I Love All of These People So Much

My cousin, Robin, and her family

The original Sampley family

Nick and the girls

Matthew's home!

Victor (from Romania) is home from college.

Uncle Bob and Aunt Deanie (and my insulin pump that makes me look pregnant)

June's smile looks more like a growl.

Merry Christmas!

Early Christmas in Durham

For Christmas this year, I just couldn't wait to give Nathan his gift. I had been thinking about it, scheming, and planning for months. I didn't want to pack it and give it to him in America because it was a bit cumbersome but delicate at the same time. We decided to exchange gifts before leaving for America on Wednesday night. I didn't know exactly how to wrap it, so I just told him to close his eyes while I held it up. Here is a video of him "opening" his gift. 

Our neighbor Keith, who lives at Crook Hall, painted it for us. We love it so much! I love that the cathedral is in the background too. We will hang it above our bed when we get back to Durham, and it's something we will treasure forever!

My turn! Nathan laid the gifts out on the bed and led me in and told me to open my eyes. 

It's a fancy fleece - not from a charity shop! I also got some warm socks and a cookbook. 

As I type, Nathan is playing golf with the boys, and I'm finishing up addressing all of my Christmas cards. It's good to be back with family and friends! We've already eaten lots of tasty food (first stop: In 'N Out) and have been raving non-stop about the comfortable bed in the guest room.

More later! Merry Christmas!

One Big Catch Up Post

So, after receiving two concerned e-mails from dear friends on the same day ("You haven't been blogging lately. Are you okay?"), I've decided it's time to catch up. This was going to be about five posts, but alas, between work, church, hospitality, and Friday Night Lights, I haven't had any time to sit down and post properly. Enjoy a quick snapshot of the last month of our lives.

First, some Thanksgiving shots. I would love to show you pictures of all my kids enjoying their meals, but I just can't. I'm sure you understand. You can, however, click here to see a picture and a little blurb on our school's website.

Nathan is preparing the steaming meats for Thanksgiving.

Our hands posing with the food table

I look knackered, which I was. Nathan was chipper, as usual.

Here is an awful, blurry picture of Pamela putting lights on our tree.

Here's another awful, blurry picture. Please go to Pamela's blog to see more details about decorating the house for Christmas (at the bottom of the first page). She's got another house tour on there as well as pictures from our Christmas party last weekend (I got ZERO pictures. How is that possible?!) and lots more cool stuff. Check it out.

Our friend Kristine came up for the weekend and we baked our brains out.

The usual

Kristine was an amazing pastry chef. We made a bajillion cookies and colored icing and decorations for my students and my Focus group from church.

Here's my Focus group! I meet with these lovely ladies (minus Kristine and plus a few more) every Thursday night to study the Gospel of Mark.

Aren't the girls so festive and talented?

One of my Chinese kids decorated this one. I'm sure it says something bad in Chinese, because when I told him I wanted to take a picture of it, he promptly covered it with pink sprinkles. You can see the news story on our school's website about Kristine's visit and our carols and cookies time here. P.S. The kid pictured is not the one who decorated the above cookie. :)

Last week, Nathan and I made our first visit to the big Sainsbury's. I don't have an appropriate California analogy, but here's a Georgia one. In England, Tesco : Kroger : : Sainsbury's : Publix. We took a few pictures. Here's some sliced turkey with the stuffing already in it.

Since when were beans called pulses?

There's also non-biological powder. I don't understand the difference. I know that it's all laundry soap, but I'm not sure why the word biological is in there.

Hey Amy, with the t-shirt by Disney and the undies by Playboy, this guy sporting moral polar opposites of fashion has to be on your team.

Mumers, Nathan really wants to take you to this all-you-can-eat buffet when you come next. Side note: my mom hates buffets and thinks only fat people eat in them.



Okay, I think that's it for now. I'm going to do a separate Christmas post in a bit...

Hope you enjoyed the big catch up post!

FNL

Friday Night Lights. 


Nathan calls it Saturday Night Fever... or Saturday Night Live... or Monday Night Football. Any which way you put it, this is why I haven't been blogging much (or sleeping much, for that matter) lately.





Clear eyes. Full hearts. Can't lose.


And go Mustangs.

Some Thanksgiving Thoughts

The picture is Martha Stewart's - obvi.

Today we celebrated Thanksgiving because I had to work and church commitments on Thursday. We had 20 people, mostly my international students plus three church friends, crammed in our little house and I made all the food. Like, all of it. For the first time in my life. 


I had nightmares about it for about a week and was really worried about things that realistically could have gone wrong but didn't: what if Tesco didn't have turkey, what if we don't have enough room in the refrigerator for all of the food, what if the turkey doesn't fit in the crock pot, what if we run out of food, what if they hate it, what if all these people just don't fit in the house, what if... ? You get the picture. 


Much to my relief, my international students genuinely liked the food, and I was so relieved. Many of them had never eaten turkey before, and none of them had ever had stuffing. It was everyone's first Thanksgiving, except for Nathan's and mine, which I found really exciting. Anyway, good times were had by all, and we had plenty of delicious food left over.


I couldn't have done it without Charissa (who pretty much just chopped things for three hours yesterday), Pamela (even if she did forget to put the sugar in the pumpkin pie), Nathan (dish washer and potato masher extraordinaire), and Nat (gravy whisker), who each helped me so much. Thank you!


It feels super weird to go about normal life on such a big American holiday. No time off of work, no big boxes of chicken broth or jars of cranberry sauce or cans of pumpkin to see on display by the front doors of the grocery store, no Black Friday shopping, and no Christmas card envelope stuffing. 


Normally the day after Thanksgiving I drop my Christmas cards in the mail. Confession: I LOVE when someone says, "We got your Christmas card, and it was the first one of the season! You are so organized." *Pat pat pat* Mental pat on the back. 


This will not be happening this year. I did order them this week, but I had them shipped to my parents' house because it was waaay cheaper, not to mention that posting them all from the States will be waaay cheaper than spending $1.50 for each stamp to send them from here. So anyway, they'll get to you, don't you worry. 


I love Christmas cards. Love, love, love. It's a tradition that I don't think I will ever give up, even as we move into a more digital and environmentally friendly world. If you are planning on sending us a card (pretty please?), make sure you send it to the right place! We've moved, remember? I'm not going to type our address on this here post for security reasons (although it would be practically impossible to find us because we don't have a street sign on our street or a house number on the house), but you can request it from me in the comments section or on Facebook. Or you can mail it to my parents or my in-laws, whichever is easiest.


Now, I have to think about where to display all of these beautiful cards you will be sending our way...


Happy Turkey Weekend.

Papa Mike Bear and His Girls

I love these pictures because 1) it warms my heart to see my dad with his granddaughters and 2) my sister and I always did the choking move when getting our picture taken. June calls my dad Papa Mike Bear, which just kills me. I love these girls! 

This Week's Fave Pins

This just says "Thanksgiving" to me, even though it doesn't have any food in it.

I'm tempted to recapture my California blonde color when we come home for Christmas. My color right now I would call, "It's dark in England by 3:30 p.m."

I made some chocolate chip pumpkin bread with a box of Trader Joe's mix and some Ghirardelli chocolate chips. Yum-O!

This makes me think of my sister and my cousin Misty and the ginormous bruise I got at an *NSync concert being crushed against a barricade by screaming girls. Good times.

Nathan and I went running for the second time since our race. This pin sums up my thoughts about it.

Have a great weekend!

I Should Win Wife of the Year

So, I got some free tickets through school to a Christmas craft fair put on by Living North, which is kind of like a Martha Stewart's Living kind of magazine. I was pumped about the huge white tent full of Christmas-y crafts and gourmet foods, but I was really pumped when I read that it was being held at a race track and that people could buy driving time on it.

Four laps on the 2.17 mile track. In a Porsche. My husband's dream.

When we got in the car to go home from work last week, I said, "I've got the best surprise for you!"

"What is it?" he asked. 

"Guess!" I giggled.

"Is it driving a Lamborghini around a racetrack?"

My face fell. "Is a Porsche okay?"

"Huh?"

"How did you guess it?!"

"I GUESSED IT?!"

"Yeah. I got tickets to a craft fair at a race track and you can drive a Porsche around the track and I want to buy driving time for you."

"What? Really?"

"It's a Porsche though. Is that okay?"

"It'll do."

He was never so excited to go to a craft fair. We were one of the first few eager beavers there last Friday, and we headed straight to the driving circuit. 

Enjoy the pictures and video of my handsome husband in the fancy car. 

After the driving experience, he said, "The only thing that would have made it better would be that I could keep the car."