dad suggested that you go to Apsley House the present home of the Duke of Wellington. The Duke lives on the upper floors and the lower floors house a museum. Dad paid 3 pounds ten years ago.

    Sure hope the smells of Christmas fill you home and you have much laugher to complete your day.

    Love always and God bless.....
    Mom and Dad

     

  • At 11:30 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Hey Melinda,
    How are you ?
    My family and I looked at your blog and the pictures, there really cool.
    I couldn't help but notice that you spelt my Aunt Lauries name wrong.
    My mom just got off the phone with her and Laurie isn't very pleased with you haha
    well im going to go we will talk to you soon bye :)

    MERRY CHRISTMAS !!

     

  • At 12:15 PM, Blogger Melinda said…

    Thanks for letting me know - my cousin Lori's name is spelled that way and even though I know your Aunt's isn't - i sometimes forget (especially after three glasses of Christmas wine and cooking Christmas dinner)

    Laurie - believe me I really do know how your name is spelled! Sorry I wasn't more careful... At least now all of my BloggerBuddies know that I'm a dumbass who can't spell her boyfriend's mother's name correctly(after knowing her for 4 year)!

    :)

     

  • At 12:54 PM, Blogger Suldog said…

    Thanks for sharing your time and your photos, M. Hope your holidays continue on as happily as they appear to be at the moment.

     

  • At 1:28 PM, Blogger Melinda said…

    Thanks Sully - they've been bittersweet really, but we've had adventures that my grandkids will hear about someday. So in the end, it was all worth it!

    Hope your holidays are going well too!

     

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