Merry Christmas

Over the festive period our little apartment played host to 7 people. Yes it was squashy but everyone behaved themselves and had a good time. I think. The fun started the Thursday before Christmas, when my sister Ali arrived accompanied by her friend Michelle from back home, and Michelle's friend Kat who has been living in London this year. On Friday the girls slept in (like, really slept in) and then I took them for a wander down to Grassmarket to see the awesome 2nd hand shop and the Royal Mile, then I left them to drink while I did some Christmas shopping. We had been planning to go to the Christmas fair in the Princes St Gardens that night, but Toby got a last-minute invite to dinner at a workmate's place, so we did that instead. And rather than being a relaxed Friday night meal with some people, it turned out that we'd been invited to Rob's house's actual Christmas dinner, because they'd had a couple of cancellations and had an entire turkey to consume. We were happy to help out and got to try a traditional Scottish Christmas meal, which I basically copied for our own, a few days later. The girls Rob lived with had been planning on putting on a naked nativity interpretive dance, but unfortunately they'd napped instead of rehearsing that afternoon, so we watched King Kong instead.

We had a quiet weekend and on Sunday afternoon we took the girls to our local bingo hall, which we'd discovered a few weeks earlier with my friend Carole. Taking the extra 3 people was a big mistake on our part, as it decreased our chances of winning - the girls actually ended up winning a lot more money than we did. Grrrr. After bingo we went down to Haymarket train station to meet the third sister, Jude, and her fella Dave, soon to be our brother-in-law. We brought them back home and that was a good chance to admire the ring, hear the engagement story, and cut the Christmas cake I'd made back in November. That night we all got the bus up to Princes St to go to the Christmas fair. We ate German sausage and crepes and had a ride on the massive ferris wheel. Poor Toby and Dave had to put up with a couple of nervous Gibson girls who wouldn't let them rock the cabin or spin it around.

Toby had to work on Christmas Eve, but the rest of us took the opportunity to do nothing much. Jude and Dave made their soup for Christmas dinner, and Ali and co slept. I started finding little Cherry Ripes all over the house - Jude had promised she would bring me some from home (they don't sell them here) but instead of just giving them to me they were hidden in cupboards, under books, on shelves, etc. I think I've found them all now. For Christmas Eve supper we had cheese and ham and other nibble things, and egg nog made by Ali, Michelle and Kat.

Michelle whipping egg whites using a fork, because we do not have very good utensils.

Kat and Ali mixing the egg nog.

Jude & Dave enjoying the egg nog.

After all that food and alcohol...

...the young ones hit the town...

...and the old people went to bed.

On Christmas morning I got up bright and early to prepare my turkey for lunch, only to find that the stupid bird was still full of ice. It did not bode well for my timetable. No time to mourn though, because after breakfast we all sat down in the lounge room and opened our pressies.

Boys & their toys.

Jude thought these 'David' bookmarks she gave me & Ali were hilarious.

Me & Jude, with our new earrings.

Both the boys were sick on Christmas Day, Toby with a fluey tonsillitis type thing and Dave with a tummy bug. This was very sad for them as they headed back to bed, having opened their loot. Us girls spent the rest of the day watching girly things like old episodes of Dawson's Creek, drinking pink champagne and eating chocolates. Since the turkey was still frozen, for lunch we had the soup that Jude and Dave had made - it was one they'd tried in Italy and it was very delicious and peasant-y. (No photos as it was not the most aesthetically pleasing of foods.)

Around 4pm we decided we wouldn't die from eating the turkey as it was, so I stuck it in the oven and spent the next 4 hours regularly basting it, plus making a bunch of sauces and getting the vegies ready.

Basting the turkey.

Finally, around 8pm we were ready to roll. Michelle had kindly done an amazing gravy using the turkey fat and with all the other bits and pieces I'd done (thanks to my Asda magazine and the good dinner at Rob's house), we had quite the feast.

For those interested in what a Scottish Christmas dinner consists of in this photo, we have a turkey, served with roast potatoes, carrots, parsnips and onion; cranberry sauce (yes I made it from scratch); bread sauce (kind of like a white sauce, don't really know the point but I wanted the proper dinner); broccoli with pancetta and pine nuts (traditionally this is meant to be Brussels sprouts, but really, who likes those); bacon-wrapped sausages and stuffing balls (and they wonder why they have an obesity problem); and the gravy. The turkey was overdone (the next day I realised it was because my oven had been 20 degrees too hot) and it was a good 7 hours late, but everyone was very nice about both those points so I still consider it a successful first attempt.

After all that food we still had dessert to go, which was put on by Ali and friends - a chocolatey Christmas pudding served with brandy. I mean brandy custard.

Christmas Dinner.

Boxing Day was spent recovering from Christmas Day, as is tradition, and eating turkey and gravy sandwiches. Mmmmm. On Thursday night we decided to take Jude out for a mini first hen's night, and Toby and Dave headed off to the local pub before coming home to play Wii games. The girls started off at the Villager for cocktails before heading up the road to Medina, where I've been before and had a good dance. Unfortunately it was shut, so we went back up to the Royal Mile and finally found somewhere open, but empty. We had some drinks anyway and then the barmaid told us a DJ would be starting at 11. After a while we headed downstairs - the club was split over 4 levels so you went pretty far underground and the dancefloor was in a cellar type space. We were almost the only girls there so sometimes we felt rather on display, especially as there were a lot of men on their own. (We all agreed there is something a bit off about a man who patronises nightclubs on his own. Ick.) Around 1am, Jude was getting sleepy and the music wasn't really improving so we decided to call it a night.

The Gibson girls, ready for their first hen's night.

On Friday, Dave, Jude, Ali and I went to visit the Real Mary King's Close which had been recommended to me as one of Edinburgh's better 'ghost' tours. It turned out to be less a 'ghost' tour and more a tour of underneath the Royal Mile. We had a great tour guide and heard some amazing stories, and this was the day we found out where the word 'quack' came for doctors, why Princes St Gardens are so green, and other bits of Edinburgh trivia. Friday night was our last night all together so we went to the brewery near the bingo hall for dinner to celebrate (and so no one would have to cook, or do the dishes).

We got an early night, because Jude, Dave, Toby and I were off to Glasgow bright and early the next morning to get our flight to Berlin for New Year's Eve. Which is a whole other blog entry altogether.