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

freespirit66

Laurajo wrote: »

Free spirit, I'm sure you'll have a lovely time

Thankyou LAURAJO tbh it will just be lovely to get away and get out full stop

wuvvies wrote: »

afternoon all
Pigpen... i too am divorced from my girls dad ( 13 years ago) he is a total idiot too. i left him with a 4 bed house with next to no mortgage and every single thing in it. i took my car and my clothes leaving him with 2 other cars and left. i did this because i knew what he could be like and wanted to avoid it at all costs. he had a solicitor and he persuaded me i didnt need one ( i know i know) in this end HIS solicitor wrote to me telling me i needed to take legal advice,,which i didnt. anyway life was fine. i didnt go to the csa i allowed him to pay me a pittance out of his huge wage. and i was happy because i didnt have to live with him and i was free. because he had wads of money and i didnt my eldest daughter wanted to live with him at 17 so she did and from that moment he turned mental. he was now having to do something instead of seeing them once a week for a couple of hours. he lavished money on her but not on the other child that lived with me and started to turn the eldest against me. this has never happened as she was old enough to see the facts. now the youngest dd has gone to live with her bf as you all know against my wishes he wont do anything to help her saying hes paid out for one and its my job to pay for the other. hes forgetting that he has a fleet of cars no mortgage and no outgoings and i have a 25 year mortgage and we work so many hours between us. ( hes got his money from inheratence) fortunatley my dd2 wont ask me for money and always asks him as she knows that he can afford it. she sees my lifestyle and his and knows the facts. hes stopped my mini maintence and now cant beleive that ive told him hes paying for his bus. this is the first thing ive told him he has to do since we have split up. the facts are i cant afford it now hes stopped paying me my £100 a month. I have stopped the child ben as well as she doesnt live with me so its illegal and i didnt want to be in the position where i owed them money. he now says he cant claim cos he earns over 50 K.soooo . what im getting at is they are all the same. they dont do any of the bringing the children up and pay you a pittence. he has never missed a payment of maintenence only becuase he knows on 50k plus i would prob get four times that amount. on the plus side my kids have always seen the truth. and they see me as the one that gives the love but not the money. thats fine by me.

OMG WUVVIES they are such idiots arent they like you i would rather be skint and happy and free than live with him, my kids dont call it xmas eve anymore they call it our anniversary of freedom this will be our 2nd :rotfl:

Own_My_Own

:xmastree: WEEK 4 TASKS :xmastree:

OMO
Buy Dads Boxers
( after looking everywhere else it appears I will have to pay the £18 in M&S for them )
Wrap 5 presents
Buy throw in Aldi
Look in Morrison's to see if it's worth doing big shop yet.
Find out if it's me that has to take presents to London this year. ( it's not my turn, but I have a feeling my cousin has conveniently forgot ) :mad:

Freespirit66
Make Choc, Pear and Marzipan Strudel and freeze
Make Cherry, Choc and Almond Browies and freeze
Make Mint Choc Loaf Cake and freeze
Clean Oven
Clean lounge top to bottom ready for tree and decs next weekend.

mrs-moneypenny
Make 2 dozen mince pies and freeze
Write Christmas cards
Label and bag all stuff for Christmas fayre next Saturday
Post cards to USA
Sort gifts for 4 secret Santa's
Finish stitching card for teacher whose class I have at lunch.

mandco
Buy gift bag and cellophane
Finish getting stuff for hamper
Sort out donations for school Xmas fete
Put tree up Sunday

Crowdpleaser
Find advent calendars
Find craft stuff to make Christmas cards with kids
Find Choc sleigh stuff to make them

Nanamia
Start to wrap
Sweet trees/ wreaths
Pots of Gold

freespirit66

Own_My_Own wrote: »

To say the Garden Centre was pants is making is sound better than is was. Left after 30 minutes and headed back to B and Q which was .... Pants. :mad:

The garden centre had a Santa there but it was £12.99 to see him :eek:

So Freespirit it wasn't you today, things have gone down hill. The garden centre I went to used to be beautiful at Christmas. All the walls and ceiling were black with little lights covering them. The walls are now plain and the ceiling had old reed screening on it. I thought it was bad last year but it was just sad really. It was about half the size it was and it was soooo expensive. I bought dd a bag of Haribo cola bottles because she was fed-up.
I won't bother next year, as it's about 30 minutes away and a waste of petrol.

Off to do tast post

Oh no OMO not you as well, whats happened? Yes these used to be beautiful as well, no im not going to bother next year either, i dont know if they think people havent got the money why should i bother or what but you would think they would make a proper effort with what little they have got, flipping eck i cant believe £12.99 either, what about families with 3 or 4 kids i dont think its even that at Harrods is it??

Laurajo_2

I do think it's shocking how much some of these santos grotto type places charge...last year we took my friends little lad to one, it cost the best part of £15 quid (you did get a photo too).

Anyway, Father Christmas looked like he'd been on a diet, he was very skinny and not very jocular. In fact, little laddie complained he had 'boney knees'! He was in what can only be described as a shed with fairy lights and a bit of tinsel. The gift was an alarm clock. Not a kids alarm clock, a pound shop special that was two inches square and just went beep. The boy, at four, was gutted - he asked his mummy if he'd been naughty or if Santa was cross at him. Surely that isn't an appropriate gift for a four year old, for 15 quid? I mean, even a colouring book and crayons wouldn't have cost much more and he'd have been happy as Larry.

It was actually quite stressful for little lad, as he was very anxious about whether he would actually get any presents on Christmas Day if Father Christmas was angry at him.

Own_My_Own

Laurajo wrote: »

I do think it's shocking how much some of these santos grotto type places charge...last year we took my friends little lad to one, it cost the best part of £15 quid (you did get a photo too).

Anyway, Father Christmas looked like he'd been on a diet, he was very skinny and not very jocular. In fact, little laddie complained he had 'boney knees'! He was in what can only be described as a shed with fairy lights and a bit of tinsel. The gift was an alarm clock. Not a kids alarm clock, a pound shop special that was two inches square and just went beep. The boy, at four, was gutted - he asked his mummy if he'd been naughty or if Santa was cross at him. Surely that isn't an appropriate gift for a four year old, for 15 quid? I mean, even a colouring book and crayons wouldn't have cost much more and he'd have been happy as Larry.

It was actually quite stressful for little lad, as he was very anxious about whether he would actually get any presents on Christmas Day if Father Christmas was angry at him.

This one had life reindeer, but to be honest it stank, and that was outside. Goodness knows what it smelt like inside.

wuvvies

Laurajo wrote: »

I do think it's shocking how much some of these santos grotto type places charge...last year we took my friends little lad to one, it cost the best part of £15 quid (you did get a photo too).

Anyway, Father Christmas looked like he'd been on a diet, he was very skinny and not very jocular. In fact, little laddie complained he had 'boney knees'! He was in what can only be described as a shed with fairy lights and a bit of tinsel. The gift was an alarm clock. Not a kids alarm clock, a pound shop special that was two inches square and just went beep. The boy, at four, was gutted - he asked his mummy if he'd been naughty or if Santa was cross at him. Surely that isn't an appropriate gift for a four year old, for 15 quid? I mean, even a colouring book and crayons wouldn't have cost much more and he'd have been happy as Larry.

It was actually quite stressful for little lad, as he was very anxious about whether he would actually get any presents on Christmas Day if Father Christmas was angry at him.

oh that is awful. obviously that was a stupid gift. no thought in that at all. how hard would it be to have two sacks one younger and one older and have ..like you say some christmas colouring for the younger and i dont know a small making kit for the older. it just shows its rip off britian. so sad at this time of year. we always avoided the father christmases for that reason ..soo expensive. i mean ..what would they rather ..a photo or something they could sit and do.
the people saying about the garden centre decorations... i went to harrods last year in their christmas shop. obviously just a browse as things were laughably expensive but i wasnt even that impressed with that. we as a family had a better time looking round hamleys which seemed child paradise. it was our first trip to london as a family and came out of there feeling like we had not even looked at everything. i would highly recommend it:j

mrs-moneypenny

Own_My_Own wrote: »

:xmastree: WEEK 4 TASKS :xmastree:

OMO

Buy Dads Boxers
( after looking everywhere else it appears I will have to pay the £18 in M&S for them )
Wrap 5 presents
Buy throw in Aldi
Look in Morrison's to see if it's worth doing big shop yet.
Find out if it's me that has to take presents to London this year. ( it's not my turn, but I have a feeling my cousin has conveniently forgot ) :mad:

Freespirit66
Make Choc, Pear and Marzipan Strudel and freeze
Make Cherry, Choc and Almond Browies and freeze
Make Mint Choc Loaf Cake and freeze
Clean Oven
Clean lounge top to bottom ready for tree and decs next weekend.

my this weeks tasks will be
2 doz mince pies in the freezer
write christmas cards
label and bag all stuff for christmas fayre next saturday
post card to usa
sort out gifts for the 4 secret santas im taking part in:o
finish stitching card for the teacher whos class i have at lunchtime

freespirit66

Laurajo wrote: »

I do think it's shocking how much some of these santos grotto type places charge...last year we took my friends little lad to one, it cost the best part of £15 quid (you did get a photo too).
Anyway, Father Christmas looked like he'd been on a diet, he was very skinny and not very jocular. In fact, little laddie complained he had 'boney knees'! He was in what can only be described as a shed with fairy lights and a bit of tinsel. The gift was an alarm clock. Not a kids alarm clock, a pound shop special that was two inches square and just went beep. The boy, at four, was gutted - he asked his mummy if he'd been naughty or if Santa was cross at him. Surely that isn't an appropriate gift for a four year old, for 15 quid? I mean, even a colouring book and crayons wouldn't have cost much more and he'd have been happy as Larry.
It was actually quite stressful for little lad, as he was very anxious about whether he would actually get any presents on Christmas Day if Father Christmas was angry at him.

Oh LAURAJO that is absolutely disgusting, poor little lad, what a shocking present for a little one, i would have been furious, especially him thinking it was his fault, when my kids were little it was less than a fiver and they always got good presents

mrs-moneypenny

evening all
hope everyone is well
some of the santas grotto stories sound horrendous, i would be tempted to write to local newpapers letters page the only way things will change is if they get a reduction in footfall as a result of their cheapskate practices exposed.
pigpen, i dont think mine will ever grow out of snow fairy shower gel, i just think the perfume is a bit dear so ill stick with the shower gel (which doubles as a lovely shampoo)

pressie cupboard has been sorted and tidied, ive got more than i thought.
big box of spare deccys off loaded on DD2
just watched snow dogs, brilliant film!

pumpkin1964

Own_My_Own wrote: »

:xmastree: WEEK 4 TASKS :xmastree:

OMO
Buy Dads Boxers
( after looking everywhere else it appears I will have to pay the £18 in M&S for them )
Wrap 5 presents
Buy throw in Aldi
Look in Morrison's to see if it's worth doing big shop yet.
Find out if it's me that has to take presents to London this year. ( it's not my turn, but I have a feeling my cousin has conveniently forgot ) :mad:

Freespirit66
Make Choc, Pear and Marzipan Strudel and freeze
Make Cherry, Choc and Almond Browies and freeze
Make Mint Choc Loaf Cake and freeze
Clean Oven
Clean lounge top to bottom ready for tree and decs next weekend.

mrs-moneypenny
Make 2 dozen mince pies and freeze
Write Christmas cards
Label and bag all stuff for Christmas fayre next Saturday
Post cards to USA
Sort gifts for 4 secret Santa's
Finish stitching card for teacher whose class I have at lunch.

I have a 20% discount code if you want to order dads boxers from M&S today. PM me if you want it