Mill Road Winter Fair

I know I have referenced Mill Road before, but as a reminder, it is full of hip, independent shops, and has a ton of international restaurants. Every year, on the first Saturday of December, they have the Mill Road Winter Fair, and they pedestrian-ize the whole road. All the shops have outdoor displays, and all the churches and mosques (of which there are several) have bazaars and stalls set up inside & out. We had a really fantastic day!

The first thing we saw was this:

I was so pumped - I'd never had roast chestnuts before! This is what you get for 1£:

And this is what you look like afterwards, because roasted chestnuts are (a) hard to eat, because you have to peel the husk off, (b) you both burn your hands and inevitably leave behind a big hunk o' husk, and (4) they are gross:

But luckily, we were invited to come into one of the churches, to "have our photo taken in a manger, with real costumes!" Matthew's face said, "Do not make me do this..." and so I said, "Sure! We'd love to!" I bet he is so glad he "agreed" because this might end up being our best family photo ever:

After we'd strolled up & down, and Eliz fell asleep in her stroller, we did what any normal parents would do: went to a pub & had a pint. She slept for the whole time we were in the pub, and we stood at the bar - mostly because it was busy, but also because we never get to stand at the bar anymore, and it's the best place for people-watching/judging. I didn't find out until today (ie a day too late) that the Man in Red, Santa Claus himself, was also having a pint at the same time as us, but at different pubs!! Oh well, we'll have to find another time for Elizabeth to see him again.

We also hit up the stalls of bric-a-brac, and came home with a bunch of "olde-fashioned" wooden Christmas tree ornaments, a bag of Christmas tree balls from a charity shop, and a tree & tinsel from Salvation Army. Our little tree cost us a grand total of 12.50£, and I love it. More importantly, Elizabeth loves it, and if she pulls it down, it won't hurt her. Also, if she breaks every single one of the ornaments, who cares!

 

Elizabeth is allowed to play with the Santas & the little train, and so now she says a lot of "Ho Ho Hooooooooo" and "chooooo choooo". She also thinks the lamb is a horse, so she says, "Neigh, neigh" a lot too...