Christmas & New Years 2011

I realize it is mid January, and I am way late in getting these posted- but for memories sake, here is a glimpse at our very merry 2011 Christmas in the UK.

For Christmas Eve, we decided to say NO! to all the time required for preparing a huge meal and NO! to all the dishes- and instead, we booked a table at a nearby restaurant called the Salt House.  It felt very Christmas-y to have our meal next to the fire and with all the warm glowing lights.

This photo accurately sums up Ady's mood that night at dinner.  Constipated.  No, just kidding.  She was pretty excited about Santa coming.

When we got back from dinner, we made cookies and had some hot chocolate.

Christmas Morning

These were to die for!  Oh mama!

Our New Years was a bit uneventful.  It is difficult to have any sort of night life when you have young kids- especially when their bedtime is at 6:30pm!  Believe me, though, that an early bedtime makes a world of difference to the quality of day we have.  So I think it is completely worth it!

We decided to go check out the London Aquarium earlier in the day on New Years Eve.  Being a fish-lover, I thought it would be cool.  Although we saw some interesting things, unfortunately, I wasn't too impressed and didn't find it to be worth the cost of admission.  The aquarium is situated right under the London Eye and near Westminster where they hold the big London New Years Celebration.  People were everywhere setting things up for the big firework show and party for later.  We decided to get the heck out of there before the crowds got too big.  (Man, I realize we sound like some major party poopers!)

      

Back at home Tyler and I stayed up and played Monopoly and watched some show about the top 50 most annoying things/people from 2011.  WAHOO!  Party, party.  We watched the big London firework show on TV at midnight.  London may not know how to have an amazing aquarium, but they DO know how to do a firework show!  It was the most craziest firework show I have ever seen.  To start the show off, they had fireworks spewing from inside Big Ben, then they had fireworks shooting from the London Eye and from boats in the Thames and other locations.  The sky and river were lit up for a straight 20 minutes or so non-stop.  It was hands-down the most amazing firework show ever!  I can only imagine what it will be like when the Olympics come this summer.  I am sure London will not disappoint.  The Mayor of London (Boris, is his name.  Hee hee.), says that 2012 will no doubt be the greatest year many Londoners will see in a lifetime- with all the big things happening here.  I think we picked a good time to come, eh?  Lets hope Boris is right.

Here is a glimpse at the fireworks show.  Prepare to have your socks knocked off!

That pretty much sums it up.

Oh, but first...
Here is a photo of our annual Christmas season puzzle.  It was a good one.