catchy tune

Last night, we attended the younger children's school dance. Despite insisting that he did not want to go, and would not dance, Iain enjoyed running around like mad with his friends. Lucy's favorite moments would have been riding (dancing) on my shoulders and being swung around in circles (while the dance floor was relatively empty.

We all know Anna likes dancing. And so she enjoyed herself...except that the music was pretty loud, and the dance floor was pretty crowded. As a result, we left pretty early. On the way back to the car, she told me she wanted that 'catchy tune.' For a minute, I didn't quite understand. Or, rather, I thought that she was saying 'catchy tune,' but couldn't believe that could be right.

'Catchy tune?' I repeated. 'Yes,' she replied, in that tone of voice that says, 'what else would I have been saying?' like it's blindingly obvious. Ok, which tune? 'Happy?' I asked, 'the song from Despicable Me?' Nope. She shook her head. 'Catchy tune,' she said again, 'boys in a train.' Boys in a train? Then it dawned on me. 'The Macarena?' I asked. Big smile. 'Yeessssss!'

Heaven help us.

Iain's mask

This photo is of my brother, who made a paper mask. I stuffed it on his head.

new author

I am inviting a new author to this blog: Thomas! His interest in sports has led me to create a blog for him, Thomas talks sports. Check out his first post, which predicts the outcome of the Arsenal-Tottenham game. (If that doesn't make sense to you, check it out anyway: you'll find out something about Premier League football [soccer] in the UK.)

I've no idea how he will contribute to this blog. That's up to him.

Christmas

Lucy even wore a dress for Mass on Christmas Eve.

Just after Santa finished...

Doesn't everyone have Roman soldiers peeking out of the top of their Christmas stocking?

Anna got the music player she wanted!

Thomas asked for a set of Notre Dame playing cards.

Little Miss Easy-to-please--delighted with presents in general.

...but who wouldn't want to be a princess?

Christmas tree

I didn't think it was possible. We left all our Christmas decorations--even our Christmas stockings (what was I thinking?) in England. So I was skeptical about the possibility of having a tree. But we will be here for Christmas, and therefore we needed a tree. (Ok, I realize that 'need' is used pretty loosely here...) 

And there it is. We borrowed a tree stand and bought some lights. The children made some decorations, I strung some popcorn, and Lewis bought a few things. I found a use for a bit of tulle I had bought on clearance sometime in August. We managed. Eventually we'll get something for the top--we haven't got anything even in storage in England, though I can't explain why. Every year, we say, look, we haven't got a star or an angel or anything. We should do something about that. And then we say it all again the next year. 

Come to think of it, the whole thing was a bit easier without all the boxes of ornaments and lights to untangle. No digging things out of storage, no dust, no struggling with our old tree stand. And those stockings were huge--Santa always seemed to have difficulty getting them properly full...and then they wouldn't stay on their hooks... Yes, this Christmas-away thing has much to recommend it, actually.

This year, we hope for snow. Sledding and such, and a white Christmas. But as it's still Advent I won't jump to the traditional wishes. That will have to wait. 

In the meantime, I think it's time for more mulled wine.

November snow

What a surprise to find ourselves in the midst of a snowstorm when it was time for trick-or-treating on Halloween! That snow didn't last, but last Thursday's (13th of November) snow (which surprised everyone else here) is still around. I therefore learned to drive in snow the way that some people learn to swim: being chucked off the diving board in the deep end. I made it through without incident, though there were 144 traffic accidents in South Bend on that day.

I think we all prefer the colder, snowy conditions to the usual grey and rainy, just-above-freezing days that are so common through the late fall (autumn!) and winter months in County Durham. The kids found lots to do:

The weather this weekend will be more of what we'd expect back in England: cool (up to 52F) and rainy. What's left of the snow on our sledding hill will likely be gone by Monday.

But we're sure it will be back before too long.

Begging your pardon

Since returning to the US, I have been told time and time again that I have picked up an English accent. Although this was never my intention and I wish I could swap back instantly to a native Californian accent upon arrival, it doesn't surprise me greatly. There are two reasons for this, at least.

First, my husband is English. Not only that, but he likes the difference of my non-English accent and so enjoys teasing me when I say things like garr-den, Robin Hood, and, as recently as ten minutes ago Ber-nard (instead of Ber-nard). I love my husband dearly, but I hate being teased, and so I have learned to say Robin Hood, though I still pronounce the 'r' in garden, and clearly haven't worked out how to say Bernard.

Which brings me, in a way, to a second thing: my use of British expressions, liked 'worked out' (something we do more in the gym than in our heads here) instead of 'figured out', which is what I would have said in 1999. I confess that that expression is just habit--you hear it enough, and you start to say it. But there are other expressions that are so economical. 'Anything you want washing?' just takes fewer words than 'is there anything you want me to wash?' Of course, now I can't think of another... But sentence construction in general is essential to being understood. So here in the States, I am finding I have to rearrange my words, put them back in American order, and then inflect them properly. Or, hang on, should I say 'correctly' rather than 'properly'? Obviously I have been away too long.

Coming home (sort of--South Bend, IN, isn't Manhattan Beach, CA!), I find it strange that I enjoy things I never really missed. Who would have thought a Notre Dame football game would make me feel at home so profoundly? And NPR. I used to sometimes poke fun at the way topics were presented on programs like 'Fresh Air' (I had already gotten used to the way British journalists interview: no mercy!). But the sound of a familiar voice on the radio is oddly soothing.

I loved living in England, and I expect to return to England when our time at Notre Dame is over. By then, however, I do hope I'll have to remember to say "sorry" when Americans would say "excuse me" or, well, a whole host of other things. I'll probably never sound completely American again (see above re: husband), but I'm not likely ever to forget where I came from.