Christmas with the Kurzwegs

This year for the holidays, David and I stayed in London and invited our families to join us in Europe for Christmas and New Year’s. So Amy, Ross, Jeff, and Laura flew in from Texas and Scotland and stayed with Karen, while Mom, Dad, and Elizabeth came over from El Paso and stayed with us. We had a full two weeks scheduled!

Because Elizabeth didn’t get out of school until the 21^st, we spent the week before Christmas with the Houses in Surrey.  I had to work, but luckily it was slow in the office so I still got a lot of family time in by working from home.  We relaxed, watched a lot of movies, and on Saturday had a hilarious awkward family photo session. 

Kirby is such a loyal pup! He always stays close when I’m working from home, and (mostly) quiet during conference calls.

The Houses always bake and decorate the most delicious sugar cookies  

for Christmas. They made this nice bell to welcome my family.

The day that Dad, Mom, and Elizabeth got in we visited the Christmas markets.  It was the day before Xmas Eve, so they were crazy crowded.  The Southbank Market has a great atmosphere along the Thames in the shadow of the Eye and Big Ben.  

I think it only took about 8 tries to get this pic...

Hyde Park’s Winter Wonderland has changed entirely, though.  It’s no longer a traditional German Xmas Market, it’s now a carnival with stalls for food, drinks, and dare-devil rides!  In the past, they’ve only had the ferris wheel and it’s always been too cold to go on.  But we had a very mild December this year, so David, Elizabeth, and I rode a few rides.  Mom and Dad were too jet-lagged to be whipped around on the swings or free-fall 180 feet, but the kids had fun!

Elizabeth turned 18 in November so here she is with her first legal drink ever – hot chocolate and amaretto.  She loved it, but she kept forgetting the name of the liquor, so she started calling it ‘that Armageddon drink.’

On Christmas Eve, David and I hosted a dinner party at our place before heading to Carols by Candlelight at Royal Albert Hall.  Last time we were in London for Christmas, we really enjoyed caroling so we’re trying to make this a tradition every time we’re in England for the holidays.

Royal Albert Hall inside...

.... and out

I had so much fun planning our dinner party.  I got a ton of great ideas off of Pinterest for recipes and creative Christmas-themed desserts, and the place cards.  Our guests snacked on mini mac n cheeses, spinach and artichoke dip, roast beef and piccalilli tea sandwiches, and cranberry brie bites.  To satisfy our sweet teeth, I made Christmas tree brownies (decorated by Elizabeth), vanilla cupcakes, and Hershey kiss cookies with the kisses flown in from the states.  We also had mulled wine simmering on the stove and a hot chocolate bar.

David crafted the candy cane card holders, 

and that’s our first real tree in the background.

Christmas Day we headed over to Karen’s for a delicious dinner and a day spent with family.

Wearing our crowns from the Christmas crackers. It was the first time 

that Ross, Mom, Dad, and Elizabeth had ever popped open Christmas crackers.  Elizabeth opted to wear the Santa hat instead.

Boxing Day (the day after Christmas, an official holiday in the UK) is also Amy’s birthday!  So we left the Kurzweg's to relax at home while we headed back to Karen’s for a homemade dinner and birthday celebration!

Blowing out the candles on her stick toffee pudding!

The rest of the week was spent visiting sites around London like Hampton Court Palace, Portobello Market, and Somerset House.

Entrance to Hampton Court Palace

Celebrating after we finished the maze on the grounds of Hampton Court.  We took this picture about 10 times, and Mom didn’t move an inch!

Ice skating at Somerset House. That day, we learned that NO ONE in London can skate. We flew out there and did half a loop before we noticed everyone else was still gripping on to the walls beside the entrance to the rink, trying so hard to keep their balance and not fall. Once people got a bit more confident, we saw some great wipe-outs!

We also visited David’s former favorite attraction in the city, the London Dungeon.  Unfortunately I don’t think we’ll be going back.  It’s changed a lot in the past year since they added a new ride.  In the past, we showed up and walked right in with little to no lines.  Last summer, we tried to take my family and the line was 2 hours long.  We tried again before we ice skated and found the same thing.  Third time was a charm once we realized it’s best to buy tickets in advance for a certain time slot.  But still, the crowd control is out of control.  But it was definitely worth it this one last time to see Elizabeth hit the deck when Jack the Ripper came after her.  I’ve never seen her move that fast in my life!

Even with the advance tickets purchased online, we still had to wait outside in the cold rain for about 20 minutes.  Bring back Sweeney Todd and get rid of that dumb ride, Dungeon!

We also had our share of British food at the local pubs.

The Windsor Castle pub in Notting Hill is so old that it’s rumored patrons used to be able to see Windsor Castle 20 miles away.  You can tell it’s old because a couple of the doors inside are made for very short people.  Dad is 6'2'' and would've been a giant back then!

We watched the UT Bowl Game at barbeque joint Bodean's with the other Texas Exes that were in town.  Elizabeth got to meet a lot of alumni and is even more excited to move to Austin next summer!

A big tradition in the Kurzweg family during Christmas break is to relax at the movies.  We each got to choose a movie, but unfortunately there’s a delay in Hollywood releases here so some of the great ones like Lincoln and Les Mis aren’t out until mid-January.  Mom picked Parental Guidance and David and I chose to see Life of Pi.  Dad decided on The Hobbit.  Best out of all three:  Life of Pi.  The Hobbit was good, but too long.  And do they really need to make two more?  Maybe I need to read the book… 

And no, we didn’t forget about Elizabeth.  For her birthday, we got her tickets to Phantom of the Opera at Her Majesty’s Theatre.  It was one of the best, if not the best, performances of Phantom we’ve ever seen.  David has been a ridiculous number of times (something like 9?) and this was my third time.  And we were all blown away.  Plus it’s always fun to see with newbies and gauge their reactions.

Week Two was packed full of other fun things like the Harry Potter Studio Tour, Afternoon Tea, and a couple of Walking Tours.  But that will have to wait because it’s the first week back to work, we haven’t taken down any of our Christmas decorations, and we’re heading to France for a ski trip this weekend.  So I gots to go!