Bartimaeus

I was excited to go on my trip. I had a very few clothes; Christmas cards; wool for my friend; knitting for me; a tin of ginger and almond biscuits and a bottle of pink prosecco. The knitting was a Christmas project for myself: patterned socks called 'fancy fairylights'. They were pictured in red and cream, looking very festive, but I am doing mine in variegated green, left over from my scarf, and royal blue, left over from a hat I made in January. They probably won't be done by Christmas. I got a little done on the bus to Aberdeen.

Mugs and Roland met me at the stop. She had just seen a bus to their house had gone but with extensive roadworks in town it was possible we could outpace it racing down the pavement, to the next available stop. Roland set off at speed, his long legs covering the ground with ease. Mugs asked if I was okay with my pack. Mugs has done over a hundred 5k parkruns so she was managing the run easily. I panted behind but we made it. I was fair pechin' by the time I got aboard. When we got into the house I found the prosecco was very frothy at the top.

Mugs had her Christmas tree up and I gave her the cashmere she had ordered from my local wool shop, Be Inspired Fibres, so I could bring it to her. She cracked on with winding it and knitting soon after lunch. When we got round to prosecco o'clock it still had a little froth but didn't explode. We had the seasonal accompaniment of roasted chestnuts with it.

The next day we were looking forward to the carol concert in town. I spotted my nephew and his daughters in the gallery. The concert went really well with an excellent orchestra and brass band as well as the choir. Some primary school children with a very lively conductor, performing action songs, were a great hit! There were audience participation carols so we got to stretch our legs and vocal cords at regular intervals throughout. 

I changed households at the end, bidding farewell to Mugs and heading away with Johnny to Tifty, from the City Music Hall to the depths of the country, where I was again treated to a delicious meal and prosecco. Mary deserved a toast anyway as she had just sung in two carol concerts in a row, and she had prepared dinner before going out. 

They had also made a start at their Christmas tree, but had found the lights not working. I remember as a girl  going to the local village ironmongery which sold little packs of three conical coloured light bulbs. Meanwhile my dad unscrewed and tested each bulb from the string of fairy lights on a battery, to find the duds. It might be only one. 

In the morning Mary showed me to the best seat to get the morning sun to continue my fancy fairy lights knitting. Mugs had lent me the right size of needles, as I hadn't noticed that there was a needle change in the pattern after the fact pattern was done. Johnny busied himself phoning the garage about an alert that appeared the day before on their electric car, saying the inverter fluid was low.

Mary and I had a walk and had our eyes peeled for a dipper in Tifty Burn. It was a no show. A heron did appear, in the field, not the water. In their garden there was a flock of long tailed tits and a variety of other garden birds loving their feeders. A wren became bolder than usual. The sparrowhawk didn't come, and perhaps that would have wreaked havoc and wrecked the rural idyll. 

It was soon sunset and the birds were now settling on the telegraph wires in stead of the feeders. Then I helped Mary make a butternut squash lasagne, so delicious I have obtained the recipe, and about as red and orange as the sunset.

The next morning was very frosty in Tifty. Mary had a tip to start the day well - stepping outside and looking towards the sun first thing. It was certainly bright and envigorating in my pyjamas. It works better in a place without a street full of tenement neighbours.

We headed into Aberdeen where they could get Christmas shopping done and I had a wee squint at the shops before heading for the bus stop. Outside the shopping centre, there was a boaty mural with more anchors than usual - I hope we never need to use our one.

I got my electric bus and the sun came down as we headed out over the river. A brave canoeist was out in the darkening chill, paddling under the bridge.

Back in Edinburgh, at the last weekend before Christmas, I got out the tree and decorations from the basement and rearranged the furniture.  Bryn and I put the tree together in a trice and Bryn had got the lights out for the tree. We started to look at extension leads. Shane revealed he had recently bought a new extension lead and he and Bryn set about the electric cable placement for ceiling lights, Christmas tree lights and the timer switch. We had to shift the tree again to get the cables up.

Now we could get the tree decorating done. Shane put on Christmas music and took the ladder out to put more lights in the hall. Bryn and I did the tree.

I had a pre-christmas walk with my niece the next day up the Blackford and Braid hills. As we were saying goodbye at Blackford pond I thought a dog had trotted past, when Sandra exclaimed that it was a fox, a rather large one. It stopped staring at the pond, then turned and eyed me warily, then crossed my path quickly as I drew near.

It waited in the bushes until I had gone away then came out again. I wondered if it was eyeing up the moorhens and ducks. A lady on a bench told me that someone in the nearby allotments sometimes fed a fox, so perhaps this was the one.

Our house has plenty sweet treats. I had bought mince pies and Bryn baked chocolate cookies and Nye made Turkish delight. I took some samples to my sister and had a walk on Christmas Eve and passed some Christmas roses - just in time!

I was back just in time to catch a bus to the Omni Centre for a family escape room adventure. Doors magically opened as we solved the clues and we escaped 'Alice in Puzzleland' with heads intact, having found the missing tarts in 40 minutes 16 seconds so that was a success. Always good to keep your head before Christmas.

Despite the setback of a broken oven (two ovens in fact) I feel well ahead with preparation. Bryn and Nye have done a lot of food shopping from my list. I made the stuffing from grandpa's recipe, yesterday  - sharing out the time for the food processor access, (now fixed with a spare part)! I have the extra wide turkey foil in and plan to use the jam pot with a foil lid for a stewed turkey recipe. Someone told me today that some people in the States deep fry their Thanksgiving turkey for a crispy finish. I didn't  fancy that recommendation and he followed up by saying there were a lot of fires there, so definitely a plan to avoid. Nye had ordered in advance, and has collected Hungarian herb and garlic sausages today - he thinks the microwave grill will do them. Bryn and Shane have done some advance prep on the braised red cabbage and bread sauce. Merry Christmas everyone!