Christmas in England

Its hard to believe that Christmas has already come and gone.  But now we have some time off from work and school to relax and spend time together, so its not completely over yet.

We had a very nice Christmas celebration in our new house.  The kids left mince pies and milk for Santa, and he seemed to have enjoyed them.

When we woke up on Christmas morning, we were all excited to see that Santa had been here, and he left some of the things they wanted most.

Ben had been asking for a "motorcycle" - a two wheeler without pedals or training wheels.
Susanna was hoping for this Barbie toy that includes the ingredients needed to make sparkly lip gloss.
On Saturday, we went on a quick trip to the north coast of Devon.  The drive was 4 hours, part on the motorways and part on some winding back roads.  We learned that Susanna is rather prone to motion sickness on this trip!  We had a nice stay at a small family-run  hotel - there was an indoor pool, a toy room, a restaurant and a bar!  And we had two adjoining rooms - one with single beds for the kids and one with a double for us.  The kids loved having their own room with its own television.  The town itself was very nice, though not as lively as its likely to be in warmer weather.  We tried to walk up this hill on Sunday, but found it to be waaay too windy.  We went back this morning for another try and found success!

Now we're back home and ready to stay put for a while.  We're looking forward to a few quiet days with not much to do.  Susanna goes back to school on the 6th - I'm sure by then she'll be quite ready to go!