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

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  • mandco
    mandco Posts: 1,214 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    edited 11 October 2019 at 2:20PM
    welcome stirchleygirl

    GTQ def some hot choc/snowman soup maybe a nice mug/travel mug to put it in? fluffy socks

    freespirit really good to hear your starting to feel better. I find it hard with the fibro as you never really know if its that that is causing your issues or if it is something else.

    CazD2008 I know hosting xmas dinner can be daunting but its really just a fancy roast. I would suggest starting with making a list of who is coming and what if any food restrictions they have then narrowing down what food you want to provide for starters /main /dessert. Quite a few places do food to order which while often more expensive than doing from scratch but takes a lot of the pressure off and saves a lot of time too.

    Peppa I've got a kind of brexit(emergency) box on the go basically just stocking up on things I know we use anyway and thing we would maybe struggle without if I couldn't get them for a while for any reason be that brexit issues, health problems or bad weather. I just pick up a few bits each time I go shopping and its really just an extension of the xmas box I run which usually covers the basics over xmas/newyear so I have more cash to spend on the extras.
    We all had flu at the beginning of the year and I was so ill there was no way I would have coped without the backups - toilet roll diarrhoea meds,rehydration meds, painkillers and antibac wipes are a must.

    Manged to get the candy cane gin in aldi :D
    forgot to say they also had bags of brandy infused mixed fruits £3.25 so picked up some for my xmas bakes

    Saw some festive dinner pringles in a discount type store they had cocktail sauce & prosecco with pink peppercorn flavours
    this year do something that scares you for courage is not the absence of fear just the knowledge that some things are worth the risk
  • Clumsy42
    Clumsy42 Posts: 166 Forumite
    Sixth Anniversary 100 Posts
    JJ - was it you that wanted sloth ideas? FatFace has some cute sloth gifts in their Christmas section.



    Welcome stirchleygirl! :wave:
    “In 900 years of time and space, I’ve never met anyone who wasn’t important”
    - Eleventh Doctor
  • aimeemum
    aimeemum Posts: 687 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 500 Posts Xmas Saver!
    Peppapig wrote: »
    AIMEEMUM that’s inspired, I think that might be my plan this year too.

    .

    I did it myself a couple of years ago. With 3 small children I didn;t want to miss the fun, but equally I wanted a 'proper' dinner as previous years we've done other things like having it on Boxing Day or just having turkey dinosaurs! :rotfl:

    This year we're having friends over the dinner on Christmas Eve, so we'll do the full spread then (haven't decided what the actual meal will consist of, just know it's going to be a full works job lol) and make sure there's plenty and then it'll be leftover 'manwiches' with chunky chips for dinner on the big day! :o
    Changing my Family's Future!! - Starting again!!!!
    Current Progress -
    Debt - Start date 14/4/25 = £14,880.45
    Savings Goal = £1000 EF - £0/£1000 = 0%
  • Beshki
    Beshki Posts: 247 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 100 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    It would be worth it. There’s a lovely cafe and a nice walk there too if that’s your kind of thing x
  • My mind hasn’t really been on Christmas the past couple of weeks as we’ve had work done in our house which was quite disruptive as I had to be out with Squeak every day because it was all downstairs in our living areas, then we had BiL’s wedding yesterday. It was a really lovely wedding but boy weddings are hard with a 5 year old and 2 year old! That said I did order a few bits with my online food shop; a can of pink G&T for my best friend, some pigs in blankets flavoured crisps for my BiL and a large bag of sharing Maltesers for the film hamper I’m doing for my best friend and her two boys.

    heebie my local Tesco has Fruit Pastilles tubes if that is any good?

    Hi and welcome stirchleygirl! :wave: Sorry to hear you’re not doing too well at the moment. It sounds like you’re doing well with your presents though! I have a spreadsheet too as it’s so helpful keeping track of everything.

    GTQ how about some hand warmers?

    freespirit I’m so glad to hear you are feeling better, long may it continue!

    Caz I agree with others, buy nice ready made food or make your own in advance. I always cook and freeze my stuffing, bread sauce and Yorkshire puddings in advance and cook my turkey the day before. I believe people make roasties in advance although I have not yet done this. I prep veg the day before, I always use fresh veg but to be honest I’m wondering why I do as I don’t do anything fancy with it so may as well use frozen!
  • Beshki
    Beshki Posts: 247 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 100 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    I have two mobile phones to buy as presents. Both have a bit of money off them at the moment and so I would like to buy them and put them away, but do you think it’s better waiting until closer to the time? I’m thinking of perhaps if something is faulty with them upon first using etc, warranty’s?
  • Beshki wrote: »
    I have two mobile phones to buy as presents. Both have a bit of money off them at the moment and so I would like to buy them and put them away, but do you think it’s better waiting until closer to the time? I’m thinking of perhaps if something is faulty with them upon first using etc, warranty’s?

    With things like that, I recon you'll get a bargain at Black Friday.
  • freespirit66
    freespirit66 Posts: 3,226 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker Photogenic
    Evening everyone, hope everyone is well. I’ve bought some Christmas sweets and biscuits while they are on offer, saving some money. I’ve ordered a pair of Christmas pjs for DS, I think they are hilarious, they really tickled me, I hope he thinks they’re funny :D DD2 wants us to go to theirs for Christmas dinner, which I’m totally down for :D Thumper can play with his presents then.

    PEPPAPIG thankyou, a brexit box is really what MANDCO said, a few extra bits that we use, that we wouldn’t want to be without. Just in case, I laughed at DD1 in the beginning but the amount of anger in this country, we just don’t know what will happen. I’m already having some trouble getting my hrt :D

    MANDCO no that’s exactly how I feel, I never know if it’s the fibro, colitis or diabetes! Some of the symptoms are the same!

    PRINCESSKITTY thankyou my lovely

    NIC how are you feeling?
    #103 1p Saving Challenge Back to Front 293.94/665.95Currently Reading: Christmas at Cedarwood Lodge - Rebecca Raisin Debt Free thanks to MSE
  • I’ve ordered a pair of Christmas pjs for DS, I think they are hilarious, they really tickled me, I hope he thinks they’re funny :D

    Oh come on, you've got to tell us more...!
  • hi again

    thanks for the welcome messages

    Stirchley is south of Birmininingham and is part of the city sprawl tho historicly it was a vilag and ther ar signs sayinining welcome to Stirchley vilag

    the estat I liv on has lots of matur trees and a variety of wild lif visit my garden includinining foxs it is ner kings heath park so it is a very green and quiet plac to liv despit the 'city' locaton

    on a non Christmas note pleas check that if yur home has any gas that yu hav a carbon monoxid detecter
    mine went of for the first tim this mornining - luckly one of my carers was her and herd it and trackd down what the beepinining was cominining from - then had to luck up online what to do as never had this happen befor
    so she turnd boiler of and cookr of and opend windows whilst I phone gas emergency number
    I said I was disabld and culd not evacuate
    they said someone wuld com with in 2 hours
    they arrivd approx. 30 mins later
    outcome is gas turnd of at meter as boiler is the problem and needs to be replacd and iv contactd my landlord to get this don
    luckly as part of my disablty im stuck on overly hot and still hav bedroom windows permanently open and 4.5 tog duvet so not havinining heatinining at moment is not an issu for me
    im so thankful for the alarm and I wuld hav died without it goinining of as all but 1 of the symptoms of carbon dioxid are the symptoms I alredy hav with my disability so I wuldnt hav noticd
    so pleas pleas check yu have an alarm and know what to do and hav the phon numbr next to it wich is 0800 111 999
    I am disabled 11 years with CFS/ME and also have problems with my working memory
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