Christmas 2010

We had a fabulous Christmas and New Year, and despite having a week and a half off work, I was so not ready to go back to work on the 5th of January. Before I carry on with my Maldives honeymoon recaps {which I WILL finish before our 1st anniversary} and better late than never, here's a recap of Christmas 2010!

I will start with our tree & decorations. Although we didn't have a lot of time this year to get our decorations up, we managed to get most of them out on the 20th of December. I only took them all down at the weekend as I wanted to get a little longer to enjoy them. Our Christmas tree is an artificial one we got from Dobbies garden centre a couple of years ago; its quite large so the rest of the year it lives at my parents house! I love all of the decorations on our tree, many of which have been individual ones bought while on holiday, rather than sets of decorations. Since we have so many decorations, this year I added a separate ornament tree, from John Lewis, on which I hung some of my favourites.

We had quite a few new additions for 2010 including a Sri Lankan mask from our honeymoon, an Alabaster stone tree from Volterra in Italy, a personalised wedding ornament from Etsy, a ceramic 2010 with ears from Walt Disney World, a glass Santa from Epcot, felt Mickey ears from Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party at Magic Kingdom, 5 acrylic trees from Flux and a diver from SeaWorld, which was a gift from Grahams aunt on holiday. As well as all of the new ones this year, I have some other favourites including an Empire State Building bought when we got engaged in 2008, a glass snowman from Universal 2006, a Nao snowman from Barcelona in 2007, a Guggenheim museum again from 2008 and a personalised Gaynor & Graham from 2006.

I was working right up until Christmas Eve but my boss shut the office at lunchtime so we were able to join all of our friends for an Indian dinner in Haddington. After a quick stop to see Grahams parents, we came back into Edinburgh. On our return home I still had Christmas Cupcakes to make so it was quite a late night. They looked like mini Christmas puddings and I can confirm they were yummy! I had found a Christmas tree stand in Morrison's which we used to display them on.

We woke up quite early on Christmas Day and opened presents from Grahams parents and his sister; we had bought each other things on holiday so didn't swap any presents in the morning. Then after getting dressed up and loading the car with presents, we went round to my parents, where we were having Christmas this year. My nephew was still opening his first round of presents so they were all running a little late. We kept him amused while everyone else got ready for the day ahead. My aunt, uncle & cousin arrived while we were swapping presents, making a total of 12 for lunch {me & Graham, my parents, my sister & her husband, my nephew, my aunt, uncle & cousin as well as Patrick's parents who were still in Edinburgh after the wedding}.

When it was time to swap presents, we were thoroughly spoilt by everyone. My parents got us vouchers for The Kitchin restaurant in Edinburgh, which has a Michelin star and which I cant wait to try. There is usually at least an 8 week wait for a table so we need to decide when we are going to go; since we are now going away for our anniversary, we may try and go for Grahams birthday or just as a treat anytime. We also got vouchers for La Potiniere restaurant in Gullane from my aunt & uncle. My parents got the same and bought them for my aunt too so we are all going to go sometime in February / March for a lovely lunch followed by a replay of New Year since they were all ill at the time and couldn't go out!

After champagne and canapes, we sat down for a lovely dinner, which ended with us trying to make music with bells we got from crackers last year! My dad then had a Christmas quiz for us all which the women won of course! After a few more drinks it was getting late so I put on my wellies and we walked home, ready to do it all again the next day!

We then spent the next week and a half eating out with family & friends:

• We spent Boxing Day with Grahams parents since we hadn't seem them on Christmas Day & had another meal of turkey;
• Graham went back to work on the 27th while I spent the day with Ashleigh, Patrick & Enzo then we all met for dinner at Britannia Spice;
• A lazy day on the 28th meant Domino's for tea;
• On the 29th we had our annual pub crawl down the Royal Mile & dinner at The Albanach with friends;
• We went for Chinese hot pot at Chinois with our friends who were over from Hong Kong on the 30th;
• New Years Eve began with lunch & drinks at The Rocks in Dunbar with all Grahams family followed by the pub with friends to bring in the New Year; {after lunch Grahams sister & fiance asked both me & Graham to be a part of their wedding, me as a bridesmaid and Graham as an usher}
• On the 1st Grahams mum cooked lunch for 10 of us before we went round to his aunts then up to my cousins; {Grahams uncle also showed us the video he had finished editing from our wedding & gave us a copy}
• After some wedding chat on the morning of the 2nd, we went to see my parents {who were both ill} before meeting Grahams family for dinner at Mya restaurant in Edinburgh;
• I spent the 3rd doing nothing while Graham went back to work then we had dinner at Khublai Khan in Edinburgh as Graham was about to go away with work for a week or so;
• On my last day off I visited my friend and her new baby son then met Lucy for lunch at the Goblin Ha' in Gifford.

So there was plenty eating & drinking during our holidays; we have been trying to get back to normal ever since without much success!