Holidays, and a Lewis Excursion.

If I attempted to recount every milestone from the past month (for I regret that it has been a whole month!), this blog post would happily serve as one of my tutorial papers! 

So, I will do my utmost to update on with feels like a whirlwind of happenings. 

I figured I'd begin with holidays and a few excursions.Thanksgiving day was not exactly the same as the states--it was nothing more than a Thursday. Fortunately, our house planned and executed a huge feast for this weekend--and therefore we did our best to celebrate the holiday with the usual "tryptophan"overload and the boys played a solid game of American football--no shame felt :] 

Most of the excitement of the evening included household entertainment from our staff, a few guest tutors, and housemates--but the real fun, as you can ascertain, was in the kitchen! We had  copious trays of mashed potatoes, yams, makeshift stuffing, Libby's pumpkin pie sent contraband from the states, and 6 turkeys...among other items. 

Our Halloween party had a similar setup of food and an "open mic" setting at the Vines, complete with the most

disturbing food contest you can imagine--everything from "Silence of the Lambs" stew, to Shakespearean "Out vile jelly!" to...you name it, it was present and looking entirely inedible.

My roommate Daena was Amy Winehouse, I was Mariah Carey--a sing-off (completely embarassing!) did in fact take place that evening.Appearances from the Joker were in double, as I'm sure many of the seasonal parties experienced this year. Another favorite: Ms. Sarah Palin not only shook every hand in the room with a hearty, "get those absentee ballots ready!", but also did a question and answer session for the group! The voting box costume, needless to note, was utilized. 

This would be an excellent time to interject that the Brits we've come across have been absolutely mesmerized by American politics and the "personality voting" versus policies. The night of the election, much

 of the house (divided politically) stayed up for await the results...it should be hilariously noted that a few locals dropped by to "observe" us in our natural habitat. 

Oh deary me.

Anyway, on to other excitement in the past month--Daena and I took the treasured walk up to C.S. Lewis' Oxford home (the Kilns), now being used as a home for select students, as well as his grave in the Trinity Church cemetery. It was an absolutely gourgeous walk,  and quite a feat walking grave to grave looking for Lewis' modestly paced stone--almost identical to the rest. We found there were fresh roses on the grave with a note that made me pause with likeminded thankfulness for how the Lord has used Lewis' work. 

Daena ripped out a page from her copy of a Lewis book and left a note as well...other than two grave-diggers, the cemetery was silent and beautiful.