Its been long i entered this space. As always busy with this or that. But it's Christmas time and that too in London. How can i miss it :)
Our Christmas this year started with a lovely
Christmas tree with decorations going up on Dec 8th. It was wonderful to see the excitement of Joshin and Johaan on the day we bought the tree. They couldn't sit at a place till dad set up the tree and hang all the decorations.We were looking for a small tree but end up in a big one that too surprisingly, which added to the joy.
This is followed by a
Christmas fair at Joshin's school on Dec 12th. The primary attraction for the kids was the Santa's Grotto. First experience for both of them. They met Father Christmas and had a small chat. Father Christmas gave them a small present. Other than this, fair had some games,lucky dip and a nice bouncy castle.
Next was
Santa's visit to the local library on Dec 14th. There was a winter challenge at the library to read 4 books before Santa's arrival and receive a certificate from Santa. Both of them finished their reading of four books and received their certificate. Santa asked them what they need as gift and Joshin's wish was to get a video game Ninetendo 3DS and Johaan wanted a lollipop.
Next was the
Children's festive events in one of the local malls here happening every weekend on December. This included Santa's Grotto,Festive Face Painting,Christmas Bauble Decorating,Cookie and Cupcake Decorating,Festive Head Bopper, Enchanted Mirrors. Kids visited this on a Saturday Dec 14th and had a lovely time.
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| Stocking Gifts |
On Christmas Eve,before going to bed, Joshin and Johaan hung two Christmas Stockings by their bed side.Also they put out a mince pie, a drink (for Santa) and carrot (for Santa's reindeer) hoping Santa will come with lots of gifts for them.
On the Christmas day , as soon as they woke up they checked their stockings and was excited to see lot of gifts in the Stockings. Hurray !!!!!!!!! they were really good this year and Santa filled their stockings.Stockings had things like
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| Stocking Opening Excitement |
- Chocolate Coins
- Stickers
- Color Pencils
- Pencils
- An Apple
- Glue Stick
- Dot to Dot Book (for Joshin)/Lollipop(for Johaan)
- Lindt Bear and friends chocolates
Next was
Christmas Gifts under the tree. There were around 6 gifts under tree and the mince pie, carrot and drink was gone. Left was only little crumbs of mince pie.( a proof that Santa came to our house :)).
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| Christmas Gifts |
- Wooden Ramp Racer (for Joshin and Johaan). Santa's words on the gift "Extra big gift for extra special kids, Joshin amd Johaan. From Santa"
- LEGO Duplo Combine and Create (for Joshin and Johaan)
- LEGO Creator 3 in 1 (for Joshin). Santa's words on the gift "To Joshin, for being good and for taking care of his little brother, From Santa)
- Little Tikes Bead Maze (for Johaan)
- 2 AXE Deos (for Pappa)
- Cookie Cutter (for Mamma)
This is followed by Christmas Breakfast, Christmas wishes calls to our near and dear ones.
Next was the most exciting of all,
Christmas Lunch. Why it was exciting? Because this time Christmas lunch was based on English Style. Full Credit goes to Pappa. He did a lot of research on the recipes and to understand the style.The Menu was as follows:
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| Christmas Lunch |
- ROASTED TURKEY
- ROAST CARROTS and PARSNIPS
- ROAST POTATOES
- PIGS IN BLANKETS
- MINCE PIES
- ASIAN CHICKEN SKEWERS
- DARK and WHITE CHOCOLATE SUNDAE
- Home Made Christmas Cake and Plum Cake
Before having lunch, we enjoyed opening Christmas Crackers. Crackers are typically pulled at Christmas Lunch/Dinner tables.The cracker is pulled by two people ,often with arms crossed. The cracker splits unevenly and is accompanied by a mild bang or snapping sound. The contents were colored paper hat, a small toy and a joke. The paper hats with the appearance of crowns were worn during Christmas lunch.
Some of the jokes went like this:
- What do snowmen eat for lunch? Icebergers.
- What's bad tempered and goes with custard? Apple grumble.
- With what do you cut through giant waves? A sea-saw.
