The children have not really been very well.  Both of them have been vomiting.  DP has been running a temperature too.

Ikea is such a fuss, let me tell you.  We took a massive delivery and have been building stuff when we can.  Papa and Charlie helped by building a bookcase, and they got it wrong! O well!

The weather has been very strange, one day it can be freezing with ice, the next it is mild, and up at 8C with high winds.  We lost Freeview in four of the rooms, and it will be ages for Stan to work through his backlog before getting ours fixed.  We can do without it until then.  Unfortunately DP missed his breakfast watching TV in the kitchen, so we all have to suffer him watching DVD cartoons every morning!

The cold snap killed my car battery, so I had to organise a new one.  Thing is, the first few days of the nursery run was scuppered, and I had to rush along on foot, with DP on his bike!

We’re going to hang eight of the guitars on the wall, so I have ordered wall hangers (and loads of other bits and pieces).  This means I will have lots of trips to the sorting office to pick up parcels as the postie NEVER ever posts parcels the first time, they never ring the bell to attempt to deliver anything the first time. Grrrr.

On top of all that, we’ve got these gigs.  The first one went really well, and we got a bigger crowd of the second one (maybe another 150 or so), but Charlie switched the plan at the last minute, and the set list and all we’d practised mid-week was thrown out the window on a whim!

As a result, we busked and did our best, but Daddy Dave was really fed up about it — despite getting a load of compliments after.  Good feedback means nothing when you know it was not “happening”.  There are only two more and we’ll be free to get on, but what a start to the new year!

We got an emergency telephone call from Charlie — the band had basically (and rather suddenly) split up.  A guitar and bass was needed for the weekend — could we help?

Well, it’s not really our thing anymore, but we agreed to help out on the basis that it must be a really desperate situation to ask us!

This turned into a booking for four gigs — one-a-week — starting rightaway!  We got about an hour-and-a-half’s worth of practice and about an hour as a soundcheck before actually playing live!  This is madness, and I hadn’t even started back at work!

To help Charlie, we have put on hold the work we’ve started on the house.  Hey, we can do it in February!

It was funny to be playing together again. It must be seven years since we last did that.  Mummy Ruth played my Tanglewood bass rather than her fretless Yamaha.  I played my Fender Stratocaster through my usual set-up.  Charlie played the customised Martin, Brian played his electronic drum kit.

We did pretty good — especially considering that we did not know the material, we had little rehearsal time, the set up was all DI, the mix in the monitors was weird, our stuff was covered in dust, we haven’t been playing (our fingers and muscles are sore today), and we haven’t played live for donkey’s years. It was a laugh anyway.

One down and three to go!

After a single day of work, I feel as though the festive break never happened!  There is so much to do, it’s staggering. O well!

There were some games with their dad, Kliss, before everyone went to the local fire station for a look round real fire engines!

The firefighters showed us the inside of the “appliance” (or fire engine as we call it), the children were allowed to make the lights flash and sound the siren.  Then we all got a shot of using the hose to send a massive arc of water miles across the courtyard.  A firefighter even slid down the pole to a round of applause.

So that was a birthday to remember.  Just as well as I don’t think Joobes, Kliss and The Twins will be coming up next year for the Christmas and New Year period. We’ll just have to make do with sending them a card.

The rest of Hogmanay was great fun, and we took a very long lie in this morning.

There were gales recently, and there were gales back in 2004 when Ruth and I went to the GFT cinema to see “It’s a Wonderful Life” complete with mince pies and mulled wine. Those were the days before children, compare this with “Christmassness” of 2006.  Just two years on, and we have Oli and Ruth is pregnant with DP. We had Mike staying with us, and there was a terrorist attack rumour at Braehead shopping centre!

2007 was a Super-Dooper Christmas; complete with two children, we did the Christmas lights, Mike visited again, Oli decorated the tree, and we hosted Christmas for the whole family. We really loved that year, but 2008 was even more amazing! It was similar to 2007 in that  Oli did the tree again, we did the Christmas lights (and met Santa), and we hosted Christmas again — but Oli waspoorly, and Mike couldn’t visit.  On the other hand we had the amazing news that Mummy Ruth’s sister Joobes was having twins!

In 2009, Oli lost her first tooth, and ASDA lost our goose.  I had to buy an emergency bird at the last minute, but it was a perfect Christmas Day, starting with sunshine, and ending with the embers of the log fire. Although not blogged specifically, Oli did decorate the tree with some help from her little brother, but we did not (for some long forgotten reason) go to George Square to see the Christmas Lights and Santa’s Grotto.

Last year, 2010, I did not go to any client office parties, but Mummy Ruth and I went out for our own company Christmas bash (and we had a bizarre South Indian meal and great fun).

It was a really Christmassy Christmas — it was snowing! That’s unusual, and rather special. Also unusual and special was the Lunar Eclipse at the Winter Solstice. Oli was still in charge of the Christmas Tree (obviously), and we bought a local Turkey from the high street, trekking through the powdery snow (we couldn’t take any chances after the near miss the previous year)! And yes, we did the Family Christmas again, and again, it was wonderful. Because of the weather, we did not make it to George Square. Poor Charlie was very poorly throughout the Christmas period — she ran a high fever, and was left completely out of things, poor soul.

And so we arrive at this Christmas. This year we decided to make some changes.  We got a real Christmas Tree for a start (although Oli still took charge of decorating it).  The weather has been unusually warm, and while we have had gales, it’s been mainly drearily wet.  George Square’s Christmas lights are a poor show this year (there’s no Santa’s Grotto either), so we ruled that out.

We also ruled out doing the full Family Christmas bash here.  With Joobes’s twin boys, running about, we just thought that it would be a bit much, so we decided we would all have our own individual small family Christmas Lunches and meet up on Boxing Day in Stirling for a grand meal at a place we know that has a big softplay.

You have to laugh because that plan turned into a Christmas Day buffet with us, and then, in the end,  it was quite a big fuss anyway! We may as well have done the normal traditional Christmas Day after all!

The only downside this year was that Mummy Ruth, DP and I were poorly.  Last year it was Charlie, this year it was us (except Oli). Mummy Ruth got it bad at the beginning of December. Influenza or somesuch bug. Then DP was running a high temperature and puking up. He was starting to get better as I started to come down with it.

• Even though he wasn’t at his best, we made every effort so that he enjoyed Christmas as much as possible.  Both he and Oli seemed really pleased with their gifts on Christmas morning (Granny stayed over and shared it all with us as the tradition).  They get too much anyway, so it’s best to stagger the gift opening process, we think.

I did my best, but had to take to my bed in the afternoon of Christmas Day, and so missed the grand meal in Stirling and loads of other planned events. I remained in my sickbed through my birthday too. Oh well, rough with smooth, ups and downs, swings and roundabouts. Next up the Twins’ birthday and New Years…

We have received our state-of-the-art CCTV system, got it all installed and working brilliantly. I’ve been at hospitals and schools, then doing the VAT and all sorts.  Daddy Dave has seen his accountant.  The Family calendar has been ordered after a really hard selection process (we have such a lot of great photos this year).

Oli has received her swimming certificate! Well done her!  We are so proud of that!

As a treat we all went to the Cineworld Cinema to see Arthur Christmas.

It’s also been about wrapping, getting a door wreath sorted (Kirsty Allsop would be proud of me) , and “doing the tree“.  I had ordered solar powered fairy lights — but they haven’t come yet, and we simply can’t wait forever.

I had to wrap tonnes of books and gifts for the Tots’ Group party, and I think we are all a bit exhausted — especially when Daddy Dave started sorting things that must go to Charity, and we now have a room that is a warehouse for the time being!

Still. The Children LOVE this time of the year (as do we), and it has always been magical and really special for us.  Ooo we can hardly wait!

It cost me £35 for a dod of paté, a cold steak, a teenie choc dessert and 4 cans (yes, cans) of Guinness. I was done.  But I am always done at Christmas Lunch, we all are.

The day wore on, and folks started to get sleepy, belligerent or amorous.  I was all three.

We started at Noon.  By nine I was up for a change — so I went to see (for no proper reason) We Were Promised Jetpacks at the ABC O2.  This was followed by a full nightclub, and then the bizarre surreality that is Glasgow on the Big Night That Every Office Has A Christmas Party.

I have to say, I saw some extraordinary sights on the streets of that once- proud and staid city. Gawd help us all!

I made it home at not long before 3am. Glad to be alive. Sort-of.

And I got ill. Probably the ‘flu. It hit me last Tuesday, but I struggled on (as y’do).  Daddy Dave had to take over in the evenings, but I couldn’t shake it for ages.  Oli fell on the stairs and hurt her chin, poor soul.

The winds got up — and the weather people declared it a Red Alert Weather Warning Status Thingy — so, all things considered, Daddy Dave stayed home with us.

We were following developments via Twitter — and every council was closing schools except Glasgow!  On Thursday morning, Daddy Dave got a text saying check Twitter and that the schools were off.

We had a great day in following the so-called “Hurricane Bawgbag” on Twitter and TV news! It was one of the funniest afternoons we’ve had for a long time.  Of course, it was overblown (pun intended), but hey — a day off mooching about and laughing has to be worth something eh?

On Saturday we fetched our First Real Christmas Tree and carried it home.  It has to rest for a day or two.  We had to saw a bit from the bottom and use the stand we got from Lidl that also provides it with water.

We had another big party where we left the children overnight while we crept home at 4am again! Funnily enough the children LOVED that, but we noticed that Oli had picked up some teenage affectations from the older girls — and that gave us a wee scare and an insight to what things might be like in a few years’ time. Yikes!

We all loved it; it was not very busy (mind you the weather was poor and we were early in the day), so we got a big locker and a big family-disabled changing cubicle — what a difference that made!

After our swim, we drove to Xscape to TGI Friday’s — but it was nowhere as good as the one in the city centre — on Buchanan Street. Still, we made the best of it and had a good time. And yes, we spilled drinks everywhere again! We were swimming in spilled drinks.

Sometimes I wonder about DP. He was trying to flush the cistern in the toilet at home, so I got fed up telling him to wait for the water to fill up before flushing, and removed the lid to show him the ball-valve.  He was really interested, and would not shut up about it!  He just LOVES water and things that deal with water. On vacation is was all about the sea, the pool, and hose-pipes.

It was funny swimming in a pretty warm swimming pool — yet being able to see people walking past, covered up and buffeted against the weather.

In TGI Fridays, I noticed a picture of The Rat Pack that made it look like Sammy Davis Jr was checking an SMS text or twitter on his mobile phone. That made my day.

We really enjoyed meeting Daddy Dave at lunchtime in the bustle of the city centre, and everywhere just seemed different and fun.  I almost wished there were more strikes as it really was a special family time.

I don’t mean to disrespect the unions etc., but a lot of Daddy Dave’s work colleagues took the day off work for their kids, and all-in-all the feedback and vibe was very positive — which is a bit of a shame I suppose for the strikers!  I guess their aim was to disrupt and cause a fuss, but it seems to have given everyone an excuse for some family time, and the shops seem to have benefited from the unexpected Christmas shopping.

The amount of people I bumped into while shopping after lunch with the kids was unbelievable!  There was such a great spirit, and I think the strike has made us all feel a lot more Christmassy somehow.

He loved it (even more than the Spider-Man one, which surprised me).  It is perfect for him too.

I shall have to get his old one cleaned up and off to the Charity shop at some point next week.

Today, he and Oli cycled all the way to the park.  We kicked a ball around and took the bikes home.  We had lots of chores to do this week, so we all headed out on the car, and boy did we cover some miles!

I got it off to a fine art — the Big Idea was to miss traffic, speed bumps and traffic lights.  I think I did pretty well.  We scooted round Braehead, got loads of gifts, smoothies and (at the end) some groceries.  We also made it to come specialist shops for phone parts and computer accessories.

I noticed the traffic increase as people are starting the Christmas shop already, and even though there is no real Christmassness about the place (still no decorations, trees and so forth).  There was just one thing, a sort-of grotto that was selling a panto, but that was it really.

Anyway, we all had great fun. There was a small European market and we watched them make paella and other strange foods on massive pans.

It was really nice to get so much done, and the children are a lot better and easier to manage these days.  For starters we don’t have nappies, wipes, milk, biscuits, bizarre amounts of toys and so forth. They sit in the back and sing or play Nintendo games. Now and again they argue and get noisy. This usually happens when we take it too far, and they are tired and hungry.  Everyone has limits!

I’ve decided that we’re going to have a real Christmas tree this year — against Daddy Dave’s green credentials.  Not this year for “old faithful”, the fake tree Daddy Dave bought years and years ago.  I mentioned it to him this afternoon while explaining why I had bought a Melinera Christmas Tree Stand from Lidl. Ach, he’ll get over it!

Oli has been getting professional swimming lessons, and is all-but-swimming by herself unaided.  I am so proud, she’s streets ahead of the rest. She’ll be getting a body smart token when she gets her swimming certificate.  I reckon DP will be the same; they just LOVE the water. We have them house-trained, cycling and nearly swimming. Next up: languages, music and maths. Hope these are as easy!

Daddy Dave and I watched some TV about the 1990s — The Smashing Pumpkins, REM, Nirvana, and loads more.  It was a real trip down memory lane for me.

I couldn’t believe my eyes when we drove past the O2 Academy today and saw that the Smashing Pumpkins were playing tonight.  NO time to get a baby sitter. Oh well, maybe next time guys!