*The Holly and the Ivy* and the You Know What 2013 Chatter Thread.

FeistyFidget

I am very envious of all your bargain hunting, still haven't made it out of the house Have spent the last two days up to my elbows in car grease. My hands are now covered in deeply grained oil, nicks, cuts and scrapes and my nails are ruined On the plus side I have a drivers door that finally works again! On the negative side, the car still failed it's MOT earlier But the work Should (hoping and praying) be less then £100 and I get a free re-test.

I did naughtily stop off at Waitrose on my way home from the test center. I splurged £25 on naughty food - but it was very MSE as I had a Christmas voucher for all but 99p of it I actually went in to check for bargains - there weren't that many. All the good gift sets had gone, and those that were left were somewhat pricey. They had the Christmas cake set for £5, but I was loathe to pay that as it expires in March

carlamarie_2

hi all, i was present in the lats thread until november but when my daughter was born at 21weeks and stillborn it sort of took the shine out of preparing for christmas. so i never went back after i explained on there what had happened.

but im ready to start afresh for 2013

i did manage to pull in my emotions over christmas and we all enjoyed ourselves. christmas day was manic, the hubby and i were pulled everyway possible with cries of 'can you do this? will you open this?' and in youngest ds's case 'maaaaam! PUSH!' in regards to his new handy manny trike, which he adores and hasnt had long off it since!

boxing day was spent with the inlaws and i put on a seafood platter which was great everyone loved it :T

we have took all the decs down today and took toys upstairs. its all nice and clean....... for the next hour until i finish changing our living room into a batman batcave for ds1's 6th birthday tomorrow!

i havent done any sale shopping at all, which is very unlike me. but i have had a look online and have only put one order in at lovehoney everything else seemed rubbish! but ive not checked everywhere yet!

was quite embarrassed on christmas day when i opened my present from my best friend. for the previous years she has always bought for my kids and i have always bought for her dd and a little something for her, (last year was a hot choc drinking giftset for example)
i have always said she spends too much on my kids espescially as theres 3 of them to her one, so this year we decided on a price cap of £10 per child for bdays and christmas.
i spent nearer £40 on her dd as i had bought it all before we decided on the set cost, she spent £10 on my three. then i stuck in a box of throntons for her as a little extra.
then on xmas day she had sent the hubby a lager giftset and some choc and i recieved pjs, dressing gown and a set of fearne cotton candles :eek::eek::eek:
i am so embarrassed with the measly set of chocs i sent her! she said it makes up for bdays and christmas gifts i have sent in the past, but i will randomly get a gift in the post which she has sent me for no reason other than 'i saw this and thought of you!'

so im goingto research themed hamper options and on her birthday she will be getting the best present i can possibly send her!

nic2075

Evening. I'm back from a few days at my Dads. Had a lovely time, but sad without Mum. But not as sad as I thought it would be. I felt a bit guilty about not missing her more, bit when I thought about it, I felt her everywhere. She was all around us, all the time. I felt some reassurance and a bit more content. Hope that makes sense.?

My New yer will start off pretty stressful. We are moving house, over 200 miles from here on the 14th of Jan!!
So I can't really buy any paper and cards and Boots sale stuff like I usually do. Not until I'm moved anyway.

I'm nervous about finding a new job and being in a new town, and sad to leave our friends behind. But it's time to spend quality time with family and have a fresh start. So here's hoping 2013 is a better year than 2012 x

Possession

Lovely new thread OMO and so many great links!
I've bought some stocking fillers and two lots of party bags stuff at the DotComGiftShop, plus some of the jumbo bags which I'm going to use to store xmas decorations. I've also bought a couple of pieces from Dawsons of the Lemax Christmas village, which are half price. Other than that, have been avoiding the sales as I need to avoid spending money.

Peppapig

carlamarie wrote: »

hi all, i was present in the lats thread until november but when my daughter was born at 21weeks and stillborn it sort of took the shine out of preparing for christmas. so i never went back after i explained on there what had happened.

but im ready to start afresh for 2013

Lovely to see you back Carlamarie - I was a lurker last year but really felt for you and am so glad you were able to enjoy Christmas. I hope 2013 is fabulous for you all.

dropsofjupiter

I hit the sales yesterday but wasn't sorely tempted by anything much! I got a roll of wrapping paper from Boots which I'd admired before Christmas. Then in Asda living I picked up two little snow globes for my friend's 2013 Christmas present as I get her a snow globe to go with her present every year. I also got two Christmas shaped candles (1 large green Christmas tree and 1 smaller white house) just for me But as I too really should be avoiding spending and concentrating on saving, it's no bad thing

freespirit66

Evening everyone, was up all night with some bug so haven't really done much today, yesterday i met a dear friend for coffee in a garden centre, we had a look round the sale stuff as i really want some wrapping paper for next xmas and cant face crowds in town, but it was pants! No wrapping paper whatsoever and the cards were dire. I also just want to say, i did a night in at the movies hamper for my DD2 BF and he absolutely loved it, i had put all his favourite things like pepsi, shortbread, white chocolate, crisps, popcorn and a HMV giftcard and a Blockbuster giftcard, and apparently his family were so impressed with the idea his mum is stealing it for someone in her family! So thankyou everyone on here for sharing ideas.

nic2075

Nice to see you Carlamarie xx

Blueyez

weeclick wrote: »

Yup! Card factory yesterday was a true bargain - Got 6 rolls of wrap for 50p!!!!
It was 6 for a £1 on wrapping in the card factory by mine.... still cheap though as we had to buy more this year at the last moment £2 a roll for the supermaket. got plenty for next year though.

DomRavioli

I think a trip to Card Factory is in order tomorrow! I wrap not only my own stuff, but my parents, sister, best friend and a few others...I go through wrapping paper like its going out of fashion, not to mention the tags, sellotape/sticky dots, bows, ribbon and bags. This year was not too bad, I had it just under 100 metres, or about 30 rolls (depending on who its for).

Just had a look at dotcomgiftshop, that place is fantastic! I will have to wait until Monday as I get paid then, hopefully there will be some bits left.

I got a new tree (after mine literally snapped in half...) from Wilkos, for a quid! Haven't had it out yet, but its a 5 feet white one.

Oh and just in case I don't get on before, happy new year!