2 a.m.

Amy Adams changed from her green dress into something not as nice, but perhaps easier to sing in. She's singing the first Best Song nominee, "The Happy Working Song." I wonder if they're going to make her sing all three songs from the movie? 

Mr. Movie has predicted that this will be the winner. It's getting a rather tepid response from the audience, though. Doesn't bode well for his pick.

1:55 a.m.

Oh no! Poor Brad Bird just got cut off by the music. I bet that would happen to me too.

Katherine Heigel, wearing a gorgeous red dress (though not as nice as Anne Hathaway's), just admitted that she's "incredibly nervous" and she looks it. That's sweet.

Best Makeup Category: Mr. Movie picked "Pirates of the Carribbean." 

He said, "You know, 'Pirates of the Carribbean' is Disney. But I can't see it because it's scary."

Sadly, Mr Movie is now 1-2 because "La Vie En Rose" won.

1:52 a.m.

Best Animated Feature award. This is the first time since the category has been introduced that we have NOT seen all of the nominees. The odd French one, "Persepolis" hasn't been released here, I think.

Mr. Movie picked "Ratatouille" to win. This is the one category that he actually has an educated opinion about. And he was right!

Mr. Movie is now 1-1 in his Oscar picks.

1:44 a.m.

George Clooney is back. Hooray. It was a pump fake, though because I thought he was going to announce the awards.

Oh, no. It's the first of many (I'm sure) clip jobs. This is why I'll be up until 5:15 a.m.

We're having some technical difficulties at MarathonMum HQ because for some reason I can't cut and paste Mr. Movie's Oscar choices. But he made some bold choices. For Best Picture and Best Director, he went with "There Will Be Blood."

1:40 a.m.

Wesley Snipes, who just barely escaped prison, is sitting with Spike Lee. 

A nice short monologue. This bodes well for the night.

Costume Design! I still haven't run through Mr. Movie's Oscar Picks, but for this category he picked: Sweeney Todd.

Bummer. Mr. Movie is 0-1. The Oscar went to Elizabeth: The Golden Age, which I still haven't seen.

1:30 a.m.

The intro is some sort of CGI thing with clips from all sorts of movies. People are chering, bbut I don't know why. It seems sort of lame to me. 

This is the 80th Annual Academy Awards. Does this mean because it's a number ending in 0 I'm going to have to 

Jack Nicholson is in the front row. He's ALWAYS in the front row. Does he only agree to go to the Oscars if he gets a front row seat? And why does John Travolta get such a good seat?

Jon Stewart just made a good joke that if Vanity Fair wanted to show respect to the writers, they could invite them to the party. He's not standing behind a podium this year. Bold Move, Mr. Stewart!

Julie Christie is wearing an AIDS ribbon. I know she hasn't worked in a long time, but didn't she get the memo? They haven't worn those ribbons in at least 10 years.

I love how Jon Stewart laughs at his own jokes. I can relate. I laugh at my own e-mails, which is like my very own Oscar monologue.

He just told us how to come up with our own stripper names: the name of our childhood pet, and the street we grew up on. So if you're wondering, MarathonMum fans, my stripper name is...Hammy Wetmore.

1:28 a.m.

I just checked our Live Coverage from last year, and it appears that it did not start until 1:30 a.m. I am trying to decide if it would be a good time for some coffee, but it seems too early. 

More filler. Claudia Winkleman, who I know you've never heard of, is hosting the Sky Coverage. As luck would have it, Mr. MarathonMum and I were at a British Press awards show a few years back, and Claudia Winkleman was there. I only remember because she was wearing a white pants suit and it was November. 

Oh, thank goodness. It's REALLY starting now.

1:20 a.m.

I don't know what's happening, but I'm guessing that people are hustling to their seats. Sky Premiere is doing filler-- clips and interviews with the nominees-- and E! is talking to some legal guy about Britney Spears' visitation hearing. Yawn.

More fashion! But I know for a fact that it's a clip from earlier. Heidi Klu, who's wearing a gorgeous red dress from John Galliano, just told Ryan Seacrest that she's not wearing a bra, but she is wearing panties. File that under TMI (Too Much Information).

There's all sorts of screaming. Heidi just told Ryan that George Clooney has just arrived. Like I said, this was taped earlier. 

Maybe things don't really kick off until 1:30 a.m. This is torture.

1:02 a.m.

OSCAR NIGHT!

It's starting! It's starting!! Oh, wait. Not yet. Sky Movies is filling airtime with people you (nor I) has ever heard of, talking about the Oscars.

My questions for the night:

1. Are Angelina and Brad there?

2. Will the celebration be somewhat subdued, given the Writers Strike has just settled?

3. Will Ratatouille win?

4. Will Heath Ledger be the last actor honored in the list of "Those Who Passed This Year" (I thought it'll be either him or Robert Altman, but I just checked, and he died in 2006.)

5. Will I see any mice in the early hours? (Back in the days of working for WSJ.com, one of the overnight editors would always end her notes with the number of mice she saw in the night. I fear I might have to do the same here at MarathonMum HQ, though we haven't seen one in a while. But I think I just heard something. I will stomp the floor to make them scurry away, if need be.).

12:58 a.m.

Renee Zellweger has short blond hair! It looks great, but sadly for her, I don't think she's had anything to eat in a long time.

It's almost time for the Big Event. E! has signed off, as has Sky One. Time to switch over to Sky Premiere, for which I signed up specially. 

It doesn't look good for my night, though. The on-screen TV guide tells me they've allowed until 5:30 a.m. for the coverage. I nearly lost the will to live last year when it ended at 5:17 a.m., so my only hope is that it'll end earlier this year.

12:49 a.m.

Ah. Now THERE's Ellen Page. And she's wearing, you guessed it, Black.

Honestly, people, would a little bit of colour kill you? It's the biggest night of your career. Live it up!

Ryan Seacrest just asked Casey Affleck who he was tugging, and it turned out it was his wife, Summer.

Hillary Swank looks much happier this year. She also looks incredibly fit. She just admitted that she ate some carrot cake on the way to the Oscars. Gotta love that. She also probably hasn't eaten all week, so once she had the dress on, she probably figured, What the hell. Let's eat something.

Viggo Morgensten has a huge, bushy beard. I wonder if he's already started filming "The Road"? (Time for a quick IMDB check) Damn! I'm good. In fact, according to IMDB, they ARE filming "The Road" right now. 

12:43 a.m.

We're still on Oscar Pre-Game coverage. I have to say it's been pretty lame so far. Maybe it's dragging because everyone is waiting to see a pregnant Angelina Jolie.

Jennifer Hudson is wearing white. At least she didn't bring back the bolero/Judy Jetson jacket from last year.

It turns out that Amy Adam's dress is actually dark green. Who knew?

Mylie Cyrus again! She's in Valentino, so you've got to give her props for choosing a classy designer.

Colin Farrell is here with his mother. She looks younger than him, though I'm willing to bet she's done less drugs.

12:37 a.m.

"She does a look that girls at home can do."

Um. No. As hard as I might try, I will not be able to replicate Cameron Diaz's look. Because I am not Cameron Diaz.

Marion Cotillard may have learned her lesson from the BAFTA's and she's not wearing anything "Too French." She's wearing Jean Paul Gaultier. So French, but not too crazy.

12:30 a.m.

Helen Mirren, last year's Best Actress winner, is talking to Ryan Seacrest. She's got a nice red dress on, but she didn't say who made it. I like the sleeves-- they're all jeweled up.

Now he's talking to Jessica Alba. You can tell she's keeping her due date a secret, because she's being all cagey about how far along she is ("I'm in my third trimester"), and when exactly her due date is. She just told us who made her dress, but then he asked her if she's going to be breastfeeding. That was for all the men in the audience, obviously.

Hillary Swank is wearing... you guessed it... black.

12:24 a.m.

Gary Bussey is the one who was yelling at Ryan Seacrest and poor Jennifer Garner. I think he was drunk or high or both. I think we have to give props to Laura Linney, who got Jennifer Garner out of there. I wonder where Ben Affleck is? Is he home babysitting?

E! likes Jennifer Garner's whole look, but they're dissing the black too. 

There's Javier Bardem and he brought his mom. Oh, you have to love that. And he got a haircut (though I'm not surprised). 

Cameron Diaz has gone for blush pink, too. I think she learned something from the bride look of last year. (Thought that might have been at the Golden Globes).

Tilda Swinton, who is beautiful, is wearing a black sack. There's no other way to describe what she's wearing.

12:16 a.m.

As a special treat this year, I had Mr. Movie [Thing Two] make his Oscar choices.

But wait! Back to E! Some strange guy keeps yelling at poor Ryan Seacrest. They just told us who it is, but I've already forgotten.

Keri Russell has a blush pink dress on, but I can't decide if I like it. Kristin Chenowith has another (yawn!) black dess on. Pregnant Jessical Alba, (Sue Storm to everyone in this household) is wearing a burgundy dress, which looks good.

Wait! I was wrong! The woman who I thought was Ellen Page was actually Mylie Cyrus (I've just misspelled that, but I have to say, I don't care). I know she's some sort of pre-teen phenom, but beyond that, I don't know anything about her. This Cyrus girl is talking about wanting to be a "True Artist". You've got to be kidding.

12:11 a.m.

I just realized why they keep showing Patrick Dempsey. Of course! He was in "Enchanted", which was nominated three times for Best Song.

I also know that Sky One is being incredibly lame and it's not really live. I know this because they happen to be standing next to Ryan Seacrest. The stars stop to talk to Ryan (I know who he is this year, which is progress), and then they talk to Sky One. But when I jump over to Sky One, they're not on it. Where's their sense of adventure? Why are they editing these interviews? That is disappointing, as is Sky One's coverage, to be honest.

12:05 a.m.

Juno, I mean, Ellen Pge is wearing a nice red dress, but it's not as stunning as Anne Hathaway's. I suspect she had some sort of stylist coaching her because she doing all sorts of poses and making weird faces. But she looks a lot nicer than she has in any other picture I've seen.

Dwayne Johnson is talking to Ryan Seacrest at E! Who the hell is Dwayne Johnson?? And he's presenting, Ryan just told us. Talk about punching above your weight!

James McEvoy and Anne-Marie Duff are talking to E! This year they seem to know who he is. I guess that's what a nomintion (Which he got last year) will do for you. They even Id'ed Anne Marie Duff, but I guarantee they had to ask someone. She's a big stage actress here, but I bet Ryan didn't know who she is. They're both very witty in a British sort of way. Anne-Marie Duff has a stunning blue dress on, and looks lovely.

I'm noticing lots of black dresses this year, which is making me sleepy, even at this early hour. 

Live Blogging from the Oscars

Yes, MarathonMum fans. I've taken my Disco Nap and I'm ready to go. It's Oscar Night 2008!!

As it's been for the last two years, I'll be live blogging the event in order to stay awake. Stars! Dresses! Speeches! Who could ask for more?

And who better to kick off the night than our man George Clooney? The man for whom All Women Over A Certain Age have a crush. How could you not love a man who comes over to dinner and then goes up into the attic with a flashlight when some sort of an alarm goes off and he wants to find the source?

(Our man) George was nominated as Best Actor for "Michael Clayton", which we watched last night. It was a fantastic film, but I don't think it'll beat "There Will Be Blood" or "No Country for Old Men." Nor will George win, we think. That honour will go to Greenwich's Favourite Son, Daniel Day-Lewis.

At the moment, I'm toggling between E! and Sky One. Sadly, it's hard to hear on Sky One, and E! seems to have more actual Red Carpet coverage, which is key at this point in the night, because I just want to see the dresses. 

Ah! First beautiful dress of the night. Anne Hathaway has a beautiful red dress on. I love it. I didn't catch who it was from, but it's totally the type of dress I would want to wear. 

Sadly, I have no co-host with me this year, as Amazing Anne who joined me last year on the sofa, couldn't make it this year. She has to fly out to Istanbul in the morning, and that would be difficult to do if we have to stay up until 5:17 a.m., like we did last year. I can guarantee I won't be as funny by myself. But given that I have a readership of one for Oscar Night, I'm not too concerned.

Super Duper Tuesday

Yesterday was Super Duper Tuesday. Why was it Super Duper, you ask? Because:

• We voted in the Illinois Presidential Primary. Isn't the Absentee Ballot a beautiful thing?

• It was also Pancake Day, a joyful British tradition (see above). 

First, the presidential primary (with photo to follow). Even though we haven't lived in the U.S. for nine years, we still get to vote. We also get to file annually with the IRS, so if anyone complains about the first statement, I retort with that salient fact. Thing One, Thing Two and I have been discussing the presidential race frequently, talking about the positions of the candidates and who they are. One afternoon before the Iowa caucuses we sat down with a big newspaper spread showing pictures of all the candidates. I pointed to the Republican side of the spread and said, "We don't care about that side. We're Democrats."

Thing One is most impressed with Barack Obama's environmental positions, and because Thing Two does whatever Thing One does, he feels the same way. The feminist in me made sure that they understood that there was no reason why a woman couldn't be president. 

So yesterday before we went off to our Pancake Day party, we sat down with my absentee ballot and I showed them how it worked. It was like our very own "Super Duper Tuesday" (as the BBC called it) polling place. I also had to explain that it will be a long time before we know who the next president will be.

Following the voting, we set off for the party, where the boys got to flip and eat traditional British pancakes, which are more like crepes and do not resemble American pancakes at all. Pancake Day is a big deal in England-- all the supermarkets have a large display of ingredients because they assume nearly everyone will eat one that day. 

The boys had their fill of pancakes at the party, followed by general merriment and joy. And that, my friends, made for a Super Duper Tuesday.

Four Things (Or, A Cheaters Post)

My friend Camilla sent this to me a few weeks ago. As I would like to post, but also have many things to do today, I'm going to answer these questions and consider it "posting." Sure, it's cheating, but it's also an excellent way to waste time at work, for those of you who'd like to cut and paste the "Four Things" and then e-mail them to friends.

Four movies I will always stop and watch when surfing (even though I've seen them hundreds of times):

1. The Thomas Crown Affair (with Pierce Brosnan)

2. The Shawshank Redemption

3. The Sure Thing

4. Sixteen Candles 

Four jobs I've had in my life:

1. "Investigator" for an EPA subcontractor

2. Winery tour guide (in Bucks County)

3. Summer camp counsellor

4. Journalist

Four places I have lived:

1. London, England

2. Chicago, Illinois

3. Youngstown, Ohio

4. Doylestown, Pennsylvania

(But I am always, first and foremost, a Proud Jersey Girl)

Four TV Shows I Love to Watch:

1. Lost

2. ER

3. The Daily Show 

4. Spooks

Four Places I have been (for more than a month):

1. Washington, D.C.

2. Princeton, N.J.

3. France (though the 30 days were not consecutive)

4. Italy (ditto to above)

Four People who I e-mail regularly (in no particular order):

1. Mr. MarathonMum

2. Anne P.

3. Kathy K.

4. Kirstin M.

Four Favourite Things to Eat:

1. Mr. MarathonMum's pizza

2. Chocolate cake

3. Sushi

4. Indian from the Mogul

Four Places I would Rather Be Right Now:

1. Anywhere warm and sunny

2. In NJ, celebrating the Giants' surprising victory

3. In Italy.

4. Anywhere with my three favourite men.

Four Things I Am Looking Forward to in 2008:

1. Our Fab Family Trip to celebrate our Big Birthdays this year. 

2. Working on and finishing a long-held goal.

3. Being healthy enough to run and be happy.

4. Running a half-marathon in October. 

An Overture to Motherhood

A British friend of mine sent this link to me yesterday. It is quite likely that my friends in the U.S. have seen this MONTHS ago, but what can I say, we live thousands of miles away and sometimes these things take time to reach these shores.

Mothers: watch and weep.

(Don't be distracted or distressed by the Korean title of the clip. There's very helpful English subtitles with this clip, which will come in handy when you're laughing at the "It must be your father's DNA" line and you miss the next bit).

My 300th Posting & (Nearly) Three-Year Anniversary

I always used to think that the big changes of my life occurred in September, centered around the start of the new school year. It also happens to be the month that I got married. But upon further reflection, I realize that most of my Big. Life. Changes. happened in January. 

To wit:

-When I finished university one semester early, it was in January that I found myself casting about, trying to figure out what to do with my life while all my mates were still in school.

-When we moved to London, it was in January that I found myself wandering around a new city, trying to find a flat for us, and learning to love a hot cup of tea on a grey day. As I unpacked boxes in our new house, I found out I was pregnant with Thing One. (Not too many life changes at once.)

-When I started training in earnest for the London Marathon, it was in January. I also started this blog nearly three years ago today.

-And now, with Thing Two off to reception for the whole day, I now find myself trying to figure out what to do with my life (now that it's mostly mine again) and how to accomplish it.

It's a funny location to be in, looking back and looking ahead, but this is where I find myself these days. 

One Sunday, just before Christmas, I met an earlier version of myself. She was a 29-year-old woman who had just moved here from the United States. She now was trying to navigate London and get to grips with all the things that were the same, but different about living here. Her husband was off working, leaving her to figure all the little things of life in London. It reminded me so much of my early days here, and it seemed, paradoxically, that it was just yesterday and so very long ago.

Mr. MarathonMum and I then did the math. If we arrived here nine years ago, and that seemed like just yesterday, nine years from now Thing One will be 17 years old. "We're at the half-way point," Mr. MarathonMum joked, but I for one, DID NOT find that funny.

It seems apt that my 300th posting would be so retrospective, and is both looking back and looking ahead. I've got a plan for what I'm going to do now, but I still need the crucial notebook to get it all down on paper. (Those who know me well will appreciate my need for stationery products to get things moving.)

That fantastic write Anonymous once said, "It is the memory that enables a person to gather roses in January," to which I would add, "It is the memory, and the aspirations, that makes things happen in January."

New Year's Eve 2007

This year, without even trying, we had the funnest and funniest New Year's Eve EVER.

I certainly have had my fair share of fun and memorable (or not, depending on the amount of champagne drunk) last days of the year. Here's a sampling:
• In the 1970s, our family spent every Dec. 31 dining at the Hanover Steakhouse in New Jersey, now, sadly defunct.
• In 1986, I was asked to the senior prom.
• In 1989, I broke up with the same boyfriend who asked me to the senior prom.
• In 1993, my boyfriend (not the same as the above, but who I hoped would be my fiancee by then, but wasn't) and I paid over the odds to eat at a restaurant in Philadelphia with our friends. At 2 a.m., I watched him ring in the new year by changing a flat tire on I-95.
• In 1994, my fiancee (he finally asked! Hurrah!) and I watched a man shoot potatoes in the woods of Pennsylvania.
• In 1998, our first in London, we excitedly turned on the BBC at midnight to see the London celebrations, but all we got was a BBC reporter standing next to Big Ben as it chimed in the New Year and the reporter saying, "It's now 1999." A damp squib, even if we didn't know what that meant at the time.
• In 2000, we rang in the new millennium in style, with Thing One in a Baby Bjorn on my chest, we watched the fireworks on the Thames as we stood beside the Cutty Sark with our great friends from Chicago, who flew in specially for the occasion.
• In 2003, we spent the night in a swanky hotel in London.
• In 2006, hours after landing from a trip to Copenhagen, I fell asleep on the sofa.

But I digress. I wasn't particularly excited about New Year's Eve this year. In fact, when I was talking to a friend earlier in the evening and she asked what my plans were, I told her that New Year's Eve was best celebrated in your 20s, and best ignored thereafter. Thing One and Thing Two wanted to stay up until midnight. I told them that was only possible if they took a nap. As if. So then I told them we would celebrate New Year's Eve with our good friends from Moscow (at 9 p.m. GMT). We watched the fireworks in Red Square, called the grandparents in the US to wish them a Happy New Year, and we packed them off to bed. Or so we thought.

As we settled down to watch "The Bourne Ultimatum", we could hear the pitter-patter of tiny feet upstairs. We confidently said they'd be asleep soon. At 9:45 p.m., a note was tossed down from above. "Is it New Year yet?" it asked. "No!" we yelled up. "Now go to sleep!"

Thirty minutes later, thump-thump-thump-thump as little boys descended the stairs from above. "Is it New Year yet?" they asked, as they burst into the room. "No!" we said. "Now go to sleep!" said Mr. MarathonMum, while I said, "You guys are doing a great job of hanging tough. Only an hour and 45 minutes to go!"

Fifteen minutes later, thump-thump-thump-thump as little boys again descended the stairs. "Don't worry about us," Thing One announced to the room. "I've set up activities upstairs to keep us awake. Is it New Year yet?"

Once the movie concluded and we could hear enjoyment of the myriad of activities Julie McCoy, I mean Thing One, had set up for them, and realizing there was no way they were going to miss the London celebrations, we called up: "You can come down now." Amazingly, Thing One (age 8) was still wide awake, and Thing Two (age 4) was hanging in there.

We watched the New Year's pregame on the various channels and waited for the London extravaganza to begin. Things have changed considerably since our first New Year's Eve in 1998. At 11:50 p.m., snuggling on Mom's lap and holding her hand for comfort, Thing Two could hang in there no longer and he was asleep. So close, and yet, so far.

At midnight, we watched the amazing fireworks at the London Eye and we rang in the New Year having had the funnest and funniest New Year's Eve yet.

Highlights of 2007

It's New Year's Eve at MarathonMum HQ and we are celebrating in style. We have already played a rousing game of Harry Potter Scene It (Thanks Santa!), Thing One and Thing Two are currently amusing themselves by watching Wallace and Gromit while I compile this short list of the year's highlights. I would have liked to have blogged about many of the things included on the list, but life got in the way, so now I'm trying to recover by including it in my Year in Review. I should say that when I was a newspaper reporter, this sort of story would have been written about a month ago so it could run today while I was somewhere else. But alas, as I had no editor breathing down my neck asking where the year end story was, that didn't happen here. But without further adieu, here's my personal highlights:

Compliment of the Year: Thing One, Thing Two and I were riding an Amtrak train from Washington to Philadelphia one rainy Friday. We were sitting in a quartet of seats, with the fourth seat being taken up by an older man who took the seat grudingly and only because it was the last available one on the train. After a bad storm, the train slowed to only 6 m.p.h. and consequently was delayed by more than two hours after lightening had hit the power station. But we endured, reading books, doing sticker books, eating the care package that Aunt Christine had made us and enjoying our portable gaming devices. As we got up to leave in Philadelphia, the older gentleman turned to me and said, "You have very well behaved children."

Story of the Year: Without a doubt, The Canoe Man. Amazing. Man presumed dead after kayaking. Walks into a police station years later, saying he can't remember anything. But ACTUALLY, he was living next door to his wife, using a secret passage between houses, they pay off their debts and move to Panama. Now here's a lesson for people planning to do the same thing: DON'T AGREE TO HAVE YOUR PICTURE POSTED ON THE INTERNET, EVEN IF YOU ARE IN PANAMA. The Interweb, and especially Google, is an amazing thing. You should also know that Canoe Man is a misnomer, but that's the nickname the British press came up with, and it stuck.

Sports Highlight of the Year: Being in a first-place tie (for one day, but still) in my Villanova friend's NCAA tournament. Very impressive, I think, particularly when you consider that I was one of two international entrants (the other one was in China, stealing the Furthest Away Crown from me. Drat.)

Trip Highlight of the Year: Has to be, hands down, getting to see the inside of the infirmary at Disneyland Paris on Thing One's 8th Birthday. This could also be called the "Maternal Lowpoint of the Year" since I kept saying to Thing One, "Come on! You'll be fine! We're in Disneyland, for goodness sake!"

Worst Play of the Year: "We the People" at the Globe Theatre. It was written by Eric Schlosser, best known as the author of "Fast Food Nation." Should we have been dubious that a play about the forming of the American constitution should have been a good one? Yes, indeedy. But I did pass some of the time looking at each audience member, trying to see if Schlosser's father-in-law Robert Redford was there. He was not. We left.

Best Book of the Year: "The Road." Incredibly haunting, and not a particularly enjoyable read, but amazing just the same.

Saddest Story of the Year: The Cutty Sark Fire. For the residents of Greenwich, it was like a death in the family. She will rise again, though, for that we can be sure.

Best Musical of the Year: I have to say that I don't usually go in for musicals, but this year I got to enjoy two: Mary Poppins with Thing Two in September and The Sound of Music with Thing One in December. I'm hoping they took away some wonderful memories from our "dates" but even if they didn't, we had a great time. Even funnier, it was the second time that Thing One had been at the London Palladium, having seen "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" there was he was nearly three. Sadly, he didn't remember it at all, not even the flying car.

Best Meal of the Year: Thanksgiving. Once again, we hosted a Thanksgiving party for 22 of our closest friends and their children, and the majority of attendees did not hold U.S. passports. But who cares. It was a great day of sublime food, and all the better if more people can learn to appreciate the best holiday of the year.

Here's wishing you and yours a wonderful 2008 full of good highlights. See you next year!

Christmas in London

A faithful MarathonMum reader wrote in, wanting to hear all about Christmas in London. So for my friends near and far, here's a taste of what our past month has been like:

A visit to Santa:
Thing One and Thing Two had a day off from school on 3 December, so we took the opportunity to go see Santa at Selfridges, one of the nicest department stores in London. Lucky for us, Santa at Selfridges has joined the 21st century and we could book our time slot online. It was a fantastic experience. A snowy grotto with animatronic animals greeted us, before we boarded a TRAIN (a miniature one, but still) to go see Santa himself. Time Out London agreed with me and said it was the best Santa experience in all of London. Afterwards, I stole a tradition from a friend of mine and took the boys to the Christmas department where they each go to pick out an ornament: Thing One chose a bird in Santa's boot, and Thing Two chose a St. Nicholas. It was magical.

I thought about going to see Santa at Harrod's. But only because a few years ago I took my brother there in December and he thought it was the best Christmas display he had ever seen in a department store. Every year since, he's asked me if we went to Harrod's this year. I don't have the heart to tell him that only tourists go to Harrod's. So I did originally try to book us in to see Santa there that day. But they were booked up even when I checked more than a month before we wanted to go. Apparently, Harrods started taking reservations in August, but that just seems wrong to me. So we didn't get to see the Harrods Santa. We did have a walk around Harrods (post-Selfridges) and the boys LOVED the toy department. But I still maintain that no self-respecting Londoner would actually shop there on a regular basis.

Parties, parties and more parties
We spent a good part of the month attending parties, and we probably went to about 15 in all (which explains the paucity of posts this month). Class parties, family parties, company parties, Cub Scout parties, swimming parties, pilates parties: you name it, we probably went to a party for it. Unfortunately, going to so many parties sort of sucks the party spirit out of you. When told that Thing One had a Cub party the following day, my knee-jerk (emphasis on jerk) response was, "Not another sodding party!"

London, all dressed up
One of the nice things about having Christmas in London is all of the beautiful Christmas decorations. Here in Greenwich, they started a new Christmas tradition of Advent Windows: every day in December, a different house decorated a window (or in some fine cases, many windows) and they were assigned a day to "open" their window, like a live Advent calendar. It was wonderful. If I get a chance (ha ha ha) I will try to post pictures of some of my favourites.

Thing One and I were also lucky enough to sort-of see the lighting of the tree at Trafalgar Square. It was the night we were lucky enough to score tickets to see the "Sound of Music", and we were in the bus, passing the unlit tree, but there were scores of people surrounding it, as though something was about to happen. Sure enough, when we were on the bus on the way back a few hours later, the tree was all lit up, looking very Christmasy. (Though I have to say that the Jersey Girl in me still thinks the tree in Rockafeller Plaza is still WAY BETTER. Sorry.)

Our Leading Man
Every Christmas Eve for the past five years, our church does a children's nativity, and Thing One and Two have played a part in it since the beginning. We've had heavy experience in the role of "Shepard", but this year, the organizer called to ask (a bit hestitantly, it should be sasid) if perhaps Thing One would be interested in playing Joseph. Would he ever! He went on to tell me that the parents of the first girl he asked to be Mary had turned him down because it wasn't a speaking role. I almost told him I would be Mary, since I was passed over when I was 8. They made me head angel. Bah. It's an oversight that still stings to this day. But they found a Mary in the end, and Joseph (and one of his faitful shepards, Thing Two) did a wonderful job.

Christmas Recovery
Finally, the best Christmas tradition to be had in London has got to be Boxing Day. It's also known as "The Servant's Christmas" because that was the day the servants got their boxes with presents inside, and they also got the day off. I like to think of Boxing Day as "Mom's Recovery Day". On that day, we share our traditional Boxing Day meal of Pizza and the Standage-McKees. This year, I started a new tradition: The Two-Hour Nap. Long may it continue.

Wishing you and yours a wonderful Christmas season.

A Christmas Message from Thing One

Thing One (age 8) and I were walking around town, doing our last minute Christmas errands, when I screwed up the courage to ask him the following:
"Is there anyone in your class who doesn't believe in Santa?"

After all, this is what they call in "The Polar Express" a critical year. He's old enough to apply some logic to the situation, and obviously there will be many discussions with his classmates in the playground. But it should also be said that he hasn't expressed ANY doubts this Christmas season and his belief appears to be steadfast.

Thing One replied, "Well, there's a few people that say there's no Santa, and that it's your parents who do it.

"But I told them 'That's crap! There's definitely a Santa!!' "

A Merry Christmas to all.

My 39th Birthday

Today is the day I turned 39 years old. (Or, it might be the first time I turn 39, only to repeat it every year. Watch this space.)

But I really wanted to celebrate, and I had just the bottle with which to do it. When I ran the London Marathon in 2005, my friend Liz, who was also running, and I organized a raffle to raise money for our charities-- Cancer Research UK for her, CAMFED for me. At the time, she was working at the Houses of Parliament, so she was able to get a bottle of House of Commons champagne for our raffle.

As it happens, my great friend Mollie won the champagne. On the day of the marathon, when I passed her at Mile 4, I kept yelling, "You won the champagne! You won the champagne!" It's a good thing she wasn't at Mile 24, because the information would not have been so enthusiastically broadcast. A few days later when I went to present the prize to her, she handed it straight back to me. "I'm so proud of you," she said. "You earned this."

Then, as often happens with prized bottles, it sat in our wine rack, waiting for a special occasion to drink it. The wait became even more complicated in January, when my doctor prescribed me a drug for my arthritis that means, for the sake of my liver, I can't drink any more except for Very Special Occasions.

I decided that my 39th birthday would be a Very Special Occasion. Personally, it has been an interesting (a euphimism for challenging) year for me, and I was glad it was behind me. It was time to open our House of Commons Champagne with some of our great friends. Wine lovers will know that since it is called champagne, it is from France, which I find very ironic. You'd think they'd be able to source some British sparkling wine, but I digress.

When we opened it, I argued that it was too bad we didn't have a House of Lords bottle to compare tastes, as one could presume it would be of a higher quality. I thought the House of Commons Champagne was just OK, but others at the table said it was fine.

In the end, the taste of the champagne didn't matter. What was more important to me was what it signified: an accomplishment for which I am quite proud, but also, optimism for the days ahead.

I'm Smarter than Nicole Kidman!

My Brain Age (according to More Brain Training by Dr. Kawashima): 23
Nicole Kidman's Brain Age (according to the commericals advertising same): 24

Take that, Nicole! You may be beautiful, blond and all the boys want to date you, but I'm smarter. Ha ha! Actually, it seems like high school all over again.

My addiction to More Brain Training happened like any addiction: slowly, without me really noticing. Now while I'm not quite at the point where I need to do brain training to get out of bed, it's not far from it.

The problem is that it offers daily validation as to my intelligence, and gives me a chance to improve it-- at least by the standards of the game. I doubt I'm smarter than when I first started my training and my "Brain Age" was 80. I mean, 80?? Had I completely lost my edge while I stayed home with Thing One and Thing Two?

So I relentlessly started training. Obviously, because I'm not THAT sad, I didn't apply myself to the task to the same degree as my marathon training in 2005. But I had to point to prove: Just because I'm not working, or "retired" as Thing One recently described it, does not mean that I have the brain of a geriatic.

This morning, after about a month of "training" I finally beat Nicole Kidman's score. However, the cynic in me also suspects that the clip was edited for commerical purposes. She is moving far too slow in those commercials to have a brain age of 24.

Thinking about what I knew when I was 24 (not much, frankly) versus what I know now (a book's worth), I can't understand how a younger brain age shows that you're smarter. How could a 24-year-old punk be considered smarter than a world-weary 38-year-old?

It doesn't compute. But I don't care: I'm smarter than Nicole! Validation for today has been attained.

Halloween Recap

Halloween 2007 received rave reviews from Thing One and Thing Two.

"This was the best Halloween EVER," said Thing One.
"I had so much fun at our Halloween party Mom. Didn't you?" asked Thing Two.

Halloween in the United Kingdom has been an evolving holiday since we first arrived here almost nine years ago. The very first Halloween, in 1999, coincided with the baptism of Thing One. I had asked neighbours if it was a big deal, and they all replied in the negative, so I didn't buy any candy. As it happens, I was also dealing with a brand-new baby, so Halloween was low on the list of priorities. That year, we had few random trick-or-treaters, but there was nothing in the shops to indicate that this was a holiday that was celebrated here.

Things have moved on since then, or indeed, since 2002, when the only Halloween accessories I was able to find in the shops here was one pack of Halloween napkins, found at Waitrose.

This year, you couldn't move for all the choice of Halloween things available in the shops. I even heard less grumbling about the "Americanization" of the U.K. as more children embraced the idea of dressing up and getting candy in return. As I make no apologies about being an American in London, I figured it was up to us to celebrate the holiday fully, so we had a party for 15 children and their parents.

One of the perks of being a foreigner abroad is you get to make your own traditions and rules, but also incorporate the best aspects of things from home. To illustrate: I made the children play "Bobbing for Apples." I could not explain the reason for the game nor why it's played on Halloween, but we did it anyway. The kids got SOAKED, but they had a great time.

By the time the games had been played, the pizza had been eaten and the children were about to burst from excitement, we set out for Trick-or-Treating. Thing One was dressed as Sam, the first monkey to survive space travel. Thing Two was dressed as Harry Potter (and he even has the British accent to say it properly).

We hit the mean streets of London for only about an hour, and we only visited the houses of friends, but that was enough. The kids got a bag full of candy and (hopefully) a head full of fun memories.