* Driving Home for Christmas * - It's the 2021 Christmas Chatter Thread!

poppysmic

Hi all I popped into last year's thread very briefly, but a fiasco of a few months derailed my MSE lurking!

At the weekend, though, I bought my first gift and after that, the rest have followed like a landslide (at least the plans for them - payday pending!). Costco had a decent soup maker that Mum has been eyeing for ages, and at the best price I've seen so far, so I snapped that up, and I've got a "Great British Soups" cookbook to go with it from the Covent Garden soup co. Will get some small bits to put with it, but feels great to have something in the bag. 

For my brother, I'm going to put together a hamper of treats from a local cheese, wine, meats, etc. shop that's been recently started by a friend, so will get that closer to the time. He's notoriously difficult to buy for, but he's a big foodie, so this seems perfect (not least because I'm supporting small businesses/a friend at the same time). 

At the weekend, Mum and I went to the Royal Style exhibition at Kensington Palace. The exhibiton itself was quite disappointing for the price—but it did mean that we could poke our heads in Liberty, where they have their Christmas section in full flow! It's a tradition for us to get a tree decoration from there, even if they are a bit pricy, so I gladly added to my collection. All in all, feeling very Christmassy already! 

Treasurequeen

A warm Welcome to the newbies and to everyone else too. I noticed we seem to be missing some of the regulars on here, hope they are ok. 

I have nearly finished Christmas shopping just my grandad and brother’s partner and mums tree present left to get. I also want to get some luxury chocolates for parents to go with a voucher I got them as a thank you for all help throughout year. I’m disabled and they have helped so much this year, but will get in November and give it to them on 1st December. 

Need to get some special cards and some wrapping paper and then I said I would help mum and gran with their shopping. My gran doesn’t shop online so I order and she gives me the cash.  

Haribo sweet tubs £4 or 2 for £7.00. In asda in main sweet aisle they do pack of haribo 22 bags and they are 2 for £3. They work out cheaper than the tubs as you get more for your money. The tub contains around 24 packs, two bags =44 bags for £3.00. 

Also in asda they had sweet cups filled with nostalgia sweets for £2.00. They had a pink and white mice one, pick and mix, foam shrimps and foam bananas. They had a few others but I can’t remember what they were. They also did retro sweets in a glass jar too for £3.00. Both are good stocking fillers. 

skogar

mandco - I know nothing about such things but did see the other day when I was on the ikea website they have started doing gaming chairs. Not sure how the prices compare (as no idea what these things cost normally) but may be worth a look.

I've just had a quick look - they do 3 sorts 1 at £49, 1 at £99 (in 2 colours grey and black) and 1 at £129 (colours are white or black). All except the black at £99 are showing as unavailable online and the others are showing as only available in a few stores so it looks like they are popular. This is the one currently in stock

https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/p/utespelare-gaming-chair-bomstad-black-90507617/

This is the range

https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/cat/gaming-chairs-47067/

As I've said - no idea if they are any good (not a gamer) but I'm sure there must be reviews out there somewhere.

Redredrobin

Well unfortunately the dogs results weren’t what we hoped for so we made the decision to end his pain . 

He was PTS yesterday evening , it was by far the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do . No more pets for us ever again .

kerri_gt

Redredrobin said:

Well unfortunately the dogs results weren’t what we hoped for so we made the decision to end his pain . 

He was PTS yesterday evening , it was by far the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do . No more pets for us ever again .

So sorry to hear that but you know you've made the kindest decision for him.

Far too soon to even think about other pets. Take your time to process this xx

C_J

Redredrobin said:

Well unfortunately the dogs results weren’t what we hoped for so we made the decision to end his pain . 

He was PTS yesterday evening , it was by far the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do . No more pets for us ever again .

It’s never easy, not at all. Try and take comfort in the knowledge that he is no longer suffering, and even greater comfort in remembering the joy he has brought you. He’ll always live on in your heart. xx

For a very long time after we lost Chester, I couldn’t even walk down the pet food aisle in the supermarket without bursting into tears but it does get easier, eventually. 

Beshki

Redredrobin said:

Well unfortunately the dogs results weren’t what we hoped for so we made the decision to end his pain . 

He was PTS yesterday evening , it was by far the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do . No more pets for us ever again .

So very sorry xx

princesskitty29

I popped into an independent gift shop during the week and found this lovely tin with ‘build your own construction vehicles’ inside that would be great for my youngest. It’s like lego but not lego. I also bought a personalised Nutella label from Etsy as my godson loves Nutella, so I just need to buy a tub to stick it on as one of his presents. I’m going to pop to a few shops this week to see if I can get some more presents to add to the stash.

 

When I was doing my weekly shop last week I got a couple of packs of pigs in blankets and popped those in the freezer for Christmas.

 

I was excited to see the Very Christmas ad on TV! I don’t see a lot of ads so not sure if there’s any more but it made me feel really Christmassy!

 

Beshki the bakery hamper sounds lovely!

 

Mrs Ryan wow you’re steaming ahead with all of your shopping, it sounds like you’re doing a great job!

 

Redrobin it is so good to see you back on here but I am so very sorry for your loss. These things are so hard as they really are part of the family, sending big hugs to you at this difficult time. I also hope you are recovering well from your fall, it sounded nasty you poor thing.

 

LMG it’s so good to see you back! I hope you can join us more often now.

 

Madcatlady good to have you here! Pull up a chair, grab a hot chocolate and join in the Christmas chat!

 

Welcome back poppysmic! Good to see you here again. It sounds like you have started strong with your Christmas shopping!

C_J

@princesskitty29  I had a quick mooch around B&M yesterday, and in their Christmas aisle they had a Nutella gift set for £3 (or maybe £4, I can’t recall). It contained a small jar of Nutella and a lovely matching spreader, nicely packaged in a red box.

Whilst in B&M I bought some replacement Christmas stockings. They have the large red velour drawstring sacks with a big gold embroidered initial on them again this year for £7.

EriSteadyGo

I’m so glad to have found this thread and so in awe at some of you for already finishing your shopping!!!! 😮😮😮 

I've picked up a couple of bits, in our house we do table presents (no more than a fiver) and tree presents (the bigger stuff). Got my sister, I spotted some oven gloves with cats on them for £4.99 (she is a crazy cat lady and I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve cringed watching her get stuff out of the oven with a thin tea towel) and I got a humorous (rude) mug for OH for 99p in a charity shop. I’ll get him some sachets of his favourite hot chocolate and that will make it up to a fiver. Got chutneys for my grandfolks as their main present (it’s a hamper and nonagenarians are not easy to buy for), and OH has requested a new album on vinyl. Going to implement a new rule with him moving forward - if we spot anything we want, we need to note it down and pop it in our respective Christmas gift idea box (a repurposed tissue box for each of us) to make it easier to work out what to get. More for my benefit tbh, as he’s an excellent gift buyer but will often just buy himself stuff if he wants something, making it tricky to know what to get him.