Champagne Lifestyle on a Lemonade Budget.

Nargleblast

My champagne moments for this Christmas season will be opening a door in my beauty advent calendar every day from 1st December onwards. My husband died suddenly back in the summer, and my son is away with friends for Christmas and New Year. My shifts at work (two long shifts a week so plenty of leisure time) mean I will be at home Christmas Day with the dog and cats, which is how I want it to be for this first Christmas alone.

My husband last year bought me the Liberty calendar (bargain on eBay) and the year before the Marks and Spencer's one, and it was lovely, having a little present to open each day, so I decided to keep up the tradition. This year's calendar is a Rituals one, and it's due to arrive today so I am excited. You can pick up these calendars sometimes quite cheaply online, and can even get ones leftover from last year at bargain prices.

I also look upon Christmas as not just 25th December but a whole season where you can have lots of small celebrations and you don't get that sense of anticlimax on Boxing Day. I recommend the book Merry Midwinter by Gillian Monks, a very comforting read that talks about celebrations right from Halloween through to mid January. It gives ideas on how to celebrate, recipes, gifts, decorations, traditions, all of which need not cost an arm and a leg.

Wednesday2000

Nargleblast wrote: »

My champagne moments for this Christmas season will be opening a door in my beauty advent calendar every day from 1st December onwards. My husband died suddenly back in the summer, and my son is away with friends for Christmas and New Year. My shifts at work (two long shifts a week so plenty of leisure time) mean I will be at home Christmas Day with the dog and cats, which is how I want it to be for this first Christmas alone.

My husband last year bought me the Liberty calendar (bargain on eBay) and the year before the Marks and Spencer's one, and it was lovely, having a little present to open each day, so I decided to keep up the tradition. This year's calendar is a Rituals one, and it's due to arrive today so I am excited. You can pick up these calendars sometimes quite cheaply online, and can even get ones leftover from last year at bargain prices.

:grouphug:I'm sorry to read about your husband. xxx

candygirl

Wednesday2000 wrote: »

:grouphug:I'm sorry to read about your husband. xxx

Me too hun:( I'm glad You've treated Yourself, in His memory:A

mrs_slapshot

Wednesday2000 wrote: »

:grouphug:I'm sorry to read about your husband. xxx

Me too - what a fab way to keep the tradition going with a special advent calendar xx

lessonlearned

Hello Nargleblast.

So sorry to hear about your husband. :grouphug:

Sounds like you have planned what feels right for you. That's all you can do really. And, yes keeping up with traditions is a lovely way to honour his memory.

Well I've got a bit of a dilemma. Car playing up again. Is it time to send it to the big car park in the sky. I can't get it into the garage until 19th December to get it checked so I'm going to have a trial run to see how I manage without one.

Tbh I hate driving and only do around 2k Miles a year so I reckon I probably could manage without. We have good transport links, I have a free bus pass and any taxi trips I might need to take would only be around £10. Probably a lot cheaper than running a car. I have never really enjoyed driving and the roads round here get so congested it can be quite stressful.

Anyway I'll see how I go.

Nice champagne moments today......

Just spoken to my son. He lives close the river and it's been very high but they've closed the flood gates and his house is not at risk tonight. They are in the orange zone, not the red and the river levels started falling already.

(He insisted on buying the house:rotfl:). I can see why he loves it so much and why he was keen to take it on.

It's beautiful, large, rambling, Georgian Grade 11 listed. It was dirt cheap, partly because it was in such a state of neglect but also because of the flood risk. Anyway since he moved in the council have built new flood defences and he has almost finished the renovations, turning a sorry unloved wreck into a lovely comfortable home.

Anyway it appears his gamble has paid off......as long as the new flood defences hold.

lessonlearned

2nd champagne moment.

My friend came round, bought me a coconut cake she had made. Yummy. When she heard about my car being out of action she insisted on taking me to Asda to do a top up shop to get me started on my car free experiment. bless her, such a sweet thing to do.

Anyway the freezer and cupboards are chock full so I have time to plan how best to survive without wheels

The more I think about it the more I'm looking forward to giving it a try.

sugarbaby125

My Champagne moment on Thursday 7th November was going to see the film The Areonauts at Streatham Odeon using my Odeon Limitless card. I also got a free bar of Areo at the cinema. I really enjoyed this film and I would give this film 9/10

Yesterday, I spent the whole day with my eldest daughter and her husband in Andover. It was great to catch up with the both of them and have a laugh and watch films with my daughter.

Siebrie

A friend was clearing out her kitchen cupboard (she houseshares with her Dad, and lives on the top floor of their house; her kitchen is a corner of her living room, thus tiny), and gave me several specialty teas and teabags. I am now enjoying the Nepalese white tea, in the sunshine in my garden, taking a break from pruning the gooseberry

pollypenny

Just had a lovely champagne few days in London on my very much lemonade budget


Hotel booked using BA airmiles, in their sale. Tickets for the Blake exhibition full price for DD, senior discount for me. Lovely meal on the meerkats on Thursday, followed by discounted tickets to see an amazing show:

Come from Away. It was set in Gander, Newfoundland, about the 38 planes stranded there after 9/11.

candygirl

pollypenny wrote: »

Just had a lovely champagne few days in London on my very much lemonade budget


Hotel booked using BA airmiles, in their sale. Tickets for the Blake exhibition full price for DD, senior discount for me. Lovely meal on the meerkats on Thursday, followed by discounted tickets to see an amazing show:

Come from Away. It was set in Gander, Newfoundland, about the 38 planes stranded there after 9/11.

Sounds like a fab weekend hun