Salut!
So as you've probably noticed, I'm a rather absent-minded blogger. I had completely forgotten that I even started a blog until one of my friends at university asked how it was going (and proceeded to tell me he would be waiting... If you're reading, Jake, here's the post you've been waiting so long for!) So first of all, please accept my sincerest apologies for how awful I have been at keeping up with this blog. I promise that my New Years resolution is to be a better blogger (and to stop trying to do everything, but I'll get to that)!
In the time I've been away, some great things have happened. On Friday, I came home for Christmas and it has been truly amazing to see my family and spend more than a weekend in a bed that I cannot fall out of. Yay for double beds! My dog is cute as ever. If you don't know me, I have a "lemon and white" cocker spaniel who is about five and really, he is ginger. Here's a picture of him, looking rather festive this time last year.
How cute?!
Isn't he just adorable? But let me tell you, he really hates those antlers! In fact, he tried to eat them and my dad couldn't get them back... (Nice Liverpool uni prospectus in the back there!)
RIP Antlers, you were fun while you lasted.
It's been really nice to see everyone again and to cuddle my dog. I've especially liked being reunited with the sound of silence when I'm sleeping, it's been so pleasant to sleep uninterrupted! Usually, if someone has been out or the midnight chat is in our flat, I can't get much sleep and, although I can deal with it, it is nice to sleep with no interruptions for a month whilst I'm at home. I also saw my grandparents just this morning which was nice as I haven't seen them since I moved away.
Now, it is Christmas Eve and for a moment, I would like to talk about Christmas traditions. Traditionally, Christmas is all about celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ and that's awesome. I try to remember to spare him a prayer or a thought during the day but as the only Christian in an atheist family, it can be hard to not get caught up in the festivities of presents and food and family. Whilst I love the Christian roots to Christmas, I also really enjoy the atheist roots. Presents, food and family are probably three of my favourite things, so Christmas is great. A Christmas tradition in our family (and many others, I'm sure!) is to have special pyjamas for the night of Christmas Eve to wear. Usually, there will be a theme or type of pyjama that we (my brother and I) are wearing or love at the time and this year it so happens to be....... ONESIES!
Christmas Pudding & Angry Bird!
Please excuse my awkward face.
Just a short review on the onesie that I'm wearing: it's from BHS (British Home Stores) and it's the Chocolate Christmas Pudding onesie. I can't tell you how much it cost because I don't know, my parents bought it as a present. (Price on their website, but I copied the link and didn't look at the price). It is so soft and comfortable, there's no issues with movability like in some restrictive one-pieces and the press studs are very strong once pressed together. I've had no awkward moments with them yet, thank goodness! My brother's Angry Bird onesie is from Matalan and it cost £12, which I think is pretty good value.
I think that's quite enough Christmas talk until after the big day now, so onto the rest of the things I've been up to!
At our church, we have a team of people who have come in especially to help the community and they come from a national Christian company/group called The Eden Network. There are three couples who form the main part of the team. All six are lovely people, so easy to get along with, they all have super cute kids and they really are a great influence on the community.
Last Saturday night, I went over to one of their houses (shoutout to Adam, Jo and Helena!) for a Christmas film night, which was great. We watched Elf and ate chocolate, crisps and pizza and it was overall a brilliant night, so thanks to Jo and Adam and everyone who came!X
On Sunday, we had an awesome end of term party in Kids Church, playing games and watching the Nativity with the kids. I also got to spend some time playing with the youngest baby of the group (for now!), Eden, who is absolutely adorable. It was so much fun and I found out that he loves being Superman. Then, I had a lovely lunch with another friend from church, Share, and we made centrepieces for the carol service that evening (which was... you guessed it: FUN!). The gospel choir that sang (In Another Place [I think]) was amazing and they were all so friendly and grateful for the hot chocolate and mince pies that we were giving out. I also got to see some old friends there which was nice. I really liked catching up with everyone and saying goodbye. People even said they would miss me which was touching because I wouldn't miss me! :')
The centrepiece we made in the space of an hour!
I regularly work with the Eden team and on Friday morning, their activity bus went into a local secondary school as a fun morning activity session for the kids and it was great. A lot of the kids were interested in hearing about Christianity and God, even if they weren't particularly religious and it was great to see that kind of interest. It really reminded me of when I was younger - I was fascinated by religion but never had the courage to follow up on it. They really enjoyed their time on the bus, playing games and doing quizzes. Overall, it was a brilliant way to finish off my first semester of university and my team won the Christmas quiz, woop!
That pretty much sums up my week and I'll try to remember to blog again on Boxing Day or thereafter to talk about Christmas! Have a great Christmas everyone and I'm going to leave you with the last group photo from semester one of our absolutely huge group!
Party animals for the last time this semester!
See you all after Christmas!
X Liss
