The Christmas Choir @ Christ Church Cathedral

By Liv

Have you seen the movie "Harry Potter"? If you have, you would easily remember the dining hall scene in the movie - the scenes where wizardly students are adorned in long robes and surrounded by magical candlelight and spells. Well, the place where these dining scenes were filmed was at Christ Church College - where I went to watch the all-boy Christmas Choir. Christ Church was built by Henry VII in 1546. Talk about history...

Because of the flash snow storm, many people weren't able to use their tickets to see the Christmas Choir at Christ Church Cathedral - which happens to be one of the best Holiday events in all of Oxford. I joined my two neighbors and good friends, Stephanie and Bess, in bundling up in every possible layer of warmth before making the trek (by foot!) to watch the choir.

The music was amazing. The boys were amazing. They stood in silence completely still and waited for the conductor to give them the sign to begin. Once they started to sing, I understood why this is one of the best Christmas events that Oxford has to offer. I'm so glad that we were able to go see this!

The Christ Church Cathedral Grounds. Normally, visitors are not
allowed on the grounds unless they are a member of the college.

Steph, Myself and Bess. Friends and neighbors!

We were seated in front of a the Sarcophagus of Sir Georgius Croyden from 1386.

Thanks to my Art degree, I was able to notice and appreciate the double barrel vaulted ceilings!

I was sneaky enough to capture one of the songs on video...

I'm sorry.

By Liv

Most people don't even know that we have a blog, but for those who do, I have been told that we aren't keeping up to date with it. I'm sorry! To be honest, I haven't even wanted to look at my blog because I know the last post I will see is about Pepe and the thought of him makes me so overwhelmingly sad... it brings me back to the day that he died and I miss him terribly all over again.

But, I have been taking many pictures of all the different events in our lives and I do really want to share them. So please excuse me if these photos aren't in a recognizable order, but until I'm back to speed with my photo sharing, this will have to do!

Stella and I are ridiculously happy to be home. Our trip back to the States was fun and it was so very nice to see our friends and family, but there's nothing better than when all three of us are together.

Oma and Papa gave Stella her very own guitar. Stella and Nick like to play their guitars together!

Stella and Nick play games before bed every night.

Stella has now officially moved to her own bedroom. To celebrate, we decorated it with a cute tree and flower wall decals. It's very "organic" looking with the main colors being brown and lime green. Here is a picture of her doing the sign for "tree' in front of her tree.

Stella is quite the little chatterbox lately. Her Pediatrician was
shocked at how many words she knows: both verbal and sign-language.

Thanks for the new shoes, Oma!

Of course, we spend a lot of time at the park. It's even more fun now that
we are home and we can all go as a family! Stella sure missed her Dadda.

Um... at least she didn't get her tongue frozen to it!

All bundled up for this cold weather.

Oops!

Nick just finished his first exam week. It was TOUGH and not just for him. Imagine it... he was gone until midnight most nights, studying in the library. I'm so glad he has a 4-week break now.

On December 18th, Oxford was hit with over 12 inches of snow. This is the front of our house and Nick's bicycle, which (luckily) he doesn't need for a few weeks... We had snow as recently as today (December 20th), and we should be getting even more this week!

Observatory Street... Home sweet home!

The Radcliffe Observatory - behind our house.

Stella actually did not like the snow at all. She kept saying, "Up please!"