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

aliaslotte

To celebrate my starting my new job on Monday, my mother and I are having a girlie day tomorrow, taking in the Christmas Markets [which started here today]. So excited! Even more so as I get to look forward to visiting them with my partner the weekend before Christmas too - a double wammy, but with enough weeks in between to stop it seeming repetitive.

Today, I was doing some tidying and found a little wicker basket from a giftset someone bought me years ago. Never used the contents [have uber sensitive skin, so it just worth the risk], which have gone in the bin because of how old they are, but the basket I have kept. I also found some shredded tissue paper - not sure when I bought that, again it will have been ages ago. Then I had an idea - I have put a few things I had got for my mother together into a little hamper. Think it looks pretty decent - just have to decide if I am going to try the whole cellophane thing or opt for something less scary now.



Love Etc Parfume 30ml - RRP £7.50 - Paid £3
Love Etc Body Butter - RRP £13 - Paid £3
Brazil Nut Beautifying Oil - RRP £9 - Paid £2.70
Organic Chocolate Mulberries - RRP £1.29 - Paid 45p
Candle - RRP £1.50 - Paid 0p [my old hoarding habits paying off!]
Incense Cone/Stand - RRP £3 - Paid 0p [my old hoarding habits paying off!].

Total RRP £35.29. Total Cost £9.15 [esp as the basket and tissue paper was just lying around too].

That isn't her only present - she has a few other things - so I don't have to feel too guilty at the savings made. I think it looks quite good. Definitely liking the hamper idea - I suspect I will be doing more next Christmas.

freespirit66

Evening everyone, goodness me i went shopping tonight and its as if a horde has gone through asda, they had pringles for £1, well there were about 6 tubes left :eek: boxes were strewn everywhere, then they were doing nescafe latte sachets on offer again shelves completely empty boxes everywhere :eek: so i just got 2 pringles for xmas. Freezer full, candles bought (we never prepare so this year its going to be different:eek: matches, DD1 made me buy bottles of water :rotfl:im sure she thinks there will be a zombie apocolypse :rotfl:i bet we dont see any snow now :rotfl::rotfl:just our luck!!!!

princesskitty29 wrote: »

I just had the same mkgirl, i've never had to scroll down that far before!
Thanks freespirit, i'll definitely let you know how we get on!
I found out an exciting fact the other day - when my boss was young her teacher asked her class to write letters to Father Christmas, well hers was picked and was the letter used in Santa Claus the Movie! For you die hard Christmas fans it's the letter that talks about her brother being mean to the cat, I think in the film the little girl that wrote that was from Victorian times or soemthing like that, but it was the letter my boss wrote to Father Christmas! There must have been some sort of competition at the time the film was being made that her teacher entered them into and hers got chosen. I was so excited about this - even more so than her!!

PRINCESSKITTY that is so cool, imagine telling your grandkids that when they were watching the film :):):):)

mkgirl1981 wrote: »

wow for the first time since joining this thread I had to actually scroll down to find it - seems like everyone is getting on the christmas band wagon now as there's loads of new threads on thus board
Was in b&m today and this men's christmas onesie if anyone's still looking for one


Seen this posted on Facebook so thought I'd share for all you crafty types ( wish I could make them but I don't have the patience )
http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/monsters-inc-baby-mike-and-sulley

MKGIRL i actually like that onesie it looks quite cool

junior_j wrote: »

JUNIORJ mmm they look good :)

ALIASLOTTE aww the hamper looks lovely, i love the candle its very pretty, hope you have a lovely day at the xmas market tomorrow

NANAMIA how has your day been? Good and productive i hope? I tried to buy ground almonds tonight for another recipe to freeze and did you know there is a national shortage??? Apparently nowhere has any in stock so the SA was telling me, so i just bought whole ones and will grind my own

junior_j

Aliaslotte : hamper looks lovely! I thought cellophane would be hard but it's been a doodle

I actually achieved everything I said I would do this evening! goddaughters birthday presents wrapped and tagged , washing in tumble drier and the rest of Xmas presses wrapped tagged written and cards wrote out too! :rotfl::T

junior_j

I should of added I got a 5 pack of festive cutters from home bargains they were metal ones and worked great think it was gingerbread man , bell , Xmas tree , magic wand , snow man and can't remember the last one lol buy for 89p they are great

mrsinvisible

good early morning everyone, I must have forgotten to pay my sleep bill, and have had my order cancelled! Princess Kitty, you have my sympathy, re the bathwater/kitchen issue, after mine doing the same last week. The brown stain on the ceiling resembles Australia, if nanamia tells me which part her family are in I could wave/visit!
Back from York, had a fab time, fave cous drove both ways, luxury, Spent far too much, but I think I have all the Christmas presents bought now. Need to check it all out again later today. I may need stocking fillers and to book a hotel night for DS1 and his wife, as part of theirs. (DDIL never gets a night off from looking after her littlies so its her treat, really).
Feisty, Duvet day is a great idea, happy anniversary to you both.
OMO I don't watch TV much, haven't seen any of the Christmas ads, the only one I look out for is the grouse one, sad, eh? DGS on the other hand is quite an expert(tried to put conoeseur but I cant spell it) of the ads, and watches out for it for me.
Hope you are all fast asleep now, and that today is a good one for us all.

Own_My_Own

It feels like the middle of the night :eek: and it's freezing :eek::eek:

Had to pop on to tell you about my walk last night. A lady was cycling on the pavement. She had flashing lights on her bike. They court my eye and made me jump. She stopped and apologised, I told her it was fine and that I wouldn't want to bike on the road in the dark even with lights.
Anyway while I was turned saying goodbye to her I heard someone talking to Mia, he then said to me ' She's beautiful isn't she.' I turned to him and said' Yes she is !' Only to find it was the kids dad :eek: The look on his face was a picture.
I smiled sweetly and started walking :rotfl:

Got home and told the kids. Dd thought it was hilarious, ds wanted to know if Mia had bitten him, and if not why not.
He then went on to have a full blown one way conversation with her about what she needed to do if ever she saw him again. :rotfl:

Hope everyone has a good weekend. Be back Sunday

BloomingTasty

Earls Court here we come. Anytips where to head first at the christmas ideal home xx

FeistyFidget

Own_My_Own wrote: »

It feels like the middle of the night :eek: and it's freezing :eek::eek:

Had to pop on to tell you about my walk last night. A lady was cycling on the pavement. She had flashing lights on her bike. They court my eye and made me jump. She stopped and apologised, I told her it was fine and that I wouldn't want to bike on the road in the dark even with lights.
Anyway while I was turned saying goodbye to her I heard someone talking to Mia, he then said to me ' She's beautiful isn't she.' I turned to him and said' Yes she is !' Only to find it was the kids dad :eek: The look on his face was a picture.
I smiled sweetly and started walking :rotfl:

Got home and told the kids. Dd thought it was hilarious, ds wanted to know if Mia had bitten him, and if not why not.
He then went on to have a full blown one way conversation with her about what she needed to do if ever she saw him again. :rotfl:

Hope everyone has a good weekend. Be back Sunday

Teehee, I hope Mia was taking notes

I am loving the hampers!

Well I have gone to withdraw my topcashback for Amazon vouchers and stupidly thought they were instant I may miss black friday deals, but at least it's sorted now

I am hoping to get some festive baking done tonight, may even clear some room in the freezer now to make room

Ruth_honey

BloomingTasty wrote: »

Earls Court here we come. Anytips where to head first at the christmas ideal home xx

The Osim massage chairs! Oh, they are amazing! Am soooo tempted to save up and buy one. Plus they man on the stand was very nice and helpful.

Avoid the snooty rude woman on the bed stand. Can't remember the name but they were adjustable vibrating beds and the woman there on Thursday was a right cow to us. :mad: They apparently charge £10 for a go (15 mins) which is ridiculous! They wouldn't do that in a showroom, would they???

Loved sampling all the yummy cheeses-and bought quite a few of those. Didn't see any of the catwalk shows because we were there on Thursday evening. After two hours, I was done and had enough. I'm not good at places like that. It hurts my feet, gets me stressed out and I get grumpy. But I did feel quite festive-especially when Santa high fived me on the escalators. Got quite a few comments on my Christmas jumper. One smallholder nicknamed me Pingu (had a penguin with a Santa hat on the front)!

I think Peter Andre is there today and he'll attract a crowd, so that'll be a good time to shop elsewhere. I do like him, mind. But I wouldn't queue for ages to get my calendar/perfume/whatever else signed by him!

Have a fab time!

FeistyFidget wrote: »

Teehee, I hope Mia was taking notes

I am loving the hampers!

Well I have gone to withdraw my topcashback for Amazon vouchers and stupidly thought they were instant I may miss black friday deals, but at least it's sorted now

I am hoping to get some festive baking done tonight, may even clear some room in the freezer now to make room

They get processed quickly, so I doubt you'll be waiting long at all. Tip-when they do arrive, add them to your account ready. Then when the Black Friday frenzy starts, you won't forget to use the vouchers!

mrs-moneypenny

morning all

hope everyone is well

been morrys and done the weeks food shop

got DS2 a battery toothbrush they are part of traditional stocking filler here - even the big ones would be disappointed without their christmas tootbrush LOL
got some more kitkats to make sleighs. the table pressie ones will have a scratchcard tucked in each. must start making them.

told DD3 im not doing her an advent calendar this year (shell have one at her own place anyway) so i got her a book on christmas cupcakes instead and gave her it last night - she loved it. Diong the same for DD2 ive already got her a book full of papers and instructions to make paper deccys so that a joint advent for her her fella and his two kiddies.
need to think what to get DD1
the boys will have celebrations in the hm fabric advent i always have out.

nipping into town in a bit to go in card factroy for 'special' people chrsitmas cards.

dropped DS2 off at winter camp last night, a local farmer has kindly broken the water main when he refenced his field so they had no running water when we dropped them off, so we may get a phone call to collect them early but scout leader said hell do everything he can to keep them till sunday.

love the cookies juniorJ
im not a onesie person but i do like that one mkgirl
feisty i hope you have a lovely anni celebration tomorrow and lots of customers on monday
blooming tasty have a lovely time at earls court

cant remember who but i know someones grandchild shared their birthday today with my eldest DD so happy birthday to you, hope you have a good one.
DD3 came round last night with a birthday caek for DD1 it looks brill but i wont post a photo till ive taken it round, i never know which part of tinternet my kids look at and wouldnt want to spoil it by showing her a preview.

have a wonderful day all.