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

3forholidays

A warm 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Scottish welcome to the newbies! Back to work but still working from home and looks like it will be this way for some time to come. Haven’t managed to get anything for Christmas 2021 as not been out. Hopefully everyone is staying safe and well.

judiciously

It's so difficult to get motivated but I am up for joining because I do see the value in it. It's difficult right now though isn't it? I do know how I would like to tweak things for next Holiday Season though so I suppose the planning is in my thoughts for now. 

lizzie_b

Morning all
Hope we're all muddling through yet another lockdown, there's no other way to describe things over here, I am utterly bored!!
Homeschooling a six year old was not how I'd planned my January to go 
Nothing Christmassy going on as the 'sales' were pretty bare on the couple of occasions I was able to get out before lockdown hit.  But I'm going to try my best to keep up with you all this year, I think we're all in desperate need of extra company at the moment

vulpix

Thank you very much 3forholidays for the new thread. I never knew that you were in Scotland.
Happy New year to one and all.
lizzie-b you have hit the nail on the head. We are all indeed in desperate need of extra company at the moment. This thread has been a friendly place for me for years. 
I followed for years before I joined in. I am sure many people read along right now. Perhaps this is the time for you to join in ,all are welcome. I love to hear about everyone and get many ideas and tips from posts here.
 Christmas was different and quiet. consequently I took the decorations down quite early for me. I had made a big effort this year, I realise now it's for visitors. I love Christmas decorations but it felt a bit sad with no one to see them.
 My son and GF both had corona virus over Christmas. Both are young and very fit but both were very poorly. Ds back at work now but very fatigued. DS GF signed off for another week.
DD1 was unblinded from the vaccine trial and had been given the meningitis vaccine. She has now had the corona vaccine as she works on NHS wards as well as the community. Goes to show washing hands and face masks do work as she has worked with corona patients all this time and not picked it up herself.
My Mum had her 87th Birthday a couple of days ago, she has her vaccine on Sunday. I gave her a new handbag for DS's wedding, scheduled for April. Otherwise (if it happens) I could see her turning out with a shopping bag type thing! 
MIL is 87 on Monday, not a clue what to get her. She says nothing, might take her at her word.
DS GF Birthday in a couple of weeks. I have already posted chocolate. Bobble hat, trinket box , other bits and bobs in a Christmas parcel. There are only so many candles and soaps a body needs! I may just get flowers delivered.
Nic I think it's a good idea to celebrate Christmas later in the year. My turkey and sausage etc are still in the freezer. We will have Christmas dinner when the family can meet again. Maybe Easter, with luck.
Some of you were talking about decorating for other celebrations. I do too. I think it's because I worked in an infant and primary school for so long! I do Christmas, Chinese New Year, Easter, Autumn, and Halloween. Summer time I am in the garden so don't bother with the house much.
I haven't been out much and just bought one roll of Christmas wrapping paper reduced. I did see in Sainsbury's greatly reduced disposable table wear.  It seems like shops didn't over stock for Christmas.
Oh my best present was a pack of 3 scissors from Mr V ??????????????????????? There must be 50 pairs of scissors in this house. He said he saw me struggle to cut cardboard when I was making the Rudolph pom pom wreath. Very thoughtful, Thank you. They are in the box unopened in a cupboard. Mr V was given  a multitool from his Mum. One every year for the last 3 Christmases.
Looking forward to reading all your news this year.
Vx

Gettingtherequickly

Well, I thought I would go on the Aliexpress site so I could start prep for this year, stuff I ordered last week scheduled for delivery in May, not an issue as we have some time yet, it arrived this morning! Will have to deal with storing over the weekend

Those of you who mentioned decorating for other occasions, some one I know decorates a window for every occasion, Valentines, Mothers Day, Easter, 4th July, every event you can think of! However, she has received a couple of plants & thank you cards from someone who loves to see the changes and looks forward to seeing the latest decoration, but has no idea who they were from! It is nice that it can help cheer people up, we think she is potty as there can be changes literally every week at some time!

pixtotts

@Gettingtherequickly the decorated window sounds lovely! 

I have to admit to slowly accumulating decorations for my studio, part thought is I can use them as photo props for product shots and social media, but also I just like decorating... on that note I just noticed I forgot to put my little desk trees away! Oh well they are pink and teal so not overly festive anyway.... 

I may have mentioned it in my hello post, but I bought a fake tree to make a Christmas gift guide for the local Etsy team, seemed like a grand idea and I got to have a tree up in my studio! But now I have a huge boxed tree filling half the room >.< My mums "you'll need a 7 foot tree.... and a nice full one" was incorrect and I could have done with a smaller one...but it is lovely... I'm so torn on my feelings about this annoyingly big and in the way, but beautiful tree haha x

judiciously

I agree @lizzie_b and @vulpix the camaraderie, friendship and opportunity to chat about something which offers more hope of a better time is invaluable. For me I am in desperate need to erase this latest memory of the holiday season. 

princesskitty29

Hi all, struggled to get on here this week. I’ve been quite stressed this week with everything which has affected my health a little bit which is not like me at all. I’m back to homeschooling Wiggle, the school have provided a timetable and we have to submit work this time, we have even been told we have to ring the office and let them know if our child is ill and can’t do the work that day! I understand what they are trying to do and of course our children’s education is important, but oh my I am feeling the pressure this time. I cannot get through all of the work for each day, Wiggle still needs lots of help with his reading and writing so tasks take a long time and it is also a challenge to get him to sit still and listen to me. I also have 3 year old Squeak who bless him just gets ignored when I’m homeschooling so I feel guilty about that. I’m on a Whatsapp group for parents of Wiggle’s year group and it doesn’t help when mums post on there that their child has finished all of the work set by lunchtime and we’ve only managed one task! I have muted that group. Wiggle is also very high maintenance, he can be such a sweet boy but he’s always on a knife-edge of kicking off about something, he is not very relaxed which is challenging too. And on top of that everything in the house still needs doing as well as cooking meals etc – I need a few more hours in the day! Phew, thank you for letting me get that off my chest. I do feel better when I can come on here let it out, so you guys help before you’ve even said anything!

 

We took our indoor decorations down on the 6th but we have left our two light up tress and light up snowman out in the front garden, we all need a little light in our life right now! I’m trying to take stock this weekend and find little relaxation techniques, I need to go into this week in a better frame of mind.

 

I too love a celebration, DH’s aunt and uncle always give us a hamper of food and bits that his aunt has made, so one of our favourite presents was some Easter placemats she had made – they’re patchwork ones and will be just fab for an Easter table!

 

 

Hello and welcome Kit1 and judiciously! Good to have you here.

 

pixtots good to see you!

 

mandco I love the sound of your celebration tree.

 

vulpix sorry to hear your DS and his GF were poorly, I do hope they both start to feel more normal soon. You made me laugh with the presents you both got!

 

GTQ ah the window decorations sound great!

Peppapig

PRINCESSKITTY vent to us any time you want and absolutely ignore the mums posting about their kids’ achievements, their child is not your child and their circumstances are not yours. Plus they probably did half of it for them.  It’s just the ‘oh isn’t he walking/talking yet?’ thing and you don’t need that. You’re doing a fabulous job because you’re trying and you care. Even teachers have a hard time with their own children because when children are at school they’re in school mode and when they’re at home they’re not. Rest assured you are not alone. My DD sent me a really good post by a guy who’s a teacher and a parent. I don’t know if I can find it and post it here for you but if I can I will. Keep positive, you’ve got this and Wiggle and Squeak being happy and loved is the most important thing.

Peppapig

PK have pmd you the link - it might not work but you might be able to find it on FB if not. I’m not on there anymore (my tolerance for stupidity is pretty low) so I can’t link from the actual video.