Panto in Norwich

One Christmas tradition in Britain is the Pantomime. It is a play, usually based on a familiar story or fable, with music, dancing, and audience interaction. We chose the one in Norwich, a large city about an hour from us. This year's production was Robin Hood. We all loved it! There were familiar songs from other musicals with the words changed: Good morning, Nottingham; Do you hear the people sing?/Singing the songs of Merry Men. The best parts were the audience interactions. We were encouraged to "Cheer for the good, and boo the bad," and many characters had recurring bits they got the audience in on. The Christmas Panto is now a Meldrum family tradition too!

Snow Day!

Thursday night, December 18, it started snowing. And it just didn't stop. We woke up Friday morning to a thick blanket of white and the news that the last day of school before break was cancelled! So, after digging our way to the garage to unearth the snow gear, the kids had hours of fun outside snowball fighting, digging, slipping, and playing with neighborhood friends. After getting over her disappointment that we didn't have any spare top hats she could use, Madeleine built this beautiful snowman. Hot cocoa for all!

Visitors--second round

Grandma Holmes finally made it to visit after a last-minute kidney infection derailed her trip with Megan and Peter in October. I picked Mom up from Gatwick on November 13, and we began an intensive round of sightseeing and eating! We went to all the sites she missed out on from Megan and Peter's visit, including a mother/daughter trip to Bath and surrounding sites. The Christmas market was on in Bath and we (and most of England) were there. It was a traditional German market with the chalet style stalls and lots of handicrafts. We also made a trip to Stoke-on-trent with some other friends from the base and I got some beautiful English pottery and china. I attacked Burleigh first and got our new every day dishes from their blue and white lines--calico, felicity, arden, and bluebird. I LOVE THEM! Then, we went to Royal Doulton, and I found some beautiful Monique Lhullier china, but they only had the bread and butter plates. But, thankfully (yes, says Kent, thank goodness!) they had dinner plates and the accent salad plates at Harrods--which was another great day in London with Mom. All in all, a fabulous trip!

Mom left on December 1 and two days later, Christina Broberg, a dear friend from our time at Travis AFB in California came to London with her daughter Abby (Madeleine's BFF) to visit her sister who is living here with her family. She took a whole day and came to visit us. We loved seeing them, catching up. Amazing how with some friends it seems like no time passes, even though it has been years since we've been together.

LegoLand

Someone in Kent's clinic gave him last-minute tickets to LegoLand Windsor for Saturday, November 7. Since we were still recovering from the flood, and didn't really want to be in the house anyway, we jumped at it. It was a gorgeous day--perfect for going to the park. Which is apparently what half of Britain thought as well. The park was crazy! So croweded. We got there shortly after opening and got to go on a couple rides without waiting too long, but soon the lines were over an hour for anything. We had a great day walking around mini-land and doing a few activities. Then we stayed for the fireworks. They were having an Indiana Jones spectactular. And they really were...spectactular. It was probably the best fireworks display we had ever seen. It went on and on. After the fireworks ended, we went and did one more roller coaster while everyone cleared out of the parking lot. Or so we thought. There apparently was an accident on the single road that leads out of the single exit from the park, so we sat. And sat. And sat. For two and a half hours in the car before we moved an inch. Luckily, they opened the park back up for food and restrooms. The whole experience was very different from an amusement park in the US. We really do have efficiency down to a science. And one exit? That would never fly back home. We are still adjusting to things like that.

Flood!!

In case you can't tell from the picture, that is water. EVERYWHERE! Apparently the little switch in the washer that tells it to stop filling up and start washing the close malfunctioned, and the washer never got the message to stop pouring water into the drum. It flowed into the kitchen and then because our house is so delightfully sloped, flowed into the hallway and down into the lounge (aka living room in American, or "English" as my kids say). It totally squished over your shoes when you walked. I called some friends and the landlord's handyman who rushed over and got everything out. There is just a concrete slab underneath, and since we were so quick to get everything out, the slab was fine. As was our furniture (and to Kent's dismay, our tv that he would really like to replace). The only things that were unsalvageable were two 8x10 wool rugs (including my favorite one from Pottery Barn that they will not ship here) and a runner. We had to live with the concrete for about a week while it dried and then they laid new carpet. I was chastised by some for leaving the house with an appliance running. Sorry, but if I never left the house while some sort of cleaning or drying appliance was going I would never go anywhere. Ever.

Veteran's Day Celebration...

Colin was invited to be on the "Spirit Team" for Lakenheath Elementary. He had a few practices after school where they learned the songs they would be singing. On Thursday, November 5, the whole school gathered in the gym with some special military veteran guests and British dignitaries for the Veteran's/Remembrance Day celebration. Colin knew every word and did a great job. The Brits celebrate Remembrance Day by wearing red poppies and laying poppy wreaths on their memorials--bringing to mind the poem "In Flanders Field." I had thrown some laundry in the washer on my way out the door for the program, I rushed home to change the laundry to the dryer before heading out to a lunch with some friends. This is what I found...

Mel-Snow-Lo's...or...Snow-Mel-Lo's?

For our first Halloween in the UK, we decided to trick-or-treat on base. Apparently, the Brits have really caught on to the idea of getting candy, just not so much the handing out of candy... Anyway, we went with our good friends the Snows and the Listellos. Hence, the name dillemma. While walking around, we wanted a quick way to corral all the kids who belonged to us, so we were trying to come up with a combination of all 3 surnames that would apply to the group. And, the MelSnowLos were born. Or the SnowMelLos. Whatever.