A guid New Year tae ane an’ a’

An’ mony may ye see,

An’ during a’ the years to come,

O happy may ye be!

We brought 2018 in with a midnight barbecue in freezing temperatures and watched the fireworks whooshing up from Edinburgh across the Forth. Then, while each chewing a sausage, we took turns to melt a ball of lead in a pan on the burning coals and then hurled the molten liquid into a basin of cold water and watched the shapes solidify – an ancient tradition of fortune telling that we once practised with Marja in Glenelg. She is from Finland and apparently that is what is done there and throughout Scandinavia at New Year. Leo’s lead transformed into a strange hare’s foot, Natasha had an ‘A’ and a strange bell, John an acorn and me some odd shape that has a good interpretation. So, a good start to the year, I feel.

Looking back at the Christmas photos I just see a kaleidoscope of children’s faces. Bonnie, dressed as Ailsa from Frozen, wore her dress throughout her stay, and was most put out when she had to change when venturing out.

Hazel rolled around, and was constantly escaping behind furniture. Such a sweet little thing, and at ten months has suddenly developed a comical personality.

Darcey was quite mesmerised with Bonnie, but sadly did not copy Bonnie’s wonderful eating patterns. Bonnie eats broccoli, beans, peppers, fruit and will try everything. Darcey likes pasta and chips. And little Dylan slept through most of it, being passed like a parcel from one to another. Perfect.

We did drive to Forfar to visit my mum, who just loved the visit. Leo got entangled with one old lady (91) who was sitting with her husband of 70 years. They had received a letter from the Queen, and an interview in the Courier. ‘What is your recipe for such a long happy marriage?’ she was asked. And she nodded sagely to Leo, ‘You have to find a kindly man.’ Nice.

En route we stopped at the Abernyte Antiques Centre, and Natasha tried on a most elegant 1930s style dress that just looked so chic on her.

All that was missing was a long cigarette holder. It was reduced from £600 to £100 and was brand new, with labels still on.  But how to justify such sophistication? Would she wear it for the PTA in Wales on a cold winter’s night? Bonnie was much more enthralled with trying on all the garden party hats. ‘What do you think, Granny?’

The hat totally obliterated her three year and ten months old little face.

For Christmas John was presented with a strange mechanical spider (and two bananas) which came in a box marked as from Peru.

All Christmas it creaked about quite menacingly. Another present was a metal detector. He is now a man with a hobby, but at the moment the ground is so white and icy and solid, so even if he found some Viking gold, I doubt that he would be able to retrieve it.

Since all the jollities and the tears when Leo and Tasha left, John and I have been cleaning up and catching our breath. I have now got some horrid Christmas bug, not nearly as bad as some of my friends, only a cough and a stiff neck. I thought I had meningitis, but I think it’s just a stiff neck! Still it justifies lying on the sofa with a hot water bottle on my neck glands and reading my novel! I should hoover, but maybe tomorrow!

We did visit Darcey yesterday for her birthday party. Her birthday is actually today, but her Irish grandparents were over so we all decided to have the cake and presents yesterday. Imagine the horror of finding the birthday girl covered in chicken pox. Oh my, what a state she was in, but so far no itching. She was just thrilled with everything.

Natasha wrote from their holiday cottage in the Lake District that she had been to see Wordsworth’s house. She has decided to learn a poem a week from now on. Here she is enacting ‘I wandered lonely as a cloud’

I remember being taught the poem ‘Lucy Grey’ by Shiva, our bird watching teacher in India. This made me look up the appropriate blog and I was lost in the memory of that hot evening as we tramped across the dry earth looking for sea eagles and learning about the essence that was Lucy Grey.  I continued reading about the Western Ghats, Hampi and the descriptions of the long train journey through Bangalore. I was quite transported in my blogs to another time.

Maybe it’s time for us to have another business meeting and plan the year! Would we return to India? – in a flash. Would we go to Australia? – in a flash. Neither of us have been to America (excluding Disney World in Florida) …maybe??? We are definitely going to cycle in the Outer Hebrides this year. We had hoped to go for another long walk, but toes and ankles are still a bit tender. We plan to go to Lewis, Harris, North and South Uist, Esiskay, Barra and then finish in Oban. We shall take the car with the bikes and we are both really excited about that.

And our studies resume next week, me with Literature, the poetry of John Donne and the Shakespeare sonnets, and John with volcanoes. We also have Pilates and local walks. We planned so much last year and things went a little off piste, so maybe this year we should keep it more fluid.

So, with the frozen world outside and lots of Christmas TV viewing to catch up with, I plan to enjoy January. I was in heaven the other night when I watched the three episodes of the remake of ‘Little Women’. I just loved it, it was the truest interpretation of the book I have seen. I went to bed full of old fashioned values of love and respect and hope and happiness!

And my resolution this year is to tidy out all my cupboards and drawers. I have already done my socks and jumpers, but you should see my sewing drawers… Oh dear me. Still, it’s only January! I did make a start with my jewellery. Bonnie was very keen to help. ‘Let’s go and look at your jewellery again, Granny. I can help you, I have to work all the time in my house, I have to lay the cutlery and wash the dishes.’ Poor little Cinderella! Or should I say Christmas elf.

So the Christmas Fairy has gone for another year…Bonnie and Hazel’s faces were a picture when I suddenly appeared in full regalia and presented John with a chocolate orange as a big thank you for doing all the dishes throughout!

Farewell Christmas Fairy, and glitz and glitter. Auld claes and porridge are nae sae bad!