hiya ROISIN&JAMES a very happy new year to you both ...have a good one besafe on ur travels love TARA DANIEL NIKITA AN LAUREN xoxo

Hi guys!

Happy New Year to Rois and James. How can you possibly follow a year like this last one eh? Im currently spending my vacation in Guatemala. Very beautiful. Loving the travelling thing. Bring on the next step. Feel ive seen Chiapas. Time for new places. Traditional Mexican Christmas Dinner is Spag Bol. Obviously!! WOuldnt you just know it. It had to be something that didnt make any sense. Take Care. Hope youre both enjoying the beach bum life in Fiji.

Happy New Year

Maddy

Hi Rois and James

As I write this it is probably 2009 so you are the first people to get my new years wish, not a poem or a quiz, just a simple wish for more great experiences for you both!

ANdrew and I have had a very quiet Christmas. We stayed at home on Christmas day and he played with all his toys. He had pasta for dinner and I had a fillet steak! we have been visiting friends, watching football and lazing about since! We did go to see Eoghan QUigg(derry's x factor guy who I need your views on ROis!). It was Andrew's first gig and he thought the girls made far too much noise with their screaming! But we both really enjoyed it and Andrew got his autograph. He went ice skating with Seamus and Diarmuid yesterday. CG was brilliant at it. Given my accident rating I decided to give it a miss. Seamus won the prize for the best skater of the day!

And the big news of the day is that Jim erected the brilliant football table that LUcia and Tony gave ANdrew for CHristmas. We have had laods of games already and any time I score Andrew says ' I was just letting you score Mammy!!!'

Loved the Mari video! Enjoy every moment of 2009! hope it brings you both everything you hope for.

Miss you

Bon and Andy!!!!! XXXXXX

Rois & James,

Happy 2009 to you both-if it's half as eventful as 2008 you're in for a great year.Back from great holiday & back at work since Monday-it has to be done.Hope you are celebrating in style.your blogs & photos are amazing-keep them coming.We're just going to the local this evening & then back to a friends house for tea & mince pies!Doing the in-law visits tomorrow,just cos you're out of the country for Christmas doesn't mean you can get away with that one!!Tony's 40th next weekend so we're both looking forward to all the gang being in Cork-we'll have a drink(or 2) in your honour.

Enjoy Fiji,looking forward to the next instalment & HAPPY NEW YEAR.

Love Chi & Tony.xxxx

Hello Roisin, How are you keeping? Thank you for your reply to my messages. It's was great to hear from you. Hope you had a lovely Christmas, it was great to see your mammy and daddy over here. When are you going to America? Everyone is keeping well here and are all thinking about you. Take good care of yourself and god bless you. Have a very happy new year. Love Granny Mc Grory xxxx

Hi Rois and James

Hope you are enjoying Fiji and not missing "Jedi" too much. Just packed Niamh and Ed off on train to London. We had nice few days taking it easy, lots of food, watching movies and dvds etc. Planning to go to Leicester tomorrow and see "Australia" with Claire, Then I think it will be a boring night in front of the television for us on New Year's Eve. Freezing cold here - enjoy the sunshine.

Lots of Love and Happy New Year to you both. XXXXX

Hi Hi - belated Merry Christmas!! Hope you had a good time over Christmas and didn't miss home too much - not long until you're ho-ome!! Love to you both xxxxxxxx

p.s. Katy - I'm pretty sure Boxing Day is the day when employers would give their employees a gift but not sure how it relates to boxes...!

Bula! to you luvequ tagane and Rosin.

Hope you're both well and very warm in Fiji now (just scraped the frost off the Nova here.....!). Arrived back safely from Ireland after a pleasant few days and back to work tomorrow for me. All well here - Milly back home from her break as well!

Take care of yourselves, love from all.

Happy Christmas and boxing day to you both ! Sorry its been so long since I wrote but i have been keeping up via your messages and Mum and Claire. Christmas Day here was the usual hectic event with twelve for dinner and four of them little ones with all the accompanying trucks bikes and computer games and Wi competitions so it was not a quiet event. Bec and Alan are having to recover with a pj day today ! I hope you had a fantastic Christmas and NZ sounds fantastic! We missed you all at church Rois - it was not the same without the McGrory girls ! Neil and I are off to Spain tomorrow for a week and then when we come back I start my new job on the 5th Jan so I will be in touch after that love to you both - Babs and Neil PS In reply to the question - Boxing Day so called because the people who lived in big houses and had staff used to give them a "Christmas box" the day after Christmas day to reward them for their services throughout the year and on Christmas Day !

Merry Christmas James and Rois!

Hope you are having a lovely festive time.

We are all sitting in the front room of 144, listening to xmas classics, drinking beers and gin/tonic and sharing chrsitmas day experiences. You guys are very much in our thoughts and words! (odd expression, i know, but hopefully the sentiment is clear!)

Anyway, I found Claire's Christmas poem moving, so have composed my own. It's an acrostic, and very cleverly done:

Xmas

Merry times

A lot of food

Special memories

(it spells Xmas when read downwards - first letter only! Why not have a go yourself?)

Now's the time for settling up re: quiz. I was pleased by your efforts, but you should always try harder. So the overall feedback is as follows:

two stars and a wish

star: good solid knowledge of Christianity

star: good solid knowledge of crap boy bands

wish: watch out for those trick questions!

So here goes:

Rois: scored 8 - well done! victory is yours til next year.

James: scored five (but christmas bonus of 0.5 marks leaves you with 5.5 - good try!)

Ooonagh has just scored 11, but the winner is Claire with 13!!! well done claire. Niamh not allowed to enter - to avoid accusations of nepotism. Unofficially, she scored two. BTW - it IS illegal to eat mince pies on xmas day (legislature hangover from the times of Oliver Cromwell - the first Christmas Grinch)

Claire's prize: my acrostic above. Framed, with a signature.

Love to you both - have a happy new year and can't wait to see you soon!!!

Edward...x

PS keep your eyes peeled for the easter quiz, coming soon

PPS love to jedi. x

Merry Christmas James and Rois!

Happy Boxing Day - does anyone know why it's called that? Every single one of my students asked me that in my Christmas lessons and I really have no idea.

Must have been strange not being a home on the big day but I'm glad you've got each other.

Going to Manchester for Brad's birthday but Lucy's just found out she's got to work on the 31st and the 2nd so can't make it, which is a shame. Will be most strange without you two and the Rigler. Just think how immense it will be when we are all reunited, whenever that may be.

Laura and Ceri are getting married in 2009...not to each other you understand...but to their respective fiances....i fear soon the everytime I'm home question will soon change from "so have you got a boyfriend?" to "so are you married yet?"!. Not only are they both getting married but within a month of each other...bloody sods law hey! Gonna be a busy and emotional time!

Thinking of you both...how far ahead will you be on nye? xxx

Well done Mossy! We love that. LOVE it.

Can't wait to chat and hear all about our different Christmases.

Love you, you creative little maggot xxxxxxx