* It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year * - It's the 2016 Christmas Chatter Thread

vulpix

vulpix

vulpix

before ,during,and almost after.

Firemunchkin

Hi all - I'm new to the thread, but am really glad I found it! I'm 'signing up' (if that's what I'm doing) because by Christmas 2016 I will not be working and therefore will have no salary.

My (very brief) back story is that I'm quitting work to study a professional course which will enable me to qualify as a professional in my field. Without it, I can't progress my career, so it's pretty important. The course itself is close to £10k alone, and I have about £3k of debt to pay off before my course starts. I am married and my husband earns enough (thankfully) to cover mortgage and bills. We're reorganising our finances in order to cope with the change separately to this thread.

We currently save £35 each per month towards Christmas. It wasn't quite enough this year, and I ended up needing an additional £500 to get through it - we were WAY overbudget. By August 2016, we will have £535 in savings for Christmas (I've already spent £25 in the sale on reduced price wrapping paper, cards, gift tags etc as my stocks are running very low). We have a large family - there's 20 people to get gifts for, visiting three or four sets of families all over the UK (depends if we can consolidate my broken up family in one place, sometimes we can sometimes we can't), plus seeing friends which tends to be in London for dinner. £535 is really not a lot for all that.

I thought I was crazy thinking about Xmas 2016 in January! My husband did too! I'm glad I found this thread because as it turns out I'm not alone!

There's some wonderful ideas on this thread, the links at the beginning are a great resource that I'll put to good use (I'm just starting my list, so will add to it in the coming weeks/months as I plan what to make). We'll be reserving as much of the money in our savings for the kids (there's 10 of varying ages) - it's hard to make something for a child and have them satisfied with it as a main gift. I plan on making a lot of gifts for the adults throughout this year though. The hope is that I can make things good enough that the thought and effort that's gone in shows and that the gifts turn out to be unique and wanted!

I also have to consider the effect of my debt repayments over the next eight months meaning I need to tighten my belt now - so I'd like to make gifts for birthdays in the meantime too.

So far, before finding this thread, my ideas are:

1. Cushions (one for each of my brothers/sisters in law) using a cute anthropologie inspired template I found online. I have tonnes of fabric so I should be able to make this largely from materials I already have, except the cushion inserts themselves. I will also have to teach myself some new techniques with my sewing machine!

2. Booze related stuff (like hedgerow liqueur or sloe gin etc) - inspired by our local foraging restaurant. I plan on going for walks with hubby to forage the local hedgerows for ingredients. The only purchase will be a basic vodka or gin.

3. Christmas cake - the kind you make in July/August and let it sit in all that boozey goodness. I've never been great at icing, but I can always learn!

4. Jam - again, I've never been good at this, but a friend has offered to show me how to do it and loan me her jam pan. There is hope!

5. Corkboard - using wine corks (I have a bag of them). My mum was admiring the one I made for myself recently, so I'll find a cute picture frame in a charity shop, sand it down and paint it using some furniture paint I have in the garage. Hopefully the cost will be less than £5.

6. Pinboard - for my neice. She liked some we saw at a Christmas market that were priced £20 (!!! :eek:) They looked so easy to make!

7. Herby salts - I tend to grow a lot of herbs and veg. Sometimes the rosemary goes nuts, or the sage is about to start dying on me, and I thought I'd use those fresh herbs in a good salt. Useful for roasts, salads etc. If I can find a cute labelling system it should hopefully look 'cottage kitchen-y'

8. Chutney - a/a, from growing things myself, hopefully!

And, of course, I'll be super savvy when it comes to the sales (as and when they're on!) I have a box under the bed of 'presents'. It mainly consists of gifts given to me which I don't like, but which I know someone else will so I regift where I can.

If anyone has thoughts/advice on the above, I'm always grateful - this is all new to me!!

Peppapig

VULPIX the kitchen is looking fab you must be so pleased.

Welcome to the thread PICKLEINAPOUCH - now you've delurked you have to stay you know .

Welcome FIREMUNCHKIN - you're in the right place for Christmas chat and planning all year round and we're a friendly bunch. You sound like you're well on with your planning already.

Had a bit of an apple meltdown here today. My iPhone decided it wasn't going to be an iPhone anymore and wasn't receiving iMessages, the iPad had a funny turn and only received some conversations and ignored others and the Apple TV went on strike. Fortunately one of my DDs is an apple guru so I phoned her and iPhone and iPad are sorted and Apple TV is going back for replacement. I love technology when it works but when it doesn't :mad::mad::mad:

Hope everyone has had a good weekend.

junior_j

Again thank you for lovely words guys.

The weekend has gone pretty fast in here. I have made friends with two patients one watches a film every night with me the other is opposite me but we chat and her family always offer to get me coffees ect. She is going to a rehab hospital for physio tomorrow though.

I have also befriended a elderly lady who speaks no English so I am fast learning a new language , we sit and hold hands and look through her pictures , she is so lovely.

I have not stopped eating today I am sure I have probably gained a stone in a day lol!

I will be getting super organised when I am out of this place!

mrs-moneypenny

Morning all
Hugs jj, is lovely you are making so many new friends at the hospital but I hope you are soon well enough to get back home to your family. You are a very brave and kind young lady.
Vulpix love you photos, the kitchen looks fab
Welcome to all the new people posting on the thread.

Yesterday was Dh birthday do we had the kids round for lunch then went to see creed as dd3 managed to get us preview tics.
Step DGS birthday this week, so his gift (bought in the sales) wrapped and given to dd2.

Have a good week all.

FeistyFidget

pinknfluffy28 wrote: »

Free - Yep, treated myself to the HP book (along with a couple of others), love it! Half way through the 2 page poster spread at the moment. You must watch big hero, we have persuaded dh that he needs to watch it too, so popcorn and wine are at the ready for our second viewing of the week this evening!

JJ - will look forward to having a read through your new blog.

Nitnurse - Well done on being so organised with your meals. We have a half half fridge/freezer plus a separate chest freezer in the garage - which houses the dog's meat, as we buy in bulk. I do par-boil & freeze my veg bi-weekly, and will make left overs into freezer meals (quiche, pies, lasagnes etc) but I never seem to get any more organised than that.

MrsI - We had a similar problem with tesco a few weeks back. Order total £25.95, and they charged us a £3.50 "handling" fee. After a few exchanged emails, I told them to cancel and refund the whole order, and that I would go elsewhere. I too will not use them again. The company make enough profit each year to pay wages etc, without charging us extra for what should be a free service.

It's very Sunday in the fluffy household today, dh is having a power nap, dd1 is revising, dd2 is rearranging her lego city for the umpteenth million time since Christmas day, and I am trying very very hard not to get the hoover out. I have promised myself that I will relax on a Sunday - no chores other than cooking, washing clothes and pots - but the dogs are malting, and despite having only hoovered at 6pm last night, the hairs on my rug are driving me crazy!

Oooo I can relate to extreme dog malting! Despite being less than half the size of a full grown cat, my two little terrors keep turning the rug into a third hairy member of the four legged family! Fawn dogs and a black rug do not mix! I'm on the hunt for a bright yellow rug, but as the right shade is close to £100 I refuse to cave when the black one will do!

pickleinapouch wrote: »

Hello, I am a very long time lurker - I have followed these threads for 2 or 3 years but rarely posted.
My Christmas was nicely organised - we mainly stick to stocking presents so I tried to be as creative as possible, and found that by picking up bits throughout the year, they looked great!
Therefore I am trying the same this year and have begun by looking in B&M (who also had great deals on crackers, paper and tags) and picked up some small bits already.
I have also hit on the idea of keeping the stockings that I fill in my present stash box so I know when to stop buying!
Happy New Year everyone!

Welcome pickleinapouch we are a very friendly bunch

vulpix wrote: »

before ,during,and almost after.

Looking fab! It will be done in no-time at all We just have a few more finishing touches to the kitchen and it is done! I am looking for a nice butchers trolley as we are still very short on worktop space (thanks to DH being adamant he wanted a tower double oven and 50/50 fridge freezer in our tiny kitchen) and we have some ikea rails to go up too

Firemunchkin wrote: »

Hi all - I'm new to the thread, but am really glad I found it! I'm 'signing up' (if that's what I'm doing) because by Christmas 2016 I will not be working and therefore will have no salary.

My (very brief) back story is that I'm quitting work to study a professional course which will enable me to qualify as a professional in my field. Without it, I can't progress my career, so it's pretty important. The course itself is close to £10k alone, and I have about £3k of debt to pay off before my course starts. I am married and my husband earns enough (thankfully) to cover mortgage and bills. We're reorganising our finances in order to cope with the change separately to this thread.

We currently save £35 each per month towards Christmas. It wasn't quite enough this year, and I ended up needing an additional £500 to get through it - we were WAY overbudget. By August 2016, we will have £535 in savings for Christmas (I've already spent £25 in the sale on reduced price wrapping paper, cards, gift tags etc as my stocks are running very low). We have a large family - there's 20 people to get gifts for, visiting three or four sets of families all over the UK (depends if we can consolidate my broken up family in one place, sometimes we can sometimes we can't), plus seeing friends which tends to be in London for dinner. £535 is really not a lot for all that.

I thought I was crazy thinking about Xmas 2016 in January! My husband did too! I'm glad I found this thread because as it turns out I'm not alone!

There's some wonderful ideas on this thread, the links at the beginning are a great resource that I'll put to good use (I'm just starting my list, so will add to it in the coming weeks/months as I plan what to make). We'll be reserving as much of the money in our savings for the kids (there's 10 of varying ages) - it's hard to make something for a child and have them satisfied with it as a main gift. I plan on making a lot of gifts for the adults throughout this year though. The hope is that I can make things good enough that the thought and effort that's gone in shows and that the gifts turn out to be unique and wanted!

I also have to consider the effect of my debt repayments over the next eight months meaning I need to tighten my belt now - so I'd like to make gifts for birthdays in the meantime too.

So far, before finding this thread, my ideas are:

1. Cushions (one for each of my brothers/sisters in law) using a cute anthropologie inspired template I found online. I have tonnes of fabric so I should be able to make this largely from materials I already have, except the cushion inserts themselves. I will also have to teach myself some new techniques with my sewing machine!

2. Booze related stuff (like hedgerow liqueur or sloe gin etc) - inspired by our local foraging restaurant. I plan on going for walks with hubby to forage the local hedgerows for ingredients. The only purchase will be a basic vodka or gin.

3. Christmas cake - the kind you make in July/August and let it sit in all that boozey goodness. I've never been great at icing, but I can always learn!

4. Jam - again, I've never been good at this, but a friend has offered to show me how to do it and loan me her jam pan. There is hope!

5. Corkboard - using wine corks (I have a bag of them). My mum was admiring the one I made for myself recently, so I'll find a cute picture frame in a charity shop, sand it down and paint it using some furniture paint I have in the garage. Hopefully the cost will be less than £5.

6. Pinboard - for my neice. She liked some we saw at a Christmas market that were priced £20 (!!! :eek:) They looked so easy to make!

7. Herby salts - I tend to grow a lot of herbs and veg. Sometimes the rosemary goes nuts, or the sage is about to start dying on me, and I thought I'd use those fresh herbs in a good salt. Useful for roasts, salads etc. If I can find a cute labelling system it should hopefully look 'cottage kitchen-y'

8. Chutney - a/a, from growing things myself, hopefully!

And, of course, I'll be super savvy when it comes to the sales (as and when they're on!) I have a box under the bed of 'presents'. It mainly consists of gifts given to me which I don't like, but which I know someone else will so I regift where I can.

If anyone has thoughts/advice on the above, I'm always grateful - this is all new to me!!

Welcome Firemunchkin! We are in a slightly similar position to you, as I have just started maternity leave but sadly DH is medically retired and so we are on a quarter of our usual (just about manageable) income :eek:. My tips for you would be to write out a budget for each individual you need to buy for and money for your travel expenses and meals out in London, then try to save money on each recipient / event. Personally we have made it known that socializing budgets etc have been slashed this year due to finances and friends and family were more than happy with this

junior_j wrote: »

Again thank you for lovely words guys.

The weekend has gone pretty fast in here. I have made friends with two patients one watches a film every night with me the other is opposite me but we chat and her family always offer to get me coffees ect. She is going to a rehab hospital for physio tomorrow though.

I have also befriended a elderly lady who speaks no English so I am fast learning a new language , we sit and hold hands and look through her pictures , she is so lovely.

I have not stopped eating today I am sure I have probably gained a stone in a day lol!

I will be getting super organised when I am out of this place!

You are such a star JJ, I bet you really brighten up the wards

Well yesterdays effort to minimize waste saw me using up the ropy looking cream cheese to make speedy cream cheese and cracked black pepper bread and 4 frozen bananas (that had been chucked in the freezer as they were on the turn) to make banana and chocolate loaf. Both were very tasty and gave me an immense feeling of smugness

[Deleted User]

I have been rearranging my decorations before they finally go into the loft until next December - or November .....
I usually pack everything firmly into 2 storage bins, but I am going to buy a specific box for my tree decorations and layer them between bubble wrap. I am thinking of an underbed size box as surely I don't have that many decorations!
I think I need to be a bit more creative in decorating elsewhere in the house as I often just have a tree and cards.
Thankyou for all the welcomes by the way - it feels slightly surreal posting.

girlinayellowdress

pickleinapouch wrote: »

I have been rearranging my decorations before they finally go into the loft until next December - or November .....
I usually pack everything firmly into 2 storage bins, but I am going to buy a specific box for my tree decorations and layer them between bubble wrap. I am thinking of an underbed size box as surely I don't have that many decorations!
I think I need to be a bit more creative in decorating elsewhere in the house as I often just have a tree and cards.
Thankyou for all the welcomes by the way - it feels slightly surreal posting.

Hi and welcome, one of the best ways for crafty Christmas is our Elfilicious board on Pinterest. We all "own" the board and add our ideas and makes to it.