New, New Thirfty Gifty for Christmas and All Ocassions 2011..Santas Challenge...

mary-op

Hello all :santa2:

Never did walk down town in the end............was raining and I can't manage two sticks and a brolly..........so when cleaner came she took me to bank and post office...........seemed to have to wait ages but at least now everythings posted. Bank would have been sorted out but appt for this week cancelled till 22nd then when I got home chap phones and changes it to 23rd :mad: Annoying but needs sorting out so funds get transferred pretty d*** quick !
Did nip into Sue Ryder and got some wool to make a woolly hat to go with scarf and new cardigan........not exactly same colour as the scarf but near enough and I've a lot of odd bits that will mix in nicely (I hope)............give me something to do over Christmas............lol

Got chance of a lift to see my friend after lunch tomorrow who's not long out of hospital - eeek !!! Her presents are in spare room and not properly sorted yet so have to do that in the morning -hope I end up giving her the right lot of stuff.............lol
Son sent pressies this morning with card designed by grandson...........the whole class had done their own and the school printed them............not sure what it's supposed to be........OH says a robin, I'm thinking a strange kind of snowman.............lol
Then I get phone photo through of him as a shepherd...............could have wept. Remember when mine were little shepherds........that was while they were all innocent and hadn't been got at by ''life''.................lol

Hope you're all ok..............stay warm:)

rufusdog52

Mary, the photo sounds lovely. I got one sent to me on my phone of little grandson. I cant stop looking at it. I found a great card in the card shop for baby's first christmas with a mary and joseph on it and a tiny baby all cartoon like. I told my son it was him and his GF and the baby, made him laugh.

We bought a couple more gift bags today, and some bottles of wine for people. Got home and decided we will take my brother's families' presents round to his house tomorrow, was sorting them out into bags and realised we hadnt bought anything for my nieces' two step children so we will have to go and buy some in the morning and wrap them on the way round. I think a small pack of sweety things will suffice as I dont really know them.

We got all the other presents down and sorted them into groups. Brothers lot will go tomorrow and I am popping to ExMil's in the morning to drop hers off on the way. Then Son's lot will go at the weekend. I sorted out his Thai hamper, couldnt fit it all in the basket so ended up just putting the foody bits and the recipe book in the basket and wrapped up the bowls and plates separately and put them in his gift bag. OH took his Mum and Dad's bits down yesterday, and his bro is visiting us on Christmas eve so his will go then. Then we will just have the lot to take to my Dad's on Boxing day and the bits for ED and her family for the week after when they come round.

We bought a couple of nice desserts in Iceland for Sunday, OH is going to use the three bird roast he bought so we have all the food in for the dinner. Its getting well exciting now xx

fedupandskint

Evening everyone. I'm feeling a bit better today and made a lot of granola today from everything in the cupboard. Trebled the quantities to make sure i had enough for 3 large jars. Mixed in raisins in 1 and dried cranberries for the others. 1 jar for me which is my treat to remind me of christmas! Had a first attempt at some tukish delight but i don't think its going to set.

Never mind, still deciding whether to make some biscuits or not. Think i will, just need to update the food lists first.

Bottled up the bath salts while waiting for the colours to arrive along with the peppermint oil then nearly done!

fedupandskint

Turkish delight is not setting - just trying to devise a rescue plan to see if I can get it to set

Did most of the food shopping today while coughing and spluttering around the shop. Stuck to my list and just went off list for a bottle of ginger beer and a bottle of rapeseed oil on offer. Stocked up on things needed to along with stuff to make the gravy and other stuff out of for Christmas dinner. Used the survey vouchers and after a discussion whether they were allowed to be used a very kind assisstant put them all through for me meaning I had 27p left to put to the total cost.

Have £15 nectar points left to use and £23 of Mr M vouchers too - thinking of treating myself to a bottle of spiced rum or gin on offer from some of these.

Next week just need to get a bit of veg maybe some fruit and some milk and will pop in to Mr T's next week when back at work. Still feeling pretty rough today so not upto too much today.

Hope everyone is ok, almost a week to go now - how close is everyone to finishing off?

rufusdog52

Hi Fedup - we are just about done, I am still waiting for something to come from Amazon for OH but it should be here on time. The one I was worried about turned up yesterday. We bought some fresh veg this morning in Aldis, they have carrots, parsnips and sprouts all for 39p a pack and they are quite big packs. We will be using some of them on Sunday as that is when we are having our first round of Xmas visitors for dinner. I think in the week we will want things like milk and bread although we will get some more of those part baked rolls and baguette things in for over the holiday as we all like them.

I took ExMil's present round this morning and she gave me some bits to bring home. Took my Bro's lot round too so emptying out a bit on top of my wardrobe now. OH has gone to his mates tonight and taken their kids bits with him so even bigger hole up there.

Tomorrow we have to take some bits over to his Dad's, we have been looking after some bits for him that he bought for OH's Mum so she didnt find them. We will be dropping in on some more of his family while we are there. Will be the last day really for getting out and about as OH is going on nights on Monday until next weekend.

fedupandskint

I made Jamie's get ahead gravy today ready to freeze - 3 large portions made. I did it last year and it made a big difference on the day to only warm it back up again

Tomorrow I am making Delia's braised red cabbage again to freeze in portion sizes, creanberry sauce and maybe the stuffing to freeze. If not I'll do it one night next week. Also making a banana bread loaf out of the brown banana's hidden in the freezer so using up half of those and having a go at River Cottage Festive Bread using up more dried fruit from the cupboard (did buy some dried apple and hazelnuts today to go in too). Hope it turns out ok using the dough programme as it looked lovely the other day when I saw it on TV. Then need to get down to some studying for the assignment whose deadline is zooming rapidly towards me

mum2one

I have just added up my spends for this yr, (not included the four of us)

Birthdays
est budget - £450
actual spend - £128
proper price - £530

Xmas
est budget - £545
actual spend - £241
proper price - £859.

All money neutral... and we culled the list from last yr, as our est spend last yr was over £750 for xmas, heres to another money saving yr. xx

mum2one

Think were finally sorted and all wrapped.

Shopping wise - nipping into town Wed, a mini mooch and as hired scooter get a bit further, ust got to get couple of bits for 2 eldery neighbours,they have the same= got 2 mini cereals, minature whisky, shortbread, - finish it off with mini jams from Morrisons and tube wafer biscuits from £1 shop.

Then top up the car with petrol, hopefully get away with under £25, put £40 in last week that went to 3/4 full, thou Sunday round trip 70 miles.

Thurs - Dads doing Mr T

Fri - Go to local market, Miss Hoodie loves the pick and mix sweet stall, proper old fashioned that i remember as a kid

Sat - Help Xmas eve, we've started family tradation last yr, that Miss Hoodie and I have pizza, and she opens a couple of presents, breaks up the rush on xmas day.
xx

SugarSpun

It's like Christmas here this morning - the kitchen is in, and it is finished, but we're not allowed to touch it yet. The silicone is still drying, so this morning the beastling and I are going out to a Christmas party and then once we get home it will be unpacking the kitchen time. I need to make a list of things we need to do to organise the house, I am not sure how it was that when I was looking at all the stuff that still needs to be done, I didn't see "and all in that one week before Christmas :eek:."

The tree is up though, it's lovely :xmastree:

mary-op

Hello all :xmastree:

Tree now up along with other greenery stuff, fabric heart garlands on the dresser..............might even start to feel festive now..............lol
Presents all sorted.............some still need wrapping but at least they''re there and can't believe what a cheap christmas I've had ! Mind you with new kitchen and loo it needs to be.
Might even have stuff left over to cover next years birthdays and christmas -well a bit anyway..........lol

Hope you're all ok:)

Now all I have to do is try and work out how many stitches to cast on for my woolly hat.........some patterns say 88, some 96 and some 100 !!! I know it depends on wool and needles but there must be an 'average' surely ?