Christmas Pictures.

Not all of these relate to school, but they do give you an idea of what we got up to before and during the school holiday!

Being a star, literally, in the school nativity play. This lasted 2 hours with an hour beforehand for them all to arrive and get ready! I've put the video of her bit on my Facebook page (Alyson Joy Long - I think I'm the only one!!) if you are interested.

End of term ballet recital. The hardest part for her was having to have a proper bun. As soon as she finished I had to remove all the pins holding it in place, it was hurting her that much! She was very enthusiastic though!

The AILO's Christmas Bazaar at the old stables near Porta Romana. Being an American event we ate burgers and hot dogs! They were very good though. There was also proper US crisps (chips) by Lays, which I've never had before. They were almost like Britain's Walkers, so they were good. I find most Italian crisps far too salty or highly flavoured! I tend to stick to Pringles or Kettle Chips because of this! It was a good bazaar and we came home with loads of bargains! The best was buying back a baby toy I had donated that nobody wanted, except Antonia of course who recognised it and hadn't realised I had given it away! As it had come from a fair in the first place I ended up paying more to buy it back than I paid for it in the first place! 

We went to see an Italian musical production of Pippi Longstocking, hence the pigtails! Antonia thought it was great. It was just the right length at an hour long. Also, for once, it was in the afternoon rather than the evening so we were out before tea. We went and had a Chinese as a treat. Unfortunately it was the Sunday the heavens opened and we had an enormous hail storm! We eventually got home about 8.00 p.m. having had to stay in the restaurant until it all calmed down!

Finally, Christmas Day! Antonia has been having golf lessons with a friend on and off since September. She decided she wanted a set of clubs from Father Christmas. Here she is practising with them on Christmas day!