A lovely festive season

I couldn't let today go past without wishing you a Happy New Year! I wrote my first blog post on the first of January 2011 and I don't think I thought for a minute that I'd still be scribbling away here two years later! I maybe don't write as often as I used to, but I still thoroughly enjoy doing it when I do (as I discovered after thrashing through my blogging thoughts on a recent post!). So, thank you, dear readers, for dropping in every now and again to plough through my ramblings!

This next load of ramblings should've been posted last week - I just never got round to publishing it and it's been languishing in my Drafts folder since last Saturday! So, I've dragged it out and pasted it on here - which means that this post's a wee bit ass for elbow! However, it means that I don't have to think of too much else to say this morning and can get back to lounging around doing very little before we head off for our traditional steak pie dinner at my wee mum's!

Saturday 29 December 2012

I'm enjoying a lazy morning playing around with the new toy that Santa surprised me with. Everyone else in the house is still in bed (after late night partying shenanigans) so wish me luck with my first attempt at writing a post from my shiny new iPad - without any help from my children! (I feel so old....)

Well, that's Christmas over for yet another year and yet another lovely one it's been too! I'm knackered this morning (and my brain's struggling to keep up with even the slightest movement of my head...) after the afore-mentioned late night partying shenanigans, but I'll do my best to string some words and a few photos together to give you a wee flavour of some of the things that made me feel really good during my festive season!


Twas the Friday before Christmas and Santa Linda had called for help with the collecting, transporting, unpacking and stacking of many, many boxes of food and toiletries that had been donated by the kind people of Dunblane following an appeal by local charity 'Start Up Stirling'. Many elves from the Dunblane, Stirling and surrounding areas turned up to help and that, in turn, meant that many of Stirlingshire's most vulnerable folk would have a more hopeful start to their new year, with at least a few nourishing meals to put on their plates. And that made Santa Linda and her elves feel really good!



The Saturday night before Christmas involved a heady mixture of Prosecco, cocktails, good food and lively chit-chat shared with some of my old girlfriends from Central AC. Most of us aren't actually running very often (or, as in my case, ever at all) nowadays -but I love that our friendship's transcended that and, although we don't have that one thing in common any more, we do have a shared passion from the past  that binds us together...along, of course, with our shared passion for good banter, good food and wine...!


Christmas Eve Eve came next and with it came a truly fantastic evening at The Royal Concert Hall in Glasgow. The Glasgow City Chorus and the orchestra of Royal Scottish Opera had joined forces to perform in 'A Christmas Cracker' and the audience, with my mum and me included, really were treated to a cracker of a concert! Aw man, my spine was tingling along to the glorious harmonies and I loved joining in with the choir during the Christmas sing-along. Just the ticket to really set the scene for the next few days' festivities!

One of my annual tasks on Christmas Eve is to make up and stick up Gargunnock's Alternative Christmas Card. I can't remember if I've ever mentioned our village's Alternative Christmas Card before here on my wee blog. It's really simple; instead of giving our neighbours cards, some of our village's residents make a donation to a chosen charity. I started the initiative off back in 2004 and I love that our village folk are still so enthusiastically joining in! Once the money's been collected, I make up a poster (the 'Alternative Christmas Card') on Christmas Eve wishing everyone in the village a very merry Christmas from everyone on the card. Thanks to the wonders of Just Giving and social networking, this year included some very generous folk who don't even live in our village, and we raised more than ever before; over £1200 for The Scottish Cot Death Trust. Well done Gargunnock, and friends!

Later on Christmas Eve, we had our annual Milne family trip to the movies.This year it was spent with 3D glasses on being thoroughly mesmerised and entertained by the magic of The Hobbit. Then, while we were demolishing our Chinese take-away, we had our annual get-together round the telly with The Grinch.. "it came without ribbons, it came without tags, it came without packages, boxes or bags..." Aw man, I love it! A few beers, a few games, a good few laughs later - along with the thrill of seeing one of the wee lads, who came and played for the patients in Strathcarron, performing on the telly with the Big Noise Orchestra during the Midnight Service from Dunblane Cathedral (we'd only shoved the service on for my wee mum's benefit - but I'm so glad we did!) - and it was time for Santa to come!

We did a kind of split shift of opening pressies during Christmas Day this year - it's good to spin it out! Alex and Ross were joining some of their chums from Central AC for their traditional Christmas run up Dumyat (a local hill) in the morning, so we opened some bits and pieces before they left and the rest when they came home. Hm, that makes it sound like we all get loads of pressies! It's not like that at all; we take turns to open one thing at a time and, with six of us in the room, that can take a while!

One of my favourite moments of the day was watching the kids' reactions when they opened their respective 'special' Santa pressies (yup, my kids are 21, 19 and 17 - but you're never too old for a special present from Santa!!) I love the challenge of finding things that might be worth nothing or seem naff to everyone else but mean something special to the kids. Aw, it reminds me of something someone said in a film we were watching recently: "You should try to give your kids enough to help them do something but not enough to make them do nothing". OK, so this was some rich American character talking about how he hadn't spoiled his kids so that they understood the value of doing things for themselves, and I'm talking about how you don't have to spend a lot of money on gifts for them to be valuable, but I'm sure you'll get the gist!

Anyway, I loved watching the kids' reactions when they opened their own wee special things this year. First, Gemma. After a bit of hunting around on Google, I found this charity called 'Common Hope' that's supported by Marcus du Sautoy (that geezer from Oxford Uni that makes maths appeal to the masses and makes maths interesting,  even to the likes of me!). If you made a donation to his charity (which uses education as a tool to try to break the cycle of poverty) you could put a name to one of his recently discovered new symmetries (a mumble jumble of numbers and symbols that looks like a load of gobble-de-gook to the likes of me..."!). So, what better present for my maths student daughter - who much prefers the 'interesting' way that Professor du Sautoy portrays maths than the boring way her subject's taught at Uni - than the knowledge that she's done a little bit towards helping some kids with their education and gained a certificate recording the new Gemma Milne Group symmetry in the process?!

As for Ross. Well, I think I've mentioned before that Alex and Ross have this project on the go which involves drinking 1001 different beers from thier '1001 Beers To Drink Before You Die' book. There's a lot more to it than just drinking the beer, but I won't go into that just now. One of my friends, Brian, knows a lot about local breweries and he'd suggested I visit The Bridge of Allan Brewhouse for a special gift for their Christmas. Aw, it's such a cool wee place and the guy that runs it couldn't have been more helpful. So, Ross (and Alex's) special pressie was a gift box containing local ales that I'd named and designed the label for, using photos and text all relating to the project. These beers obviously won't be in their book,  but I'm sure they'll enjoy drinking them just the same!

And then Gordon. Well, Gordon loves the movies, but I wanted a gift that wasn't just another DVD or a gift voucher for VUE! I found a website that makes up pretty realistic personalised movie posters, and had really great fun choosing the photos and making up the text to go on the poster. So, keep your eyes peeled for the up and coming blockbuster 'Wolfman' starring Oscar-nominated Gordo Milne! Ocht, I know it must sound a bit naff, but Gordon loved it!

Amongst the other moments that made me feel good on Christmas Day were things like going for a wee walk with Gemma and Mum,

the turkey turning out just right,

being round the table with the people I love most,

and playing silly games..

Boxing Day brought more of the same, but with even more of the people I love most! Alex's family, some more of my family and our oldest and dearest friends came along to help us eat more food, have a few more drinks, enjoy more banter and - the highlight of every Boxing Day in the Milne Household - try to win Gordon's quiz! This year, the ladies managed to draw with the men (we get tanked every year), so there was a big celebration in the wifey's camp - even though we were marked down for being cheeky to the question master and for not knowing that naked tiddlywinks was an extreme sport...

The rest of the festive season has been pretty chilled out. It's been really lovely to do very little and just make the most of us being off work and having the kids around for the holidays. We had a great night out at a party in the village (last night's shenanigans) and thoroughly enjoyed catching up with some old friends and being introduced to some new - but most of my festive season's been spent just enjoying being at home with my wee family. And that, more than anything, has made me feel really good.

....and that, dear readers, seems like a good place to stop this first post of the year and wish you all the very best in whatever lies ahead for you and yours. I hope that you all have a healthy and a happy 2013 and, of course, I hope that lots and lots of things happen this year to make you feel really good!

Accepting a donation

Instead of delivering Christmas cards to friends and neighbours in my wee village, I give a donation to charity. I started doing this in 2004 and was delighted when some of my friends joined in with me; together we raised the grand sum of £80. The following year, I decided to deliver a wee letter to every house in our village (around 350 or so) inviting all the residents to join in. I explained the idea, stated which charity I would be collecting for and promised that, on Christmas Eve, I would make up a ‘Village Christmas Card’ – which was basically a big poster – that would be pinned up on the notice board in our village square. The poster would wish everyone in our village a very merry Christmas from everyone that had donated to my collection. It would detail how much had been raised, and it would list everyone’s name who had handed in a donation. A sort of Communal Christmas Card! Enough people joined in to make it worth continuing with, so I’ve carried on every year since.

In 2005 we raised just over £500, in 2006 we raised just under £900 and every other year we’ve raised over £1000. Back in the beginning, the money was given to our village’s Elderly Welfare Committee but, in most recent years, I’ve passed the donation on to CHAS (the Children’s Hospice Association of Scotland).

Linda and Gregor

This year, I’ve decided to donate the money to a different charity again - The Scottish Cot Death Trust. I’ve recently become familiar with the incredible job this organisation does in supporting bereaved families, raising awareness and funding vital research through my very good friend Linda. Linda’s little boy, Gregor, died when he was just two years old and, although it was later found that Gregor had an overwhelming virus, his death was initially labelled as ‘Unexpected Death in Infancy’. He went off for an afternoon nap after being out to play one Sunday morning, and never woke up. I’m aware of how little financial support the trust receives from the Scottish government (only 3%), with the bulk of its funding coming directly from Joe Public. I’m also aware that only a tiny number of people are employed by this charity (4 full time and one part time) and that they’re based in a little office in Yorkhill Hospital. I’ve also learned that it’s the only charity in the whole of Scotland that’s dedicated to supporting families who’ve been bereaved through the sudden death of their infant by cot death and SUDI; raising funds for research into the causes of cot death and Sudden Unexpected Death in Infancy; raising public awareness of possible preventative measures; and educating the medical profession, police, the Procurator Fiscal’s office and all the other professionals who might be involved in dealing with the sensitive issues that occur following the sudden death of a baby or child.

So, after notifying the village residents that I’m doing the collection again and telling them which charity I’ve chosen this time around, envelopes containing varying amounts of cash or cheques have been tumbling through my letter box during the course of these past few weeks. I always ask folk to include a note of their names, so that they can be listed on the ‘Village Christmas Card’, and I’m always touched by the lovely messages that some of my fellow villagers write on their notes. This year I’ve had things like; “Thanks for doing this again Jane for another worthwhile cause”, “Another worthwhile charity, keep up the good work!”, and “Hope you and your family have a lovely Christmas!”. However, I was a wee bit taken aback – and a little upset – by the note written on the front of one of the envelopes that was delivered the other day. The envelope contained a cheque, made out to the Scottish Cot Death Trust, but on the front of the envelope was written, “I would prefer CHAS or the Hospice as the charity.” Just like that, nothing else.

My initial reaction was to take the cheque back to the person and tell them I’d rather they sent the money to their own chosen charity, than begrudgingly donate to the one I’d chosen. Then, I wondered if I should phone the person and explain that there isn’t a committee that sits in a smoky room spending hours discussing which charity best merits the village’s hard-earned cash and arguing over the best way to organise the collection – that it’s just li’l ol’ me. I contemplated sending him an email, explaining that we’ve raised well over £6000 for CHAS in recent years and that, in my opinion, there isn’t a sliding scale of which worthwhile cause deserves our donation most; that many, many charities do fantastic jobs and that people will always have their favourites often depending on whether or not they, their family or their friends, have benefited from the support given by one particular organisation. I thought about whether I should write a letter to the person, explaining how horrendous it is for families, like Linda’s, who lay their happy - and apparently healthy - little boy or girl down in their cots , kiss their foreheads and leave them to sleep soundly - only to return a short while later and find them dead. I thought about explaining, in a letter, that this scenario is more common than most folk think and that I think that the organisation - which is trying to help the families, authorities and scientists with everything related to sudden infant death - is one that I’m proud to support. I even considered climbing up on my high horse, knocking on this person’s door, and telling them face-to-face that I’ve personally supported CHAS, ‘the hospice’ (by which I think they mean Strathcarron) and various other charities for many years in many different ways. I don’t categorise one as more important than the other, and I have different personal reasons for supporting each of them. I can’t afford to give money to loads of charities, so I try to help in other ways, like handing bags into the British Heart Foundation shop, or volunteering for SAMS and Strathcarron for a few hours a week, or performing in fund-raising concerts for various different organisations or simply by talking and writing about issues to help raise awareness. I also thought about clarifying to this person that I totally respect everyone’s right to choose whether to join in with my wee Christmas card idea or not; some residents choose not to because they still like to hand out their own cards, some don’t want to donate to my chosen charity and some, as a matter of principle, don’t donate to any charities at all. I respect each and every one of those personal choices. What upset me a little bit was the fact that this person had decided to make a donation and have their name included on the ‘Village Christmas Card’ but had done it with a bit of a ‘Humph’ attached. And that’s why, initially, I wanted to tell this person to take their cheque and stick it where the sun no longer shines!

Anyway, after careful consideration, I decided against doing any of the above! I decided that I’d be cutting off my nose to spite my face. And I appreciated the fact that this person had parted with some of their money, whether begrudgingly or not. And I decided that I’d rather see the money being added to the pot, than handed back. And, finally, I decided that it would be far better to keep my thoughts on the matter firmly to myself......well, sort of.......!