The Scots certainly know how to celebrate and Christmas is no exception. As Marianne was leaving on Christmas Eve morning I decided to take her to the parade in Grantown on 23rd which I had heard was lovely. It didn't disappoint with Santa on his sleigh pulled by reindeer and led through the town by a piped band and children carrying flares followed by carol singing led by the Grantown brass ensemble with mulled wine and mince pies to follow. Set that in a typical stone built highland town and drench it all with snow and it would be difficult to create a more festive scene!
It was all repeated in Aviemore on Christmas Eve with the addition of dozens of children dressed in costumes and fireworks as well.
There must have been around two thousand people there so it was a pretty impressive sight.
There must have been around two thousand people there so it was a pretty impressive sight.
It snowed during the parade and carried on after midnight so definately was a white christmas!
We had a very sedate Christmas day - it felt strange to not go to church in the morning, something we have done every year but other than Inverness Cathedral there didn't seem to be a service anywhere but we were able once again to appreciate the stunning creation with a walk in the, by then, knee deep snow down to the loch again before heading home for lunch which Sarah and I enjoyed cooking together this year.
Boxing Day saw a fruitless attempt to get the 307 up the drive with not even the local garage with a 4x4 being able to shift it more than a few yards! We have certainly learnt a lesson the hard way - don't take the car down the drive if snow is forecast! One of our neighbours kindly came round with his snow blower before Christmas but even with that we weren't able to get the car up and there has been about 15" of snow down since! Fortunately we have had the 807 at the top so have still been able to get around but it has been inconvenient to not be able to use the other car as Joe is still needing to go into work in Aviemore and it is an hour round trip for someone to take him and pick him up.
Today we have had friends Bryan & Carla from Surrey to visit along with their friends Scott and Karen (it's amazing how many people have tracked us down since we escaped to the highlands!) which was lovely and we are currently waiting for Daniel and Julie to arrive, tracking their progress on Glympse.com which has been fun. Matt and Maria will hopefully fly in later tonight as well so we will have a full house.
In the meantime the avalanche over the back door remains poised and the icicles outside Richards study continue to grow.
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