Not quite the same

Well Christmas has come and gone, and to be honest with you I am not quite sure if our first Christmas abroad was a good one or a bad one. I was nice to not have to worry about running around here and there, but would have really liked to see everyone none the less.


Things are a little different here, honestly if you didn't know you would have thought it was just an ordinary weekend or just another day. Yeah stores were closed, but other than that pretty much as usual. I mean the tube workers went on strike for higher pay, people protested, and bums, well they bummed. I guess there were less cars zooming by the house, which meant less barking from Turbo so that was nice.


I think part of the fact Christmas seems subdued here is due to the fact that nobody really owns their own house, and houses are all attached. It would be nearly impossible to hang Christmas lights. We see the occasional tree in a window or something but really not much decorating in the neighborhoods. I would imagine this is what it is like in New York or other big cities.


The stores and shopping areas put on a good show, in fact I thing they just might overdo it a little. But hell with prices like those they have to give people something to smile about. One of the big department stores was even going to have live penguins in one day, but a whole bunch of animal rights activists protested and they cancelled the show. Kristen was crushed!


Anyway, the decorations that do go up are so gaudy, everything shiny and sparkly. Saw a tree yesterday that had so much garland on it you couldn't even see the green. People say Happy Christmas instead of Merry Christmas.


We kept things traditional, or at least as best as we could. Pancakes for breakfast, then presents, then lunch and a nap. I have been wanting to make a full on turkey for awhile now so this was a perfect excuse. I took a shortcut though and just bought everything in a chip. No just kidding, these were pretty gross though, I wouldn't recommend them if they ever show up on shelves in the US. Not sure what we are going to do with 10lbs of turkey, 7.5lbs of potatoes, and loads of other stuff, I am sure we (and when I say we I mean me, Kristen doesn't do leftovers) will be eating leftovers for quite some time.


And oh who could forget Boxing Day. I actually googled it to figure out what the hell it was for, just so I could write this. I guess its kinda like our Labor day, with gifts. Oh well, Holiday on Tuesday so who is complaing. Supposed to be the biggest shopping day of the year, so we will see if we get out and brave the crowds.

Decorations on Oxford Street

My turkey masterpiece