2007 Already? - Don't forget ....

Hi, folks - I hope you had a great Christmas and that 2007 will be healthy, happy and prosperous for you.

I know it's difficult to believe, but there are some events just around the corner which will be demanding your attention!

Firstly, for those of Scottish origin or who are interested in Scotland, Burn's Day is 25th January. That's the celebration of the birth of Robert Burns, when many Scots toast his memory and eat haggis, neeps and tatties! Delicious. If you've never been to one, a traditional Burns Supper is a great evening out.

Then, in just a few more days, it's Valentine's Day! I came across this article about Valentine's - and thought you might like to read it.

History and Meaning of Valentine's Gifts by Natalie Aranda

"Love from your Valentine", this was the message that was once passed by a very brave Christian martyr who gave his life for love. And he didn't give it for his own love but for other's love. He took everyone's pain and gave everyone the love of their life. This was the great sacrifice that a man made. His name was Saint Valentine.

History

The history takes us back to the Roman period when King Claudius ruled. Earlier it is said that Valentines Day was started in Rome. The day was celebrated as a festival to honor the queen of Roman gods. She is recognized as the goddess of the female sex and matrimony. The next day was celebrated as the Lupercalia Feasts. On the eve of this festival only the youth were allowed to be together and rest of the time they were strictly kept separate. This was the theory that gives the origin of Valentines Day.

Another theory that gives the history of Valentines Day is the sacrifices that a Christian martyr named Valentine made for love. There was a requirement of a huge army, which the emperor of Rome was unable to make. It was only because there were many people who didn't want to involve themselves in wars and go away from their families. So there was a great problem that Claudius the cruel was facing. So he came up with a very nice idea that sufficed his needs. He stopped people from entering into marriages. For this he passed a law also. But there were people who were against this law and also didn't want to follow. So a priest named Valentine conducted marriages secretly. This laid down the foundation of Saint Valentine's day which is now celebrated worldwide. This day is celebrated as this brave martyr died on this day.

Valentines gifts

Earlier Valentines Day was celebrated by exchanging love notes and expressions. People used to send anonymous letters and cards to their loved ones. But nowadays Valentine's Day gifts have dominated the scene. However, giving gifts doesn't mean that love has turned materialistic. But it in fact expresses your love and your emotions.

Your love is always true but is a waste if it is not expressed. And there are many gifts that are available in the stores that are specially designed for this occasion only. Valentine's gifts for boyfriend or for girlfriend are available onlne or in local stores. Valentine's Day not only expresses your love and your emotions but will also win the heart of your sweetheart.

If you decide that Valentine's day this year is the appropriate time to get engaged to your sweetheart, you might consider ordering this beautiful Celtic engagement ring for her. It is 18ct gold, a solitaire diamond - and the shoulders of the ring feature the beautiful Celtic Trinity knot for everlasting love.

This ring can be purchased from MacGillivray's Scottish Gifts

If you do become engaged on Valentine's Day, we wish you every happiness together.

M

Happy Christmas

Christmas Greetings from Helensburgh! Sandy and I hope you have a lovely, safe, warm and happy time this Christmas. All the best for 2007.

We've had a busy time during December - and, although we spend a lot of time thinking about the kind of gifts our customers would like to buy, we still manage to find the time to make Christmas a nice, quiet family occasion.

Looking forward to 2007 - well, this year, we just purchased a timeshare week, so I now know that there's a holiday cottage with our name on it! That's a great spur to make the arrangements and go somewhere different! There are other benefits with this - and I can't wait to tell you about them; however, I'll leave it for a few days as there are still some gift baskets to prepare for customers and some last minute shopping to do for our Christmas lunch.

With many thanks for everyone who supported us in Helensburgh and online!

Love, Peace, Goodwill to all men
Sandy and Margaret MacGillivray
MacGillivray's Scottish Gifts

The Christmas Rush - where are you shopping?

The retailers' lament, I hear you say! "Where have all the shoppers gone?"

As a youngster, growing up in a rural community meant that we had a limited choice of where to do our Christmas shopping. Most of it was done in our home town of Castle-Douglas; and we occasionally went to the nearest Woolworths in Dumfries, some 18 miles away. We never travelled further than this - and somehow we managed to find the perfect gift for friends and family, get them all wrapped up and safely delivered in time for Christmas day.

Moving forward 40 or so years, how things have changed. As retailers, we serve a local community and do have a loyal core of regular customers who support us (despite the howling gales and horizontal rain this winter!) It's probably something to do with the home-made soup, but that's a tale for another day. Quite a lot of our Christmas trade comes from our online shop at http://www.macgillivrays.co.uk/scottishgifts - and we have been posting gifts all around the world.

What new products do we have this year? Well, we have increased our range of traditional and modern Scottish jewellery, including some of Hebridean Jewellery's lovely Celtic designs; we have a great selection of cufflinks and there are some beautiful scented candles from LilyFlame. If you are calling in to our Helensburgh shop, we also have a good range of ceramic mugs by Dunoon Pottery.

If you're like me, then perhaps you're still shopping for some gifts! I hope you have a great Christmas and a prosperous and happy 2007.

Best wishes from Scotland.

Sandy and Margaret MacGillivray

PS - if you're looking for last minute gift ideas and you live in the US, why not try one of these gift ideas for men -

- Panama Hats;

- Betmar

and for ladies -

Save 5% on any order at Perfume.com
Use Coupon Code
SAVEBIGNOW
At the checkout page!

Another quick chuckle!

On the dark days of winter, it's quite nice to come across something which brings a bit of sunshine into our life.

Here's a post on a forum

The 3 Minute Management Course

:)

Hope you enjoy it!

Best
Margaret

Keeping my office clean?

Yuck, if I'm honest, it's a mess!

... however, my office "grew" before it was planned out properly. When I do get round to it, hopefully in the New Year, it's going to be reorganised physically so that I have this lovely clear space round my desk, some dedicated shelf space (with sliding doors) so that I can put away all stationery and my filing cabinet will be integrated into this space as well.

Then it will be easy to put everything away each night before I shut up shop and, in theory at least, it will be lovely in the morning.

Now that I've written this down, it still seems like a good plan

Margaret

ps - I will also redecorate the room as it's grotty!
pps - there's a lot to be said for thinking "I'm worth it!" - I do work hard in my office and I deserve a nice working environment! So do my clients who might come to give me web design work; there's another incentive for keeping the office in order!

M

A Brilliant Spoof! - check it out before it disappears!

Sometimes someone does a brilliant spoof site - check it out here before it's taken down!

http://www.msfirefox.com

Best
Margaret

Tales of the Unexpected!

Did I say we had a holiday? OK, we stayed near Girvan in Ayrshire. It's close to the famous golf course, Turnberry.

Our accommodation was not far from the main road which runs east from Ayr to Castle-Douglas and Dumfries. In other words, near to where I grew up.

In the days when my father had his farm, a local beekeeper kept several beehives in the fields. Although the farm (and Dad) are long since gone, the beekeeper (Mr Turnbull) still has honey for sale - and we now sell it in our shop.

Sandy and I thought it would be a nice idea to call in and collect our next order while we were on holiday. More than that, the last time we received an order of the honey, I had been treated to lunch by the Turnbulls and we invited them to join us for lunch somewhere close to home.

Arrangements were duly made, we set off in good time for our lunch appointment at 12.30 pm at the Kenbridge Hotel in New Galloway (http://www.thekenbridge.co.uk) - and so we parked in the car park about 30 seconds ahead of the Turnbulls' arrival. They drew in beside us and we walked across to the hotel and into the restaurant.

Lunch was fantastic. The main courses we ordered were delicious. Looking out of the dining room window, the River Ken was in full spate, partly because the weather had been rather wet and partly because the dams which generate electricity have to run off excess water when the season becomes wet. We commented that the day was becoming cloudy and, shortly afterwards, the rain started to fall.

Dessert arrived and we were all tucking into them when we heard a loud bang and the dining room lights went out.

In our rural area, it isn't out of the ordinary for there to be power cuts; we did notice that there were other lights still working, but sort of assumed they were on an emergency backup supply. The waitress returned, gave us coffee, stoked up the open fire and lit some candles.

Some time passed. Then we were slightly startled to be told that there had been an accident on the main road outside; whatever had occurred had caused a vehicle to demolish the electricity pole carrying the power to the hotel. More than that, the cable which had come down was live and was lying between our cars and the exit to the car park. We were assured that the power company engineers had been summoned and, until the power was switched off, we should just stay there.

More time passed. The roaring fire, darkening day and candle light was atmospheric - and we started reminiscing about the good old days. The company was most enjoyable and we were all resigned to our fate. Let's face it, we were safe, dry and warm.

Around 4.45pm, the engineers seemed to be making headway with the power and just after 5.15pm, we were told that it was safe to go. We walked across the car park with the Turnbulls, transferred the honey order to our van, and set off back to Girvan. (We were pleased that the Turnbulls only had 6 miles to go as they're senior citizens.) Our journey back was uneventful and we had a light supper before starting to pack up our things for our departure on Saturday morning.

When we were checking out, we got talking to a couple of members of staff. I started to say, "You'll never guess what happened to us at the Kenbridge Hotel!" when someone walked over to Sandy and said to him "Hey - were you all ok after the accident yesterday? We were turning to come into the hotel car park, a truck travelling behind us didn't notice that we were stopping and braked hard to avoid a collision. He knocked out the power line and the live wire was sparking round our car!"

Spooky, or what!