Tapping into the Council

Bikeability Begins

It isn't often that we ask the local council for anything, other than to be left alone a la rights for homeschooling families. This last week, however, we worked with some very nice people at the county who helped us to provide cycling proficiency classes for twelve local homeschoolers.

The Tutor with her Watchful Eye

Since most kids in England are put through cycling proficiency at their schools, it's sometimes hard to pin down the same opportunity for the home-ed community. When my eldest wanted to do it, she had to carpool with a neighbour to Banbury, a town about 16 miles away. This time, we made arrangements for it to happen right on our doorstep.

Raring to go!

Monday was a bleary, dreary morning -- the first day of schools' Easter holiday period, but we were up and out the door for a (generous) 10:30 am start, meeting at the car park to the local Bowls club. Bike checks. Helmet checks.  How's them brakes? A bit of obstacle course, and then over the next few days, the kids were even sent to tackle THE BIG HILL.

Navigating real roads.

By Friday, they were all duly passed for their right turns, their left turns, their stops and signals, their road sense and judgment.  Yes, even Rocky passed on all these skills, and now I have only one more child to make safe on the roads before my job can be considered done.

Happy Trails.

That's not for another few years yet.

Thanks to all the local homeschooling families who took part, and to another home-ed mum who took the lead on the afternoon group of 6. The process was all very painless in the end, and I'm happier to let my kids pop to the shops on their bikes, knowing that they will be visible and communicative to the other vehicles around them.

(Now if we could just get the same support for exam centres and fees for our secondary students, we'd be quids in!)

Celebrating Foreign Family Holidays

It's that time of year again -- fourth Thursday in November when all of England carries about its usual weekday business, and we US-born expats try to salvage a bit of home by celebrating Thanksgiving as best we can.

This year, for the first time I think ever, we celebrated what's essentially the US version of Harvest with another American family.

A Feast for a Large Crew

It was such a blessing to bring our family's traditions and recipes together: turkey, ham, sweet potato casserole, broccoli-rice-cheese casserole, cranberry jelly and cranberry relish and cranberry jell-o, stuffing, gravy, rolls, and such an abundance that we didn't even get to the pumpkin or apple pies nor the pumpkin cake.

An amazing feat for my host and hostess considering they only moved into this house on Monday, and had to learn how to cook with an AGA oven, having never used one before.

This could be a Norman Rockwell picture!

Of course, we remember our families back in the States, the football games that are televised hours and hours later, the little things that are missing from the table like green and black olives, queso, my aunt's special fruit salad, and my cousin's wonderful buttermilk pie.

But the joy of sharing with others is that new experiences and traditions can join with the old, and we can appreciate how God has made so much variety in this world, and yet loves each one of us as an individual.

And for that, how can we but give thanks?

The Joy of Posada

Our church runs a scheme during Advent called the Posada, which is a re-enactment of Mary and Joseph looking for lodgings on Christmas Eve.  The festival originated in Latin American countries and traditionally starts on the 16th of December, but we start ours on Advent Sunday.

Essentially, it's a rota of people who agree to keep the Mary, Joseph, and donkey figures from our church's nativity set. Each evening, the people with the holy family meet with the next people on the rota, and effect a changeover. This goes on until Christmas Eve, when the figures are processed to the front of the church and placed in the nativity scene.

The changeover is supposed to be a time of prayer and celebration together, though these may sometimes have to happen on the fly with a quick "God bless"; other times, there's a whole afternoon of tea and mince pies, or a meal, or a few minutes of quiet together.  It just depends on what people want to do, and what they have time for.

"Busy Timmy" unveils the scroll;
Phoenix in the conservatory (background) lights the Advent candle

The best thing about Posada is meeting up with people that you rarely have a chance to spend time with.  For example, we received the holy family from a friend of mine who's a single mum and whose schedule is so opposite to mine that we've never managed to share that glass of wine we always talk about.

Last night, we had her and her daughters over for the Posada hand-over, and they stayed for dinner.  It was fantastic!

Then this afternoon, we took the Posada figures to the home of a retired Vicar and his wife.  They had the children light their Advent candle, and then played "Mary's Boy Child" while unrolling a huge scroll that someone had made on wallpaper that depicted the song in cartoon characters.

"Man will live forever more because of Christmas Day"

Busy Timmy was absolutely fascinated, and though my children are pretty well-versed in their Bible stories, he has come away with that scroll burned into his memory.

So thanks to our new friends and our old friends, and thanks to the whole idea of the Posada.