IT'S CHRIIIIIIIIISMAS!

I hate to admit this but Christmas as a foursome are always a little bit flat.  

It seems like the same as every other day, this year though, without the expectation for a glamourous Hollywood Chrismas and the distinct lack of, not only snow, a chill in the air, we had a lovely time.

The whole day was relaxed and because there wasn't this heightened expectation of perfection we had a good time.  

The food was ready when it was ready and it wasn't the glutton fest that it sometimes can be.  

We had a tipple or two of fruitsecco, and spent the evening playing games and watching Christmas TV (Emmerdale made me weep).  

The day wasn't about the gifts, it was about spending time together. 

It must be Christmas if I'm allowed this

It must be Christmas if I am allowed to eat this for Breakfast.

4. Advent

Murray Christmas

Couldn't have said it better myself, Murray Christmas from our house to yours.

Typisch Deutsch

Mamilein is always finding new and fantastic things in the shops.  Her latest find is a new type of Haribo sweets that has representations of all things German.

There were pretzels, sausages, footballs and also landmarks like the Kölner Dom, Schloß Neuschwanstein, and the Brandenburg Turm. 

It was lovely to eat so many things German. 

Driving home for Christmas

And we're off, so long Oxfordshire, after the longest week in the world, that is no exaggeration, we are finally at the ferry terminal on our way to Bünde.  We paid a little extra for a night ferry.  

My thinking behind this is; to stay on a hotel for the evening costs about £30, to get a cabin is an extra £50 (£20 more than the hotel) but when you wake up on the ferry you are already in Holland.  If you stay in the hotel you have a six hour ferry ride ahead of you.  

So rather than nine hours left we only have a three hour drive.  It was a bit busy around the bigger cities, nothing compared to the M6/M25.  

We managed the whole journey on just over half a tank of diesel as well, which is unbelievable.  Oxford to Bünde on about 30L!

There is nothing as lovely as seeing the Nord Rhein Westphalen sign by Melle, the whole family likes to breathe a sigh of relief when we cross the border.

What have we done?

The After weeks (alright months) of planning and fretting moving day has finally arrived in the Murray house.  We knew it wasn't going to be easy.  On our way to collect the van we had hired, we promised each other that whatever was said, no matter how hurtful it could seem, it wasn't true and that we still loved each other.

We began by taking a trip to the council rubbish tip.  While some things were hard to get rid of, it felt amazingly liberating to get rid of so much stuff.

At six the next morning we started loading up the van.  We decided, after a few cross words, to put the heavier items (furniture) in the van and then pack the gaps with the boxes we had left over.

Part way through, I started to loose faith that we would be able to finish.  I had made about sixty trips from the lounge to the van and back (GO was responsible for moving our things from upstairs to the lounge) with boxes and boxes and boxes and was about to give up when GO said, we needed to leave ASAP! As the storage unit office would close at four and it would take three hours to get there. We wouldn't have been able to get everything in the van anyway as the van rental centre gave us a smaller van than we had requested.

Into the van we piled and began the first of my four trips up and down the M6.  Driving the van was quite a daunting experience, I had just begun to feel comfortable when it started to rain.

I found that a lot of people would hang around my 'blind spot' and would get quite irate if I started to move into their lane.  I found most of the journey was uneventful, GO huffed and puffed about the traffic but I actually thought for a Sunday afternoon it wasn't too busy.

After we arrived and GO booked us in, I checked on my emails.  I had a notification that my email to the jhps SENCO hadn't been delivered.  Panicked as I didn't want to get into trouble (fiery is an understatement) I fired off a few to other people in school and waited for GO to return.  I am such an anxious person it only takes one blip to send me into meltdown (a side effect of the first little village school, I suppose), some how I managed to control myself (it turned out there was a fault with the school's system).

I was impressed with how quick the unloading of the van and into the storage unit part of the journey was. We had trolleys, carts, lifts and other people to help us.  We managed to unload/load the van/storage unit in about an hour, considering it had taken us six hours to pack the van I was pleasantly surprised. 

Back into the van and back down the motorway.  GO's plan was to get back, pack a bit more of our bits, sleep and then at three am get up, finish the packing and do the final few bits.  Unfortunately I slept in (I was trying to fight off a stinker of a cold) I got up at four, we packed the van to almost breaking point, and we set of at quarter past five.  This meant that we hit Manchester at quarter to eight, peak traffic time.  We arrived at the storage unit an hour late, I had to phone the van rental company to tell them we would be late and they were happy as long as we arrived before 1pm.  

We unloaded the van in about two hours and just managed to get everything into the unit.  It is a tight squeeze but it all fit.

Like a couple of zombies we dropped off the van and staggered back to the car to visit GO's parents.  On the way we went to look at the house we were (were being the operative word) interested in buying.  It was smack dab between a nice area and a rather runs down area, so not the right place for us.  As papichen says it only takes one person at the end of their tether to break in and you will feel unsafe forever.  So back to the drawing board.  At least we have moved all our bits outs, that was the worst part of the move, wasn't it???

3. Advent

A few days late but, here it is the third advent.

The Ginger One Is Leaving

I went to Wallingford to meet up with Hollabird for a farewell catch up.  We had (as usual) a very civilised evening chatting and having a giggle.  It was the day before the big move and a Friday so I was feeling a bit tired so I knew/hoped it wouldn't be a late night.  At about nine we decided to call it a night.  We said our goodbyes and promised to keep in touch.  I texted GO, and planned to snuggle in my bed (for the last time ever).  "Why don't you come and join us?"I arrived just as the parking was free (always a good sign), my plan was to stay for a while and then head home.Five hours later, after laughing, dancing and eating the place almost dry, we said goodbye and headed home.  It was a fun night and I'm glad I went.  GO has made some good friends at the pub and has lots of laughs it was lovely to see them sending him on his way in style.

Alles Gute zum Nikolaus