Partying in the UK

The company that my husband works for has three offices in three different countries, and we were fortunate to be able to travel to all three this December to attend each of their Christmas parties. After attending the Houston party, we skipped across the Atlantic to attend the party in Scotland. We stayed and partied at the Marcliffe Hotel, a Scottish country hotel situated in beautiful grounds on the outskirts of the city of Aberdeen, often referred to as Europe's oil capital.

We enjoyed a wonderful dinner with our Scottish friends, and were amazed when two of the wait staff belted out in song. They were professional theater performers who wowed us with their music.

We enjoyed the songs from operas and theater both. I especially enjoyed the duets they performed from Phantom of the Opera. Chilling!

We closed the evening with a few carols and a rendition of God Save the Queen. (I've got to make it my New Year's resolution to learn those words! The tune, I know, since it's the same as My Country Tis of Thee.)

Those Scots sure know how to throw a party, and I look forward to joining them when they find the sunshine again. Winter days are way too short there. Happy Christmas, Aberdeen!

Two days later, we found ourselves at the Ritz Hotel in London for their dinner party.

The interiors are eye candy, and many guests were still enjoying their afternoon high tea when we arrived for an early dinner.

Our evening started with drinks in the Marie Antoinette room,

and then we moved onto dinner, where our crackers were waiting for us.

As tradition would have it, we crossed arms to pull the crackers, anticipating the loud pop! Inside were some very nice gifts, jokes, balloons, and crowns which brought an even more festive spirit to the evening.

If you'd like a quick peek at the Ritz Hotel reception areas, watch the video below. I was quite sneaky pulling out my Flip video to capture some of the sounds and sights of the hotel as we made our way into our party. Happy Christmas, London!