Christmas in Scotland (Part 1)

13 days

1 United Country

3 Cities

3 Airlines

All because 2 people fell in love!

This is the best way to sum up my Christmas Break. Last year I previously wrote about my friend Alexis whom I met at lunch one day at school. We became friends because she had recently become engaged and was overwhelmed with planning a wedding from overseas. Since I watched my mother plan my sisters wedding, and was the wedding planner for the Keim's wedding, I offered to help! Our time spent together outside of school started talking about wedding details, but after a while we would talk about life and pray with each other. To get to the point, I didn't attend their wedding in Florida over the summer, because I was home raising support. They knew that over Christmas that the Groom's parents would host a reception in Scotland (Where the Groom is from), and they would hope that many of their Budapest friends would come. Well when we returned after the summer back to Budapest and as the fall was setting in, it was a fact that I was their only friend from Budapest attending. Thankfully though, the Lord put Laura at my lunch table at the Staff Retreat, just as I was explaining the situation to another teacher. Laura heard Scotland and Christmas, and said she was 'In!'

So the story begins. We left Budapest the day before Christmas Eve and flew to Edinburgh, Scotland. This is where we spent Christmas. We wandered the cobble stone streets soaking in the history, and culture. 

 

Christmas Eve we walked around the main street shopping up until the stores closed, I found GAP just 5 minutes before it closed, and then checked out the Christmas markets and festival until they started to close, and so we started to wander. We stumbled across a movie theater and decided to see a movie, to kill time until the Watchnight Service at 11:30pm in St. Giles Cathedral. It was magical almost to hear the organ play and the choir sing, and then the message, shocking my preconceived notions, I found to be very relevant.

 On Christmas day we returned for a mid morning church service, and then went back to the hostel to make frozen pizza's for lunch and then to Skype with our families. We spent the rest of the evening exploring parts of the city we had not yet seen, and then found a Irish pub that was open, and had dinner. Then as we packed for our departure the next morning, I watched the Downton Abbey Christmas Special LIVE!! I would say it was not the same as watching it with friends back in Budapest, but it was fun to be able to watch it live!