A White (Day After) Christmas

Yesterday evening it snowed here in England! This was one of our family's hopes when we came here, because we never get any in Florida. When we found out that it would probably snow, we waited outside for the first flakes to begin to fall, and were glad that it continued to snow until there was a good four inches of snow on the ground.  

The snowscape outside our window.

We immediately began to play in the snow. We soon realized that cotton gloves and socks were not ideal for snowball fights, building snowmen, or even just walking through the snow. Our fingers and toes would freeze within the first sixty seconds. Fortunately, Mom and Dad had brought extra socks and gloves more suitable for the weather, and so we mostly just borrowed theirs and went outside again.     
We also learned the reason for snow pants, rather than just wearing jeans in the snow. If your jeans just as much as touch the snow, your jeans will become soaked, and your legs cold. Unfortunately we had brought no replacement for those, so we just had to bear it.  

Appreciating the first flakes of snow (mixed with rain droplets--no wonder the kids were wet and cold!)

Today, we went to the park to go sledding. We had no sleds, but we decided a few cookie sheets would do, right? Wrong! We tried to slide down the hill, but no matter what we tried we would just sink into the snow. Not even Brad could go anywhere, even when distributing his weight upon two of them. I guess we will have to find a better replacement so we can sled another time. 

Allison riding a cookie sheet down the driveway.

When it came to shoveling away the snow, we realized that we had nothing to do it with as well. Or did we? It turns out, even though cookie sheets do not make the best sleds, they make decent snow-shovels. In no time, we were shoveling away our driveway with them, so that if we wanted to, we could go somewhere. 

Shoveling the walk with a cookie sheet.

I used two think that snow would be so fun that I could never get tired of it, but even after the first day, I saw the nuisance it could cause. It made it harder to go places, we had to shovel it away, and hardest of all, we had to keep it outside. It definitely gives me a greater appreciation for the all-year warmth in Florida.  

An English Christmas

Christmas dinner with everyone's Christmas cracker surprises (crowns, whistles, and jokes).

We have loved our Christmas in England from musical concerts, carol services, and Christmas jumpers (sweaters) to the Queen's speech, Christmas dinner, Christmas flu, and Christmas crackers.  OK, so we weren't quite so pleased about the Christmas flu, but that isn't exactly an English novelty anyway.

We (especially Rachel) have been thrilled by the many musical events at the Christmas season.  There are many community musical performances for the season.  We enjoyed hearing St. Martin's in the Fields rehearse for the Bach Oratorio and attending a brass/choir concert at the Sheffield cathedral.  We also had the chance to participate in the church Carol service on Sunday night.  In fact, six of the Cranes were in the choir while Jeremy also performed in the string quartet and Allison did a trombone/trumpet duet.  Brad did a fabulous job as 'Joseph' in the nativity  including a duet with Mary.  

Here's the cast from the Church nativity pageant.  Brad is the second from the right on the first row.  Janean is the smiling brunette on the back row.

Some of the other local traditions are more fun than heavenly. For example, everyone seems to have their special "Christmas Jumper" the English term for a sweater.  And these sweaters are not just for hiding presents under in the back of the closet.  They wear them to the store, to work, and to the cinema (theater).  There is nothing subtle about most of the sweaters (see picture below.)

Real life example of a Christmas Jumper.

Christmas day has its own special English traditions.  At 3 PM on Christmas day, the Queen gives a speech that everyone listens to.  The speech is positive and perfect length for Brad's attention span.   In a remarkable evidence of English self-control, one family we know waits to open their presents until after the speech.  A highlight for many families is the Christmas dinner--usually a turkey with the trimmings.  Mince pies are traditional dessert along with Christmas pudding--an English cousin to the fruitcake.  Before all these tasty goodies can be consumed, everyone opens their Christmas crackers which pop open to reveal Christmas surprises. 

Watching the Queen's speech on Christmas afternoon.

The Christmas cultural exchange went two directions as we also shared the Crane gingerbread house tradition with some of our dear friends here.  Along the way, we learned that there is a big difference between light and dark molasses (called treacle here).  The only thing that could improve our Christmas experience would be to transport more of our family and friends here with us (and maybe a pass on that Christmas flu).

Decorating gingerbread houses with the Swift family.

London through the eyes of a 7 year old

By Brad Crane age 7                                                                                                    

London is a good place because it is filled with all its beauty.  One of my favorite places is the London Eye. It was on a lake. (Actually on the Thames River, Mommy adds.) It is really tall.  I also saw Big Ben. Big Ben is a clock.  We went on a tour bus. The bus is really long. I love the tour bus. There was head phones. The headphones are too big. So I just looked out the window. I liked the window. But there was no window because I was on a double-decker bus and I was on top. I was cold! I liked it. I recommend London to you. Those of you that are reading this I would like to say I miss you. I hope you will enjoy the rest of the blog….

One of my only wishes is that you could come to England with me. London is one of my favorite places I’ve gone while I was here. We went across the really cool Tower Bridge. The London Bridge is boring!

Across the Thames from Parliament.

Here we are enjoying the warmth.

All smiles as we give our feet a rest to ride an open-top doublee decker bus around London.

As a lover of amusement parks and rides, this was Brad's favorite attraction.

Note from the editor:

Yes, it has been a while since we have updated our blog and this is actually almost two months old.  I guess life responsibilities caught up with us even across the pond.  Our wonderful time here is rapidly coming to an end.  It is hard to believe that 4+ months have passed so quickly.