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

springdreams

Gettingtherequickly wrote: »

Just had a quick skim to catch up.

Glad DH home Peppa.

Welcome to the newbies and returners.

Free, you are onlyfibbing about Thumper, you are enjoying every moment with him!

Am I the only one who doesn't watch GBBO? Actually, I don't watch any of these type of programmes.

Not spending anymore money this month. Have paid for new glasses, car insurance, flights to Madrid & hotel, 2 birthday presents, a leaving present. I didn't think the leaving present would cost much as I was doing up a little photo, but by the time you factor in printing the photos, the album, wrapping etc it mounts up.

On the subject of photos, Boots have photo albums on BOGOF, if anyone is looking for some.

No you are not - I don't either. And I also don't watch any soaps. I don't find them very interesting.

I've decided on my token gift for the ladies of my family, and today I ordered them - I'm getting the ladies a clothes folder - I have one and find it very useful:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Adult-Clothes-Tshirts-Folder-Organizer/dp/B003W490U2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1438969976&sr=8-1&keywords=t+shirt+folder+big+bang+theory

And I am getting the gents a fire blanket each - one per household.

I've done pots of gold, sweetie sledges, snow box surprise and taste of Christmas mugs for them in previous years, but have decided to go with the above ideas this year.

As for gift wrap themes, two years ago I wrapped my presents in the gold foil type paper and attached a stack of silver chocolate coins to the front of the presents with double sided tape. I thought that they looked quite nice.

We have a large family, so do a secret santa for the adults, so buy just one large present. We do the draw in October for that, so I can't start shopping around just yet for that one.

I'm hoping Coke will be doing the personalised coke bottles again this year. They went down a treat last year.

My middle brother and his wife are hosting this year, but we will all contribute something.

Also, I have pre-ordered Carole Matthews next Christmas book -
The Chocolate Lovers' Christmas

and I noticed that you can now pre-order the yankee candle advent calendars mentioned by Freespirit earlier on.

freespirit66

Evening everyone, i collected another £10 in amazon vouchers from surveys yesterday, i just need another £20 then i can get DD2 OH christmas present, i am getting him the Walking Dead Monopoly game, so that will be money neutral :T

CHOCOLATEBUM hi and welcome to our lovely thread, your children go back to school early dont they? I have never heard of that the middle of August. Yes i love my christmas lists too, i saw my pukka book that i use for organising christmas lists the other day and was so tempted to get it out I am very organised wrapping presents now as when the kids were tiny i tried to do them all together and put my back out very badly where i was hunched over for hours, so now i wrap as soon as i buy throughout the year and pop them in the top of my wardrobe oh you will get lots of tips and ideas on here for things to do with the kids, that is what i love about this thread everyone has such great ideas for different things. How old are your children so people can give you age appropriate tips? My kids used to love driving round at night looking at the christmas lights, a visit to Santas Grotto, writing out christmas cards for friends, a christmas dvd and hot chocolate, etc

SPRINGDREAMS ah a Sheldon T Shirt folder (from the TBBT) what a fab idea and the fire blankets very practical for the men. I love the idea of chocolate coins on the presents too, and yes the personalised coke bottles were a hit here as well, in fact DD2 and OH still have theirs on their mantelpiece :rotfl:I am a huge Carole Matthews fan too and will be getting that one as soon as it comes out as well, i love the Chocolate Lover girls and cant wait to see what they are all up to now. I have just had two of her books delivered today that i bought for a bargain price.

chocolatebum

freespirit66 wrote: »

CHOCOLATEBUM hi and welcome to our lovely thread, your children go back to school early dont they? I have never heard of that the middle of August. Yes i love my christmas lists too, i saw my pukka book that i use for organising christmas lists the other day and was so tempted to get it out I am very organised wrapping presents now as when the kids were tiny i tried to do them all together and put my back out very badly where i was hunched over for hours, so now i wrap as soon as i buy throughout the year and pop them in the top of my wardrobe oh you will get lots of tips and ideas on here for things to do with the kids, that is what i love about this thread everyone has such great ideas for different things. How old are your children so people can give you age appropriate tips? My kids used to love driving round at night looking at the christmas lights, a visit to Santas Grotto, writing out christmas cards for friends, a christmas dvd and hot chocolate, etc

hi, thanks for the welcome. we are in scotland so kids all stopped at the end of june for their summer break. i like the sound of wrapping as i buy, just worry i will lose track of whats where and in which package. may have to invest in a new notebook to keep it all in (love notebooks so any excuse for a new one is good ) kids ages really vary from 22 down to 7 ( we have 6 kids ) activities tend to be for the younger ones who are 13, 11 and 7 with the older ones joining in for all the food based activities lol.

chocolatebum

lazysheep wrote: »

Hi chocolatebum (what a totally random name I love it!) and welcome to the christmas mad house. There's no need to ask to join, it's open all year round for all festive (and non-festive) goings-on

I always feel like it's ramping up to christmas once qvc have had their christmas in july day and I slowly get more excited - although thanks to this thread I don't slowly get more paniced!

I can't help with the kids activities as I don't have children myself although loads of people on here do so I am sure they will be along soon with more ideas than you have days available

thanks for the welcome, can't think why i chose the name but i do love chocolate lol. i missed christmas in july this year . i am actually getting excited thinking about christmas and have loads of ideas running around my head of things to do, sometimes i have too many and struggle with which ones to do

3forholidays

Welcome to the thread chocolatebum. Hope that we can help you make Christmas special. You might be able to pass on some ideas too!

3forholidays

Freespirit Sorry to hear that your DD is having issues with childcare. Nurseries are so expensive now so I can understand why you would want to help as you love having Thumper, don't want to see her struggle, and also know that she would be happier if you had him an extra day - but do stock up on the Red Bull!

MoneyMission2015

Hi Chocolatebum, it's great on here. So many fab ideas & friendly people.

I am also on the lookout for ideas this year for the run up to christmas to be extra special so if I come across anything I will share it on here & hopefully be able to pick up a few ideas too.

One thing I have to start doing again is baking. In Nigella's Christmas book she baked a cake with a special cake tin which is in the shape of Christmas trees. It's a very simple vanilla sponge but was yummy because you put yoghurt in it, so it's very moist. Anyway, I bought the tin years ago & for a few years I baked one of the cakes every year just before Christmas, because nobody likes traditional Christmas cake in our house, so it was a lovely alternative. But I didn't do it last year because time just sort of ran away from us, but I am determined to be super organised this year so that I get chance to do all these lovely things with the family.

I had my iPod on shuffle in my car the other day & The Pogues came on, I so wanted to leave it play but thought it is a little bit too early for Christmas music so had to skip it : ( I'm wishing the months away!

Peppapig

Welcome Chocolatebum (love the name).

Free I'm in a similar position to you with DGSs. DD is going to college from September for three days a week to do an Access to Health course so that she can go on and do her nursing training. Oldest DGS (3) goes to pre-school three days a week but you can bet your life it won't be the same three she's at college. Youngest DGS (1) doesn't go anywhere at the mo so she's going to need childcare for three days for him and whatever else is needed for the older one. DSIL has just changed his job so instead of being off one day in the week he's now working Mon to Fri and off at the weekend. I really want to help as much as I can and I love both boys dearly but I must admit I'm a bit worried about having the energy. I have littlest one day a week at the moment and that totally shatters me lol. How stupid is it that the college can't release her timetable until mid-August and the pre-school can't give her definite days until later this month either? How can she know if she's going to be able to manage it if she doesn't know when she's supposed to be there and when DGS will be at pre-school? :mad:

DH is doing well, had the staples out yesterday. The nurse comes in once a day to give him an injection in his stomach until his INR is stabilised again - they did say we could do it ourselves but we were both too squeamish. DD could do it but can't be here each day so that's no good.

Feeling quite Christmassy at the moment - got a deadline looming for work though and haven't done much the past couple of weeks so need to get that out of the way first. You've all got me thinking about wrapping paper now - thinking I might go for the QVC Christmas bags this year but need to get them early. Last year I couldn't decide and then they sold out and the others they got in weren't as good.

quidsy

http://www.cookingclassy.com/2012/12/christmas-crunch-funfetti-popcorn-christmas-style/
I need ideas for ds class gift, last year was snowman soup, the year before chocolate sleighs. Was thinking of Christmas crunch but wonder how well it would keep.?

freespirit66

Evening everyone, today has gone so quickly, and it was so flipping warm here, all i have done is cook dinner and do a small shop at Sains, and i feel so tired, i cant wait to get into my bed. DD2 and OH and Thumper are coming tomorrow after Thumpers swimming lesson and DD2s OH is bringing his chainsaw to start on my horrific garden :j i really cant wait to just say do it all :rotfl:i shall let you know what happens

CHOCOLATEBUM ah right, so they have still had about 6 weeks off then. Oh yes i have a notebook i carry around with me all year round, i couldnt remember what i have bought everyone without it, its my bible Oh what a lovely age range, no wonder you are up til christmas morning with 6 kids worth of presents to wrap, we shall have to get you organised so you have a lovely christmas eve with everyone else this year

3FORHOLIDAYS omg i know its awful her nursery fees are £60 per day :eek: dont worry im going to need to how are your competitions going for this month are you still doing the challenge?

MONEYMISSION i love that pretty cake of hers, i am a big fan of Nigella and have all her books, and most christmases i bake lots of her recipes, did you know she has a new book and show out this autumn? Sounds like my DS ipod he has loads of christmas songs that just randomly come up

PEPPAPIG oh blimey they dont think about these things like sorting out childcare arrangements, so people need dates, times as early as possible, i am exactly the same i love him to bits and he really is my little ray of sunshine but it is so tiring, i am not kidding i will need energy drinks, and this is before he is even on the move yet! I think it is mentally tiring because he is someone elses child so you feel you have to be extra vigilant, moreso than if they were your own! Lovely to hear DH is improving every day I am hoping that i will find the drawstring bags they had on qvc last year on the high street

QUIDSY oh that looks great, i would have thought you would have to make it quite last minute, popcorn goes stale very quickly. The kids will love them though.