The mince pies will see us through.

Well, I survived my first round of deadlines, and after a couple of naps and a couple of good long runs, I'm feeling refreshed and ready to get into the Christmas spirit! Not that we've been lacking in Christmas cheer around the chaplaincy lately: we've already had two Christmas dinners here, one for CASSOC Sunday night and one for the house on Monday.


Emily, Laura and I at Severn Shed

The Sunday night festivities were actualy quite swanky. Everyone got all dressed up (I wore my lethal heels again, although I still have a gory puncture mark on my foot from stepping on myself on St. Andrews Night!), and we started the evening with Christmas carols in the chapel before Mass. After Mass, we had a mulled wine reception down in our bar, and then taxis came and took us all down the Severn Shed, a very nice restaurant on the waterfront. We had a full three-course meal complete with Christmas crackers and then came back to continue the party at the chaplaincy.

On Monday, Laura and I bravely undertook Operation Turkey Roast for the house meal. We certainly did our research beforehand: each of us consulted with our grandmothers, and with emphatic advice from several other parties added in, we had quite a large body of not entirely consistent turkey tips. We dove in with full confidence, however (animals can sense fear, you know), handling the two large carcasses like we'd been doing it all our lives. We put an apple inside the back end of each for added moisture (both grandmothers agreed about this) and stuffing in the front, then basted the whole thing and covered the top with streaky bacon to keep it from getting too crispy. Just under four hours later, we presented a very moist, flavorful result. Thanks to all parties who contributed advice!


Turkey masters.

The rest of the meal consisted of a melon starter, about a thousand kinds of vegetables (strange English custom -- Americans know that holidays are all about eating junk food), bread sauce for the meat (mashed up bread and milk stuck in a blender -- who knew?), and cranberry sauce. For dessert, we had Christmas pudding with brandy poured over top and lit. And, because aside from the pyrotechnics, Christmas pudding isn't too impressive, a nice chocolate log. We finished up with house pictures and Secret Santa presents (I got two nice bags of coffee to feed my habit -- thanks, Steve!) and, to put the perfect ending to a perfect night, a lovely girlie viewing of Bridget Jones with the requisite amount of cuddling and squealing at the cute Colin Firth moments. Ahhhh -- the Christmas season is off to a good start.


Housies!

And now -- only three days 'til I come home!! I can't believe it. It seems like I just left and that I've been here forever, both at the same time. FYI -- I'm going to be home the 18th through the 29th, so if you're going to be around Lawrence, let me know! I can't wait to catch up with everyone.

The Bristol Christmas festivities are well-documented on my photo site, so have a look here. Happy holidays, and I hope to see lots of you soon!

I hope heaven looks a lot like Scotland.

Lindsey's off to France and I'm back in Bristol this evening after a dreamy Scottish weekend. I was quite excited to ditch work for a couple days and get back to my favorite place in the world! We took the train up on Friday after Greek, and we made it to Edinburgh in time for dinner. Coming up onto the Waverley Bridge was magical as usual, this time with the castle, the ferris wheel and the German Christmas markets all lit up in the dark. We headed straight to the Doric Tavern across the way to start the weekend off right with some haggis and a pint and a reunion with Lauren, Sarah and Al.

Lindsey and I jammed Saturday full with all of the usual Edinburgh highlights. First, we took advantage of a rare clear, sunny morning to climb Arthur's Seat. It was unbelievably beautiful, and so windy we almost got blown off the top! We saw the castle and the palace and had some time for shopping on Princes Street before heading back to Lauren's to get pretty for the St. Andrew's Night party at the chaplaincy. They really outdid themselves this year! We heard a bagpiper in the distance about a quarter mile from the uni, and it turned out he was playing on the chaplaincy steps to welcome everyone in. We had a killer three-course meal with haggis, neeps and tatties (two nights in a row! hard to beat), and Farlane recited the Ode to the Haggis and performed the ritual haggis-stabbing with appropriate gusto. After dinner we had mulled wine and a full-on ceilidh, during which I managed to puncture my own foot with my high heel (but luckily leave everyone else unscathed). It was great to see many of my old (and some new, from September) chaplaincy buddies, and of course, it's always a pleasure to spend time with a roomful of men in kilts!

Sunday, predictably, got off to a bit of a slow start, but after a traditional greasy Scottish breakfast at a diner on Newington Road we were feeling fine. We had a pretty low-key day and went to Mass in the evening (which was, pleasantly, packed to overflowing) at the chaplaincy. Fittingly, we ended the weekend at the Southsider, which under Lauren's regime has become the official pub of the Catholic Students Society -- what an admirable legacy!

I'm feeling a little loopy after getting up at 4:30 this morning and half-running, half-walking to the Waverley only to find my train cancelled and getting rerouted, finally arriving home in Bristol 5 minutes before I had to leave for Latin! Panic is beginning to set in as I realize that yes, today is Dec. 3 and I have 10 days to finish all my applications and work for the term, but I'm sure it will all come together. I'm sure breathing that fine Scottish air all weekend will get me off to a good start.

I took tons of fun pics this weekend -- have a look here.