Thrifty Gifty - Organised for Christmas and all ocassions 2009- Santas Challenges

mum2one

kalojac wrote: »

Sorry I've not been on for a while, my laptop at the weekend, its still under warranty but me being me didn't make the recovery disk it told me to make every day, so I've had to fork out £30 to get a recovery disk sent out, so I can phone back up Toshiba to do a few more checks before they take it back to replace the hardware. Anyhoo I've taken a shot of my sisters old laptop, and its as old as the hills, its quite frustrating using it after being used to superfast broadband, fast computer, but its something, gonna make a point of reading through the last 20ish pages tonight, and catch up with all your news.

Hope everyone is well and organised for xmas xxx :santa2:

I hope you don't think I'm being cheeky, but your recovery disc reminded me of a "lovely incident" with Currys when my computer went totally bums up at 4 months old. It was a Packard Bell, didn't have the recovery disc, they needed it to repair the computer, they had to order it from France, right saga (me being me - got our local paper involved) Currys got off the rear, took a month to get fixed but I had £90 vouchers as a goodwill gesture.I didn't have to pay for the recovery disc, they tried the you should of done it yourself, told them I didn't work in the computer industry, therefore I was a customer not an employee in that sector.
Ask for a refund, espically as you say the laptop is in the warrenty period.

Anglea

Hi girls, I'm a bit out of sync with the thread lately, been behind with my Hwk's plan as well, have we had the new santa's challenge yet?

mum2one

xx_Jo_xx wrote: »

Sorry Ragz, the only reason I am thinking about it so early is because I normally go home every year to my Mums. This year though my mum and sister will be travelling in Oz!!! So Im making my own Xmas Dinner for the first time and I dont want my little boys christmas to be a disaster cos I had to cook! So I have a bit of a panic on!! :rotfl: Like you Im going to make a list and start getting some stuff in bit by bit and hopefully I wont forget anything that way and be super-uber organised!!

We always have starters with our christmas dinner and my little one likes nearly everything, so its not him I worried about! Its me cooking it! Im gonna burn it and its gonna be carp and....


****Breathes deeply and reminds myself I cook every sodding day, so whats the big deal****

Panic attack over.....sorry!

Don't be daft, theres nothing to be sorry for were all friends on here, and if we cant rack each others brains, or come up with suggestions were on the wrong thread!!

Another cheats thought re Starter - seen them at sainsburys, Asda (can't remember re Tesco - shop there!)

Breaded cheese - chilled section, theres 2 cheese in the packet, they come with a little jam! packet.
There was Camaberet, (mum2one not gd at spelling), or the other was a flavoured chedder.
They cook in Oven 12-15 mins (all on packet)
To tart it up a bit, -
Use side plate -
put some chopped lettuce and sprinkle of cress on
add the cheese on top - use 1 cheese per person
then put the jam thingy spooned on the side.

---

Chicken and pear in cream sauce

for 2 people
1 chicken breast - chopped thin pieces
1 pear - (skin on/off which you prefer) cubed
glass of white wine (bit extra to taste for quality purposes!)
small pot double cream (use about half of it)
Butter to fry

1. fry chicken strips in butter till almost cooked
2 . add pear to mixture continue frying - till chicken cooked
3. Add white wine, - boil slightly to reduce the alcohol, leave the flavour
4. add cream (more or less personal taste), simmer this
5. Mix well, check chicken cooked, pear will be softer, the wine + cream mixed well + warm
6. Serve with french stick, baguette, crusty roll
xx

mum2one

Good news - Dooyoo back up to normal, apparently they had a glitch in the system.. (phew)

Just putting the finishing touches to Santas Challenge will be up and running by teatime.
So exicted - reveals the Secret Santas Christmas present - been like a big kid trying to keep a secret! xx

Confuzzled

xx_Jo_xx wrote: »

Hello hello hello..... !! :j


Can you tell me some samples of your xmas dinner menus to give me some ideas please and inspiration?

There will only be me and my 7 year old xxx

i always make homemade cranberry sauce each year which, if you take the bite out of it your wee one might enjoy too

basically buy a bag of cranberries (with just the two of you you may wish to just cook half the bag and freeze the rest for later) add in just enough orange juice to not quite cover them and simmer them til they thicken. to cut the tartness of them add a tsp of bicarbonate of soda and sugar to taste. i also like to add in some mixed spice or cinnamon

this is such a lovely wee sauce with any poultry or pork, it's also great with cheese on biscuits or in a sandwich later or even in toasties!

perhaps you could try something a little different this year and get a duck? small enough for just 2, different enough to be special!

you can usually pick them up at lidl near christmas for a reasonable price, i believe aldi's carrys them year round

sylphraven

Afternoon all (just)
I've decided that today is a day of writing lists. I dont do that many usually, but have so many things in my head I need to do that I need to write it all down.

First list: What lists do I need to write! Such as xmas food lists (including ingredients for pressies), jobs around the house list, etc

Confuzzled

as promised, after giving everyone the 95pence link several days ago http://www.95pence.com/games/ i said i'd let you know how it was when i got my things

well just received my order (didn't take too long) it came via royal mail parcel delivery man and everything was boxed nicely, all items are good quality and they even stuffed it with that nice mailing brown paper which is very handy as i need to return something so i shall just wrap it up in that, slap the mailing label on and post it back!

i'll def be shopping with them for stocking stuffers this year, can't wait!

sylphraven

Hi Jo :hello:
Just think of Christmas Dinner as a roast with a couple of extras!

We rotate around between home, OHs parents, & my moms for christmas dinner (1 a year, not 3 in a day :eek:)
Everyone does prawn cocktail for starters as the kids happily eat it.
For the main meal everyone cooks turkey & 1 other roast meat, roast potatoes, roast parsnips, boiled carrots, boiled cauliflower, peas and stuffing. MIL adds at hers mashed potatoe, cheese sauce (for the cauliflower), green beans, pig in blankets. My Mom adds roast squash, roast sweet potatoe, cranberry sauce and bread sauce. I add bread sauce, pig in blankets, roast carrots.

For pud we have:
Mother in laws: trifle, xmas pud (very alcoholic), ice cream & Jelly.
Mums: xmas pud with custard or brandy butter, Christmas cake or, mince pies
Mine: trifle, profiteroles (very easy to make your own, I do mine the day before), mince pies, and choc cake.

You know what you & your son like the best, use these to help decide

xx_Jo_xx

Confuzzled wrote: »

as promised, after giving everyone the 95pence link several days ago http://www.95pence.com/games/ i said i'd let you know how it was when i got my things

well just received my order (didn't take too long) it came via royal mail parcel delivery man and everything was boxed nicely, all items are good quality and they even stuffed it with that nice mailing brown paper which is very handy as i need to return something so i shall just wrap it up in that, slap the mailing label on and post it back!

i'll def be shopping with them for stocking stuffers this year, can't wait!

Can I second what youve said about 95pence.com......I bought lots of stocking fillers from them and little bits and pieces for the dog, stuff for my mum and sisters Oz hamper and it was all really good quality, well packaged and delivered quickly.

Likewise, I will be using them again too!

Confuzzled wrote: »

i always make homemade cranberry sauce each year which, if you take the bite out of it your wee one might enjoy too

basically buy a bag of cranberries (with just the two of you you may wish to just cook half the bag and freeze the rest for later) add in just enough orange juice to not quite cover them and simmer them til they thicken. to cut the tartness of them add a tsp of bicarbonate of soda and sugar to taste. i also like to add in some mixed spice or cinnamon

this is such a lovely wee sauce with any poultry or pork, it's also great with cheese on biscuits or in a sandwich later or even in toasties!

perhaps you could try something a little different this year and get a duck? small enough for just 2, different enough to be special!

you can usually pick them up at lidl near christmas for a reasonable price, i believe aldi's carrys them year round

Ooooohhh, thank you! I normally buy a jar but now I quite fancy having a go at my own.....can this be made in advance and forzen, or do you just make it up xmas eve/xmas day? xx

fedupandskint wrote: »

Of course I don't mind at all Jo!!! Lol, I didnt think you would!

Don't stress about it now I am stressing now, so hopefully I wont stress later! - just write a list and buy a few extras week by week to get ready. Eg dried/packet/freezer stuff first and then it is nearly all sorted way before Christmas without impacting on the budget too much and stressing buying it all the week before and forking out a load of cash.

Anyway that's my plan! This is now my plan too! Thanks to this thread!

Thanks Mum2one about the alcohol reminder - I missed this off my list - will amend accordingly!

Ditto - you are an angel and I have copied and pasted everything to my xmas food pages...... some great ideas!

How could you forget the alcohol!!! :eek: :eek:

And thanks to you to Sylphraven, Ive copied yours too!....I know I am being stupid and its no big deal really.....once I have written my list and have a plan of action, i.e. I know what Im making, and I know what Im buying and when, then I will be fine!!! she says.....:rotfl: xx

ragz_2

Have printed out some lovely lists from OC...
Master Gift List
Internet order tracking list
Christmas Card list
Shopping list
Stocking fillers list

... and have been having great fun this morning while kids are at preschool, filling them out and filing in my binder.