It has become clear to me {and probably everyone else} that keeping an up-to-date blog is not my forte. I have somehow managed to skip all of December and most of January without any kind of entry. In fairness, we were traveling and I did sort of have most of this entry done before we left for Christmas but then I ran out of time. Since the majority of Moldova celebrates the Russian Orthodox Christmas {a few weeks later than everyone else} I'm going to go ahead and claim that this is still relevant.
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| Greeting Cards available here |
This was the second Christmas we spent away from "home."
Christmas is just not quite the same around here. I found myself tearing up watching youtube videos of flashmobs of Christmas songs. Even though I'd like to blame "the hormones," they are not the likely culprits since I've been crying watching them for years...
This is one of my favorites:
While we were sad to be missing time with our families and friends, we had the opportunity to spend it in London. When I first found out we would be going there for Christmas, my first reaction, of course, was to create a
Pinterest Board. Then we asked a bunch of friends who'd been there for their top suggestions because even though I had been there in high school, Michael Ball hadn't and we wanted to make sure to take it all in.
At the top of our list were the following things:
- Eat awesome ethnic food: Indian, Thai, Ethiopian, Vietnamese, maybe even Brazilian.
- Arsenal vs. Chelsea. If we can't get tickets at least watch it in a Cool Pub or something.
- Go to some kind of epic Christmas Service with great music.
- Visit Christmas Markets & Shops {well, that one's more for me...}
- Visit the Cabinet War Rooms.
- Catch a show of some kind.
- Find out what gender Baby Ball is.
I'd say we accomplished all of the above, and maybe even a little more. Here are a few shots from the trip...
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| Buckingham Palace |
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| The Thames |
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| Covent Garden |
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| Southwark Cathedral |
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| Arsenal Pajamas for our Baby Boy Ball! |
Of course, we did manage to make it back in time for the Russian Orthodox Christmas celebrations, and by that I mean we were subjected to Moldovan teens coming door-to-door in Santa outfits, ringing our doorbell to sing us traditional {or made-up?} songs in exchange for candy or cash. Never a dull moment around here...
P.S. In anticipation of our trip I finished a book I started reading a while ago about the lower class in England called
"Life at the Bottom" by Theodore Dalrymple which I highly recommend. The author is extremely insightful and explains his observations through fascinating stories from his work.
