Christmas is coming!

The past week has been incredibly Christmas-y! There was "plenty" of snow (not very much by our Canadian standards...but you know how they get over here) In fact, between Blair and Barret they had 5 snow days! It was pathetic. Even more pathetic was the fact that I didn't get to enjoy any snow days with them! My school kept trudging on. Impressive I suppose, in comparison. The south of England got smashed with snow - 18 inches in places over night! Even at home that's quite a bit over one night. You can imagine how people were not coping. People sleeping in their cars on the highway, on commuter trains that were stuck in the middle of nowhere...the city was dead because no one could get in to work! Ahh...I do love it.

On top of the snow (which by now has melted...) we decided to get a Christmas tree! Back home we have big, beautiful, full trees. Well... here it's a bit different. It's not exactly a Charlie Brown tree, but it cannot be compared to any tree I've ever had. A lot of the decorations are homemade but there are some lights and a few Christmas balls which spruce it up a bit! It's very festive however and that's all that matters! We are really looking forward to our trip to Ireland so we wont be able to enjoy our tree on Christmas, but I'm okay with that!! For obvious reasons this year we are not doing Christmas presents, however... the boys decided to buy themselves an early Christmas present on one of their shared snow days. I was working away while the two of them decided that an XBOX was required in our living room. I lose many a battle and when I am not home to defend my opinions there is no hope for me :(

I cooked my very first whole chicken last week. And it was so good! It gives me the confidence that I might actually be able to cook a turkey! Barret's favourite meal is a turkey dinner and I think I might be able to finally win him over completely if I cook one! (Haha) I am also going to be doing some Christmas baking this week. I am the only one in the house who has a serious sweet tooth...so this plan of Christmas baking for the guys might backfire and I end up eating all the cookies. Wish I could invite you all over!

Only a week and a half left of teaching until we are dismissed for the holidays! I am so excited and cannot believe how quickly this term has flown by. As a staff we are doing a pantomime which I have a role in and should be quite funny. Next Monday is the Carol Service at a local church and I am singing with the year 6 students so that should feel quite like home! All of the projects my students have been working on are coming to an end so it's fantastic to see how they're turning out. My year 6's have been doing a comparison project looking at the Venetian painter Canaletto and the Canadian painter AJ Casson of the Group of Seven. It's been great to see their interpretations of the Canadian landscape, actually it makes me feel a bit homesick to see their paintings!

Nothing much else to report - just enjoying our time here! I have a feeling it's coming to an end this summer so trying our best to take it all in now.

All my love,

Amy