“I love studying for maths”

Said no teenage boy ever except Daniel. After spending two hours on Saturday night studying he said exactly this followed by, “Two hours of doing practice exam questions is so nice.” I guess it’s a bit like solving puzzles which can be fun when you know how to tackle them. I can’t say I ever felt the same about maths myself or indeed studying for any exam. Both kids have exams right now.

Ben and I went into town for a bit of Christmas shopping today and met Santa. we didn’t have the children with us and I had to ask Santa if I could get my photo taken with him. He said, “You’re all children to me”.

It was a very dreich day as you can see so it was fairly quiet. Dreich is a Scottish word for dreary and bleak.

The markets are good with lots of locally made food, drink, and crafts. We sampled some spirits from Lost Loch Spirits who have a distillery in Royal Deeside. As well as whisky, gin, and rum they have the first Scottish-made absinthe called Murmichan which is an old Scottish word for wicked fairy. They also make a spirit called Haroosh which is another old Scottish word. It means a high spirited and disorderly gathering. What a great word! I tasted Haroosh and it was very nice. It’s a mix of whisky, honey, and bramble – nothing else. Just what you need on a dreich day like today and extra good if you’re got a sore throat as I’ve had the past week.

The Christmas Village includes the market, rides, an ice rink, and lots of food stalls all set on the grounds of the magnificent Marischal College.

Here’s a our Christmas tree – a Timba tree. This is its 9th year as our tree. The company no longer sell them unfortunately otherwise I’d provide a link. It’s definitely starting to feel like Christmas.