Finally Debt Free After 34 Years, But Still Need to Live Frugally

HairyHandofDartmoor

Sun_Addict said:

Happy Christmas HHOD, hope you have a wonderful time 🥳🎄

elizabethhull said:

Happy Xmas Eve to you.
I've wanted to see Elf for ages,  but I never see it on the Freeview menu. However, we did just watch the Tiger whom came to tea - again.  It's delightful for children of all ages !

Hope you have a lovely family Xmas tomorrow, with enjoyable food and not too much hard work xx

Nicnak said:

Merry Christmas Hairy xx

Seasidegal58 said:

I hope you and your family have a lovely, restful Christmas Day tomorrow Hairy. x😀☃️🎄🍾❤️

milann said:

Hope you’re feeling better and have a lovely day with your family tomorrow 🎄🎅🏻⛄️

Thanks all of you 🎅. Happy Christmas 🎅🎁🎄⛄

HairyHandofDartmoor

Last night DH made curry and then we watched Fred Claus, which DS2 loves and he was chuckling at intervals through it. All of the DC joined us and although I was falling asleep in the armchair, I didn't want to go to bed because it's so rare for the five of us to be together and it was Christmas eve. DH and I went up to bed at 11.15 and the DC stayed up and watched another film together, a precious bonding moment for them.

Happy Christmas to everyone in forumland 🎅⛄🎁🎄. Despite the bizarre ansd unsettling circumstances in which we find ourselves, we've made it to Christmas Day, so I hope you all have the merriest Christmas possible 🎅 . You may not be with family in person, but they are with you in spirit 😘.

Willowtree222

Merry Christmas Hairy xx

jwil

Hope you had a lovely day yesterday x

doingitanyway

How nice you had all DC home for Christmas. It made me smile when you said you didn't want to go to bed

milann

It sounds as if you’ve had a lovely Christmas 🎄🎅🏻⛄️

HairyHandofDartmoor

Nicnak said:

Merry Christmas Hairy xx

jwil said:

Hope you had a lovely day yesterday x

doingitanyway said:

How nice you had all DC home for Christmas. It made me smile when you said you didn't want to go to bed

milann said:

It sounds as if you’ve had a lovely Christmas 🎄🎅🏻⛄️

Thanks all of you 🙂

HairyHandofDartmoor

I had a lovely Christmas Day and Boxing Day 🙂. In fact it was so lovely that I feel a bit sad today that it's all over.

It was so precious having all three of our children with us and they spent all day Christmas Day and Boxing Day with in our company 😃. DH and I cooked a Christmas lunch on both days, and then we played games or watched films together in the afternoon and evening. I had some good presents but my best one was a surprise. It was a new phone which DH, DS1, DS2 and DS3 had chipped in to buy 😃. I needed a new phone as my current one is four and a half years old, getting slow and running out of space, but I wasn't expecting to get one. In fact I've never had a new smart phone before because I always used to have my mum's old one when she upgraded every two years. It has a really good camera on it and loads of space, so I'm looking forward to taking better photos on family days out 😃.

Today DH and I decided to go to a very large garden centre just outside our town to buy a standard holly tree. We tried to buy one in the summer but were told they only sold them at Christmas time, so we needed to get one while they were available.They had a few in stock and we bought a variegated variety which is about three feet tall. It's intended to go into the large pot on our front doorstep, which currently contains a half dead standard box tree which has developed box blight. We bought some John Innes No 3 compost for it, which the assistant in the garden centre recommended. We were pleased to get 20% off the holly tree 🎉. We also bought two half price calendars for DS2 and DS3, I always get them a silly animal calendar each year, and this year's feature cows 🐄 and chickens 🐓 🤣. All the Christmas lights, trees and decorations were half price and we had a quick browse, but we decided that as we were buying the holly tree and compost we shouldn't spend any more money 😇. Also it was very busy with people which made it hard to socially distance, so we decided to leave and come home.

When I got home I ordered a Max Out in the Lake District calendar for myself; I've bought one for the past three years and their furry faces and beautiful scenery are very uplifting 🐶🐕.

The dishwasher had been on twice today and I've handwashed some big baking trays and pans that won't fit in the dishwasher. I haven't really done anything else though as I still feel tired believe it or not, so I've just been relaxing. I couldn't get to sleep for ages last night because I didn't wake up until nearly 10am on Boxing Day. Also Storm Bella was keeping me awake as it was howling around the attic room which is our bedroom. I heard a big bang at one point which was a bit worrying 😳, but was probably just a wheelie bin being blown over. Nothing seems to have been damaged anyway and our fence was still standing this morning.

We've decided to stay at home tomorrow and potter around the house and relax, and then go out for a walk at a NT place on Tuesday, possibly with aunt and uncle or my niece if they're available.

Stepdad and wife have decided to isolate themselves as much as possible as they're both in their late seventies and are hoping to be vaccinated in January. I haven't seen them in person since late July, but they seem happy enough. I hope DH will be fairly high up the list due to being 58 and having diabetes, but my 87 year old dad hasn't even been offered the vaccine yet, so I think it will be a while before DH gets one 🙄. I hope the Oxford vaccine is approved soon as that should speed things up. I really miss seeing family and friends 😥. We normally have a big family party on the day after Boxing Day but of course we didn't plan one this year. I hope we can get back to normal by the summer. I know I'm very lucky compared to some people because I live with DH and two of my DSs, but I do miss seeing wider family, and going out for coffee which always made shopping trips more enjoyable. 

I'm dreading DS3 going back to uni 😟 as it's making me so happy having him at home, but I've still got nearly a week with him. In fact I'm not sure when we'll be able to take him back to uni because his uni is in tier 4 and we're still in tier 2. Although I assume there may be a designated weekend for taking students back to uni, so maybe we could take him back then, in which case I may have him home for an extra week 😁. It's all up in the air and I don't know what's going to happen. It's very unsettling. I don't even know if schools will definitely go back, it depends upon how quickly this new variant of the virus that seems to affect children spreads and what the figures for infections are after the Christmas day relaxation period 🤔. I hope I can go back to school anyway as I'll lose most of my pay otherwise. 

I hope everyone had as lovely a Christmas as was possible in under the current cirucmstances 🎅.

Sun_Addict

Sounds like you had such a lovely time. How thoughtful of DH and the DSs to chip in for the phone. I always used to have Mr SA’s cast offs until a few years ago when I finally got my first brand new iPhone. We’ll just have to be patient until it’s our turn for the vaccine I’m afraid, they have to get through a fair few very vulnerable people first. I read somewhere where someone suggested it would be better vaccinating the young ones who seem to be spreading it about first and shielding those with health conditions, it’s hard to know what’s best. 

Willowtree222

How lovely to get a new phone and you spent it with family too. 
It's hard to know what is happening. I'm not even sure the government know what is happening either x