Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone! It is now 6:30 p.m. here in Cambridge and we are all laying on the bed, playing quietly with toys, or talking on the phone with friends and family from the States.

What a full day we have had! After opening stockings this morning, we headed to church for a 10:00 service. What a great day to be in church~children sat with parents, and the tradition here is that the little ones bring a toy they have just received to church with them, which they (if they want to) bring up on the platform to show everyone. The sermon then centered on the real gift of Christmas, Jesus.

I know that we have adjusted here because our children are now begging to go and connect with other friends as soon as the service is over. I love to see their pink cheeks and have them pulling me to other mothers in order to set up play dates later in the week. Jim and I realize we have made many friends here as well, and laughed to see that we were the last family out of church (once again!) today.

We raced home to begin preparations for our Christmas brunch with our friends the Powells. Here are a few pictures of the meal:


Hunter and Laura are great friends for us, because they invite us to try and see new things all the time. We have really enjoyed getting to know them and their boys.

This is Hudson:

This is Whitefield:

Andrew (these boys all three enjoyed their food!)

Julia


Sarah (wearing her favorite Christmas present)


and Claire, who is growing up before our eyes!

A Christmas tradition~Scones!


We have been excited to "iChat" with friends and family. What amazing technology! Our dear friends Jeff and Clarinda James took their computer over to the retirement community where Jim's folks live, and we were able to talk and SEE them this afternoon for Christmas. What a gift! Thank-you dear friends!

Here is a picture of Jim taking a much needed rest tonight up on our bed. He is replete with reading material, his new scarf and a little nourishment of his favorite kind.

Have a wonderful rest of your Christmas day~

Happy Christmas Eve

We pray this Christmas eve finds you able to quietly and joyfully celebrate the birth of our Savior. As we read Luke 2 tonight, and as we sang, "Silent Night" I found myself overwhelmed with the grace of God. So beautiful~this precious gift of our Savior. So perfect, His plan of redemption for the world. So awesome, that God would send Jesus in the form of a little baby to save us and make a way for us to know Him.

We spent tonight with the families of Tyndale House, and as we ended our meal we had the chance to each share how God had specifically shown Himself to us this year. What testimonies of God's grace! What miracles were performed and what faith was built this year~it was a special time for all of us to hear (often in some very difficult times) how faithful God has been.

We also happened to have some good food, (as always)




Some fun games were had too~

Here is Jim playing the "snow-flake" game, where three men had to keep a piece of toilet paper up in the air with just their breath. Jim added, "Not a bad game for PhD students with plenty of hot air!" :)


And somehow I was picked to gargle a Christmas carol (I wasn't very gifted in this area)

We then came home to read Luke 2 and open each other's presents. What a sweet time this was. There were lots of special gifts~


Julia's gift to the family was a game called the "Lucky Dip" and whoever chose the correct paper inside her jar won the special prize~(Sarah was thrilled to be that person!)


and here is a special present that Sarah received this year (thank you Johnathon for your help with this!)


Jim and I are now wondering if we will make it upstairs to go to sleep. We are exhausted! We have sit to look at our tree for a little bit~


Merry Christmas everyone! We love and miss you~

a Christmas sermon

"You are to give Him the name Jesus, because He will save His people from their sins." (Sarah's notes from church)

Yes, that is about it, Sarah.

Happy Christmas!

Christmas stockings

Our girls have put up their stockings, a sure sign that Christmas is two days away!

These are the new socks they have just received~Andrew keeps taking his down to wear them, because he likes them so much. Two of the girls have figured out that they might get more gifts if they put up BOTH socks, so they did. They have spent the day filling these socks with little notes and gifts for each other.

The stockings are hung on the chimney with care... well, actually on a drying rack in the living room which is attached to our radiator~a perfect height for secretive stashing!


We have a special joy as parents seeing the girls begin to focus on others this Christmas. We have been to the local "Co-op" (a small neighborhood grocery store) many, many times for them to spend the money they have on treats for each other and for neighbor children~their generosity is so innocent and sweet it makes your heart ache! They have made their spending money by doing extra chores around the flat. They have worked hard and we've been more than happy to encourage a spirit of giving.

God has given so much to us. We are so thankful for Jesus' birth!

A special angel . . .

Sarah made our tree topper this year at school. This beautiful angel graces our tree and makes us smile.

a sad day~

After a few last minute gifts~


And many farewell kisses, hugs and tears,


Nanna is gone. It is a sad day for the Johnston home. But we are so glad you were able to come for as long as you did, Nanna! Please bring Pappa with you next time, we are already counting the days!

Nanna has been arrested!!

A terrible thing happened today. Nanna was arrested by the local constables for trying to leave the country!


Yes, it is true. And as a good daughter would, I paid her bail and told her, "Mom, you can't leave me alone in this strange country!" Sarah told her, "You can't leave, it's great with you here, you have to stay here forever and ever and ever!"

Alas, Nanna is packed and sadly leaving for the airport tomorrow morning. She and I were able to sneak in a mother/daughter trip to the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge today.
Here is Nanna in front of the museum, notice the ceiling on this front "porch":

We were only able to take pictures in the entryway, BUT, what an entryway! Here are a few pictures~


The center of the ceiling cannot be described, it was glorious!

A picture of Nanna at the top of one of the dual stairways~


We had a wonderful day viewing old masterpieces. Why did this week have to fly so quickly?

Christingle

What is Christingle? I had never heard of such a thing before this month, and now I think this is our new family tradition!

The children made these "Christingle's" at church on Sunday and also today at school. We attended a service today at the village church (in Barton) where the girls and their school- mates had a Christingle service.

The decorated orange Claire is holding is very symbolic:

The orange itself represents the world.

The red ribbon around the orange symbolizes the blood of Christ that Jesus shed to save us from our sin.

The four cocktail sticks are the four seasons of the year.

The dried fruit or sweets represent the fruits of the earth and the earth's riches God has blessed the world with.

The white candle, which is place in the top of the orange, represents Jesus, the light of the world that shines over everything.

Family Christmas Service

Tonight was Eden Baptist's family candlelight Christmas service. We took Nanna again tonight for this "under 12" service (includes the young at heart.) We love how accomodating Eden is for children, and this particular service was a treat for all of us. There is a marvelous focus on proclaiming the Gospel at this church, and the people are simply lovely and caring. We so appreciated the chance as a family to celebrate Jesus together in this service. The puppet show was very good~

We are learning many new choruses and worship songs. Even many of the traditional Christmas carols are sung here with different melodies. This is a good experience for all of us! I think we are reading these carols/songs with different eyes as we learn new melodies to go with them.


Now, here is the REAL difference between England and the U.S.~~Mince pies~This was the treat after church tonight~

Every major event here (it seems) is celebrated with the firmly established tradition of Mince pies.

We have explained to one friend what might occur at a church Christmas service in the States (a pie social, dessert table, etc.) but we have never been to so many "mince pie" socials before. Claire is especially gravitating towards these little gems. My Dad loves these too, so I chalk it up to being a genetic trait.


They are no longer made with "mince meat" however, but it seems that most of England has moved towards the apple/fruit/raisin variety of mince pie. They are very popular!

Santa-Nanna flies through the air . . .

It wasn't the Santa Ana wind from California that arrived last night, and it wasn't a hurricane off the North Sea, it was: SANTA-NANNA!!!!!! Notice the eagerness of the below observers~


When is she going to come, WAIT, we hear the rush of flying Nanna!! WHOOSH!!

With great grace and beauty she flies through the air! Singing, "Santa-Nanna's coming to town!"

It was a long trip~and she is a little over-heated from wearing all her woolen garments~

She had many presents to carry~notice the laundry basket in the forefront~

One of the best gifts was of course, PINK GUM!!!

She has brought much joy and laughter to our home~


She is a wonder-woman~

We ended the day by eating Daddy's Julekage~~Thanks Jim!!

He did bake it~

Taking Nanna to Wimpole Hall

There is a beautiful National Trust home called "Wimpole Hall" that was open yesterday for a "Victorian Christmas." Volunteers dressed in Victorian garb (as servants) and showed us through the home. The dining room, for instance was decorated in a historically accurate model of what the meal was like when Queen Victoria and Prince Albert visited in 1843. The rage among the wealthy of the day was to grow pineapples in the family greenhouse, and so the large ones were on display in the dining room. Although we were not allowed to take pictures in this beautiful home, here is a shot of Nanna and her grandchildren at the front entryway~

We were able to sneak a picture in the servants' quarters down in the basement (where they had rooms set up for children to do crafts) and here is a typical ornament for Christmas made from greens on the estate.

The ladies here are holding clove-studded oranges which could be hung at Christmas time. Also, these were more often used in the families closets to compensate for lack of laundering. In fact, these ladies informed us that there were many outfits worn in that day that were never washed. We felt very clean in comparison!

This was a fun picture in the gift shop. A cat behind the register~


There were also roasted chestnuts for sale in the stable yard. Next to them, Jim and Andrew are talking to a reenactor dressed in the uniform of the West Norfolk 9th Regiment ~

Here are the chestnuts up close~ Snack anyone??


The Victorian Chestnut Roasters let us take a picture with them~ we felt like we had walked into a Jane Austen novel!


And then we headed to the chapel next door. It dates from Norman times (ie. William the Conqueror who invaded from Normandy in 1066) but the present building was built much later in 1748. It is the local parish church which still is running. You can see Wimpole in the background~

The tombstones you see here are people from the parish.

The family vaults are inside in their private chapel~


Here is Jim preaching to his favorite audience~


A fun morning~

You can see more pictures of Wimpole here.