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

greenbee

bluebag wrote: »

Oh my, no kids at home!!! Is it true they leave then, for good I mean, and take their stuff an all??

Nah! y'all are pulling me leg.

Don't be silly. The only time you take ALL your stuff out of your parents' home is when you move them into their care home...

... and they you gaily bin it without a second thought, despite having INSISTED that it was far too precious to throw out for the 40+ years that it has been in their home waiting for you to move it, while you have had your own perfectly good (and possibly bigger) home but without quite enough space for those oh-so-precious items...

mcculloch29

I love the C word. Sorry.
Tree will be going up first weekend in December, as I've said on here before, the decorations are my collecting hobby.
This year the addition to the tree is a red and white Christmas angel from Bath and my holiday some six months ago.

mardatha

I'm just so tired this year - we gave the tree and all the decs to our son who needed one and had no money to get one. Now the whole thing just seems like too much effort and expense.... but at the same time up here in the depths of winter it can get dreary at times. The news is all about xmas and the cities all have their lights on.. I just feel a wee bit down and think doing xmas will cheer me up- then I can't be bothered to do it!

Pooky

Mar - how about doing a stick tree instead of a proper one - just find a suitable branch from the garden and decorate it with some lights (and some home made decs if you feel up to making some) Failing that, fairy lights hung around can just make everything a bit more festive and cheery.

I've got 3 trees, one for the sitting room, one for the study (but that will be going in the conservatory this year) and one for the kitchen. The new kittens will be 9 weeks old when the decs go up.....fun fun fun!

camelot1001

I don't think we will have a tree this year, there's just me and DD(22) at home and we are visiting friends for christmas and then going away for new year (work for DD in between).

May get a small tree, the artificial one we have is 6ft and far too big for this house although it looked so small in the last one! I will put the cards up and maybe a couple of things out but not much. The only good thing about putting up decorations and then taking them down is that the house has a jolly good clean!

ivyleaf

mardatha wrote: »

Do any of the older MSErs without kids at home, still do the tree and the decorations?

We used to carry on with the tree, then a couple of years ago I realised I was dreading it as I just didn't have the spare energy to set it up and decorate it, DS didn't have time, and OH didn't really mind if we didn't have one.

So we bought a small "pre-decorated" tree with gold baubles and gold poinsettias on it. It's small enough to sit on the coffee table (that was the other thing, having to shift stuff around to make room for a tree on the floor). I hang some pretty fabric decorations on it which DD1 made for me a few Christmases ago, and there's plenty of room for the crib beside it.

It's a huge relief! I love the smell of a real tree - for me, it's the smell of Christmas - but at least this one doesn't shed needles everywhere

Jazee

I'm a bit bah humbug about the C word to be honest but the rest of the family are not....so I've requested their wish lists by next week so I can get what they want on line, DH will be putting up the tree (6ft) next weekend. C-day though, the kids will be doing their own thing, so DH and I can go out to dinner and I don't have to cook or be bothered about it all. Maybe things will change if we ever have grandchildren and the excitement will return for me?

nuttyp

Morning all, well on my day off today I am going into the city to do some window shopping. Not expecting to buy much as quite honestly I don't have much spare cash. OH new alloy wheel arrived this week so that was another £100. SO hitting the pot hole has cost over £500. The car is all sorted now, but just annoyed about it all. So I am all for the government just crushing all the untaxed cars that there are, it amazes me how many get clamped in our little town and then get towed away. They put a huge sign on the windscreen so EVERYONE knows whats going on!!!!


Our town is currently being used for police interceptors filming. Its so funny we are seeing far more police officers than ever and these camera men chasing after them. They were arresting people for drinking alcohol at 10am in toen, shame they weren't there at 715am as there were far more of them!!


My mum has a dog, she is a cross between a poodle and jack Russell. Very cuddly, loving and clean. She has already investigated the fish pond and had a surprise bath. She went to the vet today for worming, general health check and an anti scratching jab. She has been de-flead too. She in underweight so more feeding required. After Christmas she will be spayed, a tooth extracted and then micro chipped. We have a very happy mum/nan, so nice to see her smiling all the time. And she goes for a couple of little walks again, and everyone stops to chat to her and meet her new dog.


Well I need to do some housework, and get thing s ready for later. Take care everyone x

SpikyHedgehog

I love the smell & feel of a real tree, but must admit to having never had one in my own home - Alcoholic Boyfriend had an artificial tree when I moved in with him, then when DS1 & I moved out of my parents, we got given 1 (I think it was my grandparents old tree?), & Errant Husband had only ever had artificial trees & couldn't cope with the idea of a non-symmetrical real tree (it's funny, took DS1 to CAMHS & they said they thought EH has ASD as well as DS2...), plus having central heating & no room in the unheated hallway for a real tree...

Boys & I did get a new pre lit tree the Christmas after EH left to make it our own celebration, not the previous family unit's. Cos we're not that family anymore, so we take ownership of our new family Christmas!

Got 2 loads of washing on the horse, another in the machine & a winter duvet waiting to go to the launderette later... Yes, wet bed from DS2. This is especially annoying as I'd told the paediatrician the bed wetting was no longer an issue, as it wasn't. And the winter duvets won't fit in the washing machine.

Got some yeast working for kneading up enough bread for 2 loaves, & I'm going to use some rice flour I found lurking in the cupboard to dust while I knead. Then while the dough rises, I'll whip down to Mr M with a shopping trolley of recyclable bags I found while tidying up, get a birthday card for Denephew 3 as it's his 4th birthday party this afternoon & walking with the trolley will stop me getting much else.

mardatha

I don't actually like xmas at all, never have since the youngest grew out of santa. I much prefer new year, so think I will compromise by decorating my wee corner and forget the tree. TY everybody