Beginning a New Year

Now that we've returned to our home and our "routines" or "schedules," I want to keep blogging but find myself with less exciting things about which to blog.  Our lives in the UK during the weekdays weren't that much more exciting than our weeks here in the states, but our weekends were something to write about.  What did I do last weekend?  I worked two 12-hour nursing shifts.  There's really rather a lot I could say about that, but won't because (a) it would either bore or nauseate the majority of readers and (b) possibly get me in trouble with HIPAA.

However, we had Christmas and New Year's, so here's a glimpse of how we celebrated:

I worked Christmas Eve, so for Andrew it was a rather unexciting day.  The payoff, however, was that I didn't work on Christmas Day, and we were able to celebrate the whole day with my parents.  Following Christmas morning worship, we spent the rest of the day at our house exchanging presents with my parents and eating...a lot.

Andrew set a lovely table using the tablecloth we bought on the Isle of Skye and the beautiful china we inherited from his late Grandmother Webster.

We feasted on prime rib (courtesy of my Dad's culinary skills), and Andrew and I made roasted vegetables, a salad, bread (recipe from a dear friend, Natasha), green bean casserole, and for dessert, traditional Scottish cranachan made with honey from the Isle of Iona:

It was such a blessing to spend the day with my husband and parents, celebrating Christ's birth.

The fun didn't stop there.  The day after Christmas, Andrew's family arrived and stayed with us through the weekend and we had the most lovely time with them, too.

Our 2015 has started off quite well.  The most exciting news we have to share with you is that we are officially and aunt and uncle.  On January 3rd, Lily Skye MacLeod was born to my brother Greg and his wife Mary (of The MacLeod Thaimes), who we visited in Bangkok.  We are thrilled to call this beautiful little girl our niece and look forward to meeting her with G&M bring her to the states to visit this summer.