Merry Christmas?

When I was working in the USA, a lifetime ago, we used to drink Canadian beer.

Now I have been given my own collection of beer mats, thanks to the generosity of no 2 child.

 

Splitty

After a wild night, when Storm Eleanor crossed the country, we had a great day celebrating with Jack and Kathryn.

The prodigal returns

We have travelled to Belfast to go to a family wedding, but first we needed to collect our canadian daughter, who had flown overnight into Belfast - via Iceland.  Very exotic!

There are no photos of her arrival at the international gate, but very soon after we were enjoying a brunch (or lunch - as we were too late for breakfast!)

Pulled pork burgers, Calgery Flames sweatshirt - all very international!

 Nothing much else happened - we got caught up with each other, and got all outfits finalised for the wedding, then had a lovely dinner out in Holywood.


 

HNY2018

So we saw off 2017 in the same was as we saw of 2016 - I was playing in the ceilidh band in Grangemouth, and the others were at home - except this time one child was "lagging" 5 hours behind (in Montreal where it was very VERY cold)  

Does it feel like New Year when one of the team are sure it is only 7 pm?

Well it looked like it from where I was sitting!

Another change was that we had not been festive in Belfast - but had remained in Scotland for the first time in 5 or 6 years.

So after a call with the canadian child at 5 am (or midnight for her) we jumped in the car and took off for the delights of the first boat of 2018.

Belfast here we come! Blue skies and a flat calm crossing.  Don't worry - I can sleep anywhere.  There seemed to be more people queuing for the "priority boarding" than the normal queue!

The house without Christmas Day

Lots of different things are happening in our house this year. One by-product is that we are delaying Christmas Day for a couple of weeks until 2018. 

In the future, the pub quiz question will be "What was the year with no Christmas day in our house?" 10 points if you say 2017.

Once our wondering child returns from her self-imposed exile in Canada, we shall see if Santa comes, check under the tree for presents, look for crackers, and have a Christmas day.

So in the meantime, we didn't have christmas yesterday. 

 We has a raclette - with no turkey.

 I managed to find some bargain mince pies.

And on boxing day, went for a walk to restart the normal routine. So I have to work 2 days this week, and will have 3 days off next week, including New Year and Christmas. 

Misty december morning

Stirling Castle and the missing Wallace monument

A wee trip to Embra in the cold

Baltic
Icy
Freezing

But we do like a wee trip to the capital.

Pulling the focus

I've been using my 1plus2 phone for the last 18 months, and have never ever taken a photo without using the "auto" function.

Today, however.....

We just need better looking models!