Deck the halls

Christmas is coming – as are two of my nieces – so I have decked the halls! But the boughs of holly will have to wait for a couple of days because the girls will need to collect them from around the estate after they arrive. After all, it’s only fair that they do at least some of the decorating since if they weren’t coming I probably wouldn’t have done any decorating!

My nieces, Virginia and Krystyne, will arrive tomorrow afternoon. This is their first international trip and they are really excited about the journey. And, I admit, I am pretty excited on their behalf! They will be here until 5 January and the next two and a half weeks will be filled with sightseeing and cultural experiences.

We have a full list of things to do and see, even though we don’t have everything scheduled. Instead, we will play each day by ear based on the weather – and my nieces’ jetlag! However, I am planning a fairly traditional British Christmas for them (right down to Christmas crackers and the Doctor Who special!) and we will be going out for a full-on Hogmanay ceilidh. There will also be castles and fally-downy old buildings, Harry Potter sights, whisky, haggis, and lots of nice walks in the countryside.

Importantly*, I will also try to get a bit of writing done each day. In fact, I am setting a goal to write a minimum of 250 words per day, though I hope that I will exceed that goal several times over the course of the holidays.

Anyhow, I don’t know if I will share a few random adventure stories as we go, or one big adventure story at the end. Or, maybe, I will do both! So stay tuned to find out how Virginia and Krystyne fare on their first trip outside of America!

* This is really, really important as my time to submit my thesis is running dangerously low!!