Leaky Charm: Christmas Time in London

Merry Christmas 2015!

This was our family Christmas picture this year.

It was taken at Virginia Water Lake just down the road from our house by our dear friend YuChen He.

LEGOLAND!

Alyson and I took the four youngest kids to Legoland to visit Santa Clause.

It was such a fun evening. The boys were great and I think they had a great time.

Anne and Trevor Frost, Josh and Ty

Their "Golden Ticket" to see Father Christmas

Santa was so funny and the boys thought it was great to see him.

Josh asked for a mini soccer net and ball and Ty asked for magic tricks!

The boys were THRILLED with their gifts from Santa. They each got a full size lego toy! Sweet!!

The elves workshop where children could go build legos.

Josh's Christmas tree

Ty's snowman

mini masterpieces (the legos are cool too :))

We went on the laser shooting ride (like Buzz Lightyear at Disneyland) about 10 times!

It got pretty cold, so Alyson went home and the boys and I stayed and rode rides till they closed.

YuChen came to visit us from China! He's been traveling around Europe an stopped by for one night to be with us. He is as handsome and fun and kind as ever. We miss you YuChen

Anniversary Dinner and Entertainment!

Remember when I said our friends the McCluckie's are amazing? This just topped it all when they helped the kids put together a surprise dinner/show for us when we arrived home from Prague.

Anne (our party planner) wanted to surprise us with this fun little dinner and talked her bothers into dressing up and singing and performing for us.

This was the site we had when we walked in the door! We just died laughing!

They sang their own rendition of "Be our guest" and then lead us to the "reservation table".

Anne was so cute. She checked us in and lead us downstairs to where we heard this..

Josh playing his violin for us! It was TOO sweet!

Andy was holding baby Sienna while cooking the salmon and Azaria was busy tidying dishes.

This was our table setting. We had baguettes with fresh bruschetta, grilled salmon, pasta with chicken and a banana ?pie for dessert! It was so delicious. How in the world did we get so lucky?!

BEST DINNER ENTERTAINMENT you could every ask for!

Thank you McCluckie's for helping our kids make this very memorable evening possible!

Christmas Panto

For those of you who've never heard of or been to a Christmas Panto, you are missing out!

These theatre productions take place all over England only at Christmas time and are a spoof on classic fairytales. They are a bit bazaar and really hilarious. Barb and Wayne gave the kids some Christmas money so we took them to the Panto, Cinderella, in Richmond. Thank you so much Gram-Gram and Grandpa!

One of the highlights was that Hayley Mills (from the Parent Trap and Pollyanna) played

the Fairy God Mother! The kids thought that was awesome!

Joshy was one of four children called up on stage at the end. He was adorable but the crowd was quite silent when he was asked who his favorite football team was and he said, "Barcelona." LOL!

(They were expecting to hear an English team!)

Nonetheless, he received a little gift from Buttons

These are 'rubbish' pictures, but the costumes and staging were SO great!

They even had a real white pony to take Cinderella to the ball!

Staines Ward Christmas Baskets

Sister Jan Keating (and her daughter Avi) put together 18 Christmas hampers for some of the members in our ward. The youth were able to deliver them on Youth Night and had some great experiences. The kids sang to, prayed with, and laughed together with people who were happy to see them with their sweet gifts.

Christmas Eve Football Game!

2nd Annual Football match on Christmas Eve was a huge hit! It rained the entire time and we were covered in mud. Mary said it best, "Our laundry machines are not big enough for this game!" Oh so true!