Tying up Odds & Ends

I suppose I could call this post "Christmas Comes to Town" but the pictures are mostly from the final 24 hours or so that I spent in England before heading home! Most importantly, my little sister turned thirty on the 21st and so we spent the day celebrating her... albeit a little more low-key than originally planned but isn't that just the theme for this year? This entire year has been a whole lot MORE than we thought and everything we celebrate is more low-key than we'd like... 

My Mom cooked spaghetti (one of Lindsey's favorite meals) and we had a delicious cake, opened presents with my Dad on Face Time and christened her new fire pit in her little English garden with roasted marshmallows and Gin cocktails! We also walked around the town to look at the Christmas lights, which were officially turned on November 20th - which is St. Edmund's Day - and 2020 was the thousandth year celebrating St. Edmund's Day. The thousandth year. Wrap your head around that one.

 

The lights decked the buildings, the light poles, all along the roof lines of the homes and businesses in the main square and stretched across the main streets lighting the whole town with a soft glow that - let's be honest - is so enchanting! Granted, I tend to think everything about Christmas lights is enchanting.... and there is something about Christmas lights in a little English town is even more enchanting.

 

The trees around town are covered with white stars - some of the stars have "2020" on them and other stars have messages about what people have learned or done during this unique year. Some of my favorites included "played hangman with my Nanny"... "created a life size skeleton"... "spent time with my sister"... there were tons of them; before I left I had counted three trees that had the little stars - but I'm sure there were more in the town that I didn't see! 

Sunday dawned bright and beautiful with wispy clouds floating across the sky! We had coffee and breakfast and then took one last leisurely walk around the town, through the Abbey Gardens and back to my little sister's house for lunch! Then it was off to drive along the A11, the A14 and the MI6 (just kidding - that's where James Bond works, not a road)... to Heathrow; although there was road work happening and so we ended up taking a road that paralleled the "highway" and we saw the countryside instead! 

 

I checked in, gave hugs good-bye and made my way through security... and then on to my very empty flight. I settled in and passed the eight hour flight with a book, a movie, an episode of The Mandalorian and a little nap... and before I knew it, we were landing in DC and the 18 day vacation was coming to a close! 

I still feel like those eighteen days passed in a blink - but I made memories to hold on to for a lifetime, explored a corner of the English countryside that I'd never seen and all in all just had the most wonderful time.