Old Style preparations for Christmas 2012!!!!!

Possession

angeltreats wrote: »

I was in Sainsburys at the end of last week and they played that Mariah Carey song, All I Want For Christmas Is You! I had to have a giggle.

Bit early for me to start planning. Except I've been looking at my jam jar stash and wondering when to start making chutneys... and thinking that perhaps this year I'll make the Christmas cake in July or August

July is now! Fine to make chutneys now too - I made some in January though and probably don't need more.:o

BluePumpkin

Possession- thank you for the car boot idea, I'll try that Your hampers look awesome! I'd be very happy to get something like that Trying to think of different things to give everyone, some people are tricky!

scrappie_2

Hi!

I'm well under way with pressi buying -

Coat and jumper for Step dad
Vase of silk flowers and keyring for aunty
Salad servers for uncle
Perfume set for mum
Toy for friends little girl
Yankee candle sets for 2x cousins
Vase and matching candle for aunt & uncle
Three bags of 'bits' for 3x cousins - bought in the Jan sales
Loccitaine handcream set for aunty
Yankee candle set for friends

I have a very large extended family and we all spend a lot of time together and still buy for each other - but only at xmas, not birthdays! I like to be organised well in advance of December.

Was thiking of possibly doing a hamper for my dad, but no idea what to get him - he is such a pain to buy for, he doesn't like anything!!!!! Will have to think about that one

Kitchenbunny

OK, so I've got a few more bits in ... food wise as well! Bizarrely there are offers on those "once you pop..." crisps so I've bought a couple of tubes with best before dates nearing the end of 2013 to go into my Christmas cupboard. Also, I've put in a couple of those Mr M Savers Milk Chocolate bars in case of last minute cookies that I so often get asked to bake. (I don't mind, and love to make them).

With regards to gift lists ... I've started asking people the kind of things they'd like and am keeping an eye out for offers. I won't list them here as I'm fairly sure my family keep an eye on the boards but I have a spreadsheet with the gifts in and will tick them off as and when I buy them!

Next week's Christmas food shop target is a packet of sausagemeat and some puff pastry so I can make and freeze some home-made sausage rolls to just defrost and bake

I'm enjoying this!

K xx

Possession

BluePumpkin wrote: »

Possession- thank you for the car boot idea, I'll try that Your hampers look awesome! I'd be very happy to get something like that Trying to think of different things to give everyone, some people are tricky!

Thankyou. I'm trying to remember what was in them - should have made a note of it somewhere. Most people had a xmas pud, some had a little xmas cake. Everyone had snowman soup, caramelised nuts, peppermint creams, ricciarelli, xmas biscotti, xmas chutney, brandy marmalade, apple jelly and some kind of jam. I think. Some had flavoured vodkas, I did a Werthers one and a Xmas pud one.

meme30

Am jumping up and down with glee...:jA Christmas thread! And by the look of it I'm not the only one!:rotfl:

I do have some presents stashed away already, I usually try to have everything bought by November. There will be ten of us for dinner this year so I want to keep December free to concentrate on food! I save all year round on an A*da card to help the budget too, and I try to make most things from scratch because they taste better!

I would love the recipe for the Chilli Jam, if you could post/link it, that would be great, thank you.

I am in the process of sewing a 4" Christmas Stocking for our family's new arrival. I have been making them for new babies for 15 years now...it sounds like our family breeds like rabbits! :rotfl:I sew the babies name on and fill with a pair of socks and a Milky Bar. They are to hang on their own tree and parents are instructed to fill them on the 23rd December every year so that the children can start Christmas early. Because they are so small it does not take much to fill them. I am a great believer in Christmas excitement and anticipation, I don't think I ever grew up!

Lavender-Bees:- Thats good advice to those alone at Christmas. My father was widowed early and would spend the day in bed. No amounts of invites would draw him out. He felt there was no point just for him. The fact is everyone deserves a Christmas, alone or not. Putting in the effort to treat yourself is a good idea. I have always felt that I would go to a Christmas Carol service if I could, and maybe volunteer at a shelter.

Popperwell:- what about using up the wrapping paper etc by doing a shoe box for a Serviceman?

happytails

I'm more organised tat last year! Though I am due baby 3 in November! And ds' 2nd birthday is 2 days after Xmas!

So far I've bought loads of gift wrap and bows in January. Got the elder 2 (nearly 4&2) two big boxes of Lego also in January and dd has pjs, a slouch jumper and 2 tops that I got in the sale. She is going to get a DVD and some books and that will be it apart from some home made stuff. Ds will get the same, some pjs and clothes. Dd2 will only will only be a few weeks so I'll just get something small for the kids to give her

We are making most of our Xmas presents, the only other ones I'm buying except the above are for the 6 kids we buy for who are our close friends kids. We don't buy for the adults so don't mind doing actual shopping for the kiddies lol (all under 4 so it should be pretty easy). Luckily I'm handy with a sewing machine, DH does leathercraft, I'm going to try jewellery making and going to make some biscuits I think too. A lot of presents will be bags, cushions, needle roll etc and dresses for the younger ones for the ladies and mouse mats, placemats and belts for the men generally. I may try my hand at knitting or crochet again as I have the needles and hooks, I'm sure I could manage a simple scarf if I tried but i never really got the hang of it :cool:

This thread will be great, especially for offers etc so shall keep an eye out! Looking forward to a good hobbycraft sale to buy any buttons/zips/thread and Fabric I'll need

Sarah x

kettlenic

I have been picking Lavender to dry and us to make bath salts with epsom salts and lavender oil.... also going to make small cushions for drawers etc

Last year I made fridge magents with decopauge and clothes pegs - they where a big hit. And every year I make a batch of Chutney which people LOVE so will do this again in September/October.

I baked a lot of cookies and wrapped them in celophane bags with ribbon, I has also ordered some sample bottles of baileys biscotti and attached those to the biscuits And chili and vanilla flavoured vodkas in preserving bottles (different bottles for different flavours) and I save all store card points/vouchers for Christmas x

Look forward to all the good ideas from this thread x

foxgloves

My present cupboard is an ongoing thing all year round. I pop things in it all year when I've found presents I know people will love. It doesn't all come out for wrapping until Dec, though, that would be too much! Jotting down what's in there with the person's intials can help, just so you don't end up with 10 things for the same person! I haven't started Jan/Feb horribly overdrawn since I started this.....also, once it's all come out for me to see what few bits & pbobs still need buying, I set a budget. I just refuse to spend more than our budget can afford. Also started knitting funky socks to sell on a couple of Christmas craft stalls, so that should be a bit of extra cash too, hopefully. Preserving season soon starts too, as soon as our fruit & veg is ready, so that'll be nice jars of things to put away for people too. I do love all the prep, but I will no longer allow myself to be drawn into a horrible orgy of unsustainable spending. Think I'm truly reformed, lol x

Boodle

Kittikins wrote: »

Try asking on your local freecycle/freegle boards, in my area we often have pianos going begging. I received and then gave away a piano on there (moved to a smaller house so now have a keyboard).

Your christmas dinner sounds deeelish

Thanks Kittikins. I applied to join my local freecycle a couple of years ago and the application was rejected without a given reason. I had a load of stuff to get rid of as well Will try and bother the hubby into applying this time.