At the time of writing, it’s 80 days, 13 hrs and 20 minutes until we travel from Abu Dhabi to Scotland for our Christmas vacation.  It’ll fly by. Probably.  So let me be the first to wish you all the compliments of the season.

We are going to travel with KLM via Schipol. Thats our usual route. We used to be big fans of BA but will now do anything to avoid Heathrow and the horrid Terminal 5. Schipol has been under refurbishment for what seems like years, but last trip it seemed to be mostly completed and is quite pleasant. Moreover, it’s pretty efficient and easy to navigate. So for the time being, KLM will carry on getting our business.

Schipol, preferred over Heathrow and definitely over CdG

I used to like traveling. Not any more. It’s now something to be endured rather than an activity to derive any pleasure from. Mind you, I used to get a lot more travel up in the pointy end of the plane than I do now. Business class, whilst never really an option for personal travel, is now also something of a luxury for work travel thanks to cost cutting.  Being packed off to such exotic locations as Iraq or Libya was more bearable when you could at least look forward to a complimentary glass of champers and being able to stretch your legs out.

These days, it’s crammed into economy, try to get comfortable and look forward to your chicken and rice washed down by a glass of tepid beer. But I digress.

Life in Economy Class

When you are a WannabeScot expat, your year is broken down into long waits to travel home and far shorter periods of being home and happy. We typically start planning for our Christmas leave the day after we arrive back after summer vacation. Similarly, flights for summer will be booked early in January, just after the Christmas decorations are being put away. I have an app that counts down the time remaining after the flight dates are input. Yes, I know it’s sad, but it provides a visible reminder that we will be home again relatively soon.

Time flying – before we do.

I have always loved Christmas, possibly more so now than when I was a kid.  When we were looking around at houses to buy, a serious consideration was, ‘how good a Christmas house could this be?’.   That typically meant, how many Christmas trees and assorted Christmas decorations can I ram into it. The house we bought in Craigellachie usually manages at least 4 big trees, one in each of the reception rooms, plus several more smaller ones dotted around the place. Every year we buy more Christmas tat. Takes a while to get it all put up and even longer to get it all down and put away again, but it’s a labour of love.

It was a tasteful if subdued display this year

Bah humbug wifey used to complain bitterly if I so much as mentioned Christmas before December 1st.   I have managed to wear her down and now post bonfire night is fair game.  Come to think of it, I even got her into a Christmas shop in August this year. We were at John O’ Groats  during our NC500 trip and noticed they had a Christmas shop in one of the many tourist traps there.  I suspect Wifey may have even spotted it before me, making the mistake of pointing it out.   Naturally we had to have a look in. I was in my element. She looked a bit pained, but managed to last a good 10 minutes.   Didn’t buy anything. Mainly because I think we already have pretty much everything that was  on display. Still, always  good to know where I can get spares.

One of my main jobs at Christmas is keeping the fires going, after all, there is nothing  quite like roasting chestnuts over an open fire, as the song says. I usually end up burning them and am not that keen on chestnuts in the first place.  But it has to be done.

We have 4 open fires, so I normally spend an inordinate amount of time running around throwing logs on them.  The last few years have been quite warm in December, so the central heating gets turned right down and it’s not unusual for windows to be opened in an attempt to cool the place.  Otherwise it can get like a sauna. I do like an open fire and the smell of woodsmoke. A couple of years ago we got far too much woodsmoke.  We had had the chimneys capped during the summer to prevent the local rooks from dropping sticks down them. We have a veritable forest of chimneys on the roof as not only do the reception rooms have fires, so do all the bedrooms.  Unfortunately, somehow the wrong chimney got capped, so when I lit the dining room fire, it wasn’t long before smoke was pouring out of the room and into the hallway.  Took a while to clear all the smoke after having put the fire out. Fortunately,  no damage done and we got it all fixed before the big day, so ate Christmas lunch in front of a roaring fire, complaining the whole time about how hot it was. Perfect.

Should keep us going for a day or two.

I am pleased we are developing these Christmas traditions. Decorating the trees. Keeping the fires going. Demolishing your body weight in Quality Street, except the strawberry and orange soft centers of course.  Oh, and the coconut ones. Why do they keep putting them into the tins? I have never yet met anyone who actually likes them. If you do, let me know and we’ll save them for you.

Coconut ones anyone?

However, it’s still 80 days, 12 hours and 25 mins until we fly home, so you may have to be patient.