* Walking in a Winter Wonderland * - It's the 2015 Christmas Chatter Thread

MoneyMission2015

Just popping my head in to say Hello! We are Christmas mad in my house, well actually my whole family, but particularly me, my OH & our 2 children. I try not to get too excited about it throughout the year, but once all our birthdays are over with it's all I can really think about. The final birthday in my house is August, so not long now!

In the past I've been very disorganised with Christmas & end up spending a fortune in November & December. Last year I was slightly better. I did some surveys etc to earn vouchers which I kept for Christmas, I also kept my clubcard points & nectar points. And finally I did buy the odd gift throughout the year for a few people.

So this year I am being more organised. I've been saving £100 per month specifically for Christmas. I've also bought one or two presents that have been put away. I have been saving up vouchers again, although I haven't got a huge amount yet, but then I suppose every little bit helps. And last but not least, I bought wrapping paper in the January sales. It was very pretty paper that I had eyed up in Next before Xmas but wasn't prepared to pay Next prices, but they ended up in the sale so I bought 8 rolls. We usually then buy one of those huge rolls of paper from Costco, the last roll we had lasted us for 3 years & it's great for wrapping those big boxes the kids presents come in. We ran out last Christmas though so will have to get a new roll this year.

I have just been having a nose on Studio's website. I don't really order from studio anymore but I remember when we were younger, the Studio catalogue would come through the post & that was when me and my sisters would get super excited. I still get that same sense of excitement, I think partly nostalgia, whenever I see a Studio catalogue : )

Well I have babbled on a bit there! I hope everybody's plans are going well & I look forward to more ideas & tips as the nights start drawing in.

x

freespirit66

Evening everyone, a much cooler day today here, still muggy but bearable, wow did anyone see the wimbledon tennis match between Nadal and Dustin Brown? I have never seen or heard of him before but he was so cool, i couldnt take my eyes off of him a breath of fresh air

PENNYDROPPED hello and welcome to our thread, we are all christmas nuts here

LAZYSHEEP ooh thankyou for that link, i need to remind myself and not forget about it now

3FORHOLIDAYS yes he did enjoy going out in the car, bless him, he really suffered yesterday, the trouble is huskies have such thick fur, he barely moved all day from the sofa under the fan and we are supposed to be in the 30s tomorrow as well :eek: and i have thumper too! Oh blimey DD2s ongoing saga, they called an emergency number who came out and said there was a small leak in an old pipe leading to the fireplace (since moving in they havent touched the fireplace, and there is no gas fire it is just the fireplace) he wasnt allowed to fix only diagnose so they had to have gas turned off, they called the person who fitted their boiler and he came out and said yes it was there and supposedly fixed it, but tonight they could smell it again, so emergency people came out again and the previous bloke hadnt capped it off :mad: and whatever they measure in the air was 90% and he said he wouldnt have been happy leaving a property with 5% :mad::mad::mad: and said it was a schoolboy error that the bloke hadnt done a proper job. Im so mad especially with Thumper being there, they have gone straight out and bought carbon monoxide alarms.

MONEYMISSION hello and welcome to our thread, you sound very organised with the saving, glad you are all christmas nuts, you will fit right in here

mrs-moneypenny

Just typed up a big post and lost it. GRRR
Welcome to new people I thread
Sorry I haven't been in for a while hope all are a well as can be, not much Christmassy happening here at mo but need to change that!
Anyone on Twitter have you seen how many Christmas things you can follow?
I will be back soon I need to get back into organising Christmas.

Edit
Said on my first post but missed in the shortened version so glad your family are all ok that could have been VERY nasty freespirit.

mandco

Freespirit wow glad dd & family are ok its scary to think how someone who's meant to be trained to do the job could make such a basic mistake esp when it could have had serious consequences :mad:

welcome pennydropped & moneymisson it is pretty quiet on here at the moment but it will pick up the closer xmas gets.

on the xmas front costco have some decent prices on garden/ camping? type furniture picked up a 4ft folding table really sturdy compared to alot I've seen for more money and ideal for extra space over xmas as don't have room for a larger table full time plus we can use it over the summer for days out.
They also had some good offers on books so will have to have a proper look next time as had the kids with me.

weather warning for thunderstorms tonight we'll see would be good to clear the air as while I do enjoy a bit of sunshine its far too hot & humid.

Ruth_honey

mandco wrote: »

Freespirit wow glad dd & family are ok its scary to think how someone who's meant to be trained to do the job could make such a basic mistake esp when it could have had serious consequences :mad:

welcome pennydropped & moneymisson it is pretty quiet on here at the moment but it will pick up the closer xmas gets.

on the xmas front costco have some decent prices on garden/ camping? type furniture picked up a 4ft folding table really sturdy compared to alot I've seen for more money and ideal for extra space over xmas as don't have room for a larger table full time plus we can use it over the summer for days out.
They also had some good offers on books so will have to have a proper look next time as had the kids with me.

weather warning for thunderstorms tonight we'll see would be good to clear the air as while I do enjoy a bit of sunshine its far too hot & humid.

Fairly sure that's the table we have. Can't for life of me remember the brand name, but it was from costco and it's great. We use it for bigger BBQ sessions and had it out for Christmas lunch. Very sturdy and easy to put up/down.

Hating this hot weather. Makes me stroppy and tired. Roll on Christmas...:rotfl:

3forholidays

Welcome to the thread MoneyMission!

Freespirit It is so difficult to find people that will do a job but when you have employed a qualified professional you expect the job to be completed safely and not leave your house in a dangerous condition endangering the occupants! :mad: At least the carbon monoxide detectors will provide reassurance.

Peppapig

Welcome Pennydropped and Moneymission - this is definitely the place to be for Christmas nuts.

Freespirit, so glad your DD and family are ok - it just shows you how these things can happen and to think the 'professional' who was supposed to sort it out actually put them in worse danger is awful.

I've started two more Christmas presents today - bought two lovely ceramic mugs with matching ceramic spoons reduced from £4.99 to £2.99 each but they look like they cost a lot more . One is a deep red and says 'coffee' and the other is a lovely green and says 'tea'. Going to add teas and coffee sachets and some splendid biscuits etc. then wrap as hamper (or possibly hampers) in the basket(s) I've already got. 6 presents started now - 21 to go!

Honorary DD asked today if we would like to write something to be read by the celebrant at the funeral service - she said they're asking 'both sets of grandparents' and I feel really honoured that she thinks of us that way. I know she's always said it but this sort of makes it official if you know what I mean. I need to think of something meaningful to write now.

Loving the weather at the mo. Fortunately I walk the dog in the local woods in the mornings so it's nice and shady in there and she spends the rest of the time relaxing on the sofa lol. Been out on the bike this afternoon too - hot but not too hot. On Wednesday when it was totally like an oven I came back from walking the dog looking like a tomato on a stick

MoneyMission2015

Thanks for the welcome everybody, I think I am really going to enjoy this thread.

PeppaPig - I love your mug idea, I might steal that one for a few gifts. I don't drink any hot drinks myself otherwise I'd be making one for myself too : ) Luckily everybody else in my family are tea monsters so the gift will go down very well I think.

FreeSpirit - that is so terrible about the gasman. I work with engineers, some gas engineers & there would be very severe consequences for any of our engineers if they put somebody in danger like that! I hope it's all sorted now & everything will be working as it should be soon.

We love Costco. I like wandering around looking at all the different things they have on offer & our daughter likes to try all the free food samples. I have to say their meat is also the best meat you can get outside of a proper butchers. We often buy their steak, the packs of mince & packs of chicken. We freeze some of it or we buy the big batches to cook large meals when we are having people over. Sadly we don't have Christmas dinner at our house because OH likes to do all the visiting on Christmas Day. However I am going to try & convince him to stay home this year & then have family over on Boxing Day, I think I'd better start working on it now though.

I'm looking forward to a quietism weekend now & am planning on getting some organising done for our august holiday, my OH's upcoming birthday & Christmas. Might even see if we can squeeze in a short break at the beginning of December when places start getting Christmassy. I'll have to work a few things out with dates & money but if it's possible I would really like to do this as we used to go to Center Parcs every year just before Xmas but couldn't go a few years ago because we were particularly busy so it then just fell by the wayside.

freespirit66

Evening everyone, thankyou all for your lovely words about the gas fiasco, i think DD2 has just about taken all she can take this week, she is finding working only 4 days a week hard, getting all the work done is proving difficult, she is so stressed with this, missing Thumper like nobodys business, then this gas upset, she got herself into a right state this morning when she got Thumper up ready to drop him off here and all his face and eye was swollen, i think it was the straw that broke the camels back, she is constantly stressing about it being an inconvenience for me and his other nanny having him two days a week each, feeling guilty about how much time she gets to be with Thumper, i can see it all coming to a head if she doesnt calm down, she is already getting dizzy spells. I feel so much for her because i know i couldnt have left my babies to go back to work, but life is different now there are too many general life expenses that make it so difficult for mums to have the choice! Oh sorry i think i need to calm down but i know i will after i have typed it on here with you lovelies

MRSMONEYPENNY ooh i am on twitter, will have to find them all out

MANDCO i love wandering around Costco they have such quality stuff, we love looking at their books as well, they have some fab ones, fingers crossed for thunderstorm

3FORHOLIDAYS yes they are extra reassurance arent they, DD2 has had them on her list since they moved in but its one of those things you never get round to doing, i must get one as well, again it just goes to the back of the list but it is probably more important than anything else on the list IYSWIM

PEPPAPIG oh that is a lovely thing for HDD to ask you to do, very emotional but beautiful. Those mugs sound lovely and i love that you will make a hamper of them with sachets etc

MONEYMISSION after the lovelies on here saying how good the meat was we bought two chickens the last time we went to costco and i totally agree they were gorgeous, i bet Center Parcs was fab at christmas time!

Pennydropped

Thank you for the welcome.

FREESPIRIT - oh that must have been unnerving! So glad they're all okay! Is there somewhere a complaint can be made regarding the repair person that made the error so it doesn't happen again? Another family might not be so lucky! Chilling thought.

MRS MONEYPENNY - I may just have to get past my struggling with Twitter to look at Christmas things to follow. For some reason, I just can't get comfortable using Twitter. I suppose using it more might be a start.

LAZYSHEEP - Thank you for the link for QVC Christmas in July. I'm looking forward to that!!

MONEYMISSION - You do sound very organised. I go back and forth over the wrapping paper too. I hate the very thin paper that rips easily and you can sometimes see through, but I hate paying so much for the heavier/good paper too. Cheapskate, me, in that regard! I was thinking about making some cloth gift bags this year - and then my sewing machine packed in. :mad: I now need to decide whether or not to invest in a new one.

There's a Costco about an hour from me, but I'm loathe to go there. I know I will just spend money. I used to live in the same town as one, and it was just too easy to spend far too much on just "stuff" that you manage to convince yourself you need or will use. (But I miss it - loved browsing through everything, especially at Christmas!)

I was thinking about buying the new Lego Dimensions for the dcs for Christmas, but now I'm not sure I want to do anything that will increase their screen time. At least I have a few months to think about it - it doesn't even come out until September.

Today I'm finishing up my lists of Christmas prep. I've picked up a couple small gifts, but only because they were on offer.