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

quidsy

I tested out the Christmas popcorn & although it tastes amazing I need to find a way to distribute the melted marshmallow better as I just had 4 large clumps in the mix & 2 hands full of dried melted marshmallow where I tried to mix it around . The rest though came out great so I will def be making this for ds class this year.


Hugs to all who need them.

Own_My_Own

Will try and catch up a bit later. Only working til 12.30 today. Then shooting over to Home Bargains before I get DD from college. Oh the joy of shopping on my own. I'll only get about an hour and half in there as its 20 minutes away but I so excited.
Treated myself to a new Filofax over the weekend and am hoping to god done new stationary for it.

Bought DS a massive travel mug on Saturday from B&M for £5. That should half fill his stocking !! Lol

CharlotteBarnes

Hi all! Been away for a bit but I keep hearing people saying the 'C' word and I'm getting nervous about leaving it too late again FYI, BHS is having a great sale at the moment and you can get some pretty awesome housey stuff at a very good discount. I got a new 13-piece knife set for £11 reduced from £40 Going to get another one for my friend's Xmas present!

plumduff55

Hi, I'm a long time lurker and just popped in to say I love this thread, it is so motivating. This morning I have prepared the mincemeat, it is really easy and I make it every year. It keeps for ages and I have even used it the following year! Hope you don't mind me posting the recipe as it's about time I gave back ☺️

12 oz currants. 12 oz sultanas. 4 oz dates. 2 oz almonds
8oz brown sugar. 1 tsp cinnamon. Rind & juice 1 lemon
2 oz mixed peel. Half cup of sherry - or orange juice or whisky
1 large grated cooking apple. 6 oz shredded suet.
I also add some glac! cherries - not in the original recipe.

Mix all ingredients together and leave for 2 days, stirring occasionally. Pack into jars and cover with grease proof paper circles before placing lid on tightly. No need to cook in oven.

Will continue to read and be motivated by all your posts xx

MoneyMission2015

plumduff55 wrote: »

Hi, I'm a long time lurker and just popped in to say I love this thread, it is so motivating. This morning I have prepared the mincemeat, it is really easy and I make it every year. It keeps for ages and I have even used it the following year! Hope you don't mind me posting the recipe as it's about time I gave back ☺️

12 oz currants. 12 oz sultanas. 4 oz dates. 2 oz almonds
8oz brown sugar. 1 tsp cinnamon. Rind & juice 1 lemon
2 oz mixed peel. Half cup of sherry - or orange juice or whisky
1 large grated cooking apple. 6 oz shredded suet.
I also add some glac! cherries - not in the original recipe.

Mix all ingredients together and leave for 2 days, stirring occasionally. Pack into jars and cover with grease proof paper circles before placing lid on tightly. No need to cook in oven.

Will continue to read and be motivated by all your posts xx

Hi plumduff and welcome, I've only been on this thread a few months and I love it. I could talk about Christmas all day every day if I had the time :rotfl:. Thanks for that recipe, I think I might try it out.


I was so excited last night when I realised I have 2 Michael Buble Christmas episodes on my sky planner that I recorded last year and didn't get round to watching, so I get to watch them while wrapping presents now this year :j


I ordered some books from The Works. As I said before there isn't a store close to me but they had an offer of 10 books for £10 and free delivery if you spend over £20. I saw an idea last year to wrap 24 books and have the kids open one each day during December. I thought it was a lovely idea so am going to do it this year. I bought 20 books from The Works as part of the offer so just need to get 4 more books now, so need to keep my eye out for some bargains.


I haven't placed my Studio order yet either. I still can't decide what to get, I've marked lots of things in the catalogue but it's not all Christmas stuff and isn't really anything I need, I just liked the look of them :rotfl:. I'll probably end up getting it all anyway, I just sometimes leave things a few days before buying them just in case I change my mind.

chocolatebum

just wondering if anyone knows if there is a way of ordering from studio without opening an account. don't really want the temptation of adding to my already huge debts with an account and access to lots of christmas things lol

BBRosie

hiya,

thought I'd join this thread as an eager beaver

I have sorted through the bits I've collected through the year and written lists for who I need to buy for. Have an uneaven pile for our girls so written a list of essentials to get them even then after that will buy one for one.

Chuffed, got £36 worth of toys for £16 from tesco thanks to a screw up with my club card boost vouchers.

I'm doing all I can to save up bits and pieces and spread it all out. Also have DDs birthday in November and DSD birthday early jan. Argh.

Just out of interest, for multiple children do you equal number of presents or equal spent even if one ends up with several less?

Peppapig

Hi BBRosie and PlumDuff - welcome to the thread and welcome back Charlotte.

BBRosie - for me whether I do equal money or equal pressies depends on the age of the children. When mine were small I spent more or less the same on both but always made sure they had the same amount to avoid any problems. As they get older I think you can go on the amount because they understand that some things cost more than others. Good luck whichever way you go.

MoneyMission I did 10 books for £10 from the Book People last year - DGD loved them all and I was really pleased with the quality.

Chocolatebum I think you have to open an account with Studio although I might be wrong but I wouldn't have opened one if I'd found another way to do it. I only order for Christmas though and always pay it as soon as I get the statement.

Free can I have your glittery crispy cake recipe too please, it sounds amazing.

MoneyMission2015

BBRosie wrote: »

hiya,

thought I'd join this thread as an eager beaver

I have sorted through the bits I've collected through the year and written lists for who I need to buy for. Have an uneaven pile for our girls so written a list of essentials to get them even then after that will buy one for one.

Chuffed, got £36 worth of toys for £16 from tesco thanks to a screw up with my club card boost vouchers.

I'm doing all I can to save up bits and pieces and spread it all out. Also have DDs birthday in November and DSD birthday early jan. Argh.

Just out of interest, for multiple children do you equal number of presents or equal spent even if one ends up with several less?

We have 2 children & we do amount of money spent. Our oldest daughter understands that her pile might look less because the gifts are generally smaller than the big boxes our youngest daughters toys come in.

I have 2 sisters and I know my parents always spent the same on us, they still do. To be honest I never even noticed if my sisters got more presents overall than me, I was just so pleased with the things I'd received.

I guess it might be harder depending on the ages, maybe have an amount in your head & then top up some of the lesser piles with a few smaller gifts or even see if you can nab any freebies or second hand stuff for them off ebay which will be cheaper.

Haribo1

BBRosie I spend the same amount on my 4 give or take a couple of pounds but this year my eldest will be having about 100 pounds more as we are upgrading his phone. It will all work out eventually as they will all get a decent phone when they are his age too if that makes sense lol.

I've been busy over the weekend collecting bits for their Xmas stocking. I'm doing well apart from my eldest. Apart from deodorant and shower gel I'm stuck lol