Organised Christmas 2008.. The countdown has begun!

bride_on_a_budget

Hi everyone,

is it too late for me to join,
i always thought i was really organised but after reading this thread i was wrong.

i have sorted out my decorations and thrown out all the nasty/broken ones, gone through my wrapping papper ect.
and i have a list of the presents i need to get and where to buy them.
My son wants a ps3 for christmas so we made a deal, if he can save up £125 then we will put the rest towards it. he is only 9 but so far he has saved £89, he managed it by saving most of his pocket money each week and going through his toys and games and selling them on ebay....
what can i prep and freeze for the christmas lunch?: veg and pots ect...

well sorry for the long post but i am getting a bit excited now

bride on a budget :@)

Shevs

Hi Bride on a budget, its never to late to join, a big warm hello from all us Christmas nutters. Well done to your son saving that much already, that's a real acheivement. I hope he reaches his target.

I cant give any tips on preping and freezing foods as I am a novice at all of this homemaking stuff (still havent learnt to make a sunday roast much to bf's displeasure) but I know that there are lots of people on this thread that have loads of brill tips and tricks.

Logan one of my nephews is terrified at the thought of Father Christmas. When he was starting to understand about Christmas he asked my sister who puts the stocking at the end of his bed so she said Father Christmas. Since then he has been terrified at the thought of a strange man coming into his room at night. Last year he watched elf with me for the first time and that didnt make things better when he saw the baby buddy crawl into his sack, he thought thought that he could be taken in his sack and made to live in the north pole lol. Poor souL I kept trying to convince him that Father Christmas is a nice man who brings you toys to reward you for being good but he's having non of it. Its funny my mum is a primary school teacher and she has come across quiet a few children in her 30 odd years of teaching that are afraid of him

bride_on_a_budget

thanks shevs,

i made sure when my son was little that he knew that he could not have everything he wanted, he asked for a ds last year but already had a game boy so he sold the game boy and games and made £40 and put that towards the ds.

i cant wait to read through all the posts although it could take a while.

any tips or/and advice would be great.

bride on a budget

itsybitsygoth

I got round to having a good old browse on organisedchristmas.com on Monday and since then i've started my own planner with every kind of list imaginable in it. Its actually going to be just me and my bf at our house this year, my first 'grown up' Christmas. But I buy lots of presents for people and i'm going to do lots of homemade stuff this year so need a book to keep me organised.

My housemate thinks i'm crackers for starting planning so early but as I pointed out to her if I don't start buying presents now I won't be able to afford them all. One or two each week won't make too much difference if I start now.

As i'm making hampers this year and wanted to include some homemade gingerbread biscuits and I have some pretty cellophane to wrap them in but any idea as to how far in advance can I make them?

sarahf191979

Good Afternoon Everyone

Well I've had another productive day today.

Managed to get another 2 bags to charity shop, 6 bags of rubbish out, and 3 bags of stuff for the foundation unit at school.

I've gone trough all my baking stuff and written a list of things I need and added that to my planner.

I've have decluttered so much stuff, it just makes you feel so much better!!

Slowly crossing things off in my planner, Which I have now rearranged and organised to suit me better. Well I only have a 2 up 2 down, so don't really need checklists for master on suite, spare room ect... I have printed off some extra plain sheets and updated all my lists YIPEE :j

Well I'm now going to have a well earned cup of Coffee before I go get the little ones from school

Hope everyone is having a great day

Sarah
:rudolf:

Shevs

Sarah you put everyone to shame. Your house must be spotless!!! well done

sarahf191979

Shevs wrote: »

Sarah you put everyone to shame. Your house must be spotless!!! well done

Thanks Shevs but unfortunately not, I have Lego all over the floor in the front room and a least 3 lots of washing in the kitchen. I have loads of Garden stuff tucked in corners all over the house due to having work done on the outside of the house.

And the kids room looks like WW III has broken out LOL.

But at least I'm getting somewhere thanks to this thread/ and the organised Xmas Website. It keeps me sane....

Along with all the cups of coffee I drink in a day :rotfl: it no wonder Im up at 5am most mornings

Sarah
x

logan

Shevs wrote: »

Logan one of my nephews is terrified at the thought of Father Christmas. When he was starting to understand about Christmas he asked my sister who puts the stocking at the end of his bed so she said Father Christmas. Since then he has been terrified at the thought of a strange man coming into his room at night. Last year he watched elf with me for the first time and that didnt make things better when he saw the baby buddy crawl into his sack, he thought thought that he could be taken in his sack and made to live in the north pole lol. Poor souL I kept trying to convince him that Father Christmas is a nice man who brings you toys to reward you for being good but he's having non of it. Its funny my mum is a primary school teacher and she has come across quiet a few children in her 30 odd years of teaching that are afraid of him

I somehow cant see my son being scared......so far the only thing ive found that does scare him is wasps (cos the older 2 are) and if we fancy watching a horror film and he refuses to sleep he'll watch it with us (that sounds awful but i promise its not lol) it just doesnt scare him
Although I dont know how Id react if Santa did scare him

pinkladymel

Noggin I love the sound of your christmas bargains. I am terrible for going to get a bargain I just love it! I have been buying bits all year too and can't wait to dig my treasure out of the attic

Dani85 well done on your Eeyore bargain YAY!! Are we married to the same man because you said I knew your OH and now he has the same name.. Hmm..

shev I am too giggly christmas eve for anything naughtier then a full fat hot chocolate You do make me laugh!! I love animals and I think the whole point of christmas is a bit whacky if you arent religious anyway so treating your rabbits is just lovely xx

Logan how dare you agree with my husband I didnt intend to get my two into christmas but they went to a warehouse place that has their christmas section in and they was mesmerised. They wont stop talking about it now. We saw the nightmare before christmas and it is Logans absolute favourite he loves it so much. I am sure once the season spirit is everywhere he will be so excited

bride on a budget I love the fact that you have got a son who is willing to save, I think he more then deserves that DS what a wonderful little boy. I am also really clueless about freezing things in advance but someone earlier in the thread said you can par boil potatoes, leave them to cool, coat them in olive oil then freeze them on the tray. When they are frozen pop them into a bag ready for christmas day

Sarahf You give me a headache with how much you do every day I am so jealous haha but one thing.. I tidied all my lego off the floor today so thats 1 to me and 32 to you

Everyone else

Welcome to the thread and its SO lovely to have you here and full of festive cheer. We were originally set up to follow the organizedchristmas.com website but the cheer has taken over and it has just become such a feel good thread full of facts and information.

I love to read your posts every day and I have never felt so festive.

Thanks everyone xx

logan

I'm really chuffed with myself this week......I've decided to try and get as many gifts as possible, as cheap as possible...
So far I've got---
Step-Brother - FREE £10 HMV voucher (Consumer Pulse)
Sister/BIL - FREE £20 Argos Voucher (Consumer Pulse)
MIL/FIL - 2 x FREE DVD Boxsets (FREE amazon Vouchers)

and thats those sorted from me and OH......the kids gifts will be about a £1 each (depending on how cheap small frames are)