Christmas 2018 - Mega index and Christmas chat!!!!

dingdongsaving

I love seeing what everyone is up to and now the school term has ended I have time to 'join in' and not just skim and run. :T 1 of my aims for 2019 is to create more time to enjoy being on here. I do find time on here is very calming and helps me relax and get my 'home mind and thoughts' together.

How lovely to have a week with your niece with lots of Christmas elements VfM. I hope you get to 'see' her and chat next week to keep your festive spirits high.

I have 6 more gifts to wrap. Yep, I found a bag stashed away that I just couldn't locate last weekend when I did the wrapping while DH took the kids out for a couple of hours.

Food shop this weekend should nail it until the next weekend even with 8 of us from tomorrow. We have a pantry that has space to store bits for the larger crowd and a chest freezer I've gradually filled with meals to just pull out and bake with a nice salad or some bread. Christmas day and Boxing day we have turkey and then a leftovers special of turkey, leek, bacon and cranberry pie. I think I love this even more than the roast. lol. By the 27th we'll be ready for a few of days of soup and sandwiches and from the 30th I'm thinking home made nibbles, a ham and some cheese will get us to through the last few days of togetherness without too much stress. I love to cook, but want the fun and time together to be the main current of the holiday and not time alone and flapping in a kitchen. It's rare we have both sides of our families together and hubby off work for Christmas so I want to relish it.

Think today will be a quiet day. The kids are asking if we can just watch Christmas tv and make soft gingerbread and I must say that sounds perfect. When hubby gets home from work I'll do that final bit of secret wrapping and then we can go with the flow with our house at double capacity from tomorrow.:rotfl:

Take care all. :xmassmile

creative_gal

Well, I had this week off, as my Birthday was at the start of the week, and it has simply flown by. However, I have managed to do all my pressie wrapping (even though it meant a detour into town to get some more wrapping paper), and write all my cards. I'm just trying to summon the will right now to have a big tidy for Christmas- we're going to the in laws on Christmas day, but we've got friends coming over tomorrow to exchange presents and it would be nice if the house looked decent for once.

nannywindow

I couldn't sleep last night so finally gave in and went food shopping. DH and I were in Tes*o before 5am and it was lovely and quiet :j. So all the food shopping is done and if I have forgotten anything that's too bad, all the presents have been bought and wrapped and the cakes iced. We went to DD's this morning after shopping, to put together a dolls house for the DGD. It took us nearly 3 hrs and it's huge :eek:.
Tomorrow I shall clean the house and do the last of the washing and ironing. After that I can relax and start to enjoy myself. :xmassmile

VfM4meplse

It feels so weird to have an empty home now. I feel knackered after a full-on week entertaining a bundle of limitless energy and am chilling with my customary Christmas Irish Cream. It was such incredible fun, I even enjoyed restoring my surroundings from their trashed-by-a-3yo state whilst I waited for her call to say she was home safe.

Today we packed loads in, including a making a giant Christmas Tree cake which was duly chunked up and distributed in several different directions. It has been some time since I've baked a sponge and this turned out well - it looked like it was decorated by a paediatric Jackson Pollock, but tasted great!

It does feel strange not having sat at my computer all week, nor having any downtime picking up a book. Am making up for the missed opportunity now though

VfM4meplse

Well it’s approaching lunchtime and all my last-minute running around is over

I didn’t stop to make a cup of tea this morning, is it wrong to want to start with Baileys?

VfM4meplse

beenthere_donethat wrote: »

I say 'go for it!' After all, it is Christmas

In that case, Noddy gets my vote: I wish it could be Christmas every day....

freyasmum

What a week!

I hope everyone had a fantastic Christmas and managed to spend time with everybody they wanted to.

VfM, my daughter has now gone to her dad's for a few days and the house is too quiet without her.

I spent the most fantastic few days with my family before driving back home with a car to rival Santa's sleigh! :eek:

We had my OHs family over for Christmas Day and spent it eating opening gifts (of which there were far too many) and playing games. It was a fantastic Christmas, save for not seeing my family onthe day itself That's the first Christmas I have spent apart from my family!

I ran out of time to make my limoncello pavlova, but we have SO much food. My OH is a massive over caterer, so I will be taking more control of the eats and drinks next year!

I'm just going to have a bowlful of lentil and ham soup with a parbaked baguette. It's the simple things!

So now that this Christmas is over, does anyone have any tips/lessons learnt for next year? Mine is not to let him near the shops unsupervised! :rotfl:


Now is that time to start looking for cards and wrap for next year.