Happy New Year and welcome to 2026. I hope the new year brings peace to places of conflict and health and happiness to those of us lucky enough to live in peaceful places.
We had a new year to remember. It was Elizabeth’s 16th birthday on New Year’s Eve so it was a double celebration as always for us. We had lunch together at The Bothy in Braemar then we went for a long walk.
We couldn’t decide whether to do the Queen’s Walk or the trek up Craig Choinnich so we ended up doing both and it was grand.
I always love walking to see a view. It’s a reward for reaching the top.
Elizabeth made her own cake – her signature yule log that’s absolutely delicious.
Then we all went to a ceilidh at the Braemar village hall with the men wearing proper Scottish kilts. It was the first time for my father wearing a kilt which we were able to hire from a local shop and he very much looked the part. He even has a Sgian Dubh (knife—pronounced skeen-du) in his sock.
The ceilidh was great fun and a particularly good one with a wonderfully relaxed and welcoming atmosphere, albeit a bit crowded. Sometimes these things can be a bit awkward with lots of strangers not wanting to dance with each other but this was not like that at all. It was a great way to see in the new year. The band even played happy birthday for Elizabeth with the entire hall singing. Someone came and asked her whether she’s a ballet dancer too as she was obviously smashing it on the dance floor – she was chuffed!
The evening culminated with nearly 15 minutes of beautifully choreographed fireworks over the River Clunie next to the Fife Arms.
We’ve woken up to a snowy winter wonderland today so I suspect there’ll be sledging happening later. It’s beautiful!
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