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

Treasurequeen

Happy belated birthday Free. I keep getting signed out of here and i cant remember my password. 
This independent shop is near where i live and has some great little unique gifts they now have an online shop http://www.curiosityenterprises.co.uk/ they sell some lovely things that can be put as stocking fillers or secret santa. 

freespirit66

PEPPA that’s lovely, are you all able to get together as family or not really having family in NZ? Aah but you are a great nan, as in fantastic nan! Lol 😆 

TREASUREQUEEN thankyou my lovely, I will have a look at the link

rachsecret

Thanks to everyone who replied to my difficult question about how much to spend on my son. I think I will pause my spending. I've spent around £300 on him which may seem like lots to some, he's our only child and has had a difficult year as he's feeling quite disconnected from friends and family at the moment as we are in a local lockdown area so can't even meet up to go for a walk with family or sit in the garden.

I've had an idea over the last couple of days to try to make the run up to Christmas as nice as possible. I always prefer the run up to the actual day. I am going to create a list of events on sticky notes and then get Dh & DS to put them on the calendar where we want to do each event. Ideas up to now are as follows:

• Christmas wreath making and crafting day (was supposed to be for other family and friends but can't see this happening now)
• Christmas movie night with snacks, Christmas PJs etc
• Hot chocolate station, fire in garden and toasting marshmallows
• winter picnic and walk to Tatton Park to see the Red Deer
• Christmas baking day x2 
• drive around the locality to see the Christmas lights wearing Christmas jumpers
• if can't meet family will have a Christmas 'Polar Express' where we wear our Christmas jumpers, festive accessories and drive to family to doorstep deliver gifts and sing some carols! Might sound a bit bonkers, but my family is a bit bonkers so would love this!

Would love any other ideas if anyone has any. Christmas may well be different this year but it doesn't have to be rubbish. 

Thanks also to everyone for pointing me in the right direction for the white toblerones too. I am loving this thread and wished I had spotted it years ago. xxxx

StokieBecks

Rachsecret - totally agree that whilst it may look different this year, we can still make the best of Christmas and the run in. As for your limit on your son it's whatever you feel comfortable with .  We all have different families and budgets. There definitely isn't a one rule fits all 

Can you do a video christmas quiz with other members of the family that you might not see? Thinking we  may do one as we did one a week during lockdown and it was lovely to see everyone even if only virtually.

Mrs_Ryan

Hi all 
Well, the weather outside is frightful..! 

Me and OH went up to Meadowhall on Friday. I had not long been paid and was feeling quite flush so I bought some extra bits. I spent rather more than I intended but also treated myself to some nice pens for uni and a pot to keep them in by my computer; some tops and leggings from New Look, a shirt, t-shirt and jeans from Yours and some gorgeous and very comfy pjs from Victoria’s Secret. They had their student event on across Meadowhall so my NUS card came in very handy. 

Nipped into Boots for essentials and they had their Christmas 3 for 2 out! The shelves were quite sparse so I think they were just starting to put out stock. I got a big Dove gift set for my mum for her birthday, a Jack Wills mug and sock set for my friend, and a Jack Wills body wash/spray set for OH. 

Next door in WH Smith I got a travel coffee mug with a slogan on for my coffee obsessed friend (half price with my pen purchases) In Debenhams I bought a gin gift set for my brother’s partner and two Star Wars pin badges (one with Baby Yoda on it for me and the other one with Darth Vader on for my brother) I also got an Elemis gift set for mum for her birthday in Debenhams- they had an extra amount off yesterday so that worked out quite well. I got my brother an aftershave gift set from the Perfume Shop- I got a good discount in there plus personalised wrapping paper which I thought was a great idea. One less thing to wrap! 

I also got my mum a Lulu Guinness purse from QVC to match the Lulu handbag I bought her for her 70th last year. I got hubby a rugby shirt- our rugby club have just released a special re-make collection of their shirts from significant times in the club’s history so I bought him one from 1996. No significance but I know he liked it. That was pricy but thankfully as a Season Ticket Holder I get discount which helped bring down the price a shade. 

Finally I got my brother’s partner a bottle of Disoranno as there wasn’t much in the stuff I had got her- I just popped it in with my shopping, it was on offer for £16. 

I’ve also ordered a hoodie from Etsy for myself- last Christmas I had an identical hoodie from the same place that I absolutely wore to death; same colour, same print style that said ‘Last Christmas as Miss X, next year I’ll be Mrs Y’ (obviously an example there ) This hoodie I’ve ordered says ‘First Christmas as Mrs Y’ I’ve also ordered a bauble with ‘First Christmas as Mr and Mrs Y’ and a remembrance plaque for my dad to hang on my tree- it says ‘Dad, 1941-2020, love you forever’ It struck me as I was typing that that he saw his final Christmas last year, the time of year he loved so much. 

I had a good cry at that but my mam always says he wouldn’t want me to cry. And he wouldn’t, so I’m going to at least try and have a good time, I owe him that. 

princesskitty29

I had a little mooch around the shops before my appointment on Tuesday but there wasn’t really any Christmassy stuff around, lots of shops had empty shelves which I imagine were waiting to be filled with it all. I did manage to get a few bits though: Nivea festive lip balms for my friends stocking, a teeth brushing sand timer for Wiggle’s stocking, Cadbury’s Snowballs for DH’s stocking, choc coins for the boys stockings and toothbrushes for the boys stockings. I really feel this year more than ever that I should get a move on with my shopping, but as mentioned before I worry about buying stuff and not being able to return/exchange it if there’s something wrong. I did notice however that M&S’s extended Christmas returns period starts today so hopefully other stores will be doing it too.

 

We were meant to visit my parents last weekend but DH had to take a covid test as he got a new persistent cough, thankfully it was negative. We then arranged it for this weekend but we found out Friday night that the sibling of someone in Wiggle’s class tested positive for covid so we didn’t want to take the risk. Luckily the girl in Wiggle’s class is negative but even if we wanted to go Squeak is now full of cold. We’re due to be going to stay on the farm that we always stay at to visit my parents for half term, but the last couple of weekends have made me more paranoid about seeing them, I’ve never felt 100% comfortable with the idea since the boys have been back at school. But I’ve only seen them twice this year and we don’t have the opportunity to quarantine for two weeks to make it safe. This year is truly something out of the ordinary!

 

HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY FREE! I’m glad you had a lovely day.

 

Mrs Ryan I am sure this first Christmas without your dad will be the hardest, it’s a lovely idea to get the remembrance plaque. I know it’s so hard but you are doing the right thing by remembering how much he would want you to enjoy Christmas.

 

nic wow what a bargain with the turkey joints!

 

mandco glad to hear you’re feeling better.

 

rachsecret don’t worry about what people might think about what you spend on your son, it is different for everyone and every family has their own circumstances. I have a fabric advent calendar that I’m going to put little activities on paper and get the boys to pull out each morning, some other ideas I have listed are put food out for the birds (potentially make some sort of bird feeder or fat ball?), light a Christmas candle and give thanks for what we have and play a Christmas game. I have baking things, craft things, indoor picnic etc that you have covered. I also have stuff listed that involves going out and about to places that just isn’t going to work this year so will have to get back to the drawing board.

 

Peppa good to hear all is ok with you! I didn’t realise you had a big family either, that’s a lot of people to think about!

 

vulpix I’ve noted you down for the Christmas card exchange.

vulpix

Thanks PK.
Mrs Ryan,you were on fire in Meadowhall ! Christmas is difficult without loved ones.Your Dad would want you all to carry on enjoying it as best you can.xxx
I have been looking at a lot of stuff online so I/we are off to Sheffield shortly to look in person.We are meeting DD1 as she lives in Sheffield.She wants to practise taking my blood pressure. She is a Speech and Language Therapist and they have been trained up to do basic medical checks when they visit people at home.This is to cut down on the number of people visiting a persons home because of Covid. I am sure the BP machine will be all singing all dancing.Back in the day when I started nursing in the 70's the machines were manual.I used to like taking BP's ,very satisfying messing about with all the paraphanalia!
Rachsecret,I second Stokies idea of a quiz.We do one every year.Everyone writes 10 questions each.I try to make my questions all Christmas related but over the years I have exhausted all my ideas.If I hear something interesting  I squirrel it away for the quiz.I would think 90% of mine and my sons all year round conversations are quizz questions!
I think your ideas are great,lovely things to do that will create lovely memories.I like PK's idea of making food for the birds too,also it doesn't matter how much you spend on gifts,it is your perogative.
I need to get a wriggle on.
take care all
Vx

nic2075

Belated happy birthday Free 🥳

rachsecret, you’ve probably got them now, but Poundland had loads of white toblarones. I have no idea how to spell that lol. 

I got chocolate oranges for 75p at Tesco. Got a few for all the kids in the family. Not bought much else this week. Was trying to have a no spend week. But we going out with my Dad tonight for dinner to celebrate his 70th birthday.  

Peppapig

NIC I’ve been trying to have a no spend day for ages and haven’t managed it yet. Covid has been very bad for my finances.

FREE unfortunately we very rarely all get together at the same time - none of us have got a house big enough for everyone so we just meet in smaller groups. DD in NZ hasn’t been over here for about ten years and DH’s health isn’t good enough to travel there. We have talked about maybe renting a big holiday place for Christmas one year and having everyone all together but whether it’ll ever happen or not I don’t know.

MRSRYAN I didn’t know your dad but I do know I’d hate it if those I love stop enjoying the celebrations when I’m no longer here.  

PRINCESSKITTY/RACHSECRET I’ve decorated a wooden advent calendar and I’m thinking I’ll put activities in it this year. I like the ideas you’ve suggested, if you or anyone else has got any others I’d love to hear them. 

VULPIX I always feel a little bit of the mystery has disappeared with automatic BP machines. We’ve got one at home but it’s nowhere near as impressive as the doctor doing it manually with her stethoscope and hand pump lol.

I’ve spent the afternoon wrapping the pressies I’ve bought so far which has been lovely but means I haven’t prepared anything to eat. I think a tuna pasta bake will do the job, easy to prepare and warm and filling.😊

Beshki

Bit stumped for ideas at the moment. Picked up a couple of small tins of shortbread for £1 in B&M today which I was pleased about. And a small packet of fudge, again £1 - all perfect to make up gifts for people. 

I posted that the chimenea was in and out of stock for OH. It came back in stock so I have now panic ordered it