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WISHING YOU A MERRY CHRISTMAS
AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!

The kids were so excited tonight. The morning will be fun! I hope they let us sleep in a little…

Er… I keep it at this level intentionally of course. I want it to be accessible to as many people as possible. Init?

HT: Marsha Loftis

Sometimes a daddy just feels helpless…

Now this I CAN organise… Lock and Load!

I love my kids.

We arranged for the container to arrive on Tuesday morning. We have two hours to empty it or they start piling on extra charges. It was just Liz and I emptying it, so time was going to be tight.

Tuesday morning 7.30am the phone rings.

“Hello, Mr.Vance, this heres the guy with your container. Do you have a pair of bolt cutters?”

“Bolt cutters? No, I don’t have bolt cutters. Why?“, I asked.

“Well, there’s a bolt locking the container and I don’t have bolt cutters.“, he explained.

“Er… I don’t either. What now?“.

“Is there any folk in the neighbourhood that might have some bolt cutters?”

“Er… No“. There might be but I wasn’t about to start a door-to-door search.

“Ok Sir, maybe I’ll call in to that there concrete place near you and ask if they have some…”

“Ok, you try that and I’ll see you soon.”

Twenty minutes later the lorry arrives at my house.

“They didn’t have bolt cutters at that there concrete place sir.”

Who said blokes can’t multi-task? I thought of one thing to say but said something different simultaneously.

“Ok, you wait here, I’ll go get a pair!”

I drove to Lowes and picked me up a big pair of Bolt cutters and a hack saw. I felt a bit like a criminal, the only tools I was missing was a few suction cups and a glass cutter.

When I got back to the house, we cut open the container and had it emptied within an hour. The lorry driver actually started to help (I think he felt sorry for us). That sped things up a lot. We avoided any extra costs and the driver was on his way in good time.

Thank God for keeping our stuff safe. There was a little damage here and there, but all we could think about is getting to sleep on our own bed again. You wouldn’t believe how nice that is.

The airbeds are deflated now until some guests arrive!

After temperatures of 80 degrees Fahrenheit on the 10th December, it dropped to 24 degrees on Tuesday! It was *Baltic!

* Irish for very cold.

What type of car is this? I love it. Reminds me a bit of the car Superman’s earth dad had.

I’m gonna get me one of those vey-heckles Pa!

Liz and the girls had a great time in New York. Left with one case, came back with two. You know the story. In the photo we have Rosie, Trish and my wee Lizzie.

Liz is now planning a trip with her sisters in January! Come on you guys (you know who you are)…. get out here… I need a weekend in New York too! Or Las Vegas… I’m not fussy!

We went to a Christmas Pageant yesterday run by Ridgecrest Baptist. It was held in Page Auditorium, next to Duke Chapel. I had never been to that area of Durham before. It was really nice. I love old architecture with all it’s stonework and detailed mouldings, and the Chapel and surrounding buildings were just fantastic. We plan to visit the area again soon and maybe take in Duke Gardens while we are there.

Ridgecrest Baptist put on a great show. I was surprised by the level of professionalism throughout - from the actors on stage, to the stagehands and sound crew. It lasted around 2 hours with plenty of singing and dancing and of course the true message of Christmas interwined throughout.

Thankfully it was not affected by the writers’ or stagehand strikes!

Here’s me and kids practising our Christmas dance moves. Now we just need a party to go to.

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1407361391

There’s one of Liz too and the girls that went to New York. I don’t think she’d appreciate me putting a link to that one!!

(I couldn’t get the above link to work in FireFox - so you may need to use Internet Explorer or alternative)

After much kerfuffle - our container from the UK has been released from customs and is scheduled for delivery this Tuesday morning at 8am.

I CANNOT WAIT!!

We get our beds! The kids get their toys. I get my toys.

And last but not least… our Christmas decorations!