New Year's Eve

Josh had a very exciting day as he and Steve and Tim drove up to meet Uncle Simon and they all went to the Stoke City game against Wigan.  He really enjoyed the whole experience and came back proudly bearing a Stoke City scarf and a programme.

Naomi also had a fun afternoon as she went to a birthday party for one of her classmates.
Ali offered to make and bring lunch with her so we enjoyed that, then she and I and Rose took Sonja for a walk into the forest - literally a breath of fresh air after being in London!  I'm only sorry we didn't get longer before I had to go and collect Naomi.
We had a quiet evening and Steve and I saw in the new year by ourselves as everyone else had retired to bed.  We watched the spectacular firework display in London on the BBC then tuned into the news and watched the brief chronicle of fireworks from around certain points of the globe and Edinburgh before going to bed ourselves. 
As amazing as the London display was it doesn't compare to watching the display over Manila city!

6 out, 1 in

Sadly, Claire and Peti had to move on to the next leg of their trip today so we said goodbye to them and almost at the same time said hello to Sonja!  I taught Sonja as a freshman at Faith Academy about 8 years ago and she is currently studying in London for her Masters so she came up for the weekend.  Our kids warmed up to her fast.

New Experience

Our fun trip today was out to the ice-skating rink at Telford.  It was our kids' first time skating and Claires' kids' second time.  Claire hired these little penguins for Naomi and Abel to use and they got on really well with them.  Once again, this experience afforded a study in our children.  Josh threw himself into trying to skate and didn't care when he fell over (frequently), Rose had to get everything as perfect as she could before she was willing to let go of the side and Naomi was quietly confident and skating by herself after a short time.  All three loved it.

Christmas visit

Claire and Peti arrived yesterday to stay for a couple of nights.  So today we headed off to the swimming pool for some group fun.  Actually, I wimped out as I have been struggling with a cold for a few days so I read my (new) Kindle on the side while everyone else swam.  Apart from the joy of spending time with Claire the other major bonus of having them here is Steve and I have to sleep in the lounge so we get to lie by the embers of the fire.  It's the warmest I've been at night this winter!

Round 2

Thankfully, because we had travelled back from Biddulph late last night the kids were not up too early.  We gathered them into our room just after 7 to open a few small stocking presents.  But not before they saw the huge pile of presents waiting in the lounge! (And we hadn't even added ours then.)  As they had received presents yesterday they were happy to play with those before it was time for Church.
After church Ali, Emma and I got lunch ready and we sat down to a feast. We decided to put dessert out but to let people serve themselves when they felt like it and we watched the queen (haven't done that for a few years!!).
Then it was time to open presents : )
We feel like we appreciate this time with our families so much more this year having not had this privilege for a long time.  The kids, especially, are so much more aware of what they are missing  by not being around family in the Philippines.  But we do have really cool people in the Philippines who have become "our people" too.

Taylor Christmas

We had a lovely, relaxing day and went to the Church family service at 4.  This is similar to what we do in Manila so it felt natural.  It was extremely busy with lots of families attending and the leader mentioned how it was probably similar to the stable - busy and noisy.  I think he had a point.  It was encouraging to see so many non-Church people coming out to celebrate Christmas.
After Church we went home and opened presents before eating dinner and heading back home. 
It is really wonderful to be with family this Christmas.

Special Moments

We had a special day today with our Taylor family.  First, we went as a family group to honour Steve's dad by laying a wreath at his gravestone.  The 23rd Dec was his birthday and it is family tradition to visit the gravestone.  It was special to be part of this tradition for the first time and the kids were pleased to be a part of it.

Afterwards, we headed to the Emma Bridgwater pottery shop to design and paint our own pottery.  It was a lot of fun and each person produced their own unique product.

Oh yes we did!

This afternoon we took the kids to the Peter Pan pantomime in Malvern.  It was a lot of fun.  Naomi wasn't too sure when Capt. Hook came out (the actor was very good) as she found him scary so she spent most of her time on my lap.  When the pirates brought water pistols out to squirt the audience she jumped off my lap and hid behind the seats in front so she wouldn't get wet!  The children did get to experience a panto mime at school last week so they had a pretty good idea of what to do and how to react. I love this very British Christmas institution and was glad to share it with R, J and N.

Pampered

A couple of weeks ago we girls decided we needed a "girls' night" so we booked a pamper evening.  Mum, Ali, Emma and I had a great evening with Bailey's Hot Chocolate, watching 'It's a Wonderful Life', having massages and nails done.

Carol Service

Here are a few of the things I have loved so far about British Christmas culture:
1. We have sung 'Once in Royal David's City' several times.
2. All the carols have had familiar tunes.
3. Despite celebrating Christmas in the tropics for 10 years, it feels "right" to have Christmas in cold, bitter weather (although I am not sure I can honestly say I love this).
4. Pantomime!  Our kids watched one at school on Friday, we watched the CBeebies one Saturday with Granny and Grandpa and we are going to one at the theatre on Weds.  I love that we accept men in drag as normal in pantomime in this culture.
5. Planning with family for presents and Christmas dinners.

All Age Service

Both Rose and Josh were reading a prayer in the service this morning and they did a brilliant job.  The whole service was well planned and executed with "readings" from the Lion's Storyteller Bible (which we love) interspersed with carols and the kids all taking part by playing instruments or doing readings or prayers.  We had a good puppet story that gave good insight into the meaning of Christmas.
In the evening we took the children to the Carols by Candlelight Service.  There was a good number there.   

Nativity Trail

Our friend Jean asked to take the children on the Nativity Trail at our local arboretum. As Joshua's football matches were cancelled due to frozen field and Jean can't drive I took the 3 kids and Jean.  It was really fun and towards the end of the trail they had tableaux from the Christmas story with readings from the Bible and questions to answer.  It was interesting to be in a real stable thinking about the reality of the birth of Jesus.  The most exciting and memorable moment for the children, though, was when the goat jumped over the fence and escaped while we were in the stable!!  It was close to the end so we made sure we told the lady in the centre so they could track it down.

Stroking the donkey

The shepherd tableau

Getting it Done

Rose's performance today.  Key Stage 2 were doing a musical with a nativity story at the end.  Rose was Mary and very proud of her part.  Both Key Stages have done 3 performances - morning, afternoon and evening spread out over the week so we have been busy this week ferrying children and collecting them at different times. There are times life would be so much simpler if all our children were in the same Key Stage but I guess this is something I need to get used to until all our kids are in high school!
Amazingly we managed to get extra tickets for my mum and dad to be able to go this evening - each family was only entitled to two tickets.  I'm not sure if Rose or my mum was more excited!
We had to squeeze in haircuts between finishing school, eating dinner and getting Rose back to school but we managed - just about.
When Rose got home and climbed into bed she said, "Thank goodness the plays are all done!".  I agree.
Oh, but my favourite part of today was the sign we passed: Christmas reafs [for sale].  I'm impressed the writer realised it was ea, not ee; but really?  My English teacher hackles rose.

Stuffed Up

In the literal sense.  I sensed the beginnings of a cold Saturday night and on Sunday stayed in bed all morning as I felt dreadful.  I even fell asleep in front of the fire Sunday afternoon.  Today feels a little better but apart from going to watch Josh and Naomi's Christmas Play I stayed inside and Steve went and did the shopping.
Joshua was a sheep and his big line was a joke: Where do sheep have their hair cut?  At a baa-bers!  Naomi was an angel.  Unfortunately we were not allowed to take photos or video so I cannot provide evidence.
I am glad that there was an actual Nativity story in the play (as well as Santa's grotto) but I have been reflecting on what Tim was telling us about their sermon at Church last week:  How we can bear the story of baby Jesus but not the reality of God in man and His ultimate purpose of death and resurrection.  I think it's probably true for most of the people watching these plays that they are not really challenged by the story of Jesus in a manger and do not want to look much further than that.

Santa Special

This morning the girls had their Super Saturday [children's club at church that meets monthly] Christmas party and they thrilled my heart with their eagerness to invite their friends to come.  It reminded me how as adults we often invent obstacles to inviting people instead of remembering why we want to invite people.  Anyway, they had little response - probably because I forgot to put our pone number on the invites for parents to check out what this thing was.  But I spoke to the mum of one of Rose's classmates at the Christmas lunch and explained what it was and Rose was chuffed when her friend came.  They had a blast - they made Christmas tree decorations and chocolate sweets.
And then this afternoon we had a grand Guille clan outing on the Severn Valley Railway "Santa Special".  Sam was feeling poorly but dragged himself out and we all had fun.  Sam even snagged himself a present from Santa so we had little sympathy for him after that!

Click here for other photos.
We finished the evening with an amazing Chinese take-away which ended the fun day perfectly.

Christmas Lunches

These have been very controversial amongst the parents as the school opted to buy fish and chips for each student rather than provide a proper Christmas dinner.  The argument is that it is less waste but it does seem a little odd to call them "Christmas" dinners!  I don't feel strongly either way.  The school pays for it as a treat so it doesn't worry me.  I went up on both Thursday and Friday to help with setting up, handing out and cleaning up.  My son was only one of three (boys!) who did not have the Christmas dinner out of all the children in the school!  I did get a large dose of the school politics as well.  It has been quite interesting being "only" a parent this year but also having a little inside knowledge as a teacher.

Nursery Play

This morning we began our Christmas performances with Esther and Ioan's Nursery play.  Ioan was a gorgeous star and Esther was a monkey.  When Naomi was looking through the programme and realised Esther was a star she said, "There are no monkeys in the Christmas Story".  Good to know she has the basics down!
Esther got stage-fright and wouldn't go up on the stage with her group but Ioan happily grinned and waved at mum and dad and clapped along with the song.  Esther finally went up but only because Sam went up with her!  The things we bear for our children.