Haggis anyone?
Christmas was spent in Edinburgh with family from my mom's side of the family. We are
I spent the first bit of my stay with my mom's cousin Mary and her husband Ali. Wonderful hosts I must say. For those of you who aren't familiar with Scotland, everything is much smaller. Homes, cars, refridgerators, showers...the list continues. It is incredibly expensive to live in Edinburg and the space is fully utilized. Most homes do not have a dish washer or dryer....let alone a freezer in the house. But for those of you who may think different, you can dry clothing outside on a line even in sub-zero degree temperatures. Who knew!
Must say that it was hard to be away at Christmas. Especially on Chrismas Eve which I enjoy more than Christmas morning. Everyone was asking about my family's Christmas traditions... I told them we make pizzas and play "mystery gift". I followed that by telling them that we aren't too representative of traditional american families!
On Christmas morning, we went to Neil and Nicola's (Neil is Mary's son). They have two children, Andrew and Eliah (have to be honest, I don't know how to spell her name but the pronunciation is Aylee). It's always fun to watch kids open parcels (not gifts...parcels).
Christmas evening was spent with Mhari and her husband Martin (Mhari is Mary's daughter). They have two small girls, Rhona who is 2 and Catriona who is 11 weeks.
Rhona was having nothing to do with her parcels and she had the biggest pile! Once she opened one, she was satified and wanted to play with the toy rather than open a new one.
By pure accident, I took part in the opening celebrations of Hogmany in Endinburgh(4 day celebrations for the New Year). I walked out of a museum and was swept up by the candle light procession that had started on the Royal Mile (famous street where the castle and queens residence is located) and ended on Princess Street (main street in the city center). Thousands of people... at first I had no idea what was going on.
It turned out to be great fun. The festivities included an outdoor ice skating rink, carnival rides and games and a scottish band of bag pipes. Below are pictures...most of these are from Princess Street. Of note, the "Maze of Terror" looked like it had nothing on the haunted corn maze that I haunted this fall. As the Lone Pine Farms haunted corn maze witch, I think I have the right to judge such matters.
New Years was spent in Glascow with my mom's cousin Peter and his wife Catherine. They have three children, Catriona 20, Fiona 18, David 15. Must admit that I do not have pictures of the kids but in my defense, two of them were out of town for the holiday. We went to a church service that night which I must say was a nice way to start the year. I avoided the usual new years resolutions this year but did spend time reflecting on the ups and downs of 2005. A lot happened last year much of which pushed me to where I am now. I have lots of growth to build on and a clearer picture of who I want to become.
Peter and Catherine are quite the troopers as we stayed out until 3:45am. Their neighbors throw a party every year and we joined in on the festivities.
Must say that I greatly appreciated the phone calls and emails during the holidays. I felt incredibly blessed.
I spent the first bit of my stay with my mom's cousin Mary and her husband Ali. Wonderful hosts I must say. For those of you who aren't familiar with Scotland, everything is much smaller. Homes, cars, refridgerators, showers...the list continues. It is incredibly expensive to live in Edinburg and the space is fully utilized. Most homes do not have a dish washer or dryer....let alone a freezer in the house. But for those of you who may think different, you can dry clothing outside on a line even in sub-zero degree temperatures. Who knew!Must say that it was hard to be away at Christmas. Especially on Chrismas Eve which I enjoy more than Christmas morning. Everyone was asking about my family's Christmas traditions... I told them we make pizzas and play "mystery gift". I followed that by telling them that we aren't too representative of traditional american families!
On Christmas morning, we went to Neil and Nicola's (Neil is Mary's son). They have two children, Andrew and Eliah (have to be honest, I don't know how to spell her name but the pronunciation is Aylee). It's always fun to watch kids open parcels (not gifts...parcels).
Christmas evening was spent with Mhari and her husband Martin (Mhari is Mary's daughter). They have two small girls, Rhona who is 2 and Catriona who is 11 weeks.
Rhona was having nothing to do with her parcels and she had the biggest pile! Once she opened one, she was satified and wanted to play with the toy rather than open a new one.
By pure accident, I took part in the opening celebrations of Hogmany in Endinburgh(4 day celebrations for the New Year). I walked out of a museum and was swept up by the candle light procession that had started on the Royal Mile (famous street where the castle and queens residence is located) and ended on Princess Street (main street in the city center). Thousands of people... at first I had no idea what was going on.
It turned out to be great fun. The festivities included an outdoor ice skating rink, carnival rides and games and a scottish band of bag pipes. Below are pictures...most of these are from Princess Street. Of note, the "Maze of Terror" looked like it had nothing on the haunted corn maze that I haunted this fall. As the Lone Pine Farms haunted corn maze witch, I think I have the right to judge such matters.
New Years was spent in Glascow with my mom's cousin Peter and his wife Catherine. They have three children, Catriona 20, Fiona 18, David 15. Must admit that I do not have pictures of the kids but in my defense, two of them were out of town for the holiday. We went to a church service that night which I must say was a nice way to start the year. I avoided the usual new years resolutions this year but did spend time reflecting on the ups and downs of 2005. A lot happened last year much of which pushed me to where I am now. I have lots of growth to build on and a clearer picture of who I want to become.
Peter and Catherine are quite the troopers as we stayed out until 3:45am. Their neighbors throw a party every year and we joined in on the festivities.
Must say that I greatly appreciated the phone calls and emails during the holidays. I felt incredibly blessed.
posted by Kathryn.mills @ 3:41 PM
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