First Scottish Christmas

 We didn't have any sort of plans, just did what we wanted without making a fuss.  I think that should be the theme after everything everyone has been through in the past two years. Everyone here seems to be relaxed around the holidays; no outrageous house decorations, empty grocery stores, or red and green plastered everywhere. There's still exciting things like the Christmas Market or the city lights, but it's concentrated to one area downtown.  So we decided to go with the flow and enjoy the Scottish way of life. 

On Christmas Eve we dressed casually, donned our Santa hats, and took a walk down to the local café.  We enjoyed our lattes, tried mince pies for the first time, and talked about our upcoming trip until the sunset.  Once we got home, it was a marathon of cheesy Christmas movies and sugar cookies. I even made chili, an old favorite recipe from The States, to keep us warm and full.  We ended up staying awake so long that we followed Pedro's tradition of opening gifts at midnight. 

Christmas Day was unusually cold yet sunny, so we bundled up to go to the park.  One of my gifts was a new camera lens, so I was dying to see the highland cows again. To our surprise, they were all out and right at the fence!  Pedro helped one trying to get at the grass on our side, while I pet it. 

I think they were getting tired of all the shutter clicks, kept giving me looks. He was trying to hide, but I thought it was even cuter. 

A white one we've never seen before showed up. Pedro explained that he must have been at the bottom of the hierarchy.  We followed them across the field to their water trough and the white one held back and waited while the others drank.

We followed the path further than we'd ever been and found the river just before the turn around point.  

The rest of the day was full of bad movies and junk food, which was perfect.