December 2021 Christmas letter

Wow - what a year it’s turned out to be.  Like most other people, the pandemic threw everything up in the air multiple times!  Less than a week in, and we were back under full lockdown.  That meant back to challenges of online schooling, and online pretty much everything else. 

Eilidh proved herself to be an amazing and resilient party planner, as her birthday was celebrated with an online sleepover with some of her friends with some games, a synchronised movie watch with popcorn, and an online “photobooth” with props that she had delivered around with other treats.

Into March, we moved into the tier restrictions, meaning that Iona could have a limited Lego-themed outside birthday party the weekend before her birthday (thank goodness for Auntie Jenny's gazebo to shelter us from the downpours! We do love our Scottish weather...!). 

Linlithgow Canal is great for learing to paddle on!

Restrictions began to ease again, but not quite by enough to allow us to get anywhere for Easter, so we spent an enjoyable family week at home, with day trips around the local area. We also acquired some kayaks, which influenced a lot of our activity! We are doing well, with both girls now in their own 'yaks, and only one capsize this season (and it's unclear whether this was intentional or not, Iona had been asking to go for a wild swim two seconds before the event!)  Waiting with baited breath for confirmation of restrictions for the May bank holiday weekend, we were delighted that we were able to journey up to Sallachy to enjoy some Highland peace and tranquility (and adventure, of course!)

After Easter, Iona moved up from Beavers to Cubs, and moved to a smaller Pack closer to home where she was joined by her friend Hania.

Life returning to “nearly normal”, of course, meant that the Browning family returned to “very busy”.  On top of getting back to activities taking up entire weekends, we made progress with some house renovations, which had been in formative stages pre-pandemic.  First up was a remodelling of the living room, with a wood-burning stove, a delayed present for Craig’s 40th.  A builder was hired to carry out some general works in the house – more on that later, Gwen and Craig did a lot of painting (with the hard work admittedly in the ratio 99:1 or thereabouts), new carpets were fitted in October and November, and a new kitchen was due to be fitted in December.  Unfortunately, our builder was incredibly slow at fitting the 17 big doors that were stored flat in our dining room, and so for quite a while we had lovely new carpet but no bedrom doors - not the kind of open plan living that is fashionable nowadays - thank goodness the bathroom and en-suite didn't have the same issue! In addition, the carpet fitters broke Iona's bed so she has been sleeping on the floor for two months - renovations never come stress-free! Eventually we got a new joiner who ftted the doors just in time for Christmas. Our new kitchen, due in December, has been put back until January due to covid issues in the fitting time, but completion at last feels within reach!

There's always time for a family cycle!

The planning and visits to suppliers took up a good chunk of May, but relaxation came in the first weekend of June with a weekend camping with friends in Ayrshire.  This was the first time our “new” (summer 2020) tent had seen action outwith the garden, and we were pumped for it – which is a good mindset to have with an inflatable tent.  Taking our kayaks (are you seeing a theme here?!), we had a lovely afternoon paddling on a local loch in mostly sunshine.

Later in June, Craig got away on his first Explorer camp in 17 months as part of a mini expedition.  It was evident that some of the Explorers had lost some fitness over lockdown: one of them felt sick after climbing up the first hill, came back down to tell Craig, decided he didn’t want to quit so soon into the hike, climbed back up the hill, and then decided to go home after all!

There was still time in June for Gwen to have a lovely short "retreat" to Lindisfarne with Eleanor, where they chatted, drank gin, did yoga on the beach, went swimming in the sea, and were very lucky not to be seriously hurt when the tyre fell off the car as they were exiting the island.  If it had happened 200m earlier, the car would have been drowned as the tide was about to cover the causeway, whereas a mile further on would have seen them at high speed on the A1.  The car had only just come out the garage after servicing, so they accepted responsibility and fixed it up.

Summer arrived, and with it, our holidays.  We decided to split our holiday into two weeks of camping: the first week with the Peplers in the New Forest, before a week in Snowdonia just the four of us.

Zip World in Snowdonia - wedgies all round!

The first week started with a downpour which flooded the local village and broke the tent next to us (the other side of the Peplers!).  After that though, a heatwave started which lasted pretty much to the end of the holiday.  The New Forest location enabled us to get a good mix of days out with Brenda & Roger, and days which would otherwise be a longer trip out when staying with them.  We had great fun at Splashdown water park, Paulton’s Park theme park, a beach day and a cycle ride in the Forest incorporating a grandparent picnic.

On top of Snowdon - it was warmer than it looks!

In Wales, we camped just outside Porthmadog in the shadows of Snowdonia, where the weather made it perfect for some days on the glorious beaches (apart from an astonishing number of jellyfish!).  We cycled into and out of Barmouth and Carmarthen, zip-lined across a slate mine, visited castles looking for dragons (we only found small stuffed ones!), and had to time our climb of Snowdon so that it was on one of the cooler days of the week (mid-to-high 20s). We gather it's not always like that!

As we entered August, it was time for change.  Iona started Primary 4, and it’s barely believable that Eilidh has now started high school!  She found the initial transition quite tough, but has settled quickly and is loving secondary school life.  The world of education has also welcomed back Craig, who found that it is much simpler putting work down for a couple of weeks to go on holiday than it is handing it all over when leaving for a year (for doing an MSc in Climate Change Finance & Investment); it seems that “winding down” is a figurative phrase only! 

August also saw another Explorer camp for Craig, a hike for Iona with teh Cubs, and the ability to get back to the football, and nice for it to actually be enjoyable for a change (with Hearts currently sitting third in the league)!  

September started in customarily busy fashion – and then covid struck!  Eilidh started displaying very mild symptoms on the Monday evening, and had to isolate alone for a single day until Iona developed the slightest temperature spike on the Tuesday and was able to join her after a positive test.  Craig and Gwen seemed to have managed to escape, but Gwen started losing her sense of taste the following Sunday, prompting Craig to switch to camping outside in a bid to get away from the plagued house.  A negative PCR test for Craig meant that he could meet some of his new uni class mates before he developed his own positive test that evening, and had to very sheepishly and apologetically message round to let some of them know that they might be deemed close contacts (although in the end, none of them caught it – phew!).  We all feel very fortunate that none of us have been seriously affected long term; Craig did suffer from breathlessness for about a month afterwards, but his sense of taste was unaffected on account of it being stuck in the 1990s.

London cousins

Eilidh had her first Scout camp in October, finishing just in time to come home, get a shower, and then zoom off with Gwen and Iona to England to spend a fun-filled October holiday week in the company of Grandma and Grandad, one of the highlights of which was a pony trek in the New Forest.  It was lovely to spend the weekend with the Andrews on the way back up, Craig having caught the train down to Formby to join the last stage of the journey. Iona enjoyed participating in a gymnastics competition at her new club.

Gwen had a concert in November, which the girls and Craig went to watch.  November also included a cold day trip to the zoo (a Christmas 2020 present from Grandma and Grandpa – thank you!), but other than that was just very busy trying to get the house back into shape after the works.

Aussie and Livi cousins

And so we reach December.  While an early highlight was another trip to see the animal kingdom, this time at Deep Sea World (another Christmas 2020 present, courtesy of Auntie Jen & Uncle Dan), the biggest and best thing this month was getting to spend lots of time with cousins, as the Rouses arrived from Australia for a 6-month-ish visit, and the female Peplers visited for a couple of nights to join Gwen and the girls at the Nutcracker ballet.  Oh, and finally getting those doors hung!

As always, if you’re anywhere close by, please do let us know and pop in – we’d love to see you!  The Family Browning would like to wish all our friends and relations a very Merry Christmas, and all best wishes for a safe, healthy, happy and prosperous New Year!