December 2023 Christmas letter

Wow, it’s hard to believe it’s “that time of year” already.  What a year it’s turned out to be with some major changes as the year progressed (spoiler alert…keep reading!).  It all started fairly innocuously, with January.  Eilidh officially turned a teenager, despite having been doing a convincing impression of one for several years.  For her party she and her friends did a museum-break-in-themed escape room (which they duly completed, displaying their credentials to be criminal masterminds), before they retreated to their lair in our living room to watch a film and talk about stuff that adults aren’t allowed to hear or know!

February got off to a cold, wet and windy start for Craig at the annual Brass Monkey camp, before the whole family escaped up to Sallachy for a much-needed break for the week and a chance to slow things down.

Craig had another cold and wet weekend at the start of March on camp, before Eilidh played in a national school windband event in Perth at which James Young took home a medal.  The following weekend, it was Browning birthday time again.  Iona’s birthday was on the Saturday (moving into double figures!), and, inspired by Eilidh’s escape room, Iona and her friends did a Harry Potter-themed room of their own (and completed it).  On Gwen’s birthday on the Sunday, we went for afternoon tea at the Cauldron, a truly magical experience, before taking Iona to buy a wand (a replica of Ginny Weasley’s, for those ITK), which she was delighted with!

In April, we did something we don’t normally do, and went on an overseas holiday at Easter.  This was largely making up for a 40^th birthday present trip to Sweden for Gwen, which was cancelled due to the pandemic.  It wasn’t a complete like-for-like swap though; instead we explored other parts of Scandinavia. 

We flew into Oslo and spent two days there, finding out about arctic explorers, discovering Viking history in real life and virtual reality, and seeing art including Munch’s The Scream.  We then took an overnight ferry to Copenhagen, where we experienced Tivoli Gardens, architecture and general museums, a castle, and of course, the Little Mermaid via a canal boat ride.  Clearly, no family visit to Denmark would be complete without a trip to the home of Lego, and so, a train and a bus ride later, we found ourselves checking into the Lego Castle hotel.  We spent an afternoon in Lego House, where we had our dinner made by Lego robots, spent the following day in Legoland itself, and then spent the next morning at the Lalandia (indoor) waterpark, which is less than a kilometre away from Legoland.  For a town with a population of only just over 7,000, Billund is probably the best wee town in the world!  

You’d have thought that after that, it would be time to head home, but instead, we flew to London to spend Easter with the Peplers in London, before finally getting the train home on Easter Monday.  With all that, you might expect that we’d have a bit of time at home to recuperate, but in the last weekend of April, heading into the bank holiday Monday in May, we went away down to the borders with the Andrews and the Jenkins.

May was actually a quieter month.  There was a Cub camp for Iona, and then a highlight at the end of the month: a boat trip with Auntie Wendy to the Isle of May, where we had to step carefully to avoid squishing puffins and various other sea birds which nest there.

June was full of birthday parties, friends for dinner, gala days and concerts leading up to Eilidh’s dance show at the end of the month and into the start of July. 

Our summer holiday was a lovely family time together.  After a night in Bordeaux, we camped in the Dordogne region in the south-west of France.  A highlight was visiting Lascaux II, a faithful underground recreation of 17,000-year-old cave paintings which Craig had seen in his youth (not 17,000 years ago).  We were fortunate to get it to see it, with only a limited number of tickets available and most tourists being directed to Lascaux IV, housed in a specially constructed modern museum. We enjoyed various sporting pursuits (kayaking, cycling, and one-sided tennis, where Craig hit the ball over the net to some combination of Gwen, Eilidh and Iona, and it usually didn’t come back), and made good use of the swimming pool most days!

Our ninth night of camping brought our time in le sud-ouest to a close, but our French adventures were not over yet.  On our way back to the ferry, we visited Puys du Fou, a theme park that can only be described as spectacular.  Unlike any theme park in the UK, this attraction didn’t have any rides; instead, it had a theme (the past), and it contained several small stadia showing a variety of re‑enactments (Viking raids, roman chariot racing, etc).  It’s a place which has to be seen to be believed!

We arrived back home on the Sunday, just in time for the girls to participate in a five-day water sports summer course in Queensferry, where they got to try all manner of water sports activities in weather not quite as warm (or not raining) as it had been a couple of weeks previously in France.  Another week at home and then it was off on our travels once again, this time to Gwen’s parents on the south coast of England for a week, which encompassed Craig’s birthday, for which we enjoyed paddle-boarding and a lovely dinner out for two, and our 15^th wedding anniversary.  On the wedding anniversary, Craig left Gwen… for a summer camp in London with the Explorers (how romantic!); Craig feels lucky to have a very understanding wife!  And with that, our summer holidays ended.

The final four months of the year seem to have flown by.  We enjoyed the church weekend away in September, but the highlight of the month was a personal challenge for a very quiet and reserved  Eilidh, who attended a “selection weekend” of Scouts and Explorers from across West Lothian, most of whom were unknown to her, in a bid to claim a spot at the two-week-long Blair Athol Scout Jamborette next summer.  With approximately two applications for every in-demand space available, we were all delighted when the result came through that she’d been selected to attend the event.

October saw us take a very welcome retreat from our busy lives up to Sallachy.  It undoubtedly was one of the wettest breaks we’ve had up north (we saw lochs on our way north that don’t usually exist!), but we didn’t mind too much as we cosied down and enjoyed the grey-but-beautiful highland scenery, board games and books in front of the fire.  Having come off the back of that week, Craig got exceptionally lucky the following week in getting a dry weekend for his Explorers’ expedition practice hike and camp.

October was also a month of change, moving out of comfort zones, and pushing boundaries for the girls.  Iona showed very good resilience to continue her final few weeks of Cubs without her close friend there, putting it behind her and achieving the Chief Scout’s Silver award, the highest award obtainable in Cubs.  Following the October holidays, Iona moved up from Cubs to Scouts.  Eilidh’s Scouting activities closely mirrored Iona’s, managing to complete the Chief Scout’s Gold award, the highest award obtainable in Scouts.  Young people usually stay in Scouts until age 14, but in a move designed to suit all parties, Eilidh moved up to Explorers a few months early while her friend Penelope moved up a few months late, meaning that they made the move together.  It also meant that for the first time, Eilidh is now a member of a section led by Craig!  Eilidh and Penelope also carried on their Scouting journey by attending a Young Leader’s training course, enabling them to spend time helping out with a younger section.  The result of all of this has been a bit of a boost in confidence for the girls, and a lot of badge-sewing as new uniforms come into operation; having a simultaneous uniform change is probably the biggest failure of family planning that we’ve experienced in the almost-14 years of being parents!

In the diary, November seemed like a much more quite month (though that doesn’t tell the whole story – more to follow); the only “weekend” event in the calendar was Iona’s first Scout camp.  What a weekend her Troop chose, as they christened their brand new tents on a weekend during which the temperature fell to -4^oC.  We were extremely proud of Iona for having the confidence to go away on the camp only a month after moving up, and she breezed through it.

And so here we are in December.  The Friday night before Christmas Eilidh and Craig will be (or went, if you’re reading this after the event) on their first Explorer camp together, an indoor sleepover.  And we’ve got the small matter of temporary house guests.  Brenda and Roger are here, but not on holiday.  They decided at the start of autumn that they wanted to move up to Scotland sooner rather than later, put their house on the market, and did a whole lot of work clearing it out.

Initially, there wasn’t much serious interest, but in late October, a couple came to visit who seemed like they might take things further, and who would like to move in quickly in order to accommodate an imminent baby (sounds a bit Christmas-ish).  This was all very positive from a house-selling point of view, but required some immediate action to ensure that they didn’t become homeless!  This fired the starting pistol a race to find rental accommodation, sent us out to estate agents and their websites, and book visits to see properties.  Remarkably, especially given the crowded rental market, they were successful with their first application, a nice wee house in Cramond, and got everything all arranged.  However, in the short time between the rent being agreed and them moving in, we identified a bungalow being put on the market for sale just down the road from us.  They examined the details that evening, Gwen visited the next day, they put in an offer that afternoon, and had agreed the purchase the next day.  To complete the whirlwind of activity, they managed to cancel the rental agreement without being charged a penny, and are scheduled to take possession the Wednesday before Christmas.  The stresses of each stage of the transactions have affected everybody in different ways, but everything seems set for a fresh start in the New Year.  We went down to the south coast at the start of December notionally to help them pack, but in reality to say goodbye to the house, although the sale still wasn’t certain right to the last moment – truly nail‑biting stuff.  Gwen drove down on the Thursday, experiencing problems which required the car to be taken into the garage the next day, while the flight Craig and the girls were on on the Friday evening was delayed by 2 hours and 54 minutes, agonisingly short of the 3 hour delay required to get a refund (although they did get their dinner paid for!).  Things are never easy!

Iona is still continuing with her gymnastics, and enjoying her horse riding.  She has also started learning the flute at school.

Eilidh, having been a dancer all her life and developed into a strong swimmer, this year combined those hobbies into an additional one by doing something that she’s longed to do for several years – artistic swimming.  She started in May, and by November had already passed the first exam.  She’s also tried her hand at being a Young Leader with the new youngest section of Scouting, Squirrel Scouts.

Gwen is still teaching up-and-coming GPs in addition to her work in the practice.  She has played in most of the regular concerts over the year with Meadows Chamber Orchestra. She has also renewed her gym membership, realising that as taxi driver to the girls’ clubs, it is now easier to exercise whilst waiting for them to dance / swim / do gymnastics…than at home!

Craig tried his hand at being a lawyer during the course of the year, fighting a parking fine tooth and nail; currently, no court summons has been received!  He is though genuinely undergoing a career change (but not to a lawyer!) linked to his Master’s degree.  After more than 22 years working in pensions, he will be calculating firms’ carbon footprints and hopefully helping them to reduce their emissions.  The new job starts in mid-February.

As always, if you’re anywhere close by, please do give us a shout – 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!