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

3forholidays

Feisty Thinking of you. Big hugs. :A

freespirit66

Evening everyone, i never got on here last night as i was shattered, i crawled into my bed at 9.15 and apart from loo trips slept through until 10.20 this morning :eek: today i havent been tired i cant remember the last time i wasnt tired

PEPPAPIG glad DH is still recovering well

PRINCESSKITTY aww hope Wiggle had a fab birthday, his cake is fab too!! I still declutter to her saying of if you dont love it then let go, it makes it so much easier to get rid of things, i tried the folding of t towels but they didnt look neat in my drawer, and my wardrobe is mainly shelves no drawers so i cant roll t shirts etc either but its the decluttering i have kept up with mainly, btw i love the money in the frame idea

MONEYMISSION ha it has been raining here since, plus i have had Thumper the last two days so i havent got out there yet, there is still a long way to go yet, its so big my DD2 joked 'mum if i have to take out a £20,000 loan to pay someone to do it i am' she was so fed up with it but her OH is in his element out there. Ooh you sound as if you are getting very organised for christmas with all your pressie buying

CHRISSYG oh how exciting for DD, i love the sound of a holiday hamper, especially with all the bargains in the sales now

SPENDLESS haha i did have to laugh at the batman toothbrush and bubblegum toothpaste story :rotfl:isnt it lovely when we have more than what we thought in our present stashes?

FEISTY oh im so sorry to hear your nan is very ill, i hope you get to spend some time with her without upsetting work. I am also so very sorry to hear your results failed again, when is the tide going to turn for you both? I can only say keep going and stay strong. I am not surprised about the HA not doing anything even though they are getting rent :mad: makes you so mad!!

PINKNFLUFFY smooth house buying vibes being sent to you

GETTINGTHEREQUICKLY oh what a very sad situation, it must be absolutely devastating for the family, it breaks my heart to hear of sad stories like this, have a great time with your relations boss on friday night and saturday

NEWTHRIFT you are welcome my lovely, yes we are meant to have storms the next couple of days too! Glad the cakes all turned out well. Ooh well done hope there are some lovely fragrances in it, i have been burning Shea Butter here today its lovely

MONEYMISSION im sorry to hear your mum isnt well, i hope she gets some answers soon. They are fab arent they the Winter Survival Kits?

Peppapig

Glad you're back tonight Free, was starting to get worried lol.

MoneyMission, you're another one doing really well with the pressies. I'm determined to get someone finished soon!

Forgot to say, I downloaded about 20 free Kindle Christmas books the other day - quite a few are short story collections or novellas but there are some full length books as well. Of the short stories I've read so far they're a bit of a mixed bag - most of them are really just romances with a couple of Christmas references thrown in. If I find any really good ones I'll let you know. I did download a free sample last year that was really good, I think it was called 'the 12 dates of Christmas' but the taster only went up to date 4 - if I see it reasonably priced this year I shall download it because it was good.

Well, I'm going out in the back garden shortly and I shall look north (found my compass earlier so will use that) and hope to maybe see something of the Perseid meteor shower - I'm not that hopeful though as it seems the best chances are much further north than me . Unfortunately my bedroom faces the wrong way so can't keep watch out of the window. My real desire is to see the Northern Lights but DH isn't really able to travel and there isn't much chance of seeing them from my garden lol.

princesskitty29

MoneyMission wow you are doing amazingly well with your pressies! You're inspiring me! As for a nice snuggly throw, as lazysheep said I saw some nice fleece lined ones in Primark last year for £10. I fell in love with a big fleece lined M&S one last year, I don't often feel like I have to have something but I had to have it, so much so that I paid £50 for it!! :eek: I've decided it'll be a family Christmas heirloom now!

CHRISSYG the holiday hamper sounds like a fab idea! Where's your DD going?

Spendless it sounds like you are also getting on really well with your pressies. You're all motivating me to get on with it!

Feisty I am so sorry to hear about your Nan, you really are having an awful time of it. It's hard to find the right thing to say but we're always here as a listening ear. I am also very sorry your results came back negative, I really hope you can find another course of action to take. Have they advised anything? In terms of your new house, i'm glad you finally have the keys! When we bought our house it wasn't in a great state, we were quite down about it and wondered what we'd done, but a couple of years on we've really made it our own and it's all a distant memory now, I hope you can get in and get your stamp on it soon. x

PeppaPig thanks for Wiggle's birthday wishes!

Pinknfluffy glad the bottles came in handy, I wish I had someone to buy them for!

Gettingtherequickly how utterly heartbreaking for your mums neighbour, I cannot even begin to imagine what they are going through or how they are coping with it. It truly is an awful thing to happen and I hope they can find some peace with it.

newthrift yay for the Yankee advent house! What a treat.

freespirit yes i'm going to sort through my things, although i'm worried I won't get rid of anything as i'll think everything brings me joy that's why I bought it! We'll see. I haven't got to the art of folding yet but looking forward to it.

princesskitty29

My local Sainsbobs were selling these for 50p (normally 80p so still fairly cheap) and thought they'd be good for anyone giving a mug as a present:

MoneyMission2015

Thank you all for the tips on where to get a nice throw. I will definitely have to get in to Primark and have a look.


Freespirit - you will have to just sit in the garden under an umbrella if it rains:rotfl: . It sounds like your garden is like my dads, his is a very long garden & pretty wide too, luckily he does enjoy a bit of gardening though so gets out there quite a bit when he isn't working. The winter survival kits are such a great idea and I'm really pleased with how they have turned out actually because I'm not the most creative person so was worried that it would just look like a jar of random bits, but it looks great.


Did anybody watch GBBO last night? Without giving too much away for those who haven't watched it yet, I was quite surprised at who they sent home. It wasn't a great week in general though, I think they all struggled this time.


Princesskitty - £50 for a throw!! Actually I do like the throws they do in M&S and Next but I usually wait until the sales are on and have picked up a few nice throws in the past few years. I have to curb my spending on throws for our house though, I mean how many throws does one house need?! Saying that though we do have quite a lot of Christmas fleece blankets which I love getting out of the ottoman as soon as the weather turns & we have them in the living room then for when we are all snuggled down to watch a movie.


Feisty - Sending hugs your way & to your nan. I hope you get to spend some time with her. I miss my nan terribly, she passed away 5 years ago now & I still think of her every day but the memories of all the times we spent together and the funny things she would come out with always make me smile


Spendless - The toothpaste story did amuse me. I can imagine a puzzled expression on your face while trying to work out why you bought it. I have to admit to sometimes in the past I have bought things on the spur of the moment because they're such good bargains and then 3 months later I look at them and wonder why I bothered buying them because they wouldn't be suitable for anybody I know. Luckily I am putting more thought in to things this year so I hope I don't end up with random things left around my house this year with nobody to gift them to.


Peppa - Compared to some of you on here I thought I was way behind and playing catch up because you all seem so organised. Maybe this year will be the year I'm not panic buying up to a few days before Christmas & not wrapping for most of Christmas Eve Eve (the day before Christmas Eve if anybody is wondering :rotfl:).


I hope everybody has a good day & manages to squeeze something Christmassy in to your day.


x

aliaslotte

Hey everyone!

First time popping onto the thread, after being on the 2014 and 2013 threads. It always tends to be this time of year that I start to think about Christmas...

I had a sort out this week. I have being buying bits and pieces all year and got loads of things in the January sales.
I have checked my list of people and the presents bought and am pretty happy with how it is looking so far. I'll need a few extra bits for my mum, dad, and brother - hopefully they will express an interest in something that I can get them. Otherwise, things are looking good. Given my financial situation is dire right now, it is good to know that a lot of the presents are already sorted.

• Mum: cosmetics purse, snuggly fluffy socks, giant Dove "Wonderful You" set. £7.49 paid (RRP £25)
• Dad: Campo Viejo tapas set, Whittard coffee selection. £10.10 paid (RRP £27)
• Brother: mischief game set, retro phone holder, mp3 boombox, LED clock fan, Yahtzee World Series, Joules 'Key to Feeling Fresh' set. £12.34 paid (RRP £59.99)
• Grandma: cosmetics purse, glass jar candle, hand duo set. £5.98 paid (RRP £16)
• Friend 1: Horrible Histories Viking mug set, Ted Baker 'Tour de Ted' set. £3.39 paid (RRP £13)
• Friend 2 (Same for Friend 3): glass jar candle, hand duo set. £4.98 paid (RRP £12)
• Friend 4: 'Unique like everyone else' mug set. £1 paid (RRP £8)
• Friend 5: mischief game set, Jack Will's mug/sock set. £3.70 paid (RRP £20)
• Friend 6: snuggly fluffy socks, Horrible Histories Tudor mug set, 'sweet snuggles' pamper set. £4.97 paid (RRP £17)
• Work Colleague 1: Nivea 'gorgeous skin' set. £3 paid (RRP £10)

Current totals:
Spend: £61.93
RRP: £219.99

I have some extra presents left over, because I was guilty of buying them because I liked the look of them without having someone in mind. Whoops.

That aside, I feel much more in control and relaxed about the situation now. Everyone has something they should like, meaning the next few months can be spent focused on any little extras or maybe some homemade things.
Last year, I made a festive version of rocky road, with dark chocolate, cranberries, almond biscuits, and so forth. Everyone got a couple of pieces in a homemade box and those went down really well. I could do something like that again.

pinknfluffy28

Took dds to library this morning & had a wander through town. Spotted a few finds that may be useful to someone:

Primarni have quite a few fleece blankets in £3.99.

Not Christmas ones (yet) but very autumanal/wintery. I picked up a lovely deep red one, its very fluffy, can't wait for the nights to draw in so I can snuggle up with it!
They are also starting to put winter pjs out. Managed to pick up a batman set for dd1 to go in Xmas hamper. They have other superhero types for big & little kids!

£world have a big range of frozen bits in, hair & body, stationary, cups, plates etc. Would be perfect to put together a hamper for any little princesses. (I've done one for my niece who's £4)

quidsy

Ordered Christmas themed plastic cones for the popcorn. 2.99 for 30 with free postage. Now to just test out a few trial combinations of sweets, chocolate & marshmallow, all in the name of research of course, to ensure the Christmas popcorn gifts are delicious.

freespirit66

Afternoon everyone, i havent read and caught up yet but just had to say to the Yankee Candle fans on here the four new christmas flavours are:

BUNDLE UP
WINTER GLOW
COSY BY THE FIRE
BERRY TRIFLE

here is a link to some votives: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Yankee-Candle-Votives-Christmas-2015/dp/B012FVSGMU/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1439469431&sr=8-4&keywords=yankee+candle+christmas+2015