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

humptydumptybits

angel_nicx wrote: »

My grandma always makes us a little basket (shoebox covered in wrapping paper) of little things we like... chocolate, bath bomb etc. We still love them now in our 30s

That sounds nice, the two teenagers love Nandos so I was thinking of a Nandos gift card, could then add some bits and pieces.

humptydumptybits

angel_nicx wrote: »

Hello all. Joining my first forum in a while so please be kind :-)

I have 3 (not so) little ones to buy for: DS 15, DD 13 and DS 8. Along with various other family members so I'm enjoying all of your inspirational ideas.

Unfortunately, Christmas has not quite felt "right" for the past couple of years but I can't put my finger on why. Perhaps because my brother has starting spending time with my SIL family? Hoping to make this one particularly enjoyable with all of your help

X

Last Christmas didn't go well for me, not sure why either except new DIL and other DIL don't like each other, they tolerate but it doesn't make for a nice atmosphere. Don't know what to do about it. Maybe it would be better if one did go to their own family but of course that means son would be missing.

Mrs_Ryan

Hi again everyone
Well after OH’s big win last Sunday, I went along to bingo last Thursday as it’s free bingo night but I pay for some tickets on the touchpads. The first game of the second half is a national link game- linked with all the clubs in the UK and I only won 2 lines netting myself £1000! It would have been 2k but someone in Scotland called at the same time I had won on 2 other games as well so I won a total of £1055!
Most of it paid for our honeymoon travel- ferry to and from Belfast, the sleeper tickets to Aberdeen and our flights from Inverness to East Midlands. I also treated myself- I bought myself some new trainers (my old ones were wrecked) and some other bits.
I went back down to London today- I wanted to get to a few places I didn’t manage to last week: still didn’t get to Selfridges Christmas shop I was just over the road but hadn’t eaten and was feeling a bit faint so by the time I had eaten I couldn’t be bothered to fight my way through the crowds again!
I went to Harrods and got my dad some really good whisky. We’re going to give the bottle I had originally bought to OH’s dad instead. I got him 2 boxes of Bassett’s Liquorice Allsorts with my shopping from Tesco the other day (its a running joke in our family that my dad loves Liquorice Allsorts but never gets near them as everyone else always eats them first ) and some Old Spice stuff in Boots the other day.
I got OH some PJ’s from Jack Wills (I wish he had less expensive tastes :rotfl: unfortunately for me he loves that shop :rotfl:) a polo top from Hollister, and a big Kilner type jar containing mustard from Fortnum and Mason. I also got him three boxes of his favourite tea from there as well.
I bought him some moccasin slippers from Superdry last Xmas, unsure if he would like them, but not only did he absolutely love them, he’s worn them out and asked me to get him some more this Christmas! I’ve just picked up the black ones- I initially wanted to get him those last Xmas but they didn’t have his size- for half price on the Superdry website with free delivery which I was really pleased at.
I bought two boxes of tea for my friend, and her Elemis stuff from QVC arrived today.
Well after all this buying for other people- thought I deserved a treat! I bought myself two tracksuits- one a rather lovely cheery red one from Hollister and one a white hoodie with multicolour print and matching pink and black leggings from Forever 21.
I noticed that Tesco have their gift sets in now, and I’m seeing lots of Xmas puddings, mince pies etc about the place. Harrods and Fortnums both had decent sized Christmas sections in their food halls as well. Had a look but nothing caught my eye.

humptydumptybits

Just wondered if anyone knows if Sainsbury's are doing their double up for Nectar points this year. I've got £60 so doubled up would be handy.

humptydumptybits

Well done Mrs Ryan, how wonderful. I've never won much, a hamper once when I was almost 9 months pregnant and quite hard up and I was so excited. Other than that I think I won £10 on the lottery once. Can't imagine how excited I'd be with £1000.


Just remembered when I was about 10 I won £7.50, well it was ten shillings then. My dad had bought us all some tickets and I won, I didn't even know I had a ticket. I spent £5 buy some new lino for my mum for the kitchen, £1.50 taking my gran and my sister to the cinema. I had £1 for me but funnily enough I can't remember what I did with that. Poor dad, he bought the ticket but didn't get anything! Actually he was pleased mum got what she wanted. He died a couple of years later, he was already ill at this time but of course us kids didn't realise.


Sorry, that wasn't very merry was it.

VeronicaMars

Congratulations on your win - that's amazing!!! :beer:

Your Dad sounds lovely

I'm back everyone. I literally only come on for Christmas on here these days

I've just done an online wine shop :T 6 bottles of red and two proseccos! My local Aldi never has any decent ones in store so I was buying some Mermaid blankets for my girls (for Christmas) and thought I would just get my wine in!

Feeling very very organised already - this calms me down :rotfl:

Already got them a few other gifts and got stuff to collect from M&S tomorrow (they LOVE clothes randomly!!)

Wrapped some other presents today for some nieces that live abroad so will be getting their presents sent end of October!

THE BIG THING WE NEED to work on this year is preparing some of the Christmas dinner before Christmas day - and by that I mean pre-cooking as I felt my husband spent most of the day in the kitchen last year.

Lots of researching will be required - any tips?

What do you cook before Christmas so you don't spend much time in the kitchen?

mandco

VeronicaMars wrote: »

THE BIG THING WE NEED to work on this year is preparing some of the Christmas dinner before Christmas day - and by that I mean pre-cooking as I felt my husband spent most of the day in the kitchen last year.

Lots of researching will be required - any tips?

What do you cook before Christmas so you don't spend much time in the kitchen?

everything - we do dinner xmas eve no cooking for me xmas day

Most roastable veg/roast potatoes can be pre/part cooked and reheated/finished on the day which saves a good chunk of time
stuffing can be pre made . I would have a few trial runs to see what works best for you but its possible to get most of those ready well in advance.
Other veg can be prepped the day before ready for cooking - doing all the peeling & chopping in advance saves a lot of time

Mrs Ryan congrats on the wins sounds like your doing great with the xmas planning

welcome newbies

Noodles Its so hard with asd kids I find with ds that I can not buy too far in advance as what he likes now he may not like next week the only thing that stays consistent is his obsession with the ipad. I do make him a couple of mini hampers - one with his favourite snacks in and another with some stationary stuff as he loves to draw not expensive but practical and looks more substantial. Are there any activities she likes or places she likes going to that you could make up voucher for? A cinema trip, bowling, trampoline park, animal park ect

Angel nicx I found as the kids get older xmas seems to lose a little of the magic/feel off as they have less interest in the build up to the day itself so finding new ways to connect as a family or starting new traditions based on what is now age appropriate can help make it feel more special again. My older ones have outgrown a lot of the xmas activities taz is still young enough to want to do so will often opt out of doing them so trying to find things that we can all do as a family is harder however they will still join in with our weekly xmas movie nights and xmas baking(ok mostly the eating of) so I try to make the most of those times.

Mrs_Ryan

Hi all
Managed to crack on a bit further.
Every year I buy my best friend Snow Fairy stuff from Lush, but that only comes out around Christmas. I managed to find a big box on EBay plus a bottle of the Snow Fairy shower cream. I also got her a Snow Fairy scented candle which I thought might be interesting! I also ordered a Dove set for my mum.
I got OH a big jar of mustard flavour pork scratchings (he loves them ) and I ordered a box of sugar free chocolates for my dad from Harrods of all places :rotfl: rather annoyingly they took the money three times so I had to phone and complain- I put my best posh phone voice on :rotfl: I guess that probably to the majority of their customers £46 isn’t a lot of money but to me it is!
OH’s calendar comes out in a couple of weeks and then his other calendar usually comes out about November time. I’m not buying anything else for anyone I told everyone this year that it would be a lean year as my civil partnership would be claiming all my money but that’s gone out the window

angel_nicx

VeronicaMars wrote: »

THE BIG THING WE NEED to work on this year is preparing some of the Christmas dinner before Christmas day - and by that I mean pre-cooking as I felt my husband spent most of the day in the kitchen last year.

Lots of researching will be required - any tips?

What do you cook before Christmas so you don't spend much time in the kitchen?

My SIL used loads of slow cookers last year apparently. Said they worked at treat for keeping things warm until ready to serve.

angel_nicx

mandco wrote: »

Angel nicx I found as the kids get older xmas seems to lose a little of the magic/feel off as they have less interest in the build up to the day itself so finding new ways to connect as a family or starting new traditions based on what is now age appropriate can help make it feel more special again. My older ones have outgrown a lot of the xmas activities taz is still young enough to want to do so will often opt out of doing them so trying to find things that we can all do as a family is harder however they will still join in with our weekly xmas movie nights and xmas baking(ok mostly the eating of) so I try to make the most of those times.

Xmas baking is a great idea! Definitely need some new traditions. X