CHRISTMAS

Merry Christmas!

At 7:30 this morning we were woken by the shouting of “A BIKE?!?” by Sophia who had clearly just seen her most exciting Christmas present.  She insisted we wake up and we got some coffee down before settling in for Christmas morning.

Santa was incredibly kind to Henry and me this year and left us each a stocking that was filled with edibles that we could take on our journey.  We offered to cook breakfast and set to work making bacon, sausage, eggs, potatoes and more coffee in addition to some terrible mimosas.  We tried to make them with Squash instead of orange juice and it was…horrible.  The groan that both Erin and Laurie let out when they heard what had happened spoke to our incredible ignorance over British beverages.  The second round turned out okay and we ate our fill before Maya and Jenny both came over for a bit more present opening.  Henry and I were each given a book and I received a lovely pair of fingerless gloves that Erin had knit.

We had a few more cups of coffee before Henry passed out and we had some quiet time while Erin prepped an amazing Christmas dinner.  Back home my mom and Modie were cooking up roast beef, roasted potatoes and some greens and I saw that Erin was making the same thing—a little piece of home away from home.  The meal was unbelievable.  Yorkshire pudding, brussel sprouts, potatoes, meat, gravy…I ate two heaping plates and a little bit more and watched as Henry did the same, happy that he has been looking less and less like a skeleton since leaving Denmark and more like his old self.

We had to have a break before we could possibly eat dessert and Henry and I got caught up in the “what are the next steps / how to be an artist / is school worth it right now” conversation we’ve been having on and off for the past five months.  Erin joined us and offered her much needed consultation that nobody really knows what they’re doing at 24.  It’s a weird transition time and things are hard on most everyone.  Reassured we set in to eat dessert and we inhaled Christmas pudding, pecan pie and ice-cream and…more coffee.  The table cleared and Dave told me that it was okay if Henry and I needed to stay a bit longer, an offer that we didn’t want to ask for but were very happy to receive.

We sat down and started to watch ‘Inside Out’ which was the first movie that Henry and I saw together—one of our first ‘almost dates’ because nothing screams “No, this isn’t a date” quite like watching a Pixar film about emotions.  We stopped after a bit to Skype with Erin’s parents, brother and grandma (the one she shares with Henry).  He tried to make the announcement that he was leaving Copenhagen but it turns out I had accidentally beaten him to it—I didn’t think about the fact that anyone other than my family might be reading this.  Sorry Henry!  Glad my introduction to your extended family was with pictures like this:

Our stomachs feeling like they might pop, we settled back in for the movie and Erin, Henry and I found ourselves crying at the end, just as moved by it as we were the first time.  The ‘is he going to hold my hand?  Lean over and say something clever so he’ll laugh…oh he beat me to it’ butterfly feelings from the first viewing weren’t there, but the addition of mulled wine and some kids hopped up on Christmas joy made for just as happy of a memory.

Despite the copious coffee consumed today, it’s time to sleep and digest some of the feast!