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

littlegreenparrot

Popped into Lidl on the way home for something nice to be eat and drink after a particularly challenging day at work. Lots of boxes of Lebkuchen have appeared which cheered me right up 
So the Christmas goodies are starting to land. 

Am going to try and pick up odd bits as I see them to pop in a box for Christmas. This year will be parents/siblings plus partners and little 'uns all in a big house together. 12 adults so will be handy to have a box of stuff to take along. 

chanie

@littlegreenparrot I do a box of goodies for my family and also one for my sister.  I pick up treats as and when they are offer and put them in the shallow cardboard boxes from Lidl (I wrap the box in wrapping paper if I can be bothered).   I try and get things we don’t normally eat, so it’s a bit special.  Even my DNs who are teens like the boxes.

Spendless

For some reason I missed some posts on the previous page. @princesskitty29 - It makes me laugh when people complain that Christmas stuff is being put out to early. It's put out the same time every year! How do I know? That's because I have close family member birthdays on September 14th and October 5th with mine inbetween. I've struggled all the time (well since I became a working adult with my own wages) to buy something for my Nan because of this, and since she's now 97 it isn't a recent thing. Whereas the Oct birthday frequently the Christmas range gift is out in stores and I've bought from it then - the past 2 years stock has been later out due to the pandemic affecting deliveries.

Nan rang me to thank me for her birthday gift.  DD asked her about her gifts (she's 1 of 11 children so loads of Nieces and Nephews) she told DD she'd had loads of biscuits, but when DD asked her said no she hadn't received a cake - wish I'd thought of that one! Still - idea for next year!  The thing with the hampers I have no artistic talent whatsover. I'm looking forward to future DIL being in the family and possibly re-locating nearer because she has an art degree and when re-arranging items in DD's bedroom I've flummoxed myself for ages how to organsie items to look better and then asked DIL2B and within a minute or two she's sorted it. I am good at selecting gifts to suit people though (DD does reckon she's better!) so as long as I have a suitable container I can create something. Nan's hamper went into a lidded box I had, but previously I've been round my Mums asking for her to help me wrap something in cellophane. 

ForTheLoveOfChristmas1982

@Spendless thank you for the car boot sale tip. I didn't end up doing one last weekend because it was cancelled due to the weather. 

@princesskitty29 yes, I cherish it all. Mine are older than yours (youngest is 14) and I miss the baby/toddler/primary age, but also love being able to think of other fun things to do with them, like spa days, theatre trips or shopping

I love seeing more & more Christmas things in the stores & online. I was in Home Bargains the other day & they already have 2 aisles full of Christmas stuff. My local Asda only has a small section at the moment, but I know it won't be long until that selection gets bigger. That reminds me, I need to see if the Asda Rewards app still has the offer on the Christmas chocolate tubs. If I can get them now at a low price, I will hide them away so nobody opens them early.

I have a birthday to buy for this month & 2 birthdays in November, but that's it for birthdays this year. I need to start getting little things for my daughter's advent calendars. I bought one of those 'fill your own' a few years ago & they love seeing what I've put in them every year. Nothing expensive, just small things like lip balms, hair bobbles, chocolates etc.

@littlegreenparrot and @chanie I like your idea of a Christmas treats box. I think I might do that as well for us & also do one each for my sisters. It's always nice to have a few extra bits that you wouldn't normally buy throughout the rest of the year.

mandco

CJ  Taz enjoyed his birthday thanks for asking - its the 1st time in a few years we actually been home on his birthday so we put up decorations and had a birthday tea 

Coxy congrats to DS & his GF 

Fortheloveofchristmas The xmas sweets tub offer for asda rewards is on till oct. I have mixed feeling on their reward system at the moment I am only earning anything it I get star buy items so barely earning anything but I've already banked over £30 towards xmas just by buying things I normally do so can't really complain 

talking of asda rewards they do have an offer on a couple of large xmas gift sets lynx, dove & something for men with slippers in can't remember the brand  they are pricey at £25 each but you get £15 back making them £10 each. Might get the lynx set for my eldest if I can find it in stock anywhere as 5 sets for £10 is a pretty good price.

was in boots yesterday picking up some meds and they had started putting out the xmas gifts- I much prefer to browse in person rather than online where I get fed up of see of seeing things I'd like but finding out they are oos.  
My smyths toys catalouge arrived today - old fashioned maybe but I still prefer to browse through a physical book rather than online plus its easier to get the kids to mark off things they like

primark had some interesting halloween food items in they had cookie cups twin pack £4, pumpkin shaped hot choc bombs 2pk ,pumpkin spice & coffee hot choc bombs 3pk and halloween cookie/ gingerbread decorating kits

I also do a xmas treats box - I'm going to rein it in a bit this year and concentrate on things I know will def get eaten rather than just buying things out of habit/tradition.  

found the elusive golden caramel toblerone in asda so picked up 2 of those and also the new quailty street purple one chocolate bar- that is actually really nice and tastes just like the sweet only better imo.

sains had a new spiced plum & pomegranate washing up liquid that smells a bit xmassy and has a xmas tree looking label so picked up one of those to put away bargain for 60p 

treated myself to the hotel chocolat velvetiser this week- did on the online deal where you currently get it for £35 when you take out a 6/12 month subscription - they are also doing 2 for 1 on selected hot choc sachets so got the black forest ones to put away for xmas instead of going to costa.  

Spendless

DD didn't want me to use the MK shoebox for DD2b. That's because she says she wants to start putting her shoes away more tidily and last year she had a hall share mate who stored all his footwear in shoeboxes so wishes to do the same. Instead she offered me a dust bag same designer as she doesn't use them for her handbags. It's actually a better idea as it looks as though it came like that.  

Can't wait to look in Boots if they've started putting their stock out. I realised how much I miss stores now closed down for Christmas stuff, Woolworths, BHS, Littlewoods and Debenhams. 

mandco

spendless great idea by dd which solves the worry over the packaging for the gift you were having 

home bargains have more xmas stock out several large display pieces including a train engine all a bit pricey though
I went in for halloween stuff (picked up a lovely glass pumpkin sweet bowl £4.99) so tried not to cave in and get xmas bits today however I did pick up some candy canes as they had the red & white ones which were really hard to find last year and I use them for my peppermint bark plus some gingerbread flipz(covered prezels) 

Beshki

The Works have a couple of lovely Christmas jigsaws online reduced to £2.50 with an extra 15% with code EXTREME15 

princesskitty29

We’re going to stay at my parents one weekend in October so I’m going to wrap all of the Christmas presents I have so far and take them up there. We’re staying on the farm near my parents for Christmas and there’s no way we’ll be able to fit all of the presents and all of our stuff in the car in one go so we have to take stuff down there before, so I might get that done this week.

Coxy I hope it all goes well for DS’s move to uni today. Congratulations to your other DS and GF, how exciting for you all! I hope you managed to join the queue for the lying in state. I’ve been really upset with myself this week as I had planned to go down to London to watch the procession on Wednesday (we’re a 40 min train ride into London), I had my bag packed the night before and I even got up at 5:30am and got ready. But I kept worrying about it in the night and was a bit daunted by the idea and managed to talk myself out of it in the morning. I’m used to going into London on my own and I even lived there for 2 years but it was the unknown about how bad the crowds were going to be etc. I’ve been kicking myself ever since though as I know I would have been absolutely fine if I’d just left the house and it’s a piece of history I can never be a part of again.

Spendless you are so right, the Christmas stock does come out early every year so it’s no big surprise! I think there’s people like us who like to get prepared and enjoy the process but other people just see it as one big headache they’d like to put off for as long as possible and don’t like the reminder. Oh I miss those stores too, especially Woolworths – I used to love it!

ForTheLoveOfChristmas1982 Yes I also thing it will be nice being able to do other things because they’re older. Although I have two boys so don’t think I’ll be able to do many things like spa days and shopping etc!

mandco oooh I hope our Smyths Toys catalogue comes soon! I am just like you, I would be at my happiest if I could shop by catalogues like the olden days! It narrows down the choice and you don’t scroll endlessly. Plus I like having something physical to look through. My eldest made a list for the first time last year by looking in the catalogue and I remember how exciting that was when I was little.

Spendless

I can't think of a worse time to do Christmas shopping than all in December. Little chance of anything that's run out being re-stocked and plenty of crowds! When the 2nd lockdown came in for a few weeks in late 2020 I was relieved I'd already bought all my shopping. Even DH reminded me today that it had been a struggle last year to find suitable reusable bags. I use the Xmas themed supermarket ones rather than gift bags to put the different households presents in and to look early. It's more difficult now DD is older though as she adds stuff on last minute or has seen a Black Friday offer!