Trip to Oxford Welcomes 2011

December 30th, 2010 to January 1st, 2011 I experienced the English college town of Oxford to bring in the new year! Daniel, Valerie, Audrey and I joined by my Auntie Annie, Uncle Steve, and cousins Jeff, Jessa, and Emmie drove two hours north to visit Oxford University where Jess will be spending the semester studying through a program called The Summit. Oxford is bigger than Canterbury, but has a cute downtown center filled with shops and cafes and crawling with people at the right time of day. It was nice to stay at a hotel within walking distance from everywhere we wanted to be. For our first night's dinner we strolled down to the Eagle and Child Pub, famously known for being the regular meeting spot of J.R. Tolken and C.S. Lewis. We enjoyed some beef and ale pies (quite the English pub meal), along with a ginger beer that I found actually pretty tasty! It was fun to be out with family exploring a new place.
New Year's Eve we shopped around town, then decided to go to the cinema to see the newest Narnia movie. I have to say that English movie theatre popcorn is not nearly as butter-loaded as ours! It was a great movie and Audrey made it half-way through before she started yelling and "Poppy" (Uncle Steve :P) had to take her for an adventure outside. After the movie we all went to a nice dinner at an Italian chain restaurant called Zizzi's. I had an excellent pizza and taught Uncle Steve how the 3D movie glasses come in handy even after the 3D movie! Back at the hotel the eight of us gathered in one room to celebrate the New Year together. We continued a great tradition of talking about and recording the highlights and significant events of the past year, 2010. It amazes me how each year that goes by only goes by faster than the last! Next we all gave our predictions for the next year, 2011, relating to anything really! It was fun to hear what everyone thought and to dream a little about what the future holds. We spent the last thirty minutes of 2010 praying with each other, thanking the Lord for all that He has done and all that He's going to do, and simply dedicating the year 2011 to Him and His purposes. At midnight we pulled some poppers and were surprised by a little fireworks show outside our hotel window. Though it was a different kind of New Year's celebration, I was so content to be where I was at, surrounded by people who care about me and who want to please and praise the Lord we serve.
It was a great trip to bring closure to 2010 and welcome in the year 2011!