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

Spendless

You should be able to password protect your laptop. When it asks you to switch user, you log in your name and personal password  but it does require you remembering to log out and that family members can't just guess what password you're using, so I get a phone is more personal.

I bought 2 more Betty Boop £1 wine glasses, so potentially have one for an 18th next year plus a spare. 

sammy_kaye18

I have an account on the laptop that I switch to and use but its used by so many of us that I don't mind. 
Plus I have my phone with me all the time etc when I'm out or shopping and things so at a quick glance I can check what I have and what I still need. 
My son is far too technical for me and his 12 year old sister is forever sending me texts with weird features on it that I have no idea how she does so I can manage a password on my phone app. Plus I set my pin to an old house phone number so both of them are non the wiser now! Especially since I'm a RAF brat and have had more houses than they've had life! 

dropsofjupiter

So glad to find you all again, after reading the threads avidly since the early days I had a bit of a hectic year last year after finding out baby no 3 was actually surprise babies 3 and 4 who very kindly arrived on 14 December. Needless to say I don't remember much of Christmas last year so am very much looking forward to making a big deal this year. 

Very excited to start seeing some of the shops putting their Christmas ranges online - Asda, the Range, The Works. 

I couldn't resist some of the Christmas crafty bits on The Works so will soon be the proud owner of decorate your own snowman and Christmas tree Christmas cards, together with some stickers for the actual decorating. 

Love hearing how you're all getting on. 

Spendless

Hi dropsofjupiter and congratulations on the new arrivals. . I can imagine last Christmas all being a bit of a blur.  Years ago I used to watch a late afternoon TV show about altering the house you lived in to align it more with your needs  and one episode  was where  baby 3 had turned into surprise babies 3,4,and 5, which is why they were on the show.

I went into Savers the other day and they did have more Lynx soap out but only the fragrance I got last time, so I think my assumptions are correct, when gone that'll be it.

My free samples turned up. The soaps- only the shampoo one is boxed, so I think that's the only one I can save as a present. The oils look lovely but when the ad came up again last night and I read more comments I discovered you had to swipe right to see the other selections you could have chosen. I'd have possibly gone for the one I have anyway but frustrating to discover it wasn't clear.

mandco

Hi dropsofjupiter congrats on the new arrivals last year - I bet you can't wait for xmas this year 

Spendless - shame about the soaps not being packaged - I know some people don't mind but I always feel awkward gifting things that seem open even if they came that way iyswim.  Frustrating that made it unclear you could have had a choice of the oils - it seems like a lot of website are making it harder to find the options when it comes to deals  

Ds passed his exam     
need to get him enrolled but the link they sent doesn't work -sent an email earlier but still waiting to hear back why is nothing ever easy??  sometimes I really miss the days where you just turned up and did it all in person 

I was hoping to find some deals over the bank holiday but nothing really worthwhile so far - yeah a few places have "bank holiday deals" but its pretty much all the same stuff that's been on offer previously or minimal discounts 

Coxy11

Hi all,

Don’t all yell at me but I caved regarding birthday gifts for MIL and BIL (DH’s brother). We are currently decorating many rooms - hallway and landing partly done. Lounge almost done. Plus I’m in the office 2-3 days a week atm. We are doing DIY most nights until about 9.30pm plus weekends, so I popped out at lunchtime today and stumbled into T2 who had a bundle deal of bone china mug with integral infuser plus coaster with any 2 loose leaf teas. Got this for MIL and received free gift wrapping as I signed up for their marketing emails. £36 spent of a £40 budget. 

Saw a Star Wars T-shirt advertised on FB so ordered for BIL - £27 spent of £40 budget - £6 of which was postage! Given I received nothing last year from BIL I feel this token gift is more than enough. 

Birthdays are weekend after next, so at least they are ticked off. DH very grateful for my foresight! 

Gosh @dropsofjupiter that must’ve been a shock! Hope this Christmas is more memorable 😊

No lynx bars whatsoever in our Savers @Spendless!

Spendless

Isn't it weird how the same chain of shops get different stock. A couple of years ago, I remember going to about 5 different B &  Ms in our area  looking for a hot sauce advent calendar. Not one had it and I don't mean sold out just never stocked. I eventually got one when on a trip to Hertfordshire, their last one and had been left on the shelf by others due to  1 door being slightly ajar. When DD lived in Edinburgh their city centre TK Maxx got the most amazing stock. I understand that a bit more as they're not going to get loads of one off items, but never thought £1 bars of soap would be limited to what Savers stores they went in.

Decorating several rooms at once sounds stressful Coxy. After asking your DH to sort it out at least he discovered it's not as easy as saying 'abracadabra' and is grateful for you buying.

Congratulations to your DS mandco - Did you say he was off to do a college course next? I too miss the days of viewing/attending in person. When DS went to Uni, a few months before we were invited to a 'look round the accommodation we offer' day. We went with a group of other parents and looked round 6 different places all with varying prices which made it easier to select a choice. I doubt they offer it anymore, I suspect you'll be told to view online. 

mandco

Spendless thanks  yeah he's going to be doing games design - last year was really tough on him as they had no option to visit colleges in advance you just applied online had a telephone interview then turned up on the 1st day. He struggles with new situations and hated school so we had a few wobbles at first but once he settled in he excelled. 

It always amazes me how stock varies so much from store to store I'm forever seeing things advertised Yet they never seem to be stocked locally 

Off shopping today as he discovered yesterday his trainers no longer fit - he's lived in sliders over the summer so I can't really blame him for not knowing sooner but not what I had planned for today and could really have done without the extra expense before payday but today is the only chance I have to take him before he starts college as I'm away with Taz for his birthday next weekend. 

princesskitty29

Hello from sunny Yorkshire! We’re currently on holiday in North Yorkshire and I’m being given a lie in today. My husband can’t drive at the moment because of his knee so I did the four hour journey up on Saturday and we went to Scarborough yesterday which involved almost two hours each way with traffic, which wouldn’t be too bad but I didn’t sleep well at all the first night. It’s been lovely so far though and it was a beautiful day for the beach yesterday. We’re heading to Harrogate today and I’m hoping to get a cake at Betty’s.

I’ve been feeling really excited about Christmas the last few days which is strange as we’re on our summer holiday, but I think it’s because it’s nearly the end of the school holidays and things start to step up a gear when the children go back to school. Although I’ve been really struggling emotionally this year with the boys, when they go back my eldest will be in Y4 and my youngest in Y1. Where we live we have lower, middle and upper school, so this is my eldest’s last year at lower school and my youngest is no longer in early years. I don’t really like this system, where I’m from it’s just primary and secondary so I didn’t move until I was 11. DS1 will have various different classes with different teachers at 9. I know he won’t know any different but I’d prefer just primary and secondary, I don’t think it helps that he’s a young one with an August birthday. I know at 8 and 5 they’re still really young but I think it’s that feeling of time slipping through my fingers, you realise how quickly they grow up. I think we may only have one more year of DS1 believing in Father Christmas.

@Spendless that’s really interesting about the physio, I’m sure we all have things that could be prevented if we knew about them. I’ve been thinking about going to one for a while as I definitely have dodgy knees and would rather do something now to help my future self.

@Sammy_kaye yes I remember hearing something about reindeer days and you’re right, once a month is more manageable!

@mandco that’s great savings with Ocado. I hope you got the enrolment sorted, I too miss the good old days of filling in a form with a pen, using cash regularly etc!

dropsofjupiter! So good to hear from you again. Wow that must have been a surprise and kept you very busy! I don’t know how you managed Christmas at all last year!

@Coxy we’ll let you off for buying the in laws presents, it’s always better to get something when you see it.

mandco

Princesskitty enjoy your holiday - I hope you managed to get your cake sometimes its the little things that bring us joy

Understandable your feeling a little emotional school is one of the big ones that really gets you as its indicates such a momentous step in their lives. I do think its harder when they move up earlier as they still seem so young and having august babies too I always felt like they weren't really ready - up to a years difference in life compare to classmates at that age is huge

coxy - we're all guilty of giving in and buying things we said we wouldn't some times 

Our shopping trip was super quick we only went to 2 shops in the end - I'd take ds shopping again any day first shop we went to he picked a pair tried them on on and done. We then popped into primark as he wanted some new socks where I found a double size fleece blanket reduced to £5 which will come in handy over the winter months to help keep the fuel bills down - the kids all have dressing gowns that fit so they don't need new ones this year 

dd went to B&M over the weekend and says they had all the xmas gift sets and xmas chocolates/sweets out  they also has a small section of xmas pet gifts - no xmas decorations or housewares type stuff yet