Yes, it's Christmas.
I'm now in my second post as a junior doctor, working at a district general in what really can only be described as the Scottish countryside. It is nice, very different to my old job. The pace is certainly slower and in part that is because of the speciality, and in part because of the hospital and the general atmosphere in which people work. People have time for you. Time to be nice and smile and generally try to help one another. So overall I feel the support is very "overt" unlike my last place of work. However, and there is a but of course! I actually really miss my old job... Not the hours, and not the fact that my job quickly became my entire existence except when I had days off in lieu of the really rather insane hours we were working. When I think about it now, sometimes it almost seems like maybe it didn't really happen, it was so bad! But I have known for some time, I'm generally a very impatient person. And therefore breaks, and having time to mill around during the day do not mix as well with my personality as I thought they might. Not that I prefer a break-less day!
I digress.
So I'm now actually already back from the countryside for my 10-day-probably-once-in-my-career-Christmas-break! Today was spent preparing our Christmas meal - slow roasted lamb with slow roasted veg, followed by a delectable pavlova and washed down with wine, port and stilton. My contribution was three types of home made mince pies for before (during board games) and after (during a slightly heated conversation about car permits..) which overall I was quite pleased with! Turns out adding apple and orange juice works well to dampen down the sweetness of shop bought mince meat. Alternatively as my housemate did, you can literally stew raisins/sultantas/candied peel for hours - drink the liquid and save the pulp for mincemeat! Next year I might add in some nuts for crunchiness. And I heard even chocolate can work well... maybe that takes the mince truly out of mince pies though...!
In two days my family come up for our elongated Christmas celebration on one of the Scottish islands in the west. We thought last year would be our last together and so for the first time went away for it, to Lapland. We were extremely lucky and caught a glimpse of the Northern Lights whilst sitting on sleighs being pulled by reindeer, at 5pm on Christmas Day. This sounds made up but it is in fact, true! So there's an extremely high bar to beat, but with board games, ginger wine, a gingerbread train to make and a ready-roasted turkey to bake, I think we'll be in for another treat :)
