Our three furbies are the real bosses in this family, as they have us wrapped around their little paws. Princess Cookie Cat turns 15 at the end of this month, and loves curling up in front of the fire. She barely tolerates the two youngsters and her favourite time is when they’re sleeping.

Bramble Jelly Sassy Pants will be three in March, and keeps Ken very fit with all her walks. She’s such a cuddly dog, and slightly crazy as well, and loves playing with her brother.

We continually check out nice cafes and coffee is of course my drink of choice. Sometimes it’s important to just stop and focus on each other, enjoying each others company and sitting in a cafe is a really good way to do that.

For Guy Fawkes in November we went to a bonfire and fireworks in Burghead – a little town east of us on the coast. It was a lovely evening with food, live music, and a pumpkin carving competition.

In November a fabulous new cafe opened in Elgin, further east than us, it’s called Cafe Kombucha and is a vegan cafe. No, we haven’t become vegans, at the moment we’re still pescatarians (fish eating vegetarians) for now, but I’m always keen to explore new healthy eateries.

The food was amazing, the picture shows the sharing plate we had – in the middle is a bowl of soup and we also had flat breads with it. If you’re ever in the area I would definitely recommend it.

In December we celebrated our 19th anniversary with afternoon tea at the beautiful Coul House with a glass of prosecco for me and tea for my beloved, all in front of an open fire. It was a perfect afternoon. We love this hotel as they are dog friendly and they have a fairy trail in the woods.

Just before Christmas we went to Grantown on Spey to see Santa before he headed off on his round the world trip. His reindeers were with him and I got very excited – a bit like a little kid.

I hope that this year you discover new things about yourself, get to meet some lovely animals and people, and remember to acknowledge the things you have to be grateful for, even on the most difficult of days.

Until next time,

Pamela & Ken
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