The turkey is finished

Actually the turkey was finished a couple of days ago but I am pleased with how we used it all up.

1. Christmas Day of course, and Jamie also took some turkey back to Edinburgh with him later.

2. Boxing Day - Leftover turkey with all the trimmings at Gerry and Christine's. (Admittedly this doesn't count as using up our own turkey but we mightily enjoyed helping to finish theirs and had a great evening)

3. 27th December - Our own leftover turkey, again with all the leftover trimmings. Yummy.

4. 28th December - a delicious turkey risotto made to my own recipe, and served with a festive spoonful of cranberry sauce on top. 

5. Also 28th December - a bowl of chopped up turkey meat for Tom and Ruby. Tom ate it so fast that he sicked up a bit of it straight away, clearly unchewed.

And so farewell to our Christmas turkey.

Escaping in Edinburgh

Yesterday the five of us had a day in Edinburgh which started with an adventure - we were locked in the Da Vinci room at Escape and had to find the Holy Grail as well as a key to get out! It was great fun - we had to search the room for clues, using codes and solving puzzles. Everybody was able to contribute and we triumphed in only 49 minutes and 30 seconds! James then bought the boys some shirts in the Tyrwhitts sale. We also went into a shop called Anta which had gorgeous Scottish fabrics as well as lamps and crockery. James and I were rather taken with a lamp decorated with thistles that we thought would look just right in our newly decorated lounge. Alasdair was less impressed especially by the price. He is very thrifty. The very posh sales assistant commented that they had taken delivery of the lamp only ten minutes before we arrived, to which Alasdair commented loudly to me, "They must have seen you coming!" I didn't know where to look! We bought it anyway and I think it looks splendid in the lounge! We then had lunch in The Gourmet Burger Bar before going back to Jamie's flat for a coffee. What a pleasant day we had! 

Earth Stood Hard as Iron

It was just as well that the earth stood hard as iron today in the Kilpatrick Hills. I noticed that much of the ground that we were walking on was in fact frozen mud, so the freezing temperatures made our going nice and easy compared to slogging through a bog! James had been talking about going for a walk in that area for a while, partly because he had quite liked it on a previous walk (despite heavy rain) and partly because of its proximity to home - only half an hour's drive and we were striding out onto the hills. Today the weather was absolutely glorious; cold crisp air and blue skies, and we had great views. To the south was a misty Glasgow, to the North were the snow covered hills of the Trossachs and Ben Lomond. We had planned an 8 km walk but extended it to take in Duncolm, the highest hill in the Kilpatricks, so in the end we walked about 15 km with about 500 metres of ascent. A tremendous day.

Peaceful

It has been a peaceful, family Christmas, and I can't ask for better than that. The kittens got a great deal of attention on Christmas morning from their cousins Jenny, Neil and Lucy at our traditional festive gathering. Tom and Ruby also have a new kitten cousin called Millie, who looks very like Ruby!

We have dined royally, exchanged gifts which touched me with their thoughtfulness, gone for bracing walks around the neighbourhood, visited friends and played with the kittens. 

This morning, sadly, I attended the funeral of a friend, Neil, who has died too young. I can only imagine the feelings of his wife Sheila and his daughter Kathryn, who is a good friend of Jamie. At the funeral I ran into quite a few friends that I haven't seen for a while. I have semi-deliberately kept a low profile due to the difficulties of the past year but it is a shame because they are really nice people. I am fortunate that they keep reaching out to me, in fact I don't deserve their kindness. We parted vowing to meet up soon. I would like to believe that I will do so.

'Twas the night before Christmas

Well it's Christmas Eve in Casa Anderson. I collected Jamie from Edinburgh this afternoon after attending Noah's birthday party in the morning. I enjoyed listening to music on the way and chatting with Jamie on the way back. This evening we have had a curry, watched Skyfall on television; all five of us are together in the house. Or should I say seven, including our new furry babies. I just love it when we are all together. I have wrapped the last of the presents and put them under the tree. James and Jamie are in charge of the turkey, so much stuffing and sewing and wrapping in tin foil has gone on in the kitchen, and since it is too large for the fridge, it has been carried ceremoniously to the chill of the garage. I find a comfort in these traditions. Merry Christmas. 

The Christmas lights are switched off

On Sunday James and I met up with Heather and Ewan for our traditional Christmas lunch. I have blogged before about how much this means to me. 2014 has had some very good times but also some very difficult times for me and I appreciate the support of family and close friends more than I could ever express. This year's lunch venue was Jamie Oliver's in George Square and the meal was absolutely delicious. It was busy with families but the service was still good. Our afternoon continued at the Metropolitan which has a great atmosphere especially at this time of year; I saw my cousin's son Greg expertly shaking cocktails behind the bar and I went over for a chat with him. There he was, all grown up and handsome; it seems no time at all since he was a baby. Heather and I went for a stroll round the craft stalls in the indoor Christmas market; the quality of the jewellery and art work was excellent. Later on Ally, Cat, Davie and Andrew all joined us for drinks and our festive afternoon morphed into a festive early evening!

At one point earlier on we had noticed that the Christmas lights were not yet on in George Square although the dreich afternoon was beginning to deepen into early twilight on the shortest day. As if on cue, the lights came on a few minutes later. 

Tonight however there are no Christmas lights on in George Square. They have been switched off as a mark of respect for the six people who died there this afternoon, run over by an out of control bin lorry. I presume that the driver had suffered some sort of heart attack. I first heard the news by text from Jennifer and the first thing I did was phone Ally, Cat and Davie who I knew were all Christmas shopping in town. Thank goodness they were all ok. 

But I can't imagine what the bereaved families and the injured people must be going through. That's not the only sad news I have heard this week and it made me think that it's time to get things into proportion in my life and count my blessings.

Oh what fun we had

Last Thursday James and I went to see Madness at the Hydro. Although they are about our age and their music was part of our youth we have never seen them in concert until now. What a good show they put on! They had the whole audience singing and dancing. Our pleasure was further enhanced by being upgraded to entrance to a lounge, where there was a quiet bar and more importantly comfy seats to lounge about on. My favourite song was "Our House" which was just as good as I had hoped.

I'm still far too overloaded at work but I'm being a bit more successful at switching off from it when I'm at home. All in all the term has gone well.

More fun was to come on Saturday when Ally arrived home from Oslo. Although we have skyped and face timed regularly we haven't seen him in person since September so when I picked him up from the airport it was really good to hug him and kiss him. He must have missed me a bit because he let me do the hugging and kissing without putting up a fight! Once Ally was home it wasn't long before beautiful Cat arrived - Christine and Gerry kindly gave her a lift to our house from a family party and we invited them in for a drink. Cat and Ally were very taken with the kittens and Tom and Ruby seemed delighted with the attention.