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Well we survived the season’s torture that is Carols by Candlelight, and it was actually a pretty good night. There was face painting, juggling ball making, balloon animals and a myriad of other things to keep the kids entertained with before the actual singing began.

Once the singing was underway Little Miss seemed to really get into it. She sung and danced along, of course the words were completely wrong and the dancing was awkward and out of time, but she seemed to be loving it. It was made all the more special by the glow stick belt, necklace, bracelets and crown with which she insisted on adorning herself.

She looked like a she was at a toddler rave or house party or something like that, but it sure made her easy to spot and there was no risk we were going to lose her in the crowd.

So put one in the win column - even if I was told not to sing as I was spoiling it!

Of course after the success of Saturday night’s carols adventure we decided to chance our arm and hit the shopping centre on Sunday. Having not bought anything when it comes to Xmas presents we decided it was getting a bit close to D-day and we were off.

So armed with our lists of who had been naughty or nice we loaded up the family truckster with our prams, bags, a baby, a toddler, and of course Wife and went in search of our Xmas bliss.

The shops were of course a nightmare of bored teenagers hanging out, old people trying to work out why $10 wouldn’t buy presents for all 17 great grand children like it would have in the old days, families trying to manage the heard of kids, and husbands like me - desperately trying to catch a glimpse of the tellies in all the department stores to see who was winning the game (for those care it was called off due to rain).

We wandered around for hours looking for the perfect gifts for the kids, while explaining to Little Miss that, no she couldn’t open xyz when she got home as they weren’t hers. This of course means that Xmas morning will lack that much in the way of surprises as she never forgets these things and will instantly recognise the items she saw in the shopping trolley.

Of course we could have got all the shopping done sooner if it wasn’t for the toddlers insistence on trying every toy she could lay her hands on in the store. Not that I mind her trying things out, it enables us to buy things she seems to enjoy (there is no way I would have thought to get her a scooter), but it gets in the way of Daddy trying out Wii and PS3 games (who would have thought that Call of Duty 4 would have been such fun).

So after 4 hours of rummaging through all the toy sections of all the shops we had managed to get a total of 3 presents - slightly short of the 20 or so we were after. But we did survive the venture largely unscathed and I live to shop another day.

The only downside is today I had to walk the 10 blocks to the nearest department store in the city and buy a bike for Little Miss and carry it the 10 blocks back, actually with hindsight I could have just put the bike together and rode it back to work - although then that would have meant wearing the princess costume as well so it was probably better that I didn’t.