We were lucky enough to again spend Christmas and New Years with Angie’s sister, Christi, and her family in England. Mostly, it was a lot of hanging out and making and eating good food, plus going on some countryside walks. They moved to a new house this year which was big enough to hold all of us, and it was super fun to be all together.
One of the awesome things about their new house is that it has a huge garden. Angie, Christi, and Ellie spent an hour or two collecting various dried flowers, leaves, and evergreen boughs from the garden and making them into a wreath for the front door.
Angie’s family has a lot of Christmas traditions that are part of their grandparents’ Norwegian immigrant legacy. One of them is that we always have lefse dinner for Christmas Eve, so making lefse, as well as kringla, is a tradition that everyone helps out with.
Like many families, we often have turkey for Christmas Day, and this year was no exception. There were plenty of presents and tons of holiday cheer.
On Boxing Day, to recover from the feasting, we took a lovely walk at the nearby Elstead Moat.
One thing that’s great about Elstead Moat is that there are tons of walking trails, as well as a few rope swings and trees to climb. It was good fun to get out with the kids and explore.
Angie loves to run when we’re in England. With the cool air and great nearby trails, it’s a major contrast to Jakarta. This year, she ran with Christi, and Leif even joined us. How wonderful to be able to be out in the morning beauty with them!
The new house is also conveniently located in walking distance of the Hog’s Back Brewery tap room. It’s wonderful to be able to take a bit of a walk, have a pint, and then walk back home in the fresh, crisp air.
Another great place for a walk near the house is Winkworth Arboretum. It also has lots of trails and kid stuff. This year they had a bunch of welly boots so everyone tried their hand at Welly Wanging to see who could get the boot the farthest distance.
The kids spent quite a bit of time gaming on the computer with Uncle Adam. He made a simple funny computer program, and everyone was entertained by that as well.
Our other traditional place to explore as a family is Wisley Gardens. Last year we only made it in 30 minutes before closing time, so we made an effort to get there earlier this year. Still, we ended up with the people being herded out at closing time. The Royal Horticultural Gardens are beautiful at any time of year, and there are always so many things to explore.
We were also able to explore the Devil’s Punch Bowl. There are so many fun places to walk in England! The namesake of the park is an interesting landform that makes for pretty views.
New Year’s Eve was mostly pretty chill. It was great to just have time this holiday to hang out as a family and enjoy each others’ company. Here’s to holidays with family!
