The Rev's Blog

CC visit and Christmas

The girls arrived on Sunday 22nd, but Jim didn't until the Sunday evening, so I took the opportunity to have a brief solo trip to CC, the first since 2009. It was v relaxing and good to catch up.

Jim showed up on Sunday evening and seemed excited, as did they all. Some grumpiness here and there but nothing too serious. I was at work Christmas Eve until lunchtime, and took the precaution of booking the first three working days of Jan off to give myself a clear two weeks, there being so much to do on the house. We had a very traditional Christmas - crib service on Monday afternoon at our parish church and then turkey etc. on the day itself. Very special to have the children around.

Won't say much more about the Christmas hols, but we saw quite a lot of the children, which was good, got a lot of the house cleared up - to the extent that I am not nearly so bothered about Jr arriving - but we're a bit tired and stressed out as a result. It has all come good in the end though, as I am very pleased with how much the house has come along. Some issues with Min and Jim - lovely though Minnie is, she is a domineering character, and sometimes Jim finds it hard to adjust. Sort of an immovable object meeting an unstoppable force. We had a long chat about it this evening so at least he knows someone will listen, but I guess it's nothing out of the ordinary - it certainly reminds me of some of the issues I had with Ali, but complicated by our situation.

Disastrous boxing day walk (Amy, in a foul mood, more or less deliberately got herself lost):

Visit from the Edwardses including new Abigail:

Less disastrous Anglesey Abbey walk:

Some DIY in shed slash garage:

Starring role

12th December, and the Jimster had the role of Joseph in the school nativity play. He had two lines: "but..." and "but..." There was lots of singing though and I was very proud.

House move

1st/2nd December, and we finally, after much waiting, messing about with solicitors and prevarication, moved house. Caroline had wanted to do everything ourselves, and I could see the attraction of being autonomous, despite misgivings based on experience. In the event, my back started playing up a day or two before the move and this convinced both of us it would be a good idea to get M & D over. V glad we did - the inevitable stress of the move (over two days with packing first) did not play particularly well with her, and it was a blessing indeed to have help. Really appreciated it, especially at short notice.

So, from 51a St Philips Road...