* Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas * - It's the 2019 Christmas Chatter Thread 24 December 2018 at 8:09PM edited 24 December 2018 at 8:34PM in Special occasions & other celebrations 868 replies 121.5K views

mrsinvisible

glad to find the new thread, great to see new and old friends here already. haven't been to the sales yet, as l have enough wrap and tags to sink a ship.

nic2075

I had a quick look round the shops yesterday. Didn’t see anything that I hadn’t seen reduced before Christmas. I did pick up a little fox needle felting kit. Had fun trying that our earlier today. Even if I did stab my fingers several times. And my fox is a tad wonky. It is now on the Christmas tree next to our wonky felt giraffe that my DS chose in December lol.

I have already started my Christmas saving. I need to more than ever. I’m taking the kids to a Eurocamp in northern France in July. We all need passports. And dis has his P7 residential trip (£250) to be paid before April. I don’t know how I’m going to pay for it all. My belt with tightened severely for the first half of the year.

Mischiefmanaged

Hi all

Lurker here but really want to join in and be a little more organised this year.

Christmas went really well on the whole but December seemed to fly buy and even though presents were bought nice and early I was still rushing around nearer the day.

Thinking forward I've decided a couple of things-
Frozen Turkey crown as we have so much leftover and it was on the dry side. Everytime we have fresh it seems drier so sticking with frozen.

Nigellas ham in coke- a hit with everybody

M and S Veg- bought mash and red cabbage and it was great ( though I didn't like the mash but everyone else did) and it was so easy. All veg apart from roasties will be bought from here next year.

Takeaway Christmas eve- loved it though I did make pudding.

Krispy Kreme doughnuts for breakfast Christmas Morning- universally loved by everyone. 8 seconds in the microwave so there a little warm. Not to filling but seemed like a lovely treat.

Started our savings for 2019 and trying to plan ahead where we can x

Treasurequeen

Started my savings, £1 a day going into a savings account. I don’t miss it leaving my account and it will add up to pay for next Christmas.

Managed to get most of my special Christmas cards reduced. Also got tom smith boxed cards reduced to 75p a box.

fizz1987

hi.. please can i join ... i have been watching from afar but never joined anything.. i love all the advice.. but wasn't brave enough to join...

Peppapig

Welcome to the thread LINDIZ, TEABODY, MISCHIEFMANAGED and FIZZ. We really are a friendly lot so do stick around.:D

NIC needle felting is one of the crafts I want to try this year, maybe a kit would be a good way to start for me. The other one is mosaic.

I’ve made a list of lessons learnt this year so I don’t make the same mistakes, they include making sure I’ve got the basics in because I focussed so much on the actual Christmas food this year I nearly ran out of oil for the roasties and vegetable gravy granules.

I’m doing the same savings plan as I did last year as it worked well. I set a budget for everyone and worked out the cost of all the birthday and Christmas pressies for the year (we have a lot) plus the Christmas food cost then put away a twelfth of that every month. Hopefully it’ll work as well this year too.

Haven’t been to the shops as have been a bit under the weather but I’m hoping there’ll be something left next week. I’ve got a few birthdays to come this month so I’m hoping to be lucky and pick up some bargain pressies.

mrsinvisible

Peppa, yes, l am so with you, everyday storecupboard items will go on the checklist. Also started saving towards next year, 4 of us save £10 a week, draw out £500 last Friday in November, and the £20 left in gives us Christmas and new year weeks 'free'.
The Christmas cupboard still has loads of adults presents in it, so l can pull back on those. l will say again very sternly, l will not go to the boots 70% sale.....
Christmas dinner was fine, but l forgot to do the red cabbage, so will need to make it into something this week. DS1s vegan meals have been easier to do, and so far, three of the main meals we have all had, veg chilli, stuffed red onions in filo pastry, and ultimate nut burgers.

nic2075

I recommend needle felting Peppa. It was fun, even though my fingers hurt today. Both from stabbing them and my arthritis. The kit I used came with a white felt shaped fox already. I actually felt this was harder to attach the felt onto, rather than shaping it yourself. I watched a few you tube videos as I went. I also joined a needle felting UK fb page. So plenty of ideas and info on there. I’m sure you will be great at it as your really crafty.

3forholidays

Mischiefmanaged wrote: »

Hi all

Lurker here but really want to join in and be a little more organised this year.

Christmas went really well on the whole but December seemed to fly buy and even though presents were bought nice and early I was still rushing around nearer the day.

Thinking forward I've decided a couple of things-
Frozen Turkey crown as we have so much leftover and it was on the dry side. Everytime we have fresh it seems drier so sticking with frozen.

Nigellas ham in coke- a hit with everybody

M and S Veg- bought mash and red cabbage and it was great ( though I didn't like the mash but everyone else did) and it was so easy. All veg apart from roasties will be bought from here next year.

Takeaway Christmas eve- loved it though I did make pudding.

Krispy Kreme doughnuts for breakfast Christmas Morning- universally loved by everyone. 8 seconds in the microwave so there a little warm. Not to filling but seemed like a lovely treat.

Started our savings for 2019 and trying to plan ahead where we can x

Welcome to the thread MischiefManaged. We have had a frozen turkey bit for the Christmas dinner for several years - we are just a small family of 3 adults and don’t want to be eating turkey for days so buying frozen means that we can get the appropriate size.

3forholidays

fizz1987 wrote: »

hi.. please can i join ... i have been watching from afar but never joined anything.. i love all the advice.. but wasn't brave enough to join...

Welcome to the thread fizz1987. Feel free to post when you can.