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

kerri_gt

I think there's also a part that because 'essential' shops like supermarkets sell supposedly 'non essential' items, people are going to them when they'd usually go to a store that's currently closed.  All it's really done is funnel people into fewer stores = bigger crowds. Plus as some are putting up decs early,  they have also been out buying those in larger numbers. 

StokieBecks

I did nip into Asda tonight as I needed a new phone charger plug ( which they didn't have  )
Hardly any of the tins of sweets. There was a few Heroes left and the Freddo tins (contents of which is very unbalanced. 4 mini bags of buttons, 4 freddos, 8 caramel freddos and 10 fudges)

Thank you for mentioning John Lewis and Hotel Chocolat - I went on and they had the chocolate gingerbread men I like in stock (these weren't available to order on their own from Hotel Chocolat website so thought I'd have to miss out this year) 

Really need to stop spending now. Been an expensive couple of months , although doesn't help my Dad still owes me money 

Spendless

Ahhhh I've only just thought about and relaised what mandco was telling me earlier. I don't strictly have to put the students in our Xmas bubble, they count as our own household with me as 'Mum' because they're not going anywhere else.
That won't make a difference to mixing with the older more vulnerable relatives, we'll still stay away once the students come here, but it does potentially open other options to us. I was thinking we'd have to make sure they'd all gone on the 27th, if they are my 'household' we can delay this. Definately a grey area but food for thought.

Yes, I would agree that people are shopping for presents in the stores currently able to be open. A walk down the gift aisle in B & M confirms this as does the relevant shelves in Boots. I popped into the latter  yesterday to look for waxing strips. Whether this is an essential purchase seems to depend on whether you are a teenage girl in a tiswas about having some hairs on your big toe, or a middle aged woman who is wondering who on earth is going to see them at the minute.

I don't know if I mentioned this on here, but a few years ago my MIL made me some slow gin which laid at the back of the cupboard until this year (for some reason I thought it sloe wine and didn't fancy it). Me, DH and 2 friends drank a shot to her memory not long after she passed. With what is left I want to give some family members a small amount with a mini of fizzy wine and maybe a glass for Xmas day. As there wasn't much left (plus the shhots we had were too thick and syrupy)  I 'watered' it down with normal gin (DH did tell me adding more alcohol isn't watering anything down -lol) but it's weakened the colour so much that now when I tried to put some in a mini jar it looked like a urine sample -eeek. Now thinking I perhaps need to buy a sloe gin mini and add that just for colouring. I'm completely ok with MIL's gin just being a small part of the cocktail.     

kerri_gt

Spendless could you add some food colouring to make the sloe gin look less like a pee sample? I can't imagine it would alter the taste with a few drops.
Apart from OH (agreed we're not doing gifts this year, this is subject to change as often happens, so will keep an eye out for him. Trouble is he has no real wants, no hobbies as such I could buy for and enough football shirts for a whole team, and the opposition!) Also DM but agajn just going to keep it small. She's too worried about shops to go on a big shopping trip (despite working in a supermarket 🤷‍♀️) and is more trying to get things out of the house vs new things in. Local town is very limited with suitable shops too even when open so not sure what    to do there. 
Good job i have finished,  got a bit silly on the BF sales and treated myself to £70 of new makeup (only 3 items!) and have a couple more bits in my basket. 😳

princesskitty29

Well our decorations are up! We did them yesterday, the earliest I’ve ever done it, but it is nice to have some twinkly lights and festive cheer about the place. I also spent a small fortune on a light up outdoor snowman for the garden, it’s a colourful one and the boys love it. So do I! I had a few hot sweats driving away from the garden centre after I’d bought him but I did tell myself that we’re not paying out to see Father Christmas or any other activities for that matter this year so it’s not so bad.

 

Most of my present buying is done, I bought DH a bonsai tree that he wanted, that is now safely unboxed at my MiL’s waiting for me to collect on Christmas Eve. Never have I been gladder that I buy early, I’ve even bought most of the food early this year, all I need now is fresh stuff and a turkey.

 

It’s interesting reading those of you with daughters find they love the traditions no matter what age they are, I am like that but my brother isn’t so fussed. I have two boys and they love it now as they’re little but I’m starting to worry that when they’re teenagers they’ll be fairly nonplussed and I’ll be desperately trying to get them to be more excited!

 

So the rules over Christmas means we can have the in laws over for Christmas day and hopefully we can go and see my parents and auntie (who are one bubble) at some point but we won’t be able to see my brother. It’s tough. Although as much as I want to see everyone I too am worried as the boys are at school and pre-school and could pick something up at any time. They will have been off school for 5 days before we see anyone but I know it can take longer than that for symptoms to come out. It’s such a tricky time to know what to do for the best.

 

kerri glad I’m not the only one with the sewing! It’s something I usually find relaxing and enjoyable, it’s a bit tense with it being touch and go as to whether it’ll be finished! Your sacks sound lovely though, what a nice idea and it sounds like you went to a lot of trouble. I’m looking forward to the new year when I can start a project that I can do as and when I feel like it, not doing it all evening every evening!

 

vulpix oh no I hope your knuckle is on the mend now, that sounds horrible!

 

aimeemum it’s so difficult isn’t it not being able to see family, but you have no need to feel guilty when you know you are doing it for the right reasons and to keep people safe.

 

GIAYD Pop in whenever you feel like it, I hope we can keep this thread going next year as I really do love it and enjoy hearing from you all.

 

Spendless sorry to hear about your MIL. It’s nice to think they’re here guiding us sometimes, it sounds like she did a good job!

SmilingOwl

I am READY for Christmas 2020. We NEED something to cheer us all up after this year!

rachsecret

@Spendless so lovely that you are having the students over for Christmas. I am sure they must really value your kindness and hospitality. It is the true meaning of Christmas. I followed your thread in summer in the Thrift group so this is a nice 'conclusion' to the story.

Our Christmas day will just be the three of us in our household (Dh & DS) as my mum, sister, niece and partner, 96 yr old gran and stepdad are all having Christmas day together. Sister and niece have already had Covid, but I work in school and son in a nursery so we can't put my parents and gran at risk. Similar to others on here this news went down like a lead balloon with my mum who was cross we were not coming, but I explained that it wasn't because we didn't want to, but was showing our love by not seeing them and potentially passing on infection. Now I have got my head around it, I am really looking forward to not doing the Christmas day black bin bag chase game where you are rushing around picking up everyone's wrapping paper and bagging and tidying ready for the next lot of guests to arrive. Hate tidying up so a Christmas day where it doesn't happen has a lot of appeal for me!

We have now done two of our Christmas events from our calendar:

• Our Christmas craft day where we made clove studded oranges, floral arrangements and other decorations
• Christmas decorations day (yesterday) which was lovely and even the Grinch (DH) humoured me by helping out

Later this week event number 3 will take place. A Christmas Hot Chocolate Station will be erected for the season. Got the cutest Christmas tree shaped marshmallows from Hema, gingerbread biscuits that perch on mugs, sprinkles, flakes, range of hot chocolate, candy canes, squirt cream and will display on a three tiered cake stand. 

I have managed to get a Christmas supermarket slot for delivery after much trying and frustration at A-da for the 20th. Not the date I really wanted but hey ho. I have started doing my order and notice that this year lots of the main supermarkets have a 'Christmas range' to order separate from the normal shop. A-da have this and it only seems to be available from Dec 21st so pretty much everything in their Christmas range is not available for my 20th date. The ranges in all supermarkets seem to be somewhat poor this year, but suppose that is understandable. I have got a click and collect from Booths for some of the luxury items to compensate. Expensive but gorgeous, but there is only the three of us to cater for this year so why not.

vulpix

We certainly do SmilingOwl.3 of my 4 trees are up.The house looks like it has been hit by a hurricane.Boxes need taking upstairs and back in the spare room wardrobe. I have changed things a little this year.Same decorations but in different places.My son won't be able to visit this year,he wouldn't notice anyway but the daughters will notice!
 Finally I feel back to normal,it has been 2 years since my "crack up".This year is the first year all the decorations have been out again.I still loved Christmas even when I was very low but just didn't have the mojo to decorate much.
 My knuckle is healing really well,I think because I tried not to bend it for a few days.I am sporting a fancy purple scar.
 PK the thing about your new snowman is it will bring your family pleasure for years to come,so worth every penny.
Some of my tree lights didn't make it this year.One set is making a funny noise and another has disappeared,maybe chucked last year.We are off later to buy some new ones.
 Gift wise I just need a couple more things when the shops reopen and I am done.I have bought a lot of food but will save it until we can all meet again as a family (all store cupboard stuff).Christmas day this year will just be a buffet. Not worth the washing up to do Christmas dinner for so few people.It also feels wrong to celebrate without my son.Because the girls live alone they are classed as a household each! Sad thing is my Mum is 87 in a few weeks and who knows how many more Christmasses she has.
 Work is not able to reopen as it is a tourist attraction.We had already spent 2 days putting a huge amount of decorations up. Same at the pub DD2 works at. I understand why we are tier 3 but it is difficult.We are vey rural and extremely covid secure.It was a shock to jump from tier 1 to 3.
Heres hoping life gets back to more like we know it in the not too distant future.
Love to all Vx

Spendless

Our Christmas tree going up today. I usually take the mick out of people putting theirs up in November, but this year we need something to cheer us and since has to be done on a weekend, next one is too far into December for us this year. 

Peppapig

Our Christmas tree is up, we have lots of coloured fairy lights in the kitchen and conservatory and the outside lights were switched on last night so we’re all set to go. It’s just DH and me but he humours my Christmas obsession and I share festive excitement with our daughters on WhatsApp and FaceTime. 

It’s now been almost nine months since we had a proper visit with mum. We saw her outside a few times in the summer and have been able to FaceTime in the past couple of months but she doesn’t really understand why we aren’t there. Up until last February we saw her every day and if there’s any upside to dementia it’s that at least she only knows we’re not there now, she doesn’t understand how long it’s been. It was her birthday on Friday (well Saturday really but we did it on Friday because there are no FaceTimes at weekends) and we had a lovely FaceTime with her and some of the staff sang happy birthday and we joined in. One of the girls helped her open and read her cards and it was lovely but bitter sweet. Fortunately she won’t really understand it’s Christmas so she won’t be upset that she’s not with us to celebrate it.

I’m so sorry not to comment on individual posts, I keep forgetting I can’t scroll back now while I’m typing. Next time I’ll read back and make notes on paper before I start posting. It’s lovely reading what you’re all up to and to those that have been having difficult time I send you a virtual Christmas hug - in fact to all of you.