DECEMBER ACTIVITIES

This was our Christmas Eve dinner. It was beautifully done and we all had a lot of fun. This is a picture of the Sandersons, Ira and Barbara from Gunnison, Utah. When we travel in groups of 4 couples, the Sandersons are always part of the group. They went with us on the Church History tour and always go on the Monday van trips. We all get along so well and have become life long friends. We're already planning to serve in the Nauvoo Temple together when we get back - if we can. If we don't get to do that, then we're planning a trip to Nauvoo with the Sandersons.

Oh, you know who this is.

A table setting w/o plates, etc. The things on the table are called Christmas crackers. They are an absolute must on British tables - you wouldn't believe how cheesy. Two of you pull on them to pop them - they make a noise and a really cheap crown (plastic - like a garbage bag cut jiggity like a crown) and a little toy (like a little plastic frog or a little barrette) is inside and a really corny joke - something like a Chinese fortune cooky. When we were all making up the menu, we thought they meant real crackers. I love the differences in our culture and language.

The proselyting missionaries made these for the foyer downstairs. We really like them and wanted to show our kids, so they could make them. They're just chunks of wood with the bark stripped off.

Christmas lights on Regent Street and Oxford Street in downtown London. The difference between our lights and England's is that they string them across the street - from building to building. It's reall very beautiful.
These London pictures were taken on our 47th wedding anniversary on December 19, 2011. It doesn't show, but it was pouring rain and windy and really cold. We went to see the lights, go to Harrods, the science museum and Winter Wonderland (it was dumb - just a carnival). We had dinner at a very exclusive, small restaurant in downtown London - some day I'll tell you the name of the restaurant.

There were gazillions of these stars - they're huge and they start in the middle and the lights go out by strands until there's only one line of lights outlining a star - then they fill back in again.

See, here's a full star. The Jingle all the Way is a wall of lights - they had a lot of those things up too. Anyway, it's very interesting and pretty.

Obviously, it was still daylight here, but this is outside Harrods and their lights were really beautiful - it doesn't show up here as well.

We wanted to see the Hyde Park Chapel while we were here, but didn't know how to find it. We just walked out the side door of the Science Museum in downtown London and there it was. It's closed for renovations - that's why the windows are boarded up. But it was really fun to see it. We've heard a lot about it. If you look carefully you can read The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints on the side. Fun.

Here is Harrods. We did go in and bought some fudge so we could get a bag. We looked at shoes that were 5,000 pounds - but the style just wasn't right for me :) These guys are called the West Indian Steel Band and were really outstanding.

I don't know which activity this was - we had three or four downstairs in our building - the Accommodation Center - and I was trying to get a good shot of the temple, so you could see how close we live to it. The picture isn't too hot, but I sure love the view.

This was our wonderful snow fall that I raved about. What you see is all we got. But it was so much fun to see.