The OS Doorstep - a helpful and supportive thread in these tough times

SpikyHedgehog

silvasava, I'm the eldest (of four children) and my parents used to put up the decoration when I'd gone to bed on Christmas Eve - I thought Father Christmas brought them as well as the presents! As we got old enough to notice the tree being put in the back garden and stay up later, this turned into we all decorated on Christmas Eve.

We'll put up cards as we get them, but the rest of the decorations won't go up until we're broken up from school.

mrsdwhite, it's different when the decorations are for work, at preschool, preparations are in full swing and we'll have to start decorating at least the lobby next week as we take photos of the children for the calendars.

ivyleaf

Good morning everyone! i take it the lack of posts since last night was due to forum maintenance.

Greywitch - So glad your OH has been able to go back to work so you can start to get back on an even keel again :T Glad you're going to stick around, please post when you have time

stiltwalker - How do you make spoon angels?

kidcat :j about finding the minibus!

Possession Good luck with the mortgage x

CRANKY We lived in Scotland for a couple of years and i used to love tablet. I don't think my teeth were too keen though

mrsdwhite Good luck with new staff

Chickens - Obsessive Compulsive Cleaners is my guilty pleasure. It always makes me want to go and clean something and do some decluttering The house is gradually looking better!

Going to a bookshop later - DGD wants a particular annual for Christmas, and @mazon has run out, so maybe we can find one elsewhere. Also need to do some food shopping, and my chiropodist is coming in the early afternoon.

I have a load of shredding I'd like to do, but my neighbour is working from home today, so it wouldn't be very kind (because of the noise). Perhaps I'll do a bit later if I see her car's not outside as I'll know she's gone out!

ETA Softstuff thanks for the recipes! Do try to take it easy for a few days!

mardatha

Too tired to jump in but still following

stiltwalker

Ivyleaf - it's not very exciting really, it's a wooden spoon with a head, dress wings and a halo made of a gold pipecleaner stuck on!


Had a lovely day out in town - my friend came over and we went into town for a wander and lunch in a lovely caf!. We had afternoon tea for lunch - yum! Think it did us both a world of good.


Catch you all later - X

mrsdwhite

Ivywitch- I'm with you in Obsessive compulsive cleaners, it's the same as supersize vs super skinny. Always makes me re evaluate things, even if only for a short time it all adds up.

Mardatha - hope you're ok?

Running by for a quick work update: the ongoing saga! :rotfl: DH has interviewed 4 people today. 3 of them are being inducted on Tuesday and will have to be trained on the hop, but we've explained the circumstances and they actually all seem very nice. One of them is a mum, I do find the parents more responsible employees as they have a reason to go to work (pay bills) more than students or young people.
The chef who handed in their notice yesterday called in sick today, not much surprise there! :mad: but it means that DH is working tonight rather than me as he can cover the kitchen. So a bit of a bonus night off for me as one of us has to look after dd
A friend of ours who is an area manager for another restaurant chain has told DH about a vacancy today, told him to apply as it won't hurt to find out if he would like them or vice versa. Nothing ventured nothing gained and I get the feeling the work/life balance would be much better than with our current company :T

monnagran

Hi all.
All this talk about Christmas is amazing. WARNING- 'IN THE GOOD OLD DAYS' REMINISCENCE ABOUT TO BORE YOU.

Christmas used to be about ONE DAY with a little follow on for Boxing Day if you were lucky. Yes, we used to prepare for it. Dad fattened up the chicken he had selected for our Christmas Dinner. Mothers and Grandmothers did secret knitting when the children had gone to bed. The mincemeat stood in stone jars ready for the once-a-year treat of mincepies. We'd all had a turn at stirring up the Christmas pudding and after the war, eyes were peeled for the (again once-a-year) appearance in the shops of tangerines and nuts. And that was it, pretty much. Oviously Mums had a few bits squirreled away for our stockings - a 'magic' painting book, a pair of knitted mitts, a new toothbrush, a few sweets, if they could be found. The big excitement was having Dad home from work on a weekday. And making some paperchains with flour paste and strips of coloured paper if we were lucky and painting pages of newspaper and cutting it up if we weren't.
Do I hear the distant wail of violins?

Nothing now matches the excitement and anticipation that we experienced then. We looked forward to it for weeks, but apart from learning some carols at school nothing else happened until Christmas Eve, and by the day after Boxing Day it was all over and everyone went back to work.

I think that the big difference was that we had nothing the rest of the year. A few presents from the family on our birthday with maybe a special tea, but that was definitely it. Now everyday seems like Christmas in one way or another. The food we have so readily available all year round has made it very difficult to find something special enough for Christmas. Treats are daily or weekly occurances. So how to make Christmas special? I think that this is why people knock themselves out trying to make Christmas memorable.

However I do see signs that the madness is fading a bit. People are getting more and more fed up with the cynical commercialisation of Christmas and are jumping off the band wagon. My sons families have both decreed that presents are for Christmas and birthdays only, (except for when Monna comes to stay. I know!) Most of my family and friends have either said "No presents for adults" or have put a ceiling on the value of gifts.

Wake up at the back there!
I'm going.

x

savingqueen

great post monna. You are so right, the majority of us get treats, even if its just nice food all year round. There are still too many who spend too much (and too much resulting debt) BUT the backlash against that is definitely on the rise, I hear people talking about simplifying and cutting back more and more.

My kids have far, far more than in previous generations but we still try to keep things in proportion. They don't ask for things outside of birthdays or Xmas but they do have a small amount of pocket money (to be earnt so not automatically given) and have to save up for anything extra. I have found that stopped all the "I wants". Pre-pocket money when they were very little, I would say any toys etc on shop shelves were "Christmas or birthday toys" and they soon got used to the idea. I never bought them sweets at the checkout either so no toddler tantrums (although had them for other things of course!)

thinking of you mar and sending some energy your way.
afternoon tea for lunch stilty - how wonderful!
so glad you have 3 new staff mrsdwhite, hope they are good uns.

had another productive day but feeling the burn so will watch that castle prog on the sofa later and hopefully off to bed earlyish. sorted out DS7's birthday gift thank goodness - thanks for all the advice.

nursemaggie

Agree with SQ Monna It was a good post and not boring at all. You obviously got less than I did I had my lovely presents made by my dad. The rest was much the same. We did play games and on Boxing Day when we went to my aunts.

I went to town to get some 13 amp fuses for my washing machine. Unfortunately it is not that I still have no power to my washing machine so it is still full of half washed washing.

Now I seem to remember it is all one company that does it all these days. Does anyone know what they are called? I hope it can be fixed all my underwear is in there along with a lot of other things. I can't get them out because it is full of water.

I bought my self a new coat in M&S £89 not bad. It is very warm all fur lined. It might be our insurance against a cold winter. When I buy things like this I usually find we have a mild winter. That will disappoint DS he keeps asking if it will snow here. I bet he will want a sledge we have a lovely hilly park near by.

Pooky

Christmas to me (because of the way I was brought up in a house with very little money) was always about the family aspect, the aunts and uncles all getting together (even though we were a close family and I saw them most weekends). Playing with my cousins, dancing and playing silly games with my grandparents, making crackers out of loo rolls, Mum and Dad keeping their empty ciggy packs leading up to christmas and us wrapping them up as little tree decorations....I can't remember many gifts, it wasn't commercial at all and that's how I've tried to make it for my girls. We always read "the night before christmas", even now and 16 and nearly 19, they have to snuggle in our bed in their jimjams, we read it in silly voices and then they have to do a drink for Father Christmas and a treat for Rudolph. We make a gingerbread house, we make shaped cookies, we eat foods we don't buy any other time of year and we enjoy being together.

Christmas really is what you make it - we start early as we love the decorations, we like making the house look festive, we enjoy watching silly films and we enjoy meeting friends and family on the lead up to the day itself. We're not a family that goes away on holiday, none of us like the heat of summer and we put our all into enjoying this time of year.

Long may it continue!

Although this year I suspect we'll be redecorating the tree every 5 minutes as we have 2 new family members joining next week. DD1 went to the cat sanctuary to do some filming for her Uni project today, DH went with her - I got sent a lot of photos and a lot of films of various cats and kittens. So next week, after their jabs, we will be bringing home 2 little girl kittens. Mad? Yes! But hey - when you've got 5, what's 2 more?!

nursemaggie

Yes you are mad Pooky, now you are going to need 7 boxes for them to play in! That's a lot of boxes in the kitchen.