The 12 Days Before, During and After Christmas

It's been a while since our last post, we've been quite busy trying to survive the holidays.

The week before Christmas was very full with preparations even though it was just going to be the two of us. Adding to the insanity was some of the craziest weather Aberdeen has seen in quite some time. Snow and temperatures consistently below freezing left the roads in an awful mess. Aberdonians not used to icy roads proceeded to make an even greater mess. Airports were closed, flights were cancelled. Then came the rain, followed by more freezing temperatures, so now a few weeks later we still have a thick layer of ice everywhere. It was nice to have a white Christmas, but now it is getting old.

We also had trouble shaking the colds we had developed early in December. While the worst of it was gone in time for Christmas we both had nagging coughs that still haven't gone away.

We had a great Christmas Eve, though. I worked for a half day before coming home. We had decided on a somewhat non-traditional dinner of buffalo wings, which worked out perfectly. It also gave us a reason to invest in a deep-fryer, which we couldn't quite bring ourselves to do before.

We also got a good start on our Christmas puzzle. Having finished one already this season, we were in the groove and mostly done by the time we called it a night.

Christmas morning we had a good sleep-in, one of the first times we've done that, and then tackled the pile of presents left by a generous Mr. Claus. I scored some blu-rays and hiking equipment (for my planned assault on the peak of Ben Nevis in May) while Fiona received some jewelry, books and a some painting equipment - artistic painting, not industrial.

We put a great turkey in the oven and experimented with the British tradition of roasting potatoes in goose fat. Add sprouts and cranberry sauce and Christmas dinner was complete and fantastic. Gladly there was enough left over for a turkey and leek pie the next day.

We haven't been out and about too much during the holidays (icy roads, remember), but the last couple of days we've managed to go see the new Sherlock Holmes movie (average at best) and attend the annual Aberdeen Snow Ball, an event we loved last year. Then we went with a large group, but with the exodus of ex-pats this year we couldn't scrape the necessary people for a full table. We decided to go anyway and found that the organizers has set a table for two for us in amongst all the other tables for 10. It was nice for dinner, but a little lonely afterwards. Fortunately some kind people came over and invited us to join them. A great table full of Scots willing to teach us a few more of the dances we didn't already know. Fiona went round the floor doing a Gay Gordon and I joined a group for a Round of 8 Reel. Both of us sat and stared in amazement at the complicated maneuvers involved in the Reel of the 51st. Maybe next year we'll be fleet enough of foot to give it a try.