Continuing Christmas Spirit

It's a bit late I know, but I wanted to post a picture of my mini Christmas tree. I have enjoyed my tree all season and even though the other decorations had to come down on Saturday, I plan to leave my little tree up for awhile longer. It is still green and healthy and makes me happy.

Flat 8

I thought it would be impossible, but all 7 of us from flat 8 got together last night. This was the first time all of us were able to get together since leaving London, and not because we haven't been trying. It was the one year anniversary of our arrival in England and a goodbye party for the Brants, who are moving to Stockton. We caught up on what everyone's been doing, but spent most of the time remembering stories from our time in London and cracking ourselves up. Here's the group: Jen, Juan, Alicia, me, Ashley, Charity, and Darrin. Although I now miss them again, it was wonderful to see everyone and share an enjoyable evening.

Happy Arrival in London Day

One year ago today I landed at the Heathrow airport with 19 fellow CSU Fresno students to begin 12 weeks of studying in London. That first day was brutal and exciting. We arrived early in the morning after a 10 hour flight during which I hardly slept at all. It took 45 minutes to drive to the Sienna Building, where we would be living, then we had to get all of our stuff unloaded and into our flats. Our teachers gave us a tour of our new neighborhood and we walked down Hatton Garden, along Farrington to the tube stop, over to the Chancery Lane tube stop, past Boots, the bank, Sainsbury, and the many jewelry stores that lined our street. The first day was the only time I ate at Eat, which had grab and go type sandwiches and snacks. The excitement, nervousness, and lack of sleep made for an interesting mix as we tried to take in as much as possible and learn everyone's names. The hardest part of the day was the afternoon as we tried to stay awake until a reasonable bedtime in order to be rid of the jet lag as soon as possible. This was made more difficult because we had to listen to Stewie, our property manager, tell us the do's and don't's of living in our flats. Then our teachers both said something too. I lasted until about 7 or 8:00 that first night. This picture is actually from the next day when my flat went out to explore. I have many great memories from those 12 weeks and my wonderful flatmates.

Christmas

Christmas was relaxed at the Chandler house this year. We started the day off at with our church's traditional Christmas morning service. Then we returned home to finish wrapping presents and have a quiet afternoon. The Nickells and Trevinos arrived for dinner, then we opened presents. The kids sang "Jingle Bells" in front of the tree to get things started. This was a tradition that Dad and Mom started when we were little. Michelle and I got new pjs. The kids excited about a train set from Grandpa and Grandma, which they got to play with while the rest of us finished opening gifts. I drew a picture of the three kids for Isaac and Heather. We even managed to finish the day with something unusual in Central California: a white Christmas!