A Jolly Holly Christmas - It's the 2022 Christmas Chatter Thread!

mandco

princesskitty29 said:

GTQ I hope you are ok and looking after yourself, thinking of you.

mandco I know life's busy but hope you're ok too.




 

I'm doing ok thanks life's been kinda hectic - you know that on the go 24/7 no time to stop and breathe feeling? time got away from me - I keep meaning to pop in then get distracted 

I hope ds is feeling much better - even with existing health issues its so scary when they need emergency medical care. Glad he was well enough to mange the space centre - fab bonus of the upgrade

GTQ so sorry to hear about your mum - I hope your doing ok 
Sammy sorry for your losses I can only imagine how hard that is to cope with in such a short time

Can't believe its only 6 months till xmas (well post xmas now) this year is flying by and I've barely made a start on my xmas planning/buying - still not a lot of offers/bargains to be found.  Got an expensive couple of months coming up with the kids birthdays so xmas planning is on the back burner till after that - DD is 21 this year   
I have sorted presents for dgd1 birthday - they are really into the kindi kids dolls and i managed to pick up a couple 1/2 price(checked with sdd if she had them 1st) - I debated picking up extra for xmas but decided to wait and see which ones she gets for her birthday just incase they ended up being duplicated as they would have been outside the returns period.

Had to cancel this years planned holiday  but have rebooked for next year on the plus side more time to save and I can pick up some holiday based gifts for xmas so that gives me a few more options/ideas.

Cost of living increases are starting to bite(food & fuel costs esp) so this years xmas budget is going to have to be a bit stricter - I do have a tendancy to keep adding small extras but they really do add up. The xmas food shop might get an overhaul this year too - we had loads left over last year. I think sometimes I'm buying out of habit or just in case rather than actual need/want and really its wasted money. I'd be interested to know if anyone else had any items they brought that they could have easily done without? 

hope everyone's doing ok 
I will try harder to pop in more often 

Beshki

@mandco Yes, you’re absolutely right about the Christmas food shop. We have always gone overboard, until last year. We decided just to buy what we knew we needed (so say, your items for meals for the day) and popped on a small box of chocs & a box of biscuits, and said if we fancied anything else we would go out and buy it at the time. It cost probably no different to our usual shop and we didn’t notice a jot - we didn’t go without and felt so relieved not to have wasted loads of £££!

sammy_kaye18

mandco said:

Cost of living increases are starting to bite(food & fuel costs esp) so this years xmas budget is going to have to be a bit stricter - I do have a tendancy to keep adding small extras but they really do add up. The xmas food shop might get an overhaul this year too - we had loads left over last year. I think sometimes I'm buying out of habit or just in case rather than actual need/want and really its wasted money. I'd be interested to know if anyone else had any items they brought that they could have easily done without? 

Completely agree.. Cost of living is starting to hit us here and we are on gas / electric meters so I am looking and making notes of ways to save the pennies etc and I think Christmas is going to be a big one for us. My kids are 18 and will be 12 by Christmas so they are that much more grown up so I dont have toys as such to buy anymore. 

I think I will be giving more practical gifts to family members this year ,if not some that are homemade. Even if they are token gifts. Im actually using my free time at the minute to cross stitch cards so they can be a small gift in themselves if I can find empty baubles then they can also be kept afterwards as an ornament. 



As far as the food shop goes for Christmas we already eat basic meals.
We don't really like turkey so I will buy a medium sized chicken and a small gammon round. This gives us plenty of meat and leftovers for sandwiches and meals. Everything else is fairly straight forward as far as veg (carrots/sprouts/parsnips/potatoes) and the only things I add to our meal is pigs in blankets, stuffing and gravy or parsley sauce. Both gravy/sauces I buy as granules so I can use them more often. Pigs in blankets are frozen from a frozen food store so keep longer in the freezer and stuffing is an add water type granule one beginning with P which we use regularly and I can buy those last few items in advance with a food shop and they keep until I need them. 
Other than that I make sure to have things for a small buffet type tea (we eat our main meal about 1/2pm) so it is only really a snacky type tea that we need in the evening. I buy in advance things like crackers / biscuits / jaffa cakes /cakes / chocolate fingers, pickled onions, pickled beetroot and then add fresh or fresher things like meats, cheeses, small sausages rolls , cocktail sausages ,fruit and veg. Makes life easier and everyone can just help themselves and relax in the evening. 
And to be honest even reading back the food list - its usually stuff we have in the cupboards anyway so not too different for us. 

Starting to make way with some christmas preps though - I emptied my Narnia Cupboard the other day and have found a few bits and pieces that Im hoping to regift, reuse, pass on or make into something else so I am hoping I can get a few partial gifts started. Things like slippers - I found 3 pairs so thats at least 3 small things to go into gift bags. 

theoldmansmrs

@sammy_kaye18 love those cross stitch cards. They are amazing.

@mandco I used to let my kids (now grown up) just put what they wanted into the trolley at Christmas. The amount of junk we had was ridiculous. This "tradition" carried on to the grandkids. A couple of years ago, I decided I was fed up with a stash of junk being left in the corner after the Christmas decorations were down so they could have 1 item each. They now all think about what their treat is going to be; last year my granddaughter wanted a home made chocolate log for herself. She cut it into pieces and put pieces in the freezer. Her last piece was eaten for her birthday in March

If anybody wants nice personalised gifts, I have purchased these for friends for when they go out (money permitting nowadays!) so they don't have to put their handbags on the dirty floor. My family say I have issues about germs

https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/1176764477/personalised-folding-handbag-hanger?ref=cart

@GTQ so sorry to hear about your mom-thinking of you x

C_J

I sorted out the present for my grandson who will be almost six at Christmas - I was in Aldi and noticed they were selling small tabletop sized table football games for £14.99. They were left over from Father’s Day gifting I think. Similar models cost around twice that on Amazon, so I’m pleased with my purchase - and he’ll absolutely love it!

Papillon55

Hi everyone, Christmas lurker here! Hope it’s ok to jump in. 

Growing up we were dirt poor and my mum always had her ‘Christmas cupboard’ where she put things aside all year so we’d have some nice bits. I inherited this trait and have done it all my adult life, even though we don’t ‘need’ to financially. Much to the amusement of my partner and friends too. 

Last year I donated the entire lot, and will do so this year especially as things are getting tighter for more people. We’re not comfortably off ourselves but won’t go without. 

One thing I’m struggling with is online supermarket apps not showing BBE/ best before dates, and dates being shorter than usual.  Donated items must be in date, and I think supply chain disruptions have really messed up some BBE dates I’m seeing in the shops. I’m a long term food prepper too so usually have the typical BBE dates of items in my head (there’s more interesting hobbies I know!). 

Several things I’ve bought with usually long dates had expiries of November!! Not even just special offers, regular priced items too. 

Has anyone else had problems with the dates on things?

princesskitty29

Well I got to spend another day in A&E on Friday, this time with my husband, he did the dads race at our sons sports day and that is where we ended up! Honestly, three men fell over during the dads race and no women fell over at all during the mums race! To be fair to my husband he actually fell over after the finish line after he’d won! I can’t believe he won to be honest as he’s not in the best of shape. But he really went down and managed to fall onto his knee, wrist, shoulder and face simultaneously! Luckily nothing broken just some sprained ligaments. I just saw him go down on his face with his glasses on so I was fearing the worst but amazingly they’re only very slightly bent and not broken at all and his face was ok. Honestly there’s always one and it had to be my husband! He’s maintaining it happens to all the good athletes but he has declared that he is now retiring from athletics.

Good to see you back Redrobin! I’m sorry to hear about your car, how awful, were you in it at the time? We got a new puppy in January and they take over for a while don’t they?? Things have calmed down a bit here so life is a bit easier now!

sammy_kaye It must be hard losing your dog, they really are one of the family and such characters. It sounds like a lovely idea to make something for her to be remembered by. It is so easy to keep adding crafts to the list isn’t it? I’m just trying to focus on my cross stitch at the moment, although I realised I’ve made a small mistake so have been unpicking a section which is super frustrating. Last year I did a short online course to learn how to use my sewing machine and we made bunting, so I bought some Christmas fabric and started making bunting as Christmas presents. I didn’t get to finish it all last year so I still have more to make this year for other people. Your cross stitching looks great and fab idea with the baubles!

mandco glad to hear you’re ok and yes I certainly do know that constant on the go feeling! Yes the rise of living costs are certainly more noticeable now, it’s a bit worrying about how bad things might get. It’s hard when you want to spread the cost of Christmas over the year but you have lots of birthdays and don’t see much to get. In terms of food I find our leftovers aren’t too bad  but I do like to have some chocolates out in the run up to Christmas but then we also get loads as presents so end up with huge amounts afterwards! My boys are still young at the moment but I get the feeling my Christmas food shopping bill with increase significantly as they get older!

theoldmrandmrs those hooks look great, I should get one for myself as I don’t like putting my bag on the floor!

Papillon hello and welcome, please do come and join in! I must say I have not noticed the dates on items, I suppose I haven’t noticed because I probably only start buying in advance around October time. It must be frustrating when you usually like to collect things throughout the year!

theoldmansmrs

Movies 24 are showing Christmas movies 

☃️🎄🎅

mandco

Sammy your cross stitches are lovely I like the idea of making them into ornaments so they can be reused every year 

Princesskitty  Oh no poor DH  I hope he's recovering ok and not in too much pain. 
The food shopping bill def increases as they get older I think its more noticeable with the boys but wow they can seriously put it away some days esp if they are having a growth spurt. I don't know how they can eat so much but stay so slim I swear they must be hollow

CJ  great bargain on the football table 

Papillon55 welcome   I haven't really taken a lot of notice of normally longer dated items use by dates as don't tend to buy a lot but I have noticed use by dates in general are getting really short - the amount of times I've picked something up and its dated the same day

theoldmansmrs  thanks for the heads up 

finally had my appointment at the dentist for a root canal at the weekend. ended up with an extraction instead as the root broke and they couldn't salvage it - cant help feeling like if they 'd actually booked me in when it first needed doing it wouldn't have happened. Had to reschedule a lot of this weeks plans as I'm in so much pain -had it checked yesterday basically its just badly bruised/swollen as it was a really difficult extraction so just keep taking painkillers and it should settle in few more days though they've given me antibiotics to prevent any infection. 

Argos have 1/2 price on some of the chad valley stuff - I picked up a couple of the drink and wet dolls @ £5.50 for the xmas donations stash. 

Gettingtherequickly

Been good to have a catchup, thanks for the messages checking up on me, much appreciated. Hope  you are all doing fine & welcome to the newcomers.

I'm doing ok, trying to sort out mums will, which unfortunately, she hadn't updated, so my brother & I are having an issue with my sister who, while acknowledging mums wishes, is refusing to honour them because they are not in the will.  Families eh!

Am making slow progress with the cakes, hampered by the fact I tested positive.  I have not had as much as a sneeze for the last few years, so am shocked at how debilitating the flipping thing is. I'm hoping that I might be able to make reasonable progress this week, setting myself a target of getting them all done by the end of the month, am sick of looking at the ingredients!

I have started to get bits of tinned food for those families in need at Christmas, interesting how much the costs have gone up already.  Think I will have to carefully select their treats, I like to get them something that isn't budget buy, eg, last year I paid £1 each for Harding & Bayliss soap, ok not the most expensive in the world, but it is £1.50 this year. Going to Costco for work this evening, think they have shower gel on offer, so may pick up some and get that out of the way.