christmas eve

a very fresh ice-skating rink.

for some reason the british seem to associate christmas with germany, more specifically bavaria, more specifically cologne. this is the christmas fair in hyde park but there's another couple (that i've seen) german-themed markets at the natural history museum and at southwark.

 

the most upsetting christmas gingerbread. try as we might, we couldn't think of a good context for that particular message. there was another that said 'please marry me' so send out the word that ellie only wants to be proposed to via gingerbread.

we then made our way down to mark and debbie's just to spread some christmas cheer and say hello. but when we got there, they were all heading out to the children's service at church (it's the much less religious service) and there was a bit of resistance, but debbie got her way in the end! we've set a date for debbie to cook us a feast and catch us up on gossip. should be very interesting. was great to see all my cousins though, however briefly.

i tried to jump into this chalk drawing. don't let mary poppins fool you, london pavement isn't as magical as she lets on.