Intrigued? Yes, you should be. You are going to have to sit through the "boring" part first in order to find out why The Fonz has anything to do with our Christmas. (resist from scrolling- it will be worth the wait).
Christmas came early for us this year. Santa knew we were traveling to the US and made a very special trip to our house to deliver the boys presents. Last Saturday morning was Christmas Day in our house and the boys had a wonderful time. They tore through their presents like it was nobody's business. Much different from last year and yet, still equally amazing. The wonder in their eyes and the excitement they have around Christmas is just pure joy. This year Elf on the Shelf arrived in our house. They named him Jackie. First it was Jack and it quickly morphed into Jackie. It was fun to see them get so excited about finding him in the morning- sometimes more excited than one can be at 6am- yet Mark and I tried to match their enthusiasm. Wow.
One morning we found Jackie in an interesting position- the boys minds were blown. "Mom, is he really going to drink all of our maple syrup?"
I can't take all the credit for this idea- I took the idea from the web. It was really funny to see the boys faces though.
The night before Christmas we put The Polar Express on. We've been reading this book to them for 2 years. I think its a great book. Can someone explain to me why the movie is so dark? At one point, Oliver threw himself under a pillow because he got a little scared. Maybe it wasn't the best choice but they seemed to enjoy it nonetheless.
Here they are right before the movie started...
Putting out milk, cookies, and carrots for Santa and the reindeer. My goofballs.
Like I said, Christmas morning was a lot of fun. They were excited about every little thing.
Especially the Spiderman costumes that Santa brought!
Acton shot!
Mark playing nicely with the boys and their new playdoh sets. Henry didn't get out of his pj's all day and Oliver took his shirt off because his "stomach was hot".
The next day we decided to get out of the house for a bit. We took another walk out of our back garden again but went in another direction. It is really awesome to have such interesting discoveries outside your door!
Our neighbors had mentioned that there is a tunnel on one of the pathways but we had yet to find it. Until last Sunday. What they failed to mention was how spooky it was. No light except for the one at the end.
Mark told me to go first- scout it out. Lovely.
We didn't have our phones on us so I kept taking pictures to use the flash to see what was in front of me. Didn't want to trip over anything - like a body. Seriously, that is where my mind went- it was creepy. Once we got out and down the path a bit we came to a beautiful lock- I believe it was the Hurley lock based on the information we found below.
We came to this very cool wheel contraption set right on the edge of the river bed. The plaque below explains how it dates back to c.1300. It was used to haul goods up stream.
It was good to have the Double BOB on hand for this walk!
On our way back. Less scary in the tunnel this time.
So- where does The Fonz come in? Later that day we took the kids to see a pantomime at the Richmond Theater in Richmond. This is a very traditional British thing to do around Christmastime. When my friend Annie first told me to go to one of these shows I was thinking of the silent, white face, black clothed person pretending to get out of a box or something (see below- mime). I was wrong. Here is the definition:
Pantomime (informally,
panto), not to be confused with the theatrical medium of
mime, is a form of
musical comedy stage production, designed for families. It was developed in the
United Kingdom and mostly performed during the Christmas and New Year season. Modern pantomime includes songs, slapstick comedy and dancing, employs gender-crossing actors, and combines topical humour with a story loosely based on a well-known fairy tale.
[1] It is a participatory form of theatre, in which the audience is expected to sing along with certain parts of the music and shout out phrases to the performers.
Pantomime has a long theatrical history in Western culture dating back to classical theatre, and it developed partly from the 16th-century
commedia dell'arte tradition of Italy, as well as other European and British stage traditions, such as 17th-century
masques.
[1]
We took the kids to see the Peter Pan panto. AND Captain Hook was being played by none other than Henry Winkler! It was awesome. The best part of panto is the crowd participation. For example, if the crocodile was behind Hook, you yell, "he's behind you" or "over there". There was some singing too. Mark and I would have to agree that the best part of the night was singing the theme to Happy Days- with The Fonz right there in the middle belting it out. The night flew and the kids were so good. They loved seeing their favorite characters in "real life".
Henry waiting for the show to start with his glow in the dark pinwheel thingy.
Can't wait to go next year! Ayyyyyyyyyyyyyy.
