White Christmas with Ellis Cameron

When you read this, Christmas Day will have come and gone, full of festivities and fun. However, the build up to Christmas for me has been just as exciting as the actual day itself.

I came home a week before Christmas, making my way from a very cold Glasgow to a very snowy Oban and to be even more specific, a very snowy house in Benderloch.

Perhaps it’s just because I’ve been away, but I was feeling particularly festive in the last week or so. I’ve spent time catching up with family and friends, enjoying the snow and getting ready for Christmas.

Tree Time

I felt Christmas had really begun when we got our tree. It was gifted from Lochnell Primary’s Nursery, as they didn’t need it past this week as school was finishing. So this year we have a slightly smaller tree than usual, but a very lovely one all the same.
I spent a wee while decorating it last Tuesday – it ended up looking slightly minimalist, as I’m a bit fussy, but no one seemed to mind.

Baker, Baker

The rest of the week was fairly relaxed, as I spent time seeing friends, watching Christmas films and baking Christmas presents.

It’s pretty obvious how much of a baking fan I am – plus it’s nice to get something home-made for Christmas. This meant that I spent most of one afternoon mass producing cupcakes for friends and decorating boxes to put them in. I really do love creating little bits and bobs to go along with the presents.

Food, Glorious Food

As well as being treated to my mum’s lasagne (thanks mum!) I’ve had some very tasty eats this week.

On Christmas Eve we headed off (‘we’ being me, mum, dad and Mark) to check out Poppies Garden Centre, near Oban. I hadn’t been before but I’d heard good things about it.

Poppies is a garden centre, but it also has a gift shop and tea room. We decided to make an afternoon of it and stopped off for lunch.

In all honesty, I had some of the best food I’ve ever eaten that day. Prices start at £3.95 for the Soup of The Day and continue on from there.

Mark and I each had a home-made beefburger with bacon and cheese, which was absolutely gorgeous, and at £6.95 was well worth the money. I also picked a bit at my dad’s seafood platter (£7.95), which was a mix of prawns, crayfish and salmon, all locally sourced.

I polished off the meal with a Gingerbread Hot Chocolate Delux (£3) which was full of marshmallows and chocolate shavings. Mum also had a Hot Chocolate and Shortbread, Mark investigated the Lemon Drizzle Cake and Dad had a Cappuccino and a Banoffee Pie.

We also received complementary mulled wine, which I thought was a lovely Christmas touch.

The whole meal came to £52, which was fantastic, as the four of us all had a main meal (my dad also had a starter) and we all had coffee and a cake at the end.

The service was really fantastic, as although most of the staff are my age or a little older, they were all really polite and friendly, without being too intrusive.

The garden centre itself is great and at present is full of festive goodies as well as all the gardening gear you would ever need.
It really was a lovely day, so I’d highly recommend you stopped by next time you’re passing by, as it’s a lovely place with a great view and excellent food.

The evening brought a lot of being cosy by the fire, a last minute excursion into town for final Christmas food and drink, and everyone being in a pretty great mood.

Although the weather has been playing havoc with everyone’s Christmas plans, it is lovely when you get to have a properly white Christmas, plodding through the snow in your wellies, watching the cats experiment with the fluffy white snow in the garden.

Overall, it’s been a lovely Christmas, and I’m now really looking forward to New Year and all that 2011 will bring.

I’ll be back in Glasgow, continuing to study at Glasgow School of Art and later in the year I’ll turn 20. It’s promising to be a lovely Christmas season – I hope you’re all having a lovely time and that you’ve had a very festive, fun Christmas.

Things to remember over Christmas

Forget The Waistline
Everyone wants to look fabulous in the Christmas dress, but do you really want to be counting calories over Christmas? I certainly don’t and I hope you won’t either! It’s never nice to be the one who shrugs off party food and drink at Christmas and you won’t have as much fun if you’re trying to work out how much harm a sausage roll will do to your thighs. So give in. I’m not saying gobble everything in sight, but if you fancy a mince pie, go for it. Another slice of cake? Why not? It’s Christmas, so have a bit of fun.

Don’t Worry, Be Happy
You didn’t quite manage to get that final present? Or maybe you didn’t get the best turkey/tree/etc. Don’t feel guilty, because you’d understand if someone hadn’t got everything they meant to this year. So don’t worry about everything being perfect – just do your best this Christmas, because no one can ask for more than that.

Snow Bother
Yes the snow is annoying. It’s slippery on foot and slippery in the car. It stops us getting places and it’s a big pain. But is is very festive and no one wants to spend Christmas complaining. So put on the wellies or the boots, wrap up warm and enjoy the weather – at least it’s not raining!

Merry Christmas!
Well, that says it all really, doesn’t it?

Ellis Cameron, Young In Argyll Editor

Photographs accompanying this article are by Ellis Cameron.