Do you want to start a new thread for this? It's easier to have the players/nations/rules as the first post. Some of the players might be more likely to notice a new thread than this one, as well.
I wouldn't worry about holidays. If the games still running, we can wait, or you can find a substitute.
Or we'll just try to kill you off first
As far as patching:
You need to use the old version until those games patch. In the 3.08 thread, Meglobob suggested just saving the 3.06 dom3 executable and using that when the old version is needed.
I'm more paranoid and copy the entire directory.