* Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas * - It's the 2019 Christmas Chatter Thread

CEW

Opee92 wrote: »

Yay thank you for the warm welcome! So lovely to see so many familiar names!
OH won an incentive at work so came home with a £20 love2shop card last night and has very kindly said I can use it to pick up some presents if I like as he has no use for it (the shopping is definitely left down to me 😂) so I’ve got a couple of bits reserved in Argos for DS2 so i’ll put the £20 I was going to use on them in my savings pot and use the card instead.

Our big festive treat this year is a surprise trip to London with the kids. We’re planning to go Friday-Sunday the last weekend of November (god knows what we’re thinking....last payday weekend before Christmas 😂) the kids have never been before and I LOVE London at Christmas time so thought it’d be a lovely treat for them.

Hi All, only recently found this thread and am slowly reading through all the posts. Going backwards so at least I'm up to date with the latest news.

Just wanted to say not sure how old your children are Opee but if you are visiting London a trip to Hamleys in Regent Street is generally a winner. 5 floors of toys and usually lots of demonstrations and hands on for the kids. My daughter always loved it there.

Whatever you do in London I'm sure you will enjoy it. There's definitely lots to do including quite a few things for free :money:

Well I'm off to read some more.

Mrs_Ryan

Hello everyone
Nice to see everyone getting stuck into Christmas prep. I know I say this every year but this year I mean it- I’ve pretty much finished my shopping (aside from a few bits) and those who I am finished for are getting nothing else! Me and OH are getting civilly partnered in February and December will see me having to pay out £350 in registrars fees plus train tickets for my mum and dad to come down for the ceremony so I’m getting what I’m getting now and no more! OH won £1,000 on the bingo last night (he’s a jammy beggar- He’s been three times, last time he won £200! I only managed to win £150 last night )but he kindly gave me some of his winnings so alongside my winnings and some of my own money I went down to London today and blitzed my shopping. My poor feet though- I walked from Tottenham Court Road Tube (actually a bit beyond) to Marble Arch Tube :eek:

it’s also my mum’s 70th and my nephew’s 21st within 4 days of each other in October, (with my sister’s birthday thrown in the middle for good measure) alongside my two best friend’s birthdays within a few days of each other in September Fortunately I bought my mum’s birthday present (a Lulu Guinness handbag- she’s wanted one for ages) in a sale at a local department store back in February so that’s one less thing to worry about. Birthdays all sorted, now, Christmas....
Here’s my list so far (as I say, pretty much done with a few exceptions- there’s only a couple of things I have to wait for)

Mum- Victoria’s Secret pj’s, Jo Malone candle ( she asked for pj’s as her only gift but I wanted to get her some really nice ones. I wear VS PJ’s myself and they’re so comfy!) I got her a Jo Malone candle for Mother’s Day but shes never used it, she just keeps it by her bed and sniffs it occasionally:D I hope she will use this one!

Dad- Irish whiskey, diabetic socks (I’m going to order the socks tomorrow- my dad is so hard to buy for but mum told me to get him socks!)

Sister- Boux Avenue PJ’s (I got her some similar to these ones and she adored them so this was easy enough)
BIL- I have no idea, I need to put some thought into this! I quite like the look of the Bulldog razors that are currently on offer in Boots with the skincare range though.
Nephew 1- Ted Baker body spray set
Nephew 2- Superdry sport toiletries set
Niece- Victoria’s Secret body spray and body lotion

Best friend 1- I always get her Lush Snow Fairy stuff so it will likely be the big and small bottle of the body wash plus bubble wand but that will likely be the last present I buy as I have to wait for it to come out
Best friend 2- I’ve ordered her some skincare stuff from Avon, plus 2 bottles of perfume, some body sprays, and a warm blanket scarf, gloves and thick chenille cosy socks. We go the rugby together and she’s forever asking if I have a spare scarf or gloves for her! She’s also a coffee fiend so I try and get her some nice coffee every year. The perfume and Avon stuff are on order but will be here soon.

OH-
Jack Wills hoodie (this was bargain of the year- £68 reduced to £32!)
Jack Wills socks and boxers (also reduced)
Steve Backshall book
Rolling Stones live CD
And I need to order his Countryfile calendar and pick up his Leicester Tigers calendar in time too.

Just need to order my dads socks and get something for BIL then I’m sorted

StokieBecks

Sounds like you have got it all in hand Mrs_Ryan!

Today will be spent producing my personalised calendars now my codes are finally working. Also need to make two birthday cards.

No doubt will probably be searching for present ideas throughout the day too. Also check what funds are left in the Christmas pot as bought quite a bit over the weekend.

LMG1305

You're all so organised! I'm trying to get organised but I can't buy much yet because we are hopefully moving soon, so I don't want to add to the mountain of things we already have to pack. As soon as we have moved though I have lots of plans

I did buy one thing today though, a Christmas magazine from Tesco. I don't buy magazines at all throughout the year, but always buy the Christmas ones when they are out.

Mrs_Ryan

Hi everyone!

Got some more bits done. I went into Boots the other day and they had 1/3 off their Bulldog shaving range, so I got BIL a set which includes the bamboo handled razor, shaving gel and moisturiser- it was marked at £15 but with the 1/3rd off came to £9 which I was really happy with.
I also completely forgot to buy something for my other friend- I always try and get her something lovely for Christmas as she takes me to church and Slimming World weekly all through the year. She likes Elemis stuff so I got her a set of shower nectar and body creams from QVC- as a new customer I got £5 off so basically got free postage.

Got my dad’s socks from M&S as well and even picked up some Christmas wrap from Card Factory.

The stuff from Avon came today for my friend as well- I picked her up some L’Or coffee from Tesco as it was on offer for £4 and a fizzy apple Impulse body spray (I have some myself and it’s gorgeous!) which was on offer in Boots. So she has three body sprays, 3 bottles of fragrance (another friend does the FM fragrances which use the same oils as ‘real’ fragrances, so I’ve got two bottles of her ‘favourite fragrances’ plus a bottle from Avon) cocoa butter body lotion and a tub of pure cocoa butter and hand cream, two ‘chocolate’ shower cremes and a ‘vanilla ice cream’ shower cream, plus her socks, gloves and scarf.
Just waiting on her perfume now- the friend who does it is posting it to me.

I went into Tesco yesterday and noticed that they have a small Christmas section- nothing much of interest as yet but I have a feeling it will come soon. Just have to wait for the calendars (usually around October time) and the Lush Snow Fairy stuff (usually again around early October time) and then I can start wrapping

princesskitty29

Hi all, just read back and caught up but don't have time to post now, just wanted to let you know that Tesco have boxes of matchmakers for 75p at the moment if that helps anyone. x

Clumsy42

Hello everyone. Remember me? I've not posted in months! Practically most of the year has gone! :rotfl:


Went on John Lewis earlier. They now have a Christmas section to peruse. :T


I have actually read back everything I've missed. Hope things for those having a hard time are looking up now.


I mentioned earlier this year we needed builders. Well they're finally here. Outside brick work/structural stuff is done. Waiting for decorating now. Should hopefully be done within the month. Can't wait to move back into my bedroom (this time hopefully without the colony of woodlice!! :eek:).


Christmas wise I've started my mum's advent calendar (diabetic - prefers 25 little presents to chocolate/makeup/candles). But don't have much yet.



Looking forward to the run up to Christmas with you all.

princesskitty29

I’m in awe of everyone who has done lots of their present shopping, I always seem to have stuff I can’t get until nearer the time in case it needs to be returned etc. So I got my presents wrapped and taken over to my parents, it was a bit strange wrapping in the bright sunshine, I usually like there to be a bit of Christmas spirit around when I’m wrapping! I’m going to need to buy more and get it over there somehow before Christmas otherwise we’ll never get everything in the car at Christmas time. I bought my mum a book for Christmas last month but when I was there I saw it on her bookshelf – my dad had beaten me to it! So that’s one less present for my mum at the moment. Happily I picked up a DVD for the Christmas Eve hamper from a charity shop for £1, it’s Raymond Briggs’ ‘Father Christmas’. Wiggle loves The Snowman so I hope he enjoys this too.

I’m currently reading a library book called ‘Mystery in White’, I chose it in the end because it was ‘a Christmas crime story!’ Not my usual light hearted Christmas read! :rotfl: Although thankfully it’s an Agatha Christie type murder mystery not a John Grisham thriller which I’m pleased about as it suits me much better.

So things are quieter once again as Wiggle has gone back to school and into Year 1. I didn’t have time to think about it in the morning when we were getting ready but I had a little cry when I got home. Then I was mightily cheered up when the post came as my mum had posted me the Good Food Homemade Christmas magazine! Made my day.

Welcome newbies! :wave:

Welcome back Clumsy! Good to hear from you.I hope the decorating is done swiftly so you can get back to normal.

sammy the snowman boxes look great!

Stokie well done on the comp win that sounds amazing!

Joyful thanks for The Range heads up.

Welcome back Mrs Ryan – great win for DH! It sounds like you're on a roll with your present shopping again.

StokieBecks

Anyone got any ideas how I can jazz up an e-voucher to give as a gift? For part of my prize I asked for 5 x £20 Miller and Carter vouchers as I often buy them for gifts but they have come via email and not actual giftcards so now not even sure I will gift them.

Other bits of the prize are supposed to be coming in the week - so exciting.

lazysheep

princesskitty29 wrote: »

Hi all, just read back and caught up but don't have time to post now, just wanted to let you know that Tesco have boxes of matchmakers for 75p at the moment if that helps anyone. x

Was about to post about the same things! 5 flavours in my local store - mint, orange, salted caramel, gingerbread and maple and pecan. Only on offer until 10th I think.