A Christmas Ceilidh

I enjoyed our department night out on Friday night; it was very relaxed and catered to all tastes. We started with a meal in Bar Square then moved on to O'Neills where an Irish Band was playing traditional music. We then moved to Arta where I did a bit of dancing before leaving at about 12 when I gave Tina a lift home. When I got home I met Clarissa for the first time since I saw her in St Lucia; she is very polite and friendly. In the morning James, Davie, Grandma and I set off to get our Christmas tree from the David Marshall Lodge at Aberfoyle; this has been our tradition since before the children were born! It is part of the fun of Christmas to choose our tree freshly cut down from the forest, and then we have a soup and sandwich lunch. Usually we have all three boys with us but this year Jamie has an exam on Tuesday and Ally was taking Clarissa into Glasgow to show her the sights. There was no snow at home but as we drove north we could see that fresh snow had fallen; the roads were icy and the countryside was covered with freezing mist. The branches of all the trees were topped with a layer of snow which gave an attractive lacy effect. When we arrived at the David Marshall Lodge we thought that there were no Christmas trees for sale, but as we approached the building we saw that they were there, but many less that usual. This was because of the adverse weather earlier in the week, however more were being delivered. With Grandma's help we chose a fine nine foot specimen of Douglas Fir, then James and Davie lashed it on to the roof of the car and we went inside for a warming lunch. Home we went and James put the tree up in the lounge and Davie did a grand job of decorating it. I have so many happy memories of decorating the tree with our lovely boys with Christmas music playing and the cats playing with baubles and tinsel. Kyle and Cammy popped round to see David, they are all good friends. Meanwhile Ally had taken Clarissa on a tour of the west end including the university and the Botanic Gardens. They went for lunch in Brel in Ashton Lane and listened to some jazz there. In the evening the four of us went to Cafe Source in St Andrew's Square where we had a nice meal in the cafe before moving upstairs to the ceilidh. There were no problems getting Ally and Clarissa in - it would have been a bit of a dampener if they had been turned away at the door! Ally had ID "borrowed from a friend" - the photo looked nothing like him! The ceilidh was great, just what Ally wanted. The ceilidh band were excellent and the venue was all decorated for Christmas. He and Clarissa danced to every dance, she looked lovely in a gold dress and he was very smart in his kilt. James and I enjoyed it too (more than James thought he would I think, and I am very pleased that he came with us!) and we had a few dances, we slipped away when the disco started at eleven, leaving Ally with strict instructions to take good care of Clarissa and to get a taxi home. I also told him to phone me if he had any problems getting a taxi because this is one of the busiest nights of the year. I haven't heard from him so I will turn the phone's ringer up to loud so that it will wake me if I am needed. I am so so tired but I'm really glad that the evening went well. Next Saturday however we are going to have a quiet night in!