white christmas.

Last thursday we got our first snow! We had heard from many people that we wouldn't see snow here but maybe twice all winter and only then an inch or so. I guess it arrived early this year and was a welcome addition to the holiday season! A blanket of snow looks wonderful on this city.

It had been flirting with the idea of snowing all day - first it was raining, then sleeting, then turned to tiny flakes, then back to sleet, then into giant flakes, then back to small flakes again all melting instantly on the ground. By about 9pm, however, it was coming down fast and heavy. Then the wind joined in. We were on our way back from a movie when it got worse and had to bike home in it. It was awful - my legs were sore from biking into the wind (and because I'm STILL in horrible shape) and my body was sweating while my face was freezing, my eyes were watering and I was getting pelted with tiny ice bullets! We finally made it home and sat in the dark by the tree listening to Christmas Carols and watching the storm rage outside. It was so cozy! The storm slowed way down around 11 and Brandon introduced the idea of walking to city centre through the snow and taking pictures. We both hesitated because we were so warm, but finally decided we would regret it if we didn't go. We are so glad we did! We put plastic bags around our feet, bundled up and walked through the lightly falling snow into town. We nearly had the entire town to ourselves, it was so wonderful! To see the pictures we took that night and the next morning see our album "Yule Tide" here.

We got about 4 inches of snow total and it is still on the ground. The custodian at our flat told me they haven't had a white Christmas in Cambridge in 30 YEARS!!! I am so happy that we are here to enjoy it.

it's beginning to look a lot like christmas

The Christmas season is in full bloom here in the UK. They don't have Thanksgiving standing in the way of hanging lights and playing Christmas Carols. (Not that people really let it stop them in the US either). Cambridge is beautiful in the winter! So far we have had heavenly weather in the mid- 30s and 40s and a couple of beautiful fog "storms" which I have decided will be a very nice alternative to blizzards this winter. It is so mild here, but also wet wet wet. Everything outside is always damp.

A Cambridge "blizzard" of fog. (more fog photos)

In preparation for the season we bought a cheapo little Christmas tree at ASDA the UK's Walmart, and I picked up some ornaments and decorations at a local charity shop for nearly nothing. I also picked some holly from right outside our building. :) We spent an evening listening to Christmas Carols and trimming the tree. And I have been listening to them a lot since.

Brandon also surprised me by getting free tickets to the Advent Procession at King's College Chapel, right after Thanksgiving. It was so beautiful. The choir and ceremony moved from East to West through the chapel to represent the coming of Christ! That was the first time I had ever heard the chanting of the seven great "O Antiphons" of Advent. The "O Antiphons" are ancient chants (thought to be from the beginning of the sixth century) each addressing Christ with one of his scriptural titles, and then inviting him to come and help his people. One Antiphon is the basis of our popular song "O come, O come Emmanuel," one of my favorites!

"O come, O come Emmanuel. Redeem thy captive Israel. Who ache in lonely exile here, until the Son of God appears. Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel. "

Last night we went to the pub "The Eagle" to hear the King's College choir sing Christmas carols. They have a concert this Thursday but it is £10-£20 for tickets and they told us they were basically doing all the same songs for us! It was the first "cold" day we've had here at a brisk 32 degrees, and this was the day we chose for sitting outside on the pub terrace for over two hours. I considered this to be the next phase in my "cold weather training" (thanks Dan!).

still giving thanks

So, I probably missed the gap for posting about Thanksgiving and everyone has moved on to Christmas, but I'm going to do it anyway.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving here in Cambridge with our American friends from the Summa Group. The food was amazing and we ate lots of it! Preparing traditional American dishes while in the UK was a bit of a challenge. They didn't have a lot of the ingredients I needed and I had to improvise. After a year of improvising on recipes and cooking in a kitchen with hardly any supplies I think I am going to be a very resourceful chef. I ended up buying a whole pumpkin for use in my pumpkin/pecan pie and making homemade creamed corn and corn syrup. I also found out that you CANNOT buy cornmeal over here. We midwesterners really need to share our corn products with the rest of the world! I am proud to say, however, that I found and served GREEN GIANT canned corn in the corn pudding that I made!

Transporting one pan of corn pudding, one pumpkin/pecan pie, and one peach/raspberry pie to over a mile to your Thanksgiving feast using only a bicycle was very interesting, but we made it safely.

After hours of eating and chatting Brandon and the other men played FOOTBALL in the front yard/street. Shocking, I know.

Brandon and I had to take off early to catch a movie that we had bought tickets for way in advance not realizing it was on Thanksgiving day. It was put on by St. John's College film club. We left with plenty of time and biked over to St. John's. Brandon had been joking that this would be the first time I would feel what it's like to be early for something. When we got to the room the movies are in, no one was there. We were really confused and didn't know if we had the correct time or location so we started wandering around St. John's to see if we could find some information about it. As we walked around the College at night we felt like we were in a castle or at Hogwarts! It was so beautiful and enchanting and we kept discovering more beautiful sights around each corner. As we were walking through a corridor the walkway became very narrow and sloped up and we suddenly realized we were IN THE BRIDGE OF SIGHS! It was beautiful. We finally found a brochure about the movie and found out that we were TWO HOURS EARLY! Turns out, I don't like the feeling of being early.

St. John's College at night

Inside the Bridge of Sighs

View from the Bridge of Sighs

We celebrated Thanksgiving two more times over the weekend. On Saturday we were invited to the home of some friends we met through an old family friend of mine who was studying here last year, and on Sunday we went to a large "ExPat" party with some friends we met through the Visiting Scholars network. The Sunday shin-dig was complete with a ho-down -- a guitar and fiddle, a sing-along and dancing!

We are both so unbelievably thankful to God for His blessings, for our families and friends that make being away so difficult, but also for this opportunity He has given us.

I googled myself today...

Every now and then I google myself out of curiosity. Today I found this:

http://www.winst.org/ethics_and_university/cambridge_scholars.php

I'll be writing an end of term update soon.