Day 211: Grimace

Day Three: England 2011/2012

CHRISTMAS DAY!

Despite the 7:30am wake-up call Krista and I received from her family celebrating Christmas Eve in Canada, Christmas morning started splendidly. After the phone call, where Krista promised her Father it would be reciprocated, we decided to just get up and open the stockings we had bought for one another. Stockings have got to be one of the best parts of Christmas day. Mine had (surprise, surprise!) quite a few pairs of adorable socks - many of which you will see, hopefully soon once I get all caught up. Yes, I have been promising that for a long time. Maybe follow-through is not my forte at this point in life.

Alas, I digress. We opened our stockings and then exchanged "big gifts". Krista booked us both in for a day at the Sanctuary Spa! My first ever facial, as well as a massage and a 'sleep retreat'. And it was only two days away! Excited was definitely an understatement.

A bit later in the morning, Krista and I headed over to Susie's place for Christmas brunch. When we arrived, the adorable Sam was there to greet us.

Seriously. That face. So cute!

We ate. And we ate. And we ate some more. In fact, other than our jaunt around Kensington Gardens, we basically just ate all day. However, it was really tasty food. Susie went all out. And I even ate shrimp - and enjoyed it. Tiny Tim would be so proud. It was a true Christmas miracle.

While eating shrimp, eggs, baked oatmeal, fresh fruit, pastries, sausage rolls, cheese (oh god, so much cheese), prawn bites, etc, etc, etc. And drinking champagne and OJ by the keg-full, we watched some movies. Christmas classics, of course: Love, Actually and Meet Me in St. Louis. We also made time to watch the Queen's speech. Being from Canada, I never knew this was a British tradition. Oddly, it was like being at Christmas church service. It was a little bit about the struggles of England, more about royal weddings the past year and then it was all about baby Jesus.

I don't know what you did on Christmas, but I heard a sermon from the Queen of England.

We also went for a walk. It was a nice, long walk. Poor Sam was tuckered at the end of it. This walk was significant for me though. As many (ok, all) of you know, I adore the movie Peter Pan. In fact, I've been Peter Pan obsessed since I was a small child. This has culminated in me having enough Peter Pan memorabilia to effectively furnish a room, simply with Peter Pan goods.

Therefore, the walk in Kensington Gardens was significant, as it is where J.M. Barrie is said to have come up with the idea of Peter Pan. As such, there is a magnificent Peter Pan statue and plaque erected there. Obviously, a photo with me and Sam playing "Nana" was in order. Sam was a pretty good sport about us emasculating him with our request that he pose as a girl dog. What a champ.

All in all, it was an extremely relaxing Christmas day, with delicious food and fabulous company throughout. I'm grateful.

xo