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

Treasurequeen

Christmas filter coffee bought in marks and sparks and now stored away. Tesco have their turkey stuffing ball crisps back in so they are stored away too. Iceland had two boxes of chocs for £4.00 the other week so I got a few of orange segments. I am resisting the urge to open a box!

Had an issue with a payment on the dogs present so had to find an alternative gift for him, he's allergic to pretty much everything. I managed to find an independent business that makes dog treats from good quality ingredients. So thats him done and I supported another local business.

No idea what to get my grandad this year,

Well a turn around brothers fiance ( i have mentioned her before on here) has suddenly decided to buy me a gift. So I am going to get her a coffee hamper at least she cant accuse me of anything. 1) she is a coffee addict so the gift is right for her, 2) the effort to get right coffee- gone for organic and supports the rspb charity she likes birds and the environment issues. Does anyone know if B&M have any syrups or those coffee sets?

hope everyone is ok

LMG1305

I have finally got a good start on my Christmas shopping. I've bought a few things for our daughters Xmas Eve boxes. I always get them new christmas pj's and a book, plus a few little extras like a Christmas mug, a hot chocolate sachet & some biscuits. I have also bought a travel mug for DH. He likes to have a cup of green tea in the morning but is usually rushing out to work, so now he can take it with him instead of leaving a half drunk mug of tea in the kitchen.

My stepmum wanted a nightdress from M&S. I was going to buy it a few weeks ago but forgot to place the order. I remembered about it on the weekend so went back on to M&S website & it has been reduced. Woohoo! It's only reduced by £2 but it's still a saving . I've also ordered her a little candle so just waiting for that to turn up, wrap it & put it away until our tree is up, then I'll put the gifts under the tree. I like the look of wrapped presents under the tree so I always put gifts for our extended family under the tree and hide our daughters gifts.

We have been looking at the M&S Christmas food. Every year my DH gets M&S vouchers through work & I do surveys throughout the year which I then cash out as Amazon or M&S vouchers. We like some of the food M&S offers at Christmas but it can be quite expensive, so we only spend up to the voucher total. It's a nice way to have a few extra treats without spending money out of our Christmas budget

aimeemum

Ordered my parents a calendar - they're off to Italy in April so I've ordered a themed one with italian cities. I know my Mum will love it! That's them done I think. I usually get them a tin of biscuits from the kids but I'll add them to the grocery shop before we have our celebration on the 1st.

I actually feel like I'm making progress now. The ornament I ordered for friends has arrived and it's really nice....happy I got it! I've joined the November NST challenge though as I think I need to curb my spending a little so I can see some nice savings adding up ready for December....that's the plan anyway. I'll still be adding a couple of things to my grocery shop each week though as that's accounted for anyway. This week I have 3 selection boxes for my boys at £1.50 a piece that's a bargain as they're full sized!

LMG1305

Had a bit of a crisis this morning, all sorted though! A few years ago I bought our daughters a Christmas Eve box each. They were beautiful boxes, made by a small business that I found on Facebook. Anyway, when we were packing to move the boxes got damaged so we got rid of them & I set about looking for new boxes. I found a seller on Etsy, the pictures looked lovely so I ordered them.

They arrived yesterday and the boxes are so small!! I didn't even realise it was the boxes because the parcel was so much smaller than I was expecting. For reference, I usually put some pyjamas, a book, a mug & some little bits like chocolate/biscuits etc in the box. Well these boxes were so small they would struggle to fit the book that I've got for our youngest daughter's box. Problem is because they are personalised I can't give them to somebody else & in fairness it's not the seller's fault I didn't check the dimensions, so I can't send them back. In the photos on Etsy the boxes look a fairly good size, but these boxes are tiny.

Luckily I still follow the lady who made our original ones on Facebook. I didn't know if her order book was full but I have messaged her anyway & she has squeezed us in for 2 boxes the same as our damaged ones. I'm so grateful to her & can't wait to get the boxes now. I will reuse the small boxes, maybe as a sweet hamper for my girls then I'll use the bigger box for the proper Christmas Eve box.

If anybody knows of any deals on laptops please let me know. Our youngest daughter started high school this year so needs a new laptop for her homework etc.

Aimeemum - what a lovely idea for your parents I have also bought a few things in with my normal grocery shop over the last week. I got advent calendars, selection boxes and chocolate oranges last week. I need to get 2 more chocolate oranges so we have one each & some matchmakers. I don't want to buy too much chocolate though this year because we always end up with too much.

I've had an annoying cold over the last week & it's developed into a tickly cough, which is now really annoying me. I'm supposed to be going to the cinema tonight so I hope I don't end up coughing all the way through the movie, for my sake & for everyone else.

Redredrobin

Hi , been a bit busy but finally things are under control more or less , Christmas is sorted bought and wrapped ive just written the cards that need posting and I'm contemplating posting them this weekend .


Dd and i are going to Holland/Germany at the end of November to visit the Christmas markets although im stressing about just the two of us going im sure we will have a great time [fingers crossed ].


Work are doing a secret Santa this year and ive drawn the new girl , the limit is £5 and i know absolutely nothing about her .

murie

Redredrobin - would this be any good?
https://www.yankeebundles.com/product/official-yankee-candle-single-white-xmas-cracker-contains-5-votive-sampler-candles/
5% off with code NewSubscriber5 according to HUKD.

kerri_gt

*waves sheepishly and sidles in from stage left*

Hi all, not sure if any of you remember me being part of the thread earlier this year? It's been a while for which I apologise but to say we've had a hell of a year is an understatement. Following a 400 mile mercy dash on Boxing Day, we lost my FIL a few months later - turned out that visit was the last time I saw him, but I got to say all I needed / wanted to say to him at Xmas and feel I got closure to saying goodbye which often doesn't happen so I'm really grateful for that. Following that we also lost two other close members of the family shortly after, as well as an elderly neighbour in between times and then to top things off our property has been damaged from summer storms for which we are still in the process of the insurance claim for. So, been a little pre-occupied.

BUT I have nearly finished my xmas shopping (couple of bits to get which I know what they will be, no idea for OH and a little stumped for my DM but main present for her sorted). I was feeling ahead that I had done the majority of my wrapping (except tags...so people might get a surprise if I get my allocations wrong :rotfl:) but I see some of you have done cards already! :eek:

Did pick up myself and OH a Baileys advent calendar last night in B&M - had to go to a non local store (and my local is still a 20-30min drive) but got the last 2 bar a couple of damaged ones so was obv meant to be I wonder if OH will eat all his chocs at once like he has been known to do :rotfl:

I have started stashing some xmas chocs away (£3.50 tub of Roses from Mr T a while back) and after last Xmas am determined to be (more) organised than usual to actually enjoy the run up. We've also put a ban on booking anything else up in Dec as last year got stupidly busy and this year is already busy enough. It felt like we spent the whole month rushing from one event to another which wasn't really enjoyable.

SpekySquarehead

LMG - I would suggest waiting till Black Friday for laptop discounts. Electronics is one of the biggest sectors for savings across that day/weekend/week.
Kerri - Welcome back. Hope you're well after a difficult start to 2019 but you sound prepared and organised now. Even got a little bit of luck on side, too.

I'm going to visit the local markets today at lunch to pick out a couple of things that my mum and gran commented on when they were last down visiting me. For my gran, it's an old fashioned teapot looking thing but it actually has herbs growing from it. I'll ask if they can put it aside for me till closer to Xmas as any plants I touch soon die. My mum commented on a small hanging, clear, glass pot thing. They stall had cactus style plants in it but my mum will find something suitable no doubt.

Peppapig

TREASUREQUEEN our B&M had the coffee sets and the syrups when I was in there a couple of weeks ago.

Welcome back KERRI, sorry you’ve had a rough year but hopefully the tide has turned now.

LMG I’ve done that so many times with things, just assumed the size and not read the description properly. Using the small boxes for sweet hampers or similar is a great idea and they’ll make lovely keepsake boxes. Glad you managed to find the original lady.

Plodding on with my Christmas buys and have started wrapping. I’ve got my cards and ordered my ceiling decs and I’ve been looking through the Tesco Christmas food booklet - I might order from there as they’ve got quite a good selection.

Happy Halloween one and all.

craftmad

Hello all, I've not been on this thread before, so please forgive me if I'm asking questions in the wrong places. I too have had a dreadful, dreadful year so far, so everything feels a bit different now. I'm very impressed that some of you are so organised, I'm way behind! Anyway, I was hoping that somebody would know if M&S are doing 2for3 on gifts this year, I haven't seen anything to say they are. I'm still shocked about Boots not doing it - what's going on?