This Christmas, I asked Paul for one present – have our data recovered from our damaged external hard drive (the one thing broken in the move to Musselburgh).  Paul came through big time, with some help from both sets of parents.  We now have all our digital photos back, yay!!!!  So, better late than never – our photos from the trip home to Boston last May are now finally up on our flickr site which you can look at via the photos section on this blog.  The photo sets include Bethany and Jeff’s wedding day, visiting with Boston friends, being touristy in Boston and Paul’s random folk session in Cambridge.

Yay for happy memories – thank you Broon!

We just got back from the Watch-Night service at church.  My brother Stu and I sang and played in front of the congregation.  I was pretty nervous but Stu kept me right.  You could hear a baby crying right after a moment of silence at the beginning of the song.  How apt!  It was very moving indeed.

Click below to hear a recording…

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I’m so glad that we can finally relax and enjoy a family Christmas.

Peace and love to all.

Best wishes,

Px

We are looking forward to a relaxing Christmas and New Years after a very busy December at our two churches and at work too.   This year I left the afterschool club job for a temporary position as the maternity cover for the Youth and Children’s Officer for the Diocese of Edinburgh.  It’s been an excellent experience filled with new and exciting challenges every week.  I’ve learned quite a bit and met some lovely people in our Diocese as well as visitors from other Dioceses around the world too.

At the end of February, Paul and I had the great joy of visiting my family in the states once more.  This time, during Fawcett birthday season – so we managed to be there for Aunt Barb’s birthday and also to celebrate my birthday and dad’s birthday too.  On our visit home, we took a road trip to Maryland to meet Pat and Patrick Costello – two wonderful banjo players who share their love for this music online daily through free banjo lessons.  As Paul had learned to play from watching them online, it was a great joy to see him finally meet them in person.  We were treated to excellent hospitality by both Pat and Patrick along with Pat’s wife Miss Trudy.

For my birthday, Paul and our family chipped in to get me a digital SLR camera!  I’ve had loads of fun this year trying my hand at digital photography.  Paul has enjoyed the new gadget as well and has become quite the nature photographer too!

In the spring, we helped as leaders on the Easter Vigil and a youth retreat for St. Philip’s youth group.  Once again the Breakfast Club and our co-leaders David, Carol and Lesley continue to inspire us.

Yay Broon!

In May we traveled home to Boston for Bethany and Jeff’s wedding. It was excellent to be back to see all our great Boston friends, especially Lisa, Matt and Melissa.  We realised just how much we miss Boston and are sure that when we eventually move back to the states, it will be to Boston.  One of the highlights of the trip home was meeting Tommy, Matt and Melissa’s baby boy. He was quite impresssed with Broon’s banjo playing, repeatedly saying “Yay Broon!” We enjoyed a fun a trip to Cabot’s with the Sagendorphs.  For me, it was especially wonderful to be able to visit with my best friend Lisa and we hope it won’t be too long before we see her again.

In July, we made the big move!  We moved out of Edinburgh to a nearby seaside town called Musselburgh (although we officially live in Fisherrow apparently…).  We are renting a flat for just the two of us and it’s lovely.

We celebrated our three year wedding anniversary on the 26^th of August.  Paul treated me to a lovely meal at the Glasshouse in Musselburgh and we finished off with ice cream from S. Luca. (So thankful to be living closer to our favourite ice cream parlour now!)

In November, Mom and Dad crossed the ocean for a visit to Musselburgh to stay with us.  It was so nice to be with them again and to have time to see more of Edinburgh.  The highlights were definitely sharing High Tea at the Balmoral Hotel, climbing Arthur’s Seat with Dad and sharing in an early Thanksgiving meal with the Broons.  During this week, we also were thrilled to celebrate Paul’s Baptism day.  There was a quiet service at St. Philip’s followed by drinks at the Dalrieda with family and a couple friends.

We’re looking forward to seeing what 2010 brings and hope to catch up with you soon.   Many blessings for you and your family this year.  With Love, from Mish and Broon.

I spent the day up to my elbows in Christmas Trees.  I have been volunteering for the Caring Christmas Trees project over the last couple of years and today was my first session. It’s a great project with all the profits going to a winter shelter for homeless people providing hot meals and a safe, warm place to sleep over the winter months.

First job: get out of bed!  A big ask this morning as I was a little ‘tender’ after having a great time with our friends having a Christmas meal and a few wee drinkies.

Then off to the site to unload 127 Normand Fir trees out of a Bedford truck, count them all and set them up for display.  The other volunteers and I greeted a steady stream of folks picking up their trees and we unwrapped and wrapped a bunch for our discerning customers to make sure they were getting what they wanted.  Michelle came along to pick our tree (as I “would have picked the wrong one”) which was generally the story of the day for the gentlemen picking trees.

After my stint I brought our tree home and Michelle and mum helped decorate it.  I love putting up our Christmas tree.  Mish and I have collected a number of ornaments over the years that remind us of our friends, families and the things we love.  We have ornaments ranging from home-made decorations from our first tree that we made out of paper when we were skint to my favourite; Boba Fett.

As I type this Mr Potato Head is surveying the living-room from his perch at the top of our tree.  It’s become a tradition for him to be up there in place of a star or a fairy.

There are some photos over at our flickr site.