* Step into Christmas * & 2020 - It's the 2020 Christmas Chatter Thread

mandco

nic2075 said:

Mandco the gin was lovely. It’s lovely with the fresh ginger flavours coming through. Nice and summery.  How exciting to get to see your grandkids soon. Face time and zoom has been a godsend at this time, but nothing like seeing them in person. Not hugging my wee niece has been hard. I seen her for the first time last week. She can’t social distance either, too young to understand. 

glad the gin was a success hopefully we'll get some more decent summery weather so you can enjoy it in full 
Bet it was great seeing your niece.  its def been hard to be away from them for so long- I can't wait to see them 

Ordered some birthday presents for dd & ds today as found some bits in the vans & superdry sales. They do some lovely stuff but I refuse to pay full price 
 
ordered a few of these for xmas stockings & to go in the donations pile they are only minis but a bargain at 33p a set  https://www.superdrug.com/Mens/Men%27s-Skin-Care/Mens-Face-Wash/B-Mens-Gift-Set-x2-50ml/p/777049#pdp__details
also got some make up sleeves for 29p and some of the antibac hand wipes 54p a pack to go in stockings

princesskitty29

DH has kindly given me a ‘day off’ today as I’ve been with the children 24/7 for over three months now, although I can hear him getting stressed downstairs already so we’ll see how it goes! I love how they keep you updated on everything that the children do that stress them out and make things difficult, as if they don’t do it for us when we have them all day! Anyway, I’m going to try and enjoy it. Thankfully the restrictions have changed today and they can go into my in laws house which is great as it means they can go over even if it’s raining which we haven’t been able to do for ages.

 

I don’t actually enjoy shopping very much unless I’m present buying, but I do miss being able to pop to the shops. I used to pop into Tesco several times a week and now I haven’t been in there for over three months and I miss the normality of it. Because we shop online it seems like a lot of effort to pop in for a few bits and not worth it.

 

Spendless oh I can only imagine it’s a bit of a nightmare going shopping at the moment, I haven’t ventured to any shops yet.

 

nic the rhubarb gin sounds great and how lovely it’s made with rhubarb you grew yourself.

 

Redrobin wow what an amazing amount to get back! I bet you were gobsmacked! Great to hear your DH is enjoying his job, such an important one too.

 

mandco we have been really strict with who we see and our social distancing but when my in laws came over for a garden visit when they were able to it was impossible to keep Squeak away from them, he was only two and just didn’t understand. But I think they’ve said it’s ok with the really young ones as they don’t get it. Enjoy your grandchildren!

princesskitty29

A friend recently told me about this website, thought it might be useful to someone:

https://www.yankeebundles.com/


I've also just ordered several of these decorations for family and friends as a little keepsake and reminder of the year 2020:

https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/795152427/gingerbread-with-toilet-roll-humourous?ref=hp_rf-4&pro=1

Although they weren't on sale when I bought them! 

Redredrobin

princesskitty29 

I've also just ordered several of these decorations for family and friends as a little keepsake and reminder of the year 2020:

https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/795152427/gingerbread-with-toilet-roll-humourous?ref=hp_rf-4&pro=1

So funny lol .

Work is still a challenge to say the least hopefully by the end of July we will be trading normally ( ish )  

Cracking on with Christmas Dd is almost finished and I know what I’m getting hubby just got to leave to to closer to December before I buy it .

Has anyone ventured out ? We went early today to the local retail park , It was ok  but got busy as we were leaving . Definitely not brave enough to visit Meadowhall that one can wait till autumn time all being well . 

Spendless

I've been out and it's not being too busy that I've found is a problem. It's the strip shower yourself with dettol before entering the premises, then walk blindfolded round the shop on our one way system, not touching anything, anything touched must be bought and won't be able to be returned as you won't want this experience again even if you've kept the receipt. - yes, I'm exaggerating but you get the general gist.. 
DD returned clothes that she bought from Primark on the 1st day they opened. I refused to stand in the queue that day. As she'd spent more than £45 they had to do more than one transaction and the staff found it confusing.  Half the clothes didn't fit or suit. They'd been given in 2 seperate paper bags, 1 broke. Husband moaned about the 'clothes all over'  and moved them into one bag. When we returned  the clothes yesterday 2 items weren't on the receipts we gave. There must have been a 3rd receipt, which by now will have probably been thrown away, so only got a refund on part of it and had to fetch the rest back home. 
I need new clothes, but I just don't want this experience of buying. I also need new trainers or other suitable footwear. Without getting some today I'll have to forfeit a proposed trip to the beach with the dogs tomorrow. 
It came to me that the excitement I get when Boots put out their Christmas stock just  won't happen this year. I'm even wondering if they'll do the catalogue. So far I'm thinking for Christmas
Mum - Radley Bag (already bought TK mAXX)
Dad - aftershave (seen but not bought)
Nan 1 - food hamper gift (have to wait till nearer time) or Baileys
Nan 2 - Flowers  (in a nursing home so not much you can buy)
MIL & FIL - leave to DH to decide and purchase
Neice - Beauty products & wine (beauty products already bought)
That would leave DH, DS & DD. Husband doesn't mind about presents. the kids are 21 & 18 in March. I'm considering dipping out and saying we'll put more into their birthday presents instead. I could then buy most of the extended family gifts, except stuff that has to be bought nearer the time, in one fell swoop and just stay away from the shops after that.  

Treasurequeen

Just a heads up I’ve seen through blogs and newsletters that a few authors are bringing new Christmas books out this year. Most are being released around October. Carole Matthews is one of them. I will try to make a list and post them up here in few days. 

mandco

Princesskitty - love those gingerbread men def a fun way to remember such a difficult year 

Went shopping today as not been able to get out in the last week and it sucked didn't really have to queue to get in anywhere but once in store it was just so stressful people weren't social distancing and it was nearly impossible to actually stop and look at anything without someone coming right up to you to look at the same thing or reaching over you   In the end we only went to couple of shops and I'd had enough so called it a day.Its certainly ruining the experience and much as I prefer in person shopping I'm not in an hurry to go back with things the way they are.

Had a top to return to primark but the queue for returns was huge so never bothered - did pick up a new disney fleece for Taz(he's obsessed with them)as they had new toystory/monsters inc/winnie the pooh/stitch & angel ones. In my local store you go in one set of doors and out another because of that everyone seems to queue at the tills on the exit side - the queue was huge and ran around 3 sides of the store - I went back to the other set of tills where just 2 people were waiting  

Flying tiger had 50% off loads of items but couldn't really get a look in as as constantly being pushed along - I know the store layout doesn't help as its so narrow anyway but no-one seemed to wanted to wait their turn.Manged to grab a few items but there was lots more I would have liked to actually had long enough to decide if I wanted to get or not.

Picked up some toys from the argos clearance -lots of things oos anywhere near me as usual but manged to find a few bargains some for presents/some for the donations pile.

M&S have revamped the sparks scheme - I only got the free tote offer but some people got £10/£5 off the equivalent spend so worth checking your account if you have one and haven't already

My vans & superdry orders came but still waiting on the stuff from boots & superdrug

Was a bit gutted as we never did get to see the grandkids last weekend - the youngest wasn't well and spiked a temp thankfully if turned out she only has an ear infection and its nothing serious but as they had to go to the doctors they were told to self isolate for 7 days if possible so it meant we have had to put off visiting a bit longer.  

[Deleted User]

Hi, I hope it's OK to join in? I thought a few days ago it might be sensible for us to get the grandchildrens Christmas presents sorted out now rather than wait so I played on Amazon for an afternoon and found nice stocking presents for the six of them and have got the granddaughters first birthday present here already and we've ordered her Christmas present too and made a start on those for the boys with some bike wheel lights that the four older ones will like. It's a good feeling to know what I'm going to get them this early in the year.

mandco

Welcome Boazu   sounds like you've made a great start

 I think this year more than ever getting an early start on xmas is a must as its going to take a while for things get back to anything like they used to be especially the availability/choice of products and shipping times. I think with people staying away from the high street and shopping more online prices are going to be less competitive and they won't be as inclined to offer free/fast shipping as they know they'll get the sales anyway. I've noticed quite a few places have actually increased the minimum spend for free delivery and only offer standard delivery no next day option.Amazon is usually pretty good for deals/pricing and dd has prime so qualifies for the fast shipping where applicable but I have noticed lately prices have increased and quite a few things I've looked at have actually been quite a bit cheaper elsewhere if your prepared to wait for delivery. 

rachsecret

Just found this thread and it is awesome! I can see that it is going to be brilliant in helping me to prepare for my favourite time of year. I have just bookmarked it in my new Christmas 2020 folder.
My birthday is July 30th.

As a kick off contribution I have a couple of ideas to share:
-a couple of years ago I organised a Christmas Hamper Exchange with my family three days before Christmas at my house. Each family (x5 households) had to bring 3 x5 items which meant each household ended up with 15 items in their hamper. It was fab and the contents included: Mini-Christmas Cake, jams, chutneys, sloe Gin, Chocolate bark, pickles, fruit loaf, German Christmas cake, Rhubarb Gin, Chocolates, biscuits, stollen, 'Christmas Port' etc. Some people also brought other bits they had picked up too that were not home made, but it was definitely the home made stuff that stole the show. Wasn't too onerous either as most of the items could be made well in advance.
This year we are having a crafting day where they all come to lunch at my house and we do some Christmas crafts. I spent a lot of money on a wreath making course last year which was lovely but very expensive and so we thought we'd DIY this year! One thing we will be doing is to make our own wreathes but I am still on the look out for other ideas.