Aaaaaaand a Partridge in a Pear Tree

Merry Christmas! Here's some pictures from our Holiday :)

Gross morning face. We opened our stockings in bed, just like home!

Before the un-wrapping, still all nice and pretty

Nathan with his booty

Me and my booty

My cute little Adipose squicshy Doctor Who toy. I named him Puff Puff

The Christmas carnage

Little Hannah Camacho :) Our Christmas elf

Thomas beating up on Nathan haha

Joshua challenging Chris

Yuki and Hannah :)

Our Christmas feast!

Me and Thomas, I'm a good influence on him

The food was A-Maz-Ing

I was covered in stickers by the end of the meal (from our Christmas crackers, the thingies you pull and they pop and you get a treat inside and a crown).

Don't disturb him from eating his delicious meal

The boys fighting their tops against each other.

Love her <3

Chrimbo Bimbos (Chrimbo is a slang word for Christmas+Boxing Day, love!)

Boxing Day was fun too. Nathan and I gave our talks to a church attendance of about 30 people, then went to Isi's house for another lush meal! Isi is a super nice girl from Nigeria that's been studying in the UK. She met her fiancee, Nathaneal, here and now they're getting married (hence "fiancee"). Nathaneal's been taking us to church for the past couple of weeks, nice guy. He and Isi prepared the meal. It was a cool combination of Nigerian and British food. Nigerian food is SPICY! But perfect, I LOVED it. We learned a lot of cool stuff about her culture, like the marriage ceremony and stuff that's to come. This other Nigerian guy that joined us for dinner was surprised to hear that Nathan didn't have to pay anyone to marry me. I like the tradition and ceremony that goes along with it. Anyway, it's sad because she has to go back to Africa soon to get some legal stuff sorted out before they can get married. :( I'll miss her a lot! I wished I'd gotten to know her sooner. But at least Nathaneal will still be here. He and Nathan both read comics, so it's a match made in heaven.

Hope you had a proper Chrimbo!

7 Swans a Swimming

We made Christmas cookies!!! Thanks to Nathan's sister Brittany, we were able to make Betty Crocker American sugar cookies :) Just like home. And I got sparkly icing!

Hard at work

Yuki wrote "Scott" and "Snow" in Japanese on the candy cane :)

Chris and Yuki Scott

I'm very proud of my little snow lady and her jaunty scarf :)

"S" for Sctoo, Snow, or Silver Bells!

Nathan's Liberty Bell

At the Scotts' apartment building, they have a cinema room full of bean bags and a projection screen where you can watch a movie/play video games/etc, however the tennents of the apartments have not taken very good care of the room. A PS3 has been stolen, all the wires are connected wrong, the controlers don't work, and so on and so forth. We spent hours in that room trying to rig it so we could watch Toy Story 3. At one point I was getting bored and frustrated, so I piled all of the bean bags and started to jump on them. Nathan joined me. And this happened.

I am King here...

8 Maids a-Milking

I think I found a new blog layout that I'm happy with. Hooray.

Anyways, so it's FREEZING. Here's a picture of my chilly home. There's a rumor going around that a storm's a-brewin'over the British Isles. The worst storm they've had in 100 years. I'm SO glad we were here to experience it. To be honest, a horrific snow storm here is probably called "any given Wednesday from October to March" in Provo, so I'm not too scared. Just imagine what the East coast got last year. Everyone freaked out and called it "Snowmageddon" while we out west laughed at you and shoveled the 6 feet of snow from our walkway to get to school that was still in session.

Salvation Army band in Broadmead ^ I was so excited to see a brass band in the town square! I even tossed in a few coins for some extra Christmas blessings! Then they started to play the saddest, dirge-iest Christmas song I'd ever heard. Whatever happened to "Jingle Bells"? Or the classic "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer"? Instead we got "Santa Died and his Funeral was on Boxing Day." I'm being harsh, the music was really lovely. Just not so upbeat. We also saw a girls' choir singing in Cabot Circus. Now THEY gave me a Christmas spirit boost. It was beautiful! I didn't recognize the carols, but they sounded old English-y. And where they were standing, it had the perfect accoustics that made them sound that much better. We gave them money too. After all the Christmas shopping we've done, the left over pennies, 5 p, and 10 p coins get heavy, so it's nice to dump them on the needy.

We ran into all the missionaries at Primark today. It was funny, we saw our buddy Elder Conover talking with the Sisters and an Elder from the other Bristol ward and we just kind of got closer and closer and waited for him to notice us. We were pretty much just standing there making the ones that didn't know who we were feel uncomfortable until Conover said "Sister Tonks!" (That's me by the way) They were out on their district P-Day doing Christmas-y things.

We saw David Archuleta with the Mo Tab for the Christmas thing. I don't care if he's a teeny bopper pop star. That kid is talented! I had to explain who he was to the Camachos, but they were impressed with him as well. Yay for talented mormons!

New Blog Layout/ 9 Ladies Dancing

It'll probably change, it's been a big pain in my butt for the last hour or so. So enjoy it while it lasts :)

And Sorry I've been a lazy blogger. There's just not been a lot to say lately. Work and missing home. That's it.

We had lunch at the Camachos today! They've been another blessing in our lives since we've been here. We helped decorate their home and tree today! They've really made us feel like family :) Love 'em! And the food is always AMAZING. It's nice to have found a fellow foody friend (Anthony Camacho). We'll be back to invade their home for Christmas. I personally can't wait.

Oh and I HAVE to talk about the nativity play the primary put on today. It was, in a word, entertaining. And I was a part of it. Seriously though, it was really fun/funny. The kids didn't sing a peep in our rehearsal, but during the performance Chloe, our belter, let loose. And the shepherds used their canes like they were blind. And we only had two wise men because one chickened out. And one little angel, bless her, got stage fright and took off her halo and didn't join the other angels to say their lines. Anyway, it was cute and primary-y.

CHRISTMAS!

10 Lords a Leaping

I live here

http://www.360cities.net/image/clifton-suspension-bridge-in-bristol#-3.70,-1.57,71.7

11 Pipers Piping

After babysitting for the Oldhams (the American family that just moved :( ) Nathan and I decided we would go to lunch with my babysitting money, since we haven't been out to eat in ages. We went to this New York themed restaurant (it was called two New York names like "Frankie and Johnny's" or something like that) and I had an AMAZING cheeseburger and Nathan had cod and chips. The burger still wasn't your typical American burger, but it was really good. Nathan enjoyed his fish and chips as well, but I think he was most impressed that they had good ketchup :) Thanks Oldhams!

It's been feeling a bit more wintery here the past couple of weeks. When I went out one day, I found everything frosted over! So that's not snow, it's really thick frost. Just the night before we'd been walking around at night and it was foggy, but the fog was frozen! It's hard to explain, but the air was sparkly! It almost looked like a really fine snow, but it wasn't falling, it was just twinkly bits floating in the air. Really magical :) Anyways, it's not quite as cold now, but apparently it's supposed to snow a lot this week, which should be pretty. I don't have as much of a resentment for snow as I did in Provo. It's more like it was growing up in Maryland, when snow was a rarer thing and everything shuts down and kids love it.

So I thought I'd share some new British terms with you! Working at a clothing store, I've become familiar with all the words people use referring to clothing and other store-related things.

sweater = jumper

pants = trousers

underwear = pants/underpants/underwear

registers = tills

rack (where you hang clothes) = rail

So if you really want to sound British in a clothing shop here's what you say:

"Hiya! You all right? (But run it together so it sounds like "y'awrigh'?") I loved that jumper, but they didn't have the right size on the rail. The only ones they had were proper big, so I went to the tills to see if they had an 8. They didn't and I was completely gutted. I guess I'll try Primark. Cheers luv!"

Haha doesn't get more British than that. Unless you throw in something about X Factor. You should check out the guy that won, Matt Cardle. He's amazing! I actually wanted him to win and he did, and that never happens! So apparently X Factor is coming to the states and Simon's going to be a judge (like he is here), but they're also bringing the judge Cheryl Cole to America. Now, you may ask "Cheryl who?" That's exactly what I said when I got here and people laughed at me. She's on every single magazine cover, so I felt the need to ask. Now that I've been here a while I can't believe how someone can be so huge here and I'd never heard of her. She's a singer in the girl group Girls Aloud (I know, "who?" again. They're like the Pussycat Dolls) and a judge on X Factor. Anyway, it's a really big deal here that she's going to America. Everybody is making such a fuss about whether or not she'll be as big in the states as she is here or if she'll come back with her tail between her legs. Simon's telling her to change her image so Americans will like her and people are saying she needs to fix her heavy Liverpuddlian accent. I think she's adorable and that people will love her and I LOVE her accent (and hey, we loved the Beatles, didn't we?). Anyway, keep an eye out for that.

Oh and I got my Christmas present box from home!! I may or may not have shed a tear or two. I miss my fambly. But we have our stockings hung with care on our wall, so it really feels like Christmas here. I was able to spread some Christmas cheer with a co-worker. I had Christmas Eve off, and she wanted to switch so she could meet her boyfriend's family for the first time. Of course I agreed to take her shift (I mean, we obviously don't have plans), and she was super grateful. It made me happy to help out :) So, let me know when your package arrives at the Brady house!

12 Drummers Drumming

This has been an interesting week. Monday I was sick (nothing serious, just achey... achy... I had aches, and headaches, and a stuffy nose and sore throat, the usual wintery mix). Nathan took good care of me :) He brought medicine, OJ, soup, and a comic book to make me feel better while stuck in bed. Ironically enough, the one time I got up to get myself some food, I sprained my ankle. After the initial pain subsided, I actually started laughing while laying there on the floor. Poor Nathan must have thought I'd lost it. Anyway, it wasn't a bad sprain. Jut some swelling, but I never had trouble walking on it. And since I was lying around in bed anyway, I kept from walking on it for the first day. It's still a little sore when I move my foot around, but it's all good. So I missed my work party on Tuesday, boo.
Wednesday I still was in bed, but more so because it was FREEZING outside and I just didn't want to do anything. We got a little bit of snow, but it was nothing compared to Utah standards. Wednesday night I was sick of being cooped up and there was a Christmas Relief Society fireside, so I thought I'd venture out into the cold. The bus got me there a half hour early and I got to stand out in the cold for a good twenty minutes, but I walked to a nearby convenient store and got some candy, so it was worth it :) And I learned that pigs in a blanket here are little sausages wrapped in BACON, not pastry like it is for us. Delicious. Oh and I had some South African simosas too. Yay for being Mormon and eating after every activity!
So I was glad my foot was ok to walk on because the first thing that went through my head when I fell was, we're going to Bath on Friday!!!!!! Noooo!!!!! But I was ok, so yay. Bath has these super cool Christmas Markets that I've been looking forward to since Cerriss told me about them back when we first got here. The Camachos drove the Scotts and us to Bath and we had so much fun! It was beautiful and I picked up some Christmas gifts and had the BEST fudge I've ever had in my life... mmm... This is part of the Bath Abbey. I couldn't get it all on one shot from where we were standing, so I just got the sweet door.

It was so cool to be shopping outside and having this big beautiful old building towering over you. They were having a performance of Handel's Messiah inside and you could hear the big choir numbers ever oce in a while. I peeked my head in during a baritone solo right before we left. It was gorgeous! (It was no MoTab though :) )

I pretended like we were back in Dicken's era, picking up the Christmas goose for the family, splurging on special sweets for our children and maybe a watch chain for my husband.

Cute Joshua took our picture. He is so in love with Nathan, or "Mr. Snow" as he calls him.

Joshua and one of his many sweets. Those kids had so much candy haha. They kept saying, I'm never going to bed! They kept giving us stuff, which was great :) And they were dissappointed that we were able to handle the "toxic waste" (basically warheads, super sour stuff).

It was cool to be back where I was almost five years ago with our tour group. I'd like to come back (when it's warmer maybe) and see the baths again. AND see some Jane Austen-y stuff. I really like Bath and I'm glad it's so close. Jaime Oliver has a restaurant here too.... mmmm... maybe if we don't buy food for a couple of weeks we'll afford a night out there.

This is cute Thomas. He's my little love bug. He's in my primary class and gives me so many hugs (and candy) that I forgive him when he acts up haha. He's such a sweetie. After I took this picture he said it was to remember him forever in that hat.

The pump room, where you can pay to ronk icky water that's supposedly good for you our makes you young or something.

Needless to say, it started raining (welcome to England) but it was still fun. We found solace in a McDonalds for a while. I'm happy to say that MacDos tastes the same wherever you are. It was a little piece of home to help with my homesickness during the Holidays.

Pretty Bath Abbey :)

Cool tree crown carving thingy on the cathedral.

I saw this on the way to work yesterday. It was for some cancer charity thing. Cool dude.