We talked about getting a Christmas tree this year, but we never actually got round to organising it. Christmas drew closer and we had no where to place our presents. Donna Hay to the rescue!

I was very lucky to be sent the Donna Hay Christmas edition by Davina and her PA (thanks Davina! thanks Brian!) Donna Hay suggested making a Christmas tree out of fairy lights for an easy, minimalist and sparkly approach. Andrew and I acquired a set of fairy lights and some blue tack and voila we had the prettiest, biggest and only Christmas tree we've ever had. It was decorated with postcards we've collected on our travels this year. It was nice to have it twinkling away in our living room as we opened our presents and feasted on Christmas dinner.

We'll definitely be using this idea again in the future. Yay for Donna Hay! (and Davina and her Dad!)

Merry Christmas to all our family and friends in Australia and all over the world! Hope you all had a wonderful and relaxing day.

Our day in pictures:

Christmas tree	presents for Jess	presents for Andrew	brekky	brekky	turkey time
turkey time	lunch	winter pimms	dvd time	Gingerbread house	a couple of rounds of Get Jess

More Christmas Fun...

Lollies, sweets and candy...
For the past three years, one of my favourite Christmas events has been the Gingerbread House evening run by Heather's church. It is such a fun community event. Although I'm half a world away, I decided that this year I wasn't going to miss out on this event. Natalie and I put our heads together and sourced a couple of Gingerbread house kits. Natalie's came all the way from Canada and it's a typical North American mansion. Mine is from ASDA and is a classic European chalet (complete with Hansel and Gretel and a witch).

Natalie and I had a fun time decorating our Gingerbread Houses. Although there are no freckles, musk sticks, redskins or strawberry and creams decorations on our houses. The English really have no idea how to do tasty lollies.

Look out behiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiind yooooooooooooooooooooooou!
The last item on my Christmas in London to-do list was "See a Christmas pantomime". Yes, this Christmas really is all about my inner-child. So it was appropriate that our pantomime of choice was Peter Pan, a play about the boy who never grows up. Starring Sarah Jane Honeywell as Peter Pan (who!?!), Bobby Davro as Smee (who!?!) and (the reason we decided on Peter Pan) the Fonz as Captain Hook. I mean, Henry Winkler as Captain Hook.

Pantomimes are all about audience participation. The audience responds when an actor asks a question. The audience boos when the baddie comes on stage. Although I was a bit hesitant at first, I soon loosened up and joined in the fun. Even to the point of joining in the special audience participation section at the end of the panto. (It doesn't advance the story line at all; it's just there for the audience.) How could we resist though when Captain Smee, dressed in a big Kangaroo suit, made us all sing Tie Me Kangaroo Down. We were the only ones in the audience that were properly qualified to sing it. We sang loudly with the appropriate ocker accent.

The whole thing was just one big Helen De Paul dancing concert. The dancing and music were so very 80s with an Eye of the Tiger / Final Countdown medley at one point and a Queen finale. The Panto also borrowed heavily from other musicals. Consider Yourself (Oliver) and We Go Together (Grease) both made an appearance.

All in all, I had a really good time. I love punny humour and at the end of the evening my belly ached from laughing so hard. I'm definitely up for a panto at Christmas time next year. Although, I feel it would be twice as fun with a child in tow. I think next December it might be time for a "Holiday with Auntie Jess" in London. Just whack 'em on a plane, I'll meet them at the airport *G*.

*sigh* I miss my family today. I was feeling a bit sad as typed my Christmas grocery list today. I also received new videos of the boys from my Dad. A video of Oscar being engulfed by a present landslide and of Leo happy that he conquered Mt Christmas Present.

Oscar

Leo

For me, Christmas has always been about spending time with my family. So, I must admit that I'm a little sad this December. I'm sad, that I can't be home with the fam enjoying the traditional Christmas festivities. I saw some photos from our extended family Christmas which was on Saturday and it looks like it was a fun day.

In an effort to try and beat the homesickness, I've thrown myself into London's Christmas festive events. I'm trying to make this year so Londoney that I'll forget what I'm missing out on. And I've had a ball so far!

The Great Christmas Pudding Race
I read about this on LondonTown.com and thought it would be interesting to watch. The race comprises of 150 contestants in fancy dress racing around an obstacle course in Covent Garden all while carrying a Christmas pudding. The event is held to raise money for Cancer Research in the UK. Natalie and I ventured into Covent Garden to watch the spectacle.

The event was set to start at 11am but we had been standing around for about an hour before the first race actually started. I'm not sure it was worth the hour wait, although it was quite amusing to watch.

The participants are encouraged to dress up and many of the teams had gone to quite an effort. I was particularly impressed by the Parrots, the Christmas presents, and the girls in full reindeer costume complete with face paint.

We watched the Corporate Race which was a relay of sorts. To tell you the truth I had no idea what was going on. The obstacles on the course included climbing over an inflatable barrier, collecting eyes, a nose, a smile and ears to stick on the pudding, hanging a bauble on a Christmas tree and popping a balloon. The obstacle that seemed to cause the most trouble was the inflatable slide. The team dressed as Christmas presents found it quite difficult. One of the Present girls made it down the slide only to have to turn around and climb back to drag her friend down. It was definitely the most amusing part of the race.

Nutcracker Ballet
I was inspired to go to see The Nutcracker ballet by posts on a number of craft blogs that I read. They had blogged about the magical experience that is The Nutcracker at Christmas time. Most of the bloggers had a daughter or a niece in tow. Now, I don't have a daughter (nor a niece!) but I was sure that the little girl in me would enjoy it just as much.

And it was a truly magical experience. I really liked the set design and costuming which I guess could be described as wacky. In particular, I liked the set design for the Dance of the Snowflakes. The snowflakes leapt out of an enormous fridge and glissaded across the stage.

After 15 years of ballet lessons, I have a real appreciation for just how hard it is to do. Of course, they make it look so easy. The ballerinas pirouetted around the stage gracefully. The danseurs impressed us with their tours en l'air (jumping while spinning). The ballet ends with a pas de duex with the Sugar Plum Fairy and her Prince. It is the climax of the ballet so it is usually performed by principal dancers. Erina Takahashi played the role of the Sugar Plum Fairy and danced beautifully. The Prince was played by Yosvani Ramos. I'm sure he managed to complete triple tours. The music is so familiar but still so beautiful. I've downloaded the Nutcracker Suite from iTunes and have enjoyed listening to it at home.

I hope one day to share the Nutcracker experience with a niece (or maybe a daughter). One day...

(Photos care of the English National Ballet website)

Riding the carousel in Leicester Square
During the festive season, there is a fair in Leicester Square. There are sideshow alley games, a few rides and a carousel. The carousel was always my favourite ride at the Easter Show. After seeing the carousel in Leicester Square, I was determined to ride it. Apparently, this Christmas is all about entertaining my inner-child.

After the ballet, I dragged Natalie and Caitlin up to Leicester Square to ride the carousel. All three of us climbed aboard and mounted a horse for one and a half minutes of spinning and undulating to the accompaniment of organ music. Although maybe not quite as much fun as when I was 8, the merry-go-round ride definitely put a smile on my face.

Frost Fair
Another LondonTown.com recommendation, the Frost Fair, promised a Winter Christmas market with arts & crafts and food & drink stalls, ice sculptures and husky dog sledding. After my experiences at the Viennese Christmas markets, I was keen to see what London had to offer. Leah, another Christmas market aficionado, tagged along for the afternoon. We were both sorely disappointed with the Frost Fair. The place was packed with people and you could hardly move. The goodies on offer at the craft stalls were average and mostly tacky. We also paid a pound to get into the markets at the Globe Centre to be greeted with more of the same tacky, average crap. We will definitely be skipping this one next year.