Happy Hogmanay (New Year) from Scotland!! I'm writing this post from my bed (its 4 PM) after enjoying the Hogmanay festival to the fullest last night into the early hours of this morning! After a delicious potluck dinner at my flat, a crew of flatmates, Rotary scholars, and classmates from QM took to Princes Street for street concerts and hourly fireworks leading up to a huge fireworks display at midnight! The bands were awesome, all Scottish (Admiral Fallow and OK Social Club were really great!) We were positioned perfectly in front of the castle for the midnight show and the fireworks were spectacular, just overhead!
Hogmanay was the icing on the cake of a terrific holiday in Scotland! Jackie, Ken and I went to Glasgow on the 23rd, stayed with their daughter Hilary and her family and celebrated the 6th birthday of their grandaughter, Holly. We spent Christmas day just down the street at Catriona and Neil's house. It was brilliant to be surrounded by children and the magic of Christmas and Santa! We ate incredibly delicious food, played cards, went for walks, sipped mulled wine and watched my Christmas favorite-'It's a Wonderful Life'. I missed the Pizor-Yoder family very much, but could not have been with a more lovely Scottish family for Christmas! So grateful for Skype, I was able to introduce my American family to my Scottish family, and play in the first ever cross-Atlantic card game!
Jackie, Ken and I spent the 27th-29th in the Highlands (which was beautifully dusted with snow!). It was super relaxing- reading, late mornings, jigsawing, and getting repeatedly beaten at Cribbage! The bothy adjacent to their cottage, is really coming along; all the plumbing and appliances have been put in, tiling, and new paint since I was last up! It looks really great!
One of my favourite things about Christmas and New Years in Scotland has been learning about different traditions over the holidays. Hogmanay (the largest annual celebration in Scotland, as Christmas was traditionally observed 'quietly' after the Protestant reformation in the 16th century...Christmas only became a public holiday in Scotland in 1958) and 'first footing' (luck brought by the first person to cross a friends threshold bearing traditional gifts) are local customs of Scotland for the New Year. I laughed when I found out that Santa gets single-malt whisky on Christmas Eve (none of this milk and cookies business)! Last night over dinner, we were talking about how different countries bring in the New Year: In Japan, children draw on paper the symbol that represents their hopes for the next year; in Spain everyone together eats 12 grapes in the 12 seconds before midnight, and wears something new and red for good luck; feasting, drinking and sharing the evening with friends and family seems to be a common thread around the world!
Scottish phrase of the week: 'Lang may yer lum reek' which means literally 'long may your chimney smoke'. A traditional cheers on Hogmanay, it wishes long life and prosperity!
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