December 2016 Christmas Letter

Brrrr, it's getting cold(er). After 9 months of spring rolling into autumn and seemingly missing summer more or less altogether, we find ourselves once again at the tail end of the year wondering where on Earth all that time went.  It's not that we've not done anything this year; in fact, "doing things" is something we do quite a lot. 

Eilidh with her crown cake

January is always a busy start to the year. An early highlight in the year was Eilidh starting Beavers. Joining with her friend Ethan, she quickly settled in and has so many badges, Craig and Gwen are struggling (but just about managing) to get them on her uniform.  She’s about half-way through her two years of Beavers, and in November, escorted the Beaver flag at the Remembrance Sunday service.

The now traditional early-year party season got into full swing for Eilidh and her classmates, with her own "kings and queens" party, and getting to experience 10-pin bowling and roller-skating for the first time. 

Some attentive cousins and Auntie Kathryn listen to Craig's story

It was lovely to have Auntie Kathryn, Kieran, Gemma and new baby cousin Logan at Eilidh’s party.  Despite the sad circumstances which had brought them over from Australia, it was lovely to be able to spend some time with them in the first part of the year.

Iona blowing out three candles
on her dinosaur cake

In early March, Gwen got a rare solo trip to London to go to Uncle James’s 40^th birthday party, before we welcomed the Peplers to Bankton Terrace in a weekend that was so busy (it included Iona’s birthday, Gwen’s birthday and Easter Sunday on consecutive days) that there was no room at the inn for Grandma and Grandad, and they had to sleep in a nearby stable-cum-nice-hotel.  The girls all enjoyed solving the clues to find their Easter Eggs on Sunday morning, and Gwen enjoyed the treasure hunt that led her to her birthday present!

Chilling in Rasputin costume

The second week of the Easter holidays gave us a chance to escape up to Sallachy for the week; a very welcome break to allow us to recharge our batteries before taking on the first three months of spring.  Shortly after, Craig was away helping with a Cub camp for the weekend, and was visited by Eilidh and the Beavers who came along for a fun day on the Saturday.  The last weekend in April was dominated by Eilidh’s dance show, with a tough schedule of dress rehearsal on Friday afternoon, afternoon and evening shows on the Saturday, and an afternoon show on the Sunday.  She had a great but tiring time performing her Pocahontas, St Trinians and Rasputin routines, but enjoyed them and definitely deserved her end-of-show family dinner at Tony Macaroni’s afterwards!

50s chick!

There was more fun for Eilidh, as she attended a fun day later in May with around 100 other Beavers to celebrate 30 years of Beavers in the UK, which Craig also helped at, in a difficult quest to have a fire and make sure that the Beavers baked their bread rather than themselves.

Also during May, whilst Grandma and Grandad were visiting, we spent a memorable 50s day at the Museum of Rural Life in East Kilbride, practising hula-hooping skills, watching and joining-in with a jiving troop, and finding out a bit about what life was like 60 years ago.

In June, in the midst of holiday preparations, Craig took some of the Scouts to Glencoe to assist in stewarding the Caledonian Challenge, a long-distance hiking event, in return for a donation to the Group.

Taking a break from the history

Come July, it was time for the Family Browning to escape to France for a well-deserved holiday.  Leaving after work on Wednesday gave us the opportunity to stay in the ever popular Westmorland Hotel.  The kids love staying over there, principally due to the bunk bed tucked away in the cupboard.  The ducks at breakfast time (to watch, as opposed to eat), also help to give the hotel “favourite” status.  Next stop was Swindon for two nights.  We had no desire to spend time in Swindon itself, but used it as a central base to travel between Iona’s godmother Auntie Lynne in Bath and her 3-month old (at the time) son Ethan (and James when he got home from work), fitting in a quick stop at soft play to catch up with Craig’s friend Brian and his daughter Beth, and Auntie Fiona in Didcot.  From Didcot, it was a short drive down to Portsmouth to catch the overnight ferry to St Malo.  After a stroll round the walled town in the rather dreich morning, including our first pains au chocolat, we meandered down to our campsite on the outskirts of Carnac, beside “les alignements” (French for “the alignments”), fields of pre-historic standing stones (“menhirs”) which was one of the main reasons for our visit.  

Intrepid explorers!

We tried to escape the tourist route by finding our own campsite rather than going through a UK operator.  As a result, we finished up the only English-speakers on a campsite that doesn’t operate in English; it was during that 10-day spell that Gwen and Craig realised that their high-school French was less than perfect and had deteriorated!  Eilidh did enjoy practicing her French, though!  Having said all that, Gwen did manage to order a glass of wine at the bar, and (more impressively), book us tickets for a boat trip out to one of the islands in the bay.  In addition to the menhirs, we also enjoyed exploring dolmens (prehistoric tombs) and tumuli (burial mounds).  

Ice cream!

Enjoying the ride!

Visits to these were given the added attraction of finding some more geocaches, and frequently ice cream as well.  We enjoyed crepes, trips to the beach and several other local attractions, including a dinosaur park (which Craig had visited as a child), and a museum of local life through the ages, as well as a visit to a ruined castle and, one of the kids’ favourites, a trip to Kingoland, a theme park, on the way up to our next destination, Mont St Michel.  We spent the day at the medieval monastery, drove to Caen for the delayed ferry back to Portsmouth, and spent a few days with Grandma and Grandad where we were able to enjoy the New Forest and the beach, which was a lot colder than it was in France.

The following weekend, Craig rolled back the years by playing for Real Maroon at Worldnet, answering the call to help boost an unusually small squad and ended up playing every minute of every game, which was more than he did back in the days when he was actually “young and fit”!  In between those weekends, Craig took in Hearts’ disappointing defeat to a Maltese team in a European game, which saved him completing his plans for a trip to Russia (silver linings and all that).

August also tends to be a bit on the busy side.  Craig’s birthday weekend saw him participate in Rough Runner, a fun (yes, really) 15km obstacle course “race”.  We have tended to take in a bit of the Fringe in various combinations of family members, and a visit from Grandma and Grandad allowed Craig and Gwen to go out on their anniversary to take in a couple of evening shows.  

A weekend at Sallachy was followed by Craig taking the Scouts down to the English / Welsh border for their summer camp.  

They grow up so quickly!

Eildh and Iona insisting on a kiss as
the toll for going through the gate!

Finally, on 30^th August, and after seemingly being ready for months, Iona started the first of two years of nursery education.  She’s settled in well, made friends, and has made a generally positive start to it, although everyone is a bit taken aback by her irrational dislike of wearing stickers, which every other child in the world seems to love!  She’s moved up into the pre-school gymnastics class from the toddler class, and gained a lot of self-confidence from going into her classes on her own as opposed to being accompanied by Craig.  Iona also started dancing lessons after the school holidays in the same dance school as Eilidh, and very much enjoys being in a class which includes some older girls.  Both girls are learning ballet, tap and jazz / modern dancing, and Eilidh is preparing for her first dance exam in March.

September saw another busy weekend at the start, which included 3 birthday parties and Craig going away on a watersports-based Scout camp.  The following weekend saw Eilidh’s music school restart, and in addition to her “musical foundations” class, she has joined the choir and embarked on violin lessons.  The family took a break to London to stay with the Peplers for the September weekend, and the following weekend, Eilidh had her first overnight Scouting experience at the Beaver sleepover, which Craig also attended as a helper.

The London-based cousins joined us in the Highlands

October began with a celebration of Grandpa’s “retirement”.  It turns out that retirement for him so far looks pretty similar to the way things were before retirement; although the business has officially been sold, he’s still very much involved at the moment, though hoping to phase out in 2017.  The October break began with a trip to Sallachy with the Peplers, and ended in a cottage in the middle of nowhere near-ish Moffat for the now-regular weekend break with the Andrews and Jenkins families.  The final weekend saw Craig take to the hills with some hardy Scouts for an overnight expedition challenge, before the month ended, as often seems to be the case, with Hallowe’en.  Gwen and the girls attended the children’s Hallowe’en concert at the Usher Hall on the Sunday.  With Hallowe’en falling on the Monday guising opportunities were limited as Eilidh had to make a sharp getaway for her Beavers’ party.  She did, though, manage to visit a couple of houses with Iona in tow, and had the confidence to tell her joke this year, for the first time.

November, by comparison to the previous months, was fairly tame.  A visit by Auntie Eleanor, converting a fleeting work visit into a more prolonged stay, opened the month on a bright note, as did the fact that it coincided with Guy Fawkes night, so everyone decanted to Grandma and Grandpa’s house for a hearty meal followed by a spectacular display.  A visit by Grandma and Grandad followed shortly in Eleanor’s wake.

And so to December, where we seem to be pulled in as many directions as it’s possible to go in, and some that aren’t.  Christmas preparations are well underway, and we have been enjoying hearing Iona practising her songs for her first nursery nativity, while both girls will be angels in the church nativity.

By the end of the session, she didn't
even need the penguin!

The year has seen Eilidh grow up a lot.  She had impressive improvement in her swimming ability; in mid-January, she overcame some fears to move up from level 2 to level 3, in early May, she progressed to level 4, and in October, she moved up to level 5.  In August, after frustrating Craig for months, something clicked in her head, and she is now able to ride her bike, while noticeable improvements in her confidence in other areas are showing.  For example, this photo from a trip ice skating early in the year was her first time on the ice with nobody keeping her on feet.

Iona too has developed from last year’s happy cheeky two-year-old, into an even cheekier three-year-old.  She goes swimming with Craig each week while Eilidh is in her lesson, and can’t wait to be old enough to attend lessons in her own right (though she’ll have to – they don’t start until school-age!).

Gwen is still enjoying playing her violin; she plays as often as she can with the Meadows Chamber Orchestra in their quarterly concerts. She continues to work six sessions at the practice, as a GP and GP-trainer.  As has been the case nationally, the practice has been under a lot of pressure and seen a lot of changes over the past couple of years, and we hope that 2017 will be a little more stable, albeit more busy.

Craig took over as Scout Leader from the assistant position after the previous leader left early in the year, and is still (mostly!) enjoying going to see Hearts in their home games.

If you’re ever in the Livingston area and want to pay us a visit, just give us a shout.  The Family Browning would like to wish all our friends and relations a very merry and peaceful Christmas, and offer our best wishes for a happy and prosperous year to come.