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

mandco

sammy_kaye18 said:

Evening all

Well my best friend reminded me today that it is 19 sundays until Christmas so I think from now on Sundays will be my christmas prep day as well as crafting / planning / movie day to keep me in the festive spirit and just have a bit of self care for myself. 

Currently sat looking at fridges for the kids bedrooms. 

Also trying to find the C&C cage for my daughter and checking local pages :-) 

not sure what type of mini fridge you have in mind but I would recommend getting the biggest you can afford as the cheaper ones tend to be tiny. DS has the small russell hobbs mini fridge I paid about £35 for it and its does what its meant to -keep stuff chilled but he can only fit a couple of items in it at a time and a lot of drinks bottles are too tall to fit. DD has the russell hobbs mini fridge(table top fridge) and while it takes up more space was more expensive £90ish in the sale its way superior and holds loads. 

only 19 weekends till xmas that doesn't sound long at all especially when the latter part of the year seems flies by 

sammy_kaye18

@mandco
I was looking at them last night when I wasn't tired and I was trying to find one that holds a fair bit but the cheap ones I have seen look like they would only hold a few cans and Id like to them to be able to have drinks and a few snacks / treats etc in there so I think I will be spending a little extra on them. 

Coxy11

Hi all,

Not much in the way of Christmas prep here as I've been put onto a 'special project' at work and am now having to go into London 2-3 times a week. Had an 8 minute lunch break the other day, so absolutely no time to go out and shop. Also HoF on Victoria Street is now closed so nowhere really to shop!! Project finishes 9 Sept hopefully.

We've been decorating our hallway and landing over the past few weeks - all woodwork now done, so onto the walls. Have been doing it on weekends and after work so absolutely exhausted!

DS2 got his first choice of uni and will be off to Kent in a few weeks. We have a list of stuff he needs, some shopped from home like towels, mugs and glasses, but other bits still to buy. It's a shame that DD and him overlap by one year as he could've taken her stuff although probably would've drawn the line at the pink crockery!

Hoping to keep some additional bits like a panini press back for part of his Christmas gift - he does love a toastie!

Sorry haven't managed to comment on anyone's news but will try to read back over the weekend!
Coxy x

Spendless

sammy-kaye - We have 2 table top beer fridges. Think one was gifted and the other a Father's day gift to DH some years ago so nothing like today's prices! We ahem sneaked one into DD's last student accommodation and it held bottles of water, cans of pop and the odd pack of biscuits/bars of choc. We won't be able to do that this time round  her last halls was a bit 'slack' and rarely checked anything as evidenced when some weeks after DD left, one of the occupants on her floor was found dead in his room and had clearly been there a while, some students had moved out of that floor  saying there was a smell, but the management only ever cleaned the stairs and never the corridor  between the rooms  so wouldn't have known!   From time to time DD asks for a mini fridge for her skincare but they're nowhere near as good as what we already own. It was just need some re-jigging of her room to fit one in!


@Coxy11 - 2 studying at once is a killer! Still recovering from the after effects of that! DD also has pink crockery but a lot of her pink cutlery got lost and I'm struggling for  replacements. She also requested a pink pan set (rose-gold would also be ok). I can see her point, there were so many times there were arguements or someone had used someone else's black pan that I resorted to sending her some more up with a ribbon tied through the hole in the handle (yes a fire risk) so hoping I can find her more distinctive looking pans for this year.

Future DIL messaged me yesterday about them coming to ours for Xmas because their work patterns mean they can both be off and they decided to alternate going to parents (though I completely appreciate this may alter after they marry or depending where they settle and especially if they start a family)  Regular readers/contributors may remember I got freaked out when I discovered she'd grown up far more religious than we are with the focus on Christmas day on attending Church whereas I'd got the dog a stocking and butter pats in the shape of Father Christmas and a Snowman and had no idea how to tone it down or even if I should with days to go -lol. Nowadays I'm fine that we do things completely differently and she (and DS) get two different experiences. It does mean I need to think through the Christmas hamper and stocking aspects if I'm doing them for all 3.

Remember if you have any menfolk/family members like mine whose entire brain cells disappear somewhere other than the section devoted to 'football fixtures' when a tournament is on that the world cup is in December, if you are wanting any help/input from them with Christmas prep.  

sammy_kaye18

@Spendless
OMG that is shocking about the passed away resident. My son went to college rather than Uni so he is local to me and comes home every day  - Ill be honest I don't see him flying the nest for a while yet and I'm already stressing about his first driving lesson on Tuesday! 

Thankfully husband and son aren't into football but they are keen mountain bikers and daughter seems to be following the same way so I can imagine that will be a fair bit of my christmas gift buying. 

@Coxy11 I hope your renovations are coming along well. I did wonder where you had gotten to. I am busy writing and crafting, hoping to get a few bits done and ahead for Christmas! 

princesskitty29

No more presents bought here but I did get some ideas from my trip to my parents so will add those to the list. It was lovely to go back and visit them, it’s not often enough. I’ve got one more week at home with the boys then we go on holiday to Yorkshire on Saturday and then that’s the end of the holidays!

Some time ago (about 7/8 weeks) I mentioned my husband fell over in the dads race at sports day, it was funny at the time when we thought his leg would recover after a couple of weeks but it is still no better and he can’t bend it. He’s since had consultant appointments and an MRI, he’s lucky enough not to need surgery but now has a long road to recovery through physio. I can’t believe how much damage he’s done from such an innocuous event. A lot of daily tasks are a struggle and it’s been getting him down a bit and our Yorkshire holiday will be quite different to what we had planned as long walks are out of the question. Although I know we’ll make the most of it. Sorry just rambling on a bit here but it’s such a big thing in our house at the moment!

Beshki I’m sorry to hear about your loss, I hope you are doing ok. I don’t think Christmas will be as lavish for people this year as everyone will be watching the pennies. I hope you had lots of ticks on your list!

Sammy_kaye I love your idea of a Christmas prep day every Sunday! I might try and join you with some of it, I’ve got a lot of bunting to finish as gifts and I don’t want to leave it until the last minute.

mandco oh blimey this is the sign of things to come isn’t it – the kids presents get way more expensive the older they get!

Welcome back ForTheLoveOfChristmas! It sounds like you’ve made a great start, a little planning goes a long way.

Coxy being on a ‘special project’ sounds very mysterious and exciting! I’m sure it isn’t but it does sound it. Congratulations to your son for getting his first choice uni, you must all be pleased.

Spendless DH and I have always alternated Christmas, even when we had our family. I feel sorry for my in laws as they spend every other Christmas on their own even though DH has two brothers. My parents are always ok as they have my brother and auntie who they always spend it with. Oh my goodness what a horror story from the halls – how awful!

Spendless

@princesskitty29 - My friend did herself a similar mischief just putting on a pair of tight jeans and tripping! Years ago when I first returned to daytime work after having the kids I worked for a forestry company. They employed a physio who told me that he used to get called in when one of the cutters fell from a tree and injured themselves and commonly found they'd had a weakness in that area prior to the accident. The company then  changed his contract to prevention rather than cure, so he saw everyone regularly and picked up in advance any problems. He  predicted that unless I did some stretching exercises I would eventually develop plantar fasciitis . I did the exercises for a while then stopped and sure enough a few years later his prediction came true. Thankfully it eventually cleared up, so fingers crossed your DH will respond well to his physio.

I've had a facebook add come up for some samples of flavoured oils just pay p&p. Thinking DS would like these so going to give it a try and see if it works. 

Spendless

I went to my spreadsheet where I'd listed possible Xmas ideas (Sammy Kaye is this a possibility for you if you have a laptop/PC instead of keeping everything on your phone?). I'm glad I did because I'd forgotten some of the things I was contemplating. However I left the spreadsheet open and DD saw it, she laughed and admitted it truthful when she saw by her name I'd written - await list! 

sammy_kaye18

@Spendless
 I share the laptop with both kids so I would be worried that one of them would look at it - particularly daughter as she can be a minx but the app I have on my phone is password protected so I know its safe. 

Whilst on the subject - phone is fixed! Woohoo! 

@princesskitty29
another page I use to follow called the 25th of each month reindeer days so maybe I might just do it once a month instead since I will probably be busy once the kids are back to school and college with things like homework, uniforms, etc. But I think if i focus on the 25th of each month and have the day for it then it will be more manageable! 

Went blackberry picking today though and have decided to freeze them all and then nearer to Christmas I will make it all into jam and give some out as small token gifts to people like my neighbour, the family, teachers etc. 

mandco

Coxy  congrats to ds   

Princesskitty its always a shock when such a small incident causes such big problems - glad dh didn't need surgery but it sounds like he's having a pretty tough time which can't be easy for you either.   The holiday will be different then you'd hoped but quality time together is what really matters and I'm sure the boys will have a great time regardless

yeah as they get older the gifts get more expensive and usually much much smaller     

spendless  nice of future dil to ask now about coming for xmas as it gives you time to plan -  we ended up with dd not being here xmas day morning & then her boyfriend coming for dinner boxing day last year but it was all very last minute which was kind of stressful 

Sammy - I totally get the keeping it in the phone plan - my lot are far to technically minded - taz puts me to shame with what he can do on the pc 

The summer has flown by its September next week already   Ds gets his exam results thursday and then needs to finalise his enrollement for this years course at college though he's already been accepted as he achieved a distinction on the Btec part of this years course which is a huge achievement for him    

Ocado keep sending my money off shop vouchers as I haven't used them for a while this week it was £25 off £70 and they had some offers on things I needed to buy anyway so I did an shop and used the money off to get some bits to put away for xmas