Wonder!

Wow, what a week has passed! A parent-teacher conference at the beginning of the week which was very encouraging. When you are sending your kid to school 5 days a week you want to know he is in good care. It seemed the teachers had a thorough record of all the kids' learnings. I like that he's learning but don't care as much about that as the fact that the teachers are paying attention to the kids and not just letting them screw around. J brought home a big wad of papers, his work since half-term that I have yet to look through. We also went as a family to a Cinderella play (not your traditional) with J's class and it was fun to meet other moms, ride in the coach (we got to wear seatbelts!), and watch the kids reactions. I think Jesse was somewhat pleasantly intrigued but his final comment was "Too long mummy" and that was his complaint about it when he woke up for a related nightmare that I knew would happen.
I think a cross-dressed wicked stepmother might just do that--I'm sure he thought there's probably something not quite right about that lady. Luci seemed to thoroughly enjoy it, with the scary parts outdone by the singing and fairy mum.

My computer bit the dust this week so that's been a bit of a pain and a wonder if or when I will get another. I really do like this connection to the outside world.

Our reliable tap water also went bye-bye. On Tuesday a neighbor came down to check and see if we had flushing toilets and running bathroom taps. Well "yes" I said after running upstairs to check the taps. I offered to give her water or let her use the bath. She said thanks and I thought "Poor dear". By that afternoon, we and that neighbor, #9, and 13, and 3, and 6, and 12 and on and on to the whole building were out of water, except for number 8 who had absolutely no problem. I checked that into my memory. We had a difficult English exchange but certainly I'd be able to ask him for water. The upstairs residents then began to express that they had no water at all. So our kind neighbor came down to tell us that we could use the tap they passed in the stairwell on the way to their flat. But we were okay with our kitchen water access. Until I called to place my complaint-then the whole building went completely out. (Imagine no flushing toilet for 6 or 7 days, imagine that with 12 people in your flat. Well, you'd get creative wouldn't you?) Thames Water "resolved the problem on Sunday, but funny, it was back to the normal abnormal by this morning. Needless to say I was fed up! More by the injustice than the water loss. I mean it had actually gotten really laughable and most of the time D and I were having a good time with it. But it felt like every time I called, I was told that I was about the only one calling. I asked my neighbors and they'd say they had all called. We found a few more neighbors passing our window and gave out the number so they could call. Finally with all the calls, our water came back! We flushed! But... we wrapped presents, Darren went to get his bike which he parked somewhere, and oops! He should have taken his shower before he left because there's a trickle of hot water up there now. But to hear the machines outside my window digging for a solution under the pavement give me great hope because it was only today that the council and Thames Water decided it was an emergency, even though there's a lot of elderly people here. After my 3rd call this morning and after many, many others, we finally qualified!

It has been fabulous to meet our neighbors this way. We did not get many names and chances are we wouldn't have been good about remembering them anyways but it's given us a basis upon which to interact and that is brilliant!

I haven't even talked about Christmas yet. We are very excited! We attended a crib service (a service for the kids) at Saint Dunstan's, a 15th century church in our neighborhood. Our acquaintances Sarah and Phil had invited us to come around to their place for an open house afterwards and so it worked out well. We walked back with them and hung out until 6, then came home, did the bedtime routine including a bath (that's when the hot water was flowing out of the tap), put the kids to bed (they're so good when concerned about the opinions of Father Christmas), and started wrapping gifts. Now, we aren't ones to teach our kids about Santa, we've always told them that it's just pretend. However, we have come into the knowledge that Jesse totally believes in Father Christmas, having been nurtured into this by his teachers. And his imagination and wonder is so endearing that we're just gonna go with it this year. Except I don't want to worry him too much. The poor kid has been concerned that FC won't fit down the chimney as he stares at our heating unit. (It would be hard to imagine him fitting through those grates.) So will we leave the back door unlocked he asks. Then last night, just because I polished off the chocolate chip cookies, J burst into tears because FC wouldn't have anything to eat! Darren found another one and we remedied the situation. Right at bedtime, concern over not having left a note arose and D assured him that HE could just write a note. Jesse's final instructions were to put the cookie on the floor in front of the door with the note so that Father Christmas wouldn't miss them.

Merry Christmas to all our friends and Loved Ones! Enjoy reflecting on Jesus' birth, drinking wassail, and being with your loved ones. And enjoy those presents too. I love that St. Dunston's is having a service at 10 am tomorrow where the kids are invited to bring one of their presents to show everyone, as long it is not musical.