Northampton Christmas

My cousin Mike Borkan and his wife Cathinka, along with their son Jon, had been wonderful hosts to us several times since our arrival in London. Months before we even left the states, they offered to host us for a Danish Christmas at their home in Northampton (Cathinka is of Danish heritage). We joyfully accepted! After packing up ALL of our belongings from our London apartment (which actually took less time than expected), we drove out to Northampton on December 24th. Traffic was light, and although we had left a little late on a drizzly morning, we arrived in plenty of time to go to church. The service was held in the small church associated with Holdenby house, which is called All Saints Church. 

We enjoyed a relatively short service, including candles which the kids found fascinating. And the church was not as cold as I thought it would be (we had been warned by the cousins). After the service, we went into Holdenby House for a short reception complete with orange juice and mince pies. Holdenby House was originally built by Sir Christopher Hatton as the largest home in Elizabethan England. It was enormous and bankrupted him! In later years, people tore down most of the house. Apparently, the mansion that remains was the original kitchens.

http://www.holdenby.com/house-history.php

(the blue blur is Joey running around after church)

After church, we returned to the Borkan's house where the kids had an early meal and then went to bed before the official Christmas dinner. That dinner included the two Clyne adults, the Borkan adults, the Borkan children (Nicki and Jon), as well as Cathinka's parents who had driven down from where they currently live in Scotland. Dinner started with a tasty rice pudding and continued on to a delicious goose and was supposed to finish with a Christmas pudding (which is set on fire) but we were all too full to eat it! We had goose twice in Europe and loved it- it will be on our list of things to cook in 2016.

After dinner, we proceeded into the "bakery" of the house for presents. Cathinka carefully lit real candles on the Christmas tree, and we entered the room full of the tree's magical glow. We all (and especially the Borkan kids) enjoyed opening many presents, and we enjoyed the warmth of the family (and the tree!)

Our kids opened presents from their cousins and us over the next few days, and they got to see the candlelit tree on Christmas day. They thoroughly enjoyed playing with their cousins and even tried a few new foods (Lanna loved the goose, Sammy loved the rice pudding). 

We thoroughly enjoyed spending more time with our cousins who live in England, as well as meeting Cathinka's parents. Here are a few photos of the kids with Nicki and Jon, as well as Lanna showing how exhausted the kids were after long days of playing and how comfortable the beds were!