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

nicki_2

Time for me to (re)join this thread for this year I spent yesterday watching Christmas films while DD was away at her dads. She's back today and will no doubt start moaning as I have my Christmas folder out :rotfl:

I have my Christmas Cake fruit in soaking ready to make & freeze since we make an alcohol free one. I'm making double this year as DD likes to take it into school to share with her friends. My late nanna would be so proud as its her recipe I use I've also bought my cranberry sauce today. I need to get my food list written up into one list as I have about 5 versions scattered in various places. This year I will be more organised!

04624181 wrote: »

Does anybody else follow the house and holidays plan by organised christmas? previous years I have followed it in a fashion but im going to try and follow it properly as I always end up in a mad panic about cleaning the last 2 weeks before xmas.

I do the Holiday Grand Plan instead, but the Christmas planning part usually goes to pot and I end up trying to do the Christmas Countdown instead :rotfl: I've been doing it since 2001 and I don't think I've followed it properly ever :rotfl::rotfl: Problem I have is trying to do it around work (its my busiest time of year), and I want to do decorating (which I've been "doing" since August last year!) so the house is nice for a change. I have big big plans, and they rarely come to fruition I always end up doing a mad clean just before Christmas as well. More so last year when we had Christmas early as my daughter went away, but not this year as she's home with me & its easier for us to go to other peoples houses then them to come here

Haribo1

04624181 hope I got that right. We've never been before but I saw the tickets advertised with 30% off if you booked before the end of August. Not all the rides are open but the tickets include the rides that are open, a proper Xmas lunch, meeting santa and a present and a show. I thought for 6 of us it was a good deal as it cost under 100 pounds.

Gettingtherequickly

Had to venture out this morning to see if I could pick up a pair of pink inline skates for one of the littlies in Egypt. She is desperate for a pair for her birthday and they couldn't find any small enough for her. She is going to be very happy!

On the way back, nipped into Matalan to get my brother his annual sock supply for Christmas & spotted pj's for £2, so had to pick up a pair for my godson(apparently I buy the coolest things!). Only problem was they had loads, but not that many sizes, although, probably because I was in there early, there were none hanging on the floor, which made a nice change. Also picked up a black & white wrap for my niece.

Think it is a veg out day for us all

mrsinvisible

We have sunshine, at the moment, so l have spent a couple of hours in the garden, emptying pots of summer bedding and tidying up a bit. Trouble is, the weeds grow faster than l can get to them and as l don't like to use weedkiller sprays l hand weed, slow work. Now l need to go into town (Tonto, that's me) to pick up the baby set l ordered yesterday. Then off to DDs last lap now, putting up pictures and finding homes for stuff. There is A LOT of Christmas starting up on here yay,! love the idea of the elf travelling by sleighxxx

MoneyMission2015

I've never followed any of the Christmas organisers, maybe I should give it some thought this year. I don't make Christmas cake because nobody eats it in our house and my stepmum makes Christmas cakes for the rest of the family. I would like to make some shortbread this year though and I always like the look of the Christmas gingerbread biscuits that people make & hang on the tree. I won't hang them on the tree though, I might make some as presents. I will need some practice though. My cake making is fine, I often make fairy cakes etc for parties but biscuit making has never been my forte; I remember making biscuits once years ago and they tasted of egg . So starting next weekend I am going to practice the Christmas biscuit ideas and I also have plans to make some truffles to give as presents, so I need to give them a try too.


I usually take a day off work around 2 weeks before Christmas so I have an empty house to clean and tidy everything. I cant do it any earlier than that because our house just doesn't stay tidy for long, it's very annoying.


I've ordered a few more presents today. I found a 15% off code for Lego on TheHut so I ordered a few things for my youngest daughter. She loves Lego so I always end up getting a few sets for Christmas. I did have to do a bit of research though & found that some of the sets were still more expensive even with the discount, so I only bought the 3 sets that worked out cheaper.


Now that the summer holidays are over I can just concentrate on Christmas as we have nothing else coming up now. I've got a lot to do around the house but I am planning to spend an hour a day getting some of the jobs done, hopefully I wont get completely fed up about it & then leave it to the last minute because I don't want to be rushing just before Christmas.


Well I'm going to have a sort out in youngest daughter's bedroom now, luckily not too messy as most of her toys are in the playroom, but she's suddenly very in to her clothes so is always pulling things out of her wardrobe and gets changed 3 or 4 times a day! She's over the neighbours house at the moment though playing with one of her school friends, so I can sneak in there without her coming in behind me making a mess


Happy Christmas planning everybody. I'm really excited about the next few months as I have a feeling this thread is going to get crazy busy


x

Mojoworking

Haribo1 wrote: »

04624181 hope I got that right. We've never been before but I saw the tickets advertised with 30% off if you booked before the end of August. Not all the rides are open but the tickets include the rides that are open, a proper Xmas lunch, meeting santa and a present and a show. I thought for 6 of us it was a good deal as it cost under 100 pounds.

Hey haribo we've down this a couple of times and we really enjoyed it. Dd was 7 and 8 she said no at 9 as we'd done it 2 years running. My advice is to ignore the time on the ticket for santa and get it done first thing while there is no queue as that can muck up all the timings if you get caught in it
Stick to ticket times for show and dinner.

The roast dinner was lovely and the show was nice to sit in out of the cold. Dry both years so very lucky! The presents are good quality you finish with santa and get a pick from the shop or workshop I suppose.

Makes magical memories and you can take your own photos with santa and the walk to see him is very impressive from the train. Wish I had a little one now!!

Haribo1

Thanks for the info Mojo. I'm looking forward to it more than the kids I think!
Not doing much Xmas prep here just yet as my 4 are still at home till the 9th Sept. I'm on the lookout for stocking fillers now especially for my now teenager son as it's getting a bit tricky for him. Also thinking of doing a movie night in hamper for my friends 3 children but need a few ideas for that too. Got some popcorn containers yesterday from home bargains so that's a start!

princesskitty29

Hi all, we popped to Morrisons this afternoon and one half of an aisle on one side was all chocolates - they were advertising it as 'great night in' but they are so obviously Christmas stock! There were some Malteser & popcorn boxes that also included a free movie rental (i'm afraid I didn't have time to look where or how to redeem) but thought they'd make a nice present, perhaps for a teenage boy as the can be tricky?



I don't make Christmas cake either as I don't like it, or Christmas pudding or mince pies, but I do feel like i'm missing out on traditional Christmas food so this year i'm planning to make a nice ginger cake, that can be my Christmas cake!

MoneyMission2015

Hey princesskitty, hope you had a lovely holiday too.


That's a good idea making a ginger cake instead, maybe I should think about doing something like that instead. I might start scouring my baking books. I usually make things like coffee cake and a Victoria sponge but they're not very long lasting so maybe a ginger cake or syrup sponge. Time to get my thinking cap on


I've come up with a few more ideas to put in my sisters Christmas hampers and have ordered some of the bits to go in them.

princesskitty29

MoneyMission2015 wrote: »

Hey princesskitty, hope you had a lovely holiday too.


That's a good idea making a ginger cake instead, maybe I should think about doing something like that instead. I might start scouring my baking books. I usually make things like coffee cake and a Victoria sponge but they're not very long lasting so maybe a ginger cake or syrup sponge. Time to get my thinking cap on

I'm also going to make mini apple pies instead of mince pies, so they'll look the same but have apples in instead of mincemeat. Also, I went to a dinner party at a friends house in December and she made this pudding:

http://www.nigella.com/recipes/view/holiday-hot-cake-with-eggnog-cream-97

It was delicious and I thought it would be a great pudding to have instead of Christmas pudding. Although I didn't like the eggnog in the cream, I would just have cream or ice cream.