Old Style preparations for Christmas 2012!!!!!

Soworried

Pee wrote: »

Just to say I really like the live and let live we all do things differently tone of this post.

I save £30 a month for most of the year for Christmas, which is a different way of doing it, but makes for a much nicer January than my old ways. (By planning ahead you should all also have a nice January. It is my pet hate that once Christmas is over and there is nothing nice to look forward to, it seems, cold and short days and then struggling to pay the bills with Januarys wages.)

I am interested at the things you can freeze that I have never tried to freeze before, though, so will keep reading.

There is nothing much I won't freeze.
I also want to get some of thr preperation cooking wise done as well. To make the day more fun. :j

chirpychick

Pigpen Your Boxing day sounds FABULOUS - noisy and busy lol but lovely.

My family is so spread out that we rarely see them, we will see my parents usually on Christmas Eve or 23rd. From then onwards we are alone until NY Day when we see the inlaw's.

Usually we try to do different things in that week we have together when hubby isn't working like a trip to the cinema, long walks with the dogs and a trip to the theatre (things we never do throughout the rest of the year, apart from cinema if we get free tickets). We will usually go to a different shopping centre for sales shopping too and treat ourselves to coffee and cake in a coffee shop. It took a while to get used to not having family around as when I was a child the week of Christmas was non stop family visits.
Now though I guess most of that will change having a new baby, I will have to think of other things we can do.

It's another reason why like to buy the food in early, so that we have the spare money to go out and do fun things

Pee

Tell me more about the cooking ahead, because that I certainly could learn from.

Caterina

I am with pigpen on the subject of Christmas, regarding the Big Preparations, I like making it a bit special but don't go to town with masses of extra stuff, sweets, gadgets etc.

It is only the four of us and we all have a couple of gifts under the "tree", which is usually a few dry branches sprayed silver and/or gold, depending on what leftover paint we have from the past year, decorated with mostly homemade decorations that we have made and accumulated, plus the most darling little "lanterns" which I bought in a Steiner school fair years ago, made of fairy lights incapsulated by colourful felt. They are very simple but truly magic.

Candles. Cheap and magic.

I make a wreath every year, picking up holly bits and greenery from nearby, decorate it with ancient ribbons that I have saved year after year.

Food: usually 100% vegetarian, to make it simple and not to have to cook 4 different meals. To keep it special, I make this meal only once a year, no matter how much the family clamour that they want it more often because they love it so much. It is basically homemade stuffing (I save bread heels all year in the freezer to make a nice big one) with lots of onion, grated cheese and herbs; Yorkshire pudding; sometimes veggie sausages from a packet or ready made nut roast; buttered leeks, Brussels sprouts with chestnuts, carrots with sesame seeds. Salad. Pudding is normally Panettone, if it makes it for dinner (tradition dictates that we open the presents in the morning, in our nighties, while eating panettone and drinking a nice cup of tea and coffee).

Watch old films, the Queen's speech, any old TV reruns, have a walk, weather permitting.

Since the twins were born, it hasn't changed much apart that in the last 4 years they have cooked a lot of the meal themselves (hence the appearance of some ready-made items LOL). Now they are 23 and we still love our simple Christmas together and it is so much less stressful now that we all muck in and it doesn't all fall on my shoulders alone.

The run up to Christmas sees DH writing cards to his family. I don't give many cards out, it is not an Italian custom, I call my family, might email or call far away friends, but always have a little gift for friends nearby. They all know that I don't "do" cards and only give them to people who would otherwise feel offended, or "obligations" e.g. I used to give them to clients when I had my business.

Also a nice fun tradition is DD and I, in the living room in cold December evenings, me crocheting and her fiddling with the TV remote control, nice pot of tea at hand, looking for music channels playing old carols and Christmas songs of times new and old. Lots of fun!

So I am not fussed about doing Preparations For Christmas, which is weird because I put a lot of energy preparing for the Zombie Apocalypse, which doesn't come once a year! LOL

meg72

Soworried wrote: »

Christmas is coming and I am in a flap. :eek:
I have already started to buy extra items and freeze them so that the christmas shop is not so much of a shock to my system.:cool:
So far I have cocktail sausages, smoked salmon and Gammon joints. I am thinking of starting to buy £10 a weeks worth between now and then.
What items should I start with? Does anybody want to join me in getting the food ready?

Dont flap theres plenty of time yet. Have you looked at the Preparing for Christmas 2012 thread? loads of ideas and like minded people.

I love this preparing as to me it makes Christmas more fun, andI set myself a challenge to try and get everything reduced or on offer.

Are you only doing freezer stuff, I like to get a couple of tins of ham and salmon,fruit custard etc.

Soworried

meg72 wrote: »

Dont flap theres plenty of time yet. It was a play on words, Christmas is coming the goose is getting fat. Have you looked at the Preparing for Christmas 2012 thread? loads of ideas and like minded people.No I haven't, thankyou I will find it.

I love this preparing as to me it makes Christmas more fun, andI set myself a challenge to try and get everything reduced or on offer.

Are you only doing freezer stuff, I like to get a couple of tins of ham and salmon,fruit custard etc.

I want to get as much as possible put away. Anything except the fruit and veg really. Unless I blanch it and prechop that? Oh the ideas.

Soworried

Caterina wrote: »

It is only the four of us and we all have a couple of gifts under the "tree", which is usually a few dry branches sprayed silver and/or gold, depending on what leftover paint we have from the past year, decorated with mostly homemade decorations that we have made and accumulated, plus the most darling little "lanterns" which I bought in a Steiner school fair years ago, made of fairy lights incapsulated by colourful felt. They are very simple but truly magic.

Candles. Cheap and magic.

I make a wreath every year, picking up holly bits and greenery from nearby, decorate it with ancient ribbons that I have saved year after year.
It is basically homemade stuffing (I save bread heels all year in the freezer to make a nice big one) with lots of onion, grated cheese and herbs; Yorkshire pudding; sometimes veggie sausages from a packet or ready made nut roast; buttered leeks, Brussels sprouts with chestnuts, carrots with sesame seeds. Salad. Pudding is normally Panettone, if it makes it for dinner (tradition dictates that we open the presents in the morning, in our nighties, while eating panettone and drinking a nice cup of tea and coffee).

Watch old films, the Queen's speech, any old TV reruns, have a walk, weather permitting.

Since the twins were born, it hasn't changed much apart that in the last 4 years they have cooked a lot of the meal themselves (hence the appearance of some ready-made items LOL). Now they are 23 and we still love our simple Christmas together and it is so much less stressful now that we all muck in and it doesn't all fall on my shoulders alone.

The run up to Christmas sees DH writing cards to his family. I don't give many cards out, it is not an Italian custom, I call my family, might email or call far away friends, but always have a little gift for friends nearby. They all know that I don't "do" cards and only give them to people who would otherwise feel offended, or "obligations" e.g. I used to give them to clients when I had my business.

Also a nice fun tradition is DD and I, in the living room in cold December evenings, me crocheting and her fiddling with the TV remote control, nice pot of tea at hand, looking for music channels playing old carols and Christmas songs of times new and old. Lots of fun!

So I am not fussed about doing Preparations For Christmas, which is weird because I put a lot of energy preparing for the Zombie Apocalypse, which doesn't come once a year! LOL

So you have been planning all year for your food. :eek:

Your christmas sounds lovely, all that time spent making things like the tree and decorations. To me that is what christmas is about. Time with family and having it the way you want it. :T

Caterina, my thankyou keeps coming off your post for some reason. Sorry.

mossy

Ahhh I love Christmas!! :rudolf: Was just thinking this morning that I'm going to use the £15 I was going to use to get my hair cut to buy a few Christmas pressies!! Now I have somewhere to post that lol!!

I'm going to make a lot of presents this year or at the very least add a homemade touch to bought things, like buying bars of chocolate when they are £1 for four and then sewing them into wrapping paper to make a chocolate stocking for atleast half the price! I also think this is a good idea because I won't be able to open them so easily if I sow them into paper rather than leaving them in the packet!

I don't have a massive freezer so I don't tend to buy things to freeze until November time but I do stock up on a few treats and hide them away from everyone. Good to buy the Lidl chocolate decorations before they sell out although I do tend to eat a few packets that way. :eek: I normally have most of DD's stocking fillers by now as I pick them up in the dollar section at Target and Walmart but we didn't go on holiday to America this year so I'm a little behind on that.

Last year I picked up a goose that had been reduced in Waitrose around October time and saved around £35, although I prefer buying a duck because it's cheaper and just as nice and there's only 3 of us.

Happy Christmas Preparations to those who like to get things in advance or build up a good supply of stuff so that they have lots of lovely treats to enjoy. :xmastree:

Happy Thursday to those who aren't particularly fussed about getting caught up in the hype.

Soworried

What a great post Mossy.
I will keep my eye on Waitrose, I am not sure if we have one locally though.

Malfiore

mossy wrote: »

I'm going to make a lot of presents this year or at the very least add a homemade touch to bought things, like buying bars of chocolate when they are £1 for four and then sewing them into wrapping paper to make a chocolate stocking for atleast half the price! I also think this is a good idea because I won't be able to open them so easily if I sow them into paper rather than leaving them in the packet!

I LOVE this idea! Can I ask as I am not the best at sewing...:o Do you have to use particularly thick paper to avoid tearing, or does that only happen if you are Malfiore Scissorhands!!

I would love to make these and have them hanging up (well out of the dog's reach )