xmas 2006 - what have you learnt? what will be different next year?

suzy_g

I am going to buy a smaller turkey or maybe get a goose next year , I will see what people on here think about a goose? this was my best prepared christmas ever, we ate at about 1.30 which was very early for us as I am usually a hour or two later then plained. what made it great was I had my red cabbage and cauliflower cheese made in the freezer. the sprouts where great I did a nigella recipe, so I will plain it the same way next year, did anyone have goose?

georgiasmum

I save with Park (I know...) but have been really happy with them. Received a letter stating that in light of farepak they will be ringfencing Christmas savings and staing they have no debts/finance!

Was pleased to receive this and spent the last of this years vouchers in the sales buying stocking-fillers, cards, wrapping paper. Got some great deals!

aussielovell

ive got a good one - tell the kids there is no santa!!!! Sounds harsh LOL but worked for me. Last year was the first year - without santa- and i still overspent to make up for it. This year was better prepared and I only got a few things and prepared daughter well. She wanted a xmas party and sold some stuff on ebay to come up with the funds. Everyone that came brought her a pressie so she had loads to open on xmas day.

Second thing is never leave things till the last minute, you panic buy out of your dec salary and its a long time till next pay day

biglass

Suzy G -we had goose- not that impressed!! Think we may have a capon next year to try.
Will definitely not be buying so much food again -and making a stance against my mother's insistence on making us loads of mince pies and Xmas cake, despite me telling her we're not keen on them and they never get eaten- sounds so ungrateful I know !
But we had a fab time-better than last year when DH was working a 12 hr shift.
Happy New Year to you all !!

dee_mum_of_3

Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Chilly South Wales
Post Count: 3,614
Thanked 2,973 Times in 1,198 Posts

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Thanks Pavlovs - I have a special Christmas bauble which has a picture of her on it and is on our Christmas tree.

I think one of the reasons our Christmas Day lunch didn't go very well because it was the first Christmas she wasn't sat at the table with us - she was a very special lady.

The extension isn't going as fast as planned builders worked approx one hour today but promised to return tomorrow and do some more !! maybe at least 62 minutes tomorrow LOL

Welshy x

we have had a similar thing ,my mother in law(a lovely woman)died in october 95 and we always found xmas and other celebrations a real trauma the way round this for us is a nicely framed piccy of her that we put on our table at these times so in effect shes at the table with us,we always toast her .....she comes on holiday with us to parents evenings and she was there too at her youngest grandsons baptism! others might find it a tad morbid i say it works for us xxxxxx

lil_me

• To keep my presents thoughtful as they were so appreciated this year
• That appropriate vouchers are ok (pedicure for someone always on their feet, spa day for a midwife etc)
• Spoiling people isn't bad if you don't get in debt to do it (My Dad cried when I gave him his laptop, he could never afford one and I could this year)
• Don't spend a penny on a credit card/catalogue, save it all
• Save £2 coins, that £300 came in handy
• It's not the price that matters, if it's expensive and they won't use it whats the point
• Same goes for don't need to spend the same amount on people
• Do the food stamps again, they came in so handy
• Buy vouchers over the year for where I will buy presents from(don't have space to store gifts)
• Shop later as a lot of what I bought was reduced closer to the time and the likes of games etc were cheaper
• Tell people we have stopped smoking and don't drink any more (ash tray, alcohol and cigarettes received as gifts)
• Remember to use pisback, quidco etc
• Buy more online
• Sort with friend to use her spare room again for storing closer to the time
• To do lunch at home again, for 6 years I have tried to et my son who has Autism to cope with dinner with family, but he was so much happier at home this time, so next year doing the same
• To wrap presents as I buy them, so much easier than doing it Xmas Eve like previous years

nearlyrich

My downfall is Christmas day tea, loads of people small kitchen, next year I will remember to get all the nubbels out of the garage LOL I will write a list of where to find stuff and send the people who say can I help to get the crisps or whatever, save us having to eat them in January.

Queen.Bess

What a great thread! Allows us all to evaluate and plan ahead - well done pavlovs!

What went well was the recycling of unwanted gifts, ended up not spending much at all on friends. But that means that for 2007 we're a bit stuck! So DH and I will lightspeed survey and pigsback as much as possible to get vouchers for next Christmas!

What didn't go so well was the fact that we were at my brother's family and I didn't take a book with me and got thoroughly bored at various points throughout the 3 days we were there! So if we go away again, I'll remember to take something to do!

This is also my first message with my new avatar, which hopefully looks quite nice!!

margaretclare

What did DH and I learn this year to carry over to subsequent years?

1. Tell people earlier, in advance, in plenty of time, that we DO NOT DO Christmas cards any more - give to charity or plant a tree instead. Some of the people I actually wrote to requesting not to send a Christmas card because we were going to be away, still sent them!

2. Our planned Christmas getaway. A lot to say about that. The basic idea of getting away over the Christmas period was a good one. So much hype, build-up and 'run-up' in the weeks beforehand, we have been feeling a total sense of let-down when it actually arrives. Church and a nice lunch together - we do that every Sunday. So we planned to get away, booked a 'Christmas Cruise on the Romantic Rhine'. Not a good idea. Parts of it were good. We loved seeing the Rhine from the river, the river ship we were on was excellent, lovely food etc. Not so good not being able to get away from the all-pervasive smoking in the lounge, which was where we went to listen to the commentary, retelling of ancient legends, description of landmarks etc (although many passengers spoilt this by not shutting up their loud conversation and laughter throughout - obviously the scenery and legends were not what they'd gone for).

The coach journeys were just too long and tiring, the return coach journey
especially. We had an early breakfast on the ship and our coach left at 8.15 am. There was a half-hour stop at Aachen-Land about 3 hours later and we were given strict instructions by the drivers: 'no more than half an hour stop'. Which was not good news given that 4 or 5 other coaches were there and a few hundred people queuing to go to the loo - 8 female loos available, so no time even to get a coffee. Next stop was at The Chocolate Factory, a scruffy warehouse-type place somewhere on the road from Dunkerque to Calais which apparently is a Mecca for cheap wine and chocolate. At this point I was very concerned about when we were going to be allowed to stop for lunch. The driver told me quite seriously that 'there was no time for lunch built into the intinerary because if there was, there'd be no time to go to the hypermarket at Calais'. The Chocolate Factory is an essential stop but they don't sell cigarettes there and the hypermarket is where you stock up on cigarettes. I could hardly believe this, and I pressed him on this. 'No lunch - stocking up on cigarettes is the priority?' He looked me straight in the face and confirmed this.

I didn't get out of the coach at the Chocolate Factory - toilets in a locked Portakabin, queues on the inside - I used the loo on the coach, made us an instant coffee in the coach and DH brought back 2 packets of crisps. When we arrived at the Pidou hypermarket in Calais it became obvious that this really WAS the big priority of the trip - the reason why many passengers laughed, chatted and smoked during the commentary about the Rhine landmarks and legends - and we were allowed one hour there. Queues for toilets again, I didn't bother. I said to the driver 'Promise me they sell food here otherwise I'm not getting out'. There are some wooden sheds outside the building which supply food of a sort and I had a cheeseburger, DH had a hot dog. The cheeseburger was one of the best and tastiest I'd ever eaten actually, but it's an old saying that hunger is the best sauce, and we'd only had a KitKat and a packet of crisps since breakfast some 7 hours earlier!

I have written a letter of complaint to Travelscope because we were under a complete misapprehension and hadn't realised that our 'romantic Rhine Christmas getaway' degenerated into a 'booze-cruise' with starvation on the way back!!!

We've also realised, what we knew already but have had it confirmed again, that we are not the 'package-tour' type of people. We like to travel independently, stop when we feel like it, have the whole thing under our control. I could not believe that we hurtled through Germany, Belgium and France passing many lovely places to stop and eat, and just because 'the priority' was stocking up on cheap fags, there was no lunch-stop at all.

Today is a difficult day for me - DH's 72nd birthday and my eldest GD's 26th, also it's 4 years since my daughter Liz died.

Best wishes to all, and a Happy New Year!

Margaret

cannylass_2

Hugs Margaret. This is a particularly hard time of year to deal with anniversaries of deaths, especially of your daughter.