♥♥ MSE Organised For Christmas 2009 ♥♥

Giggle

How about a sweet hamper for the teenage grandchildren i did some for my son and friends kids last year and the loved them it was another great idea i got of this forum
http://jkhcrafts.blogspot.com/2008/11/sweet-hamper_20.html

Giggle

Of mugs with socks in last photo down

http://jkhcrafts.blogspot.com/2008/11/some-bits-for-school-craft-fair.html

pinkladymel

Hey all

I went to the doctors yesterday and the test was NEGATIVE. I actually burst out crying and felt so stupid I was just so deflated. Apparentely a false positive is very rare and can happen for a few reasons but there is only one that really applys to me. 1/2 of pregnancies miscarry in the first month without the mother ever knowing. Sometimes in extremely unlucky circumstances you will take a test on the day you was pregnant and get a positive when actually in a few hours it will be negative. I was just the unlucky one that took it on that very small window of oppurtunity.

I shouldn't have told you all but I was so excited and I just wanted confirmation I wasn't seeing things.

Ah dear. Anyway I don't want to bring chat down so im going to just draw a line underneath this and continue as if nothing happened Onwards and upwards

__________________________________________________ _____________________

pinkladymel

Shevs I hope that you're friend is going to be alright that is so sad My friend went into labour at 5 months and her boy is now a massive lad. Fingers crossed for her xx

JS I would take everything from your dad whilst you can because when the money runs out the redundancy will probably hit him. You deserve to be happy and to have something nice and he has got a lot of making up to do x

And to everyone else HELLO How are the challenges coming along?

I watched Die Hard 1 and 2 yesterday and they're both so Christmassy it caught me unawares.. ARGH I NEED Christmas!! Don't forget it is crafting for Christmas on May 25th QVC (Channel 740 Virgin, 640 Sky, or watch online at https://www.qvcuk.com)

mary43

Mel - so sorry to hear your news.........but you're right not to dwell too much on it...........just will drag you further down.......as you say -onwards and upwards.............:j

Julie - thanks for the links and idea...........grandkids had sweetie boxes last Easter instead of a choccy egg but I like the idea of socks in a mug..........added that to my list.

pinkladymel

Christmas Mini-Mission:

Every year, at the end of the festive period, there are always a few feelings of regret or dissappointment. Perhaps you forgot batteries for the kids toys, maybe you found you spread yourself too thinly across jobs and families or you may have just wished you'd gone for the fairy instead of the star on the tree. Whatever your regrets are I would like you to get them down on paper.

:santa2: :snow_laug :snow_grin :snow_laug :santa2:

This is what Organized Christmas calls 'debriefing' and is traditionally done at the end of the festive period but we are a bit late - so how about doing it now?

:xmassmile :rudolf: :xmastree: :rudolf: :xmassmile

Most of us have a festive notepad now and I would strongly recommend anyone who doesn't have one, to get one :T I would like you to write your answers down to the following questions so that you can remind yourself this year, but also I would like you to interview each member of your family/close ones and write down their answers too.

I think insider knowledge and hindsight has to be the best tool for Christmas :xmassign:

Questions:

1. What was your favourite memory from Christmas 08?

2. What went well for your Christmas, did you have any new traditions or innovations?

3. Were there any activities that you did not enjoy or placed too much stress on you/your family?

4. Was there anything missing from Christmas 08 that you would like to bring back?

5. What would you do differentely this year to last?


If you feel comfortable I would love you all to share your notes on here as it may spur a few thoughts for the rest of us.

This is also a fantastic printout:
http://organizedchristmas.com/image/view/558/printable

pinkladymel

Questions:

1. What was your favourite memory from Christmas 08?
I have just started to remember things I never thought were important but have really stuck out in my mind. The kids seeing their home made advent calenders and loving opening them every day. The drive around the houses looking at Christmas lights and listening to Christmas music, I missed that so much when it was over. The kids at nursery seeing father christmas and singing.. Oh and Thomas Land, that was such a perfect day out.

2. What went well for your Christmas, did you have any new traditions or innovations?
The kids were still young so activities were limited but we enjoyed reading a Christmas story every night. I par-boiled potatoes and pre-made pretty much everything so that on Christmas day I only had to turn it on. Giving the kids brand new pyjamas was a lovely thing and made nice Christmas morning photographs. The best thing we did was go to Thomas Land and it felt like such a Christmas traditional day out.

3. Were there any activities that you did not enjoy or placed too much stress on you/your family?
I didn't enjoy going to visit the in-laws but this is probably because neither of us had made any effort to see each other in the run-up and perhaps now circumstances have changed I would like to make a better effort this year. Everything was such a disaster when the oven set on fire and the dinner was ruined. I just want to think things through more thoroughly and make sure nothing like this happens again. The kids were very poorly too and are every year so I need to stock up on medicines and keep them home in the run up to christmas!

4. Was there anything missing from Christmas 08 that you would like to bring back?
I really enjoyed making my mum and sister hampers and when they didn't receive them this year they was dissappointed and I missed making them! There was a lot of Christmas dinner missing LOL and I would like some special time for me and Lee to open our gifts together because we always get swamped with the kids requesting things and put ourselves last.

5. What would you do differentely this year to last?
I think buying too many presents was a stupid thing to do and that I would like to give my bargains to less fortunate children (charity etc) and let my kids enjoy the presents they really wanted instead of swamping them. I need to see how well we all are and then decide on visits from there, making sure that the children come first and have the best Christmas they can.

Shevs

Mel, im so sorry to hear that, but you get to keep trying

• My favourite memory of christmas 08 was waking upon christmas day with my bf in our flat and opening our presents in bed together. Our first christmas in our own flat.
• New traditions - We both joined the traditions of own familys together last christmas, some both our familys did and some were new to both of us. Like new jim jams on xmas eve (mine) and eating southern fried chicken and chips for tea and heaven in a bowl for pudding (his, his mum always dos that meal on xmas eve) lots of little ones between us.
• Thanks to this thread I wasnt stressed at all, I had all my pressies bought and sorted by mid november and didnt have any money worries cos I tried really hard to be mse. Last Christmas was just pure fun and family for me
• The only thing I would try to do this xmas is try not to dwell on how great last xmas was and try to beat it. Unfortunatly me and bf wont be in our own flat cos we had to give it up due to me being made redundant and I know its not going to be this year that we move back in. Im just going to try to be as mse and organised as possible like last year and just enjoy myself

Julie I managed to get on your blog your nappy cakes are great

mary43

Can't think of anything that went wrong..........oh yes, OH's specs broke but thats another tale...............lol Was all sorted by Christmas anyway.

New traditions - decided to do pressies as cheaply as possible and support local charity shops for unwanted gifts to do this. Worked very well.

Also did a Christmas Eve Box for baby grandson........son has said he'll replenish reindeer food etc. for this year - also wrote a little story for him to read to grandson and intend to do another this year.

mhagster

I don't have any big regrets for Christmas 08, other than I was a lurker rather than a joiner inner! I so wanted to be part of it all but was just a little bit shy.....!

I had changed jobs in October and plunged in at the deep end off a really busy time at work which I thrive on but can be exhausting as well.

Only dd2 is a true believer in santa, that is strange . Big 2 go along with it all with knowing smiles but my wee one is so sincere about it all.Don't know what the next couple of years will bring. But in some ways you can be more materially realistic as in No, you can't have everything!
As I've said before ,I love that smug feeling i get when I know I'm all wrapped and ready.
I love that it's just my family of 5 that do dinner and we are relaxed and not under pressure to feed 20 folks! I loved the fact that last year i was very organised and had all my food prepared, like potatoes and parsnips par-boiled and frozen. They were of course mega reduced before I bought them.
I love that even though I was rushing about like a daftie at work up until the 23rd ,I had 12 days off work and we went as a family on Christmas eve to collect our turkey from the farm.


I love it when kids go to bed on Christmas eve and then it's a mad rush to get everything ready.

On Christmas morning, kids come through to our room and open their stockings on our bed and then we go downstairs and see if santa has been. I love that magical feeling, tree lights are sparkling and santa has left a huge pile of parcels in appropriate corners of the room for each child. Then either me or OH sit under tree and distribute the family gifts to everyone.

We have gift boxes, probably a bit like what Mary does with her shoeboxes, and for past 2 years I fill those with wee silly bits and favourite foods or sweets for that person.

Anyway, that's enough for now........i love christmas! and the way this year is going by so quickly it won't be long till it's here again! woohoo!