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

C_J

@princesskitty29 Thank you for the heads-up about the WHSmith sale - I spent a very happy hour browsing that tonight and have ordered about 20 items (eek!). I was really surprised by how good the sale was, and I now have lots of lovely things ordered for forthcoming birthdays plus a few bits to put away for Christmas. I’m very pleased - thanks again.

Beshki

Picked up a scarf in the Joules sale for £5 which will do nicely as a gift for one of my older relatives

Coxy11

Another one saying thanks for the WHSmith sale reminder. I just went on and put about 30 items in my basket then narrowed it down to needs rather than wants. Now have jigsaws for Mum x 2 (one for Mothers Day, one for Christmas), FIL (for Fathers Day), Dad (for his birthday), plus special cards for family x 8 (can keep some for next year too), also general Christmas cards and some wrap. Got some stationery too. Spent £42 in total but have a Christmas/Present fund that I put money into each month, so all expenses covered.

DS2 is 18 tomorrow and jeweller still hasn't rung about the signet ring we've purchased eeek! Would rather get it today than go in the morning as we're out for lunch at 1pm and it's an hour's drive away. Got mahoosive 1 and 8 balloons plus a silly big badge and novelty pint glass in Card Factory at lunchtime today. Will also do a photobook but that will take some time. DD only just got hers and she's 21 in October!

princesskitty29

Not much going on here as I am always on puppy watch at the moment! I did however buy my friend a snowflake necklace from my cousin who makes enamel jewellery, I got myself one at Christmas and it’s a lovely little necklace so another present to stash away. My future self better do a better job of wrapping everything in good time for Christmas as my present self is making so much effort to be organised!

I did a bit of my Christmas Cottage cross stitch the other day, I haven’t touched it for ages since getting the dog and it’s making me wonder if I’ll even get it finished for this Christmas. But I know things will get easier with the dog and I will have more time again.

We’ve got friends coming over this afternoon so I’m hoping to make a cake this morning, although adding a puppy to two small children can be chaotic at times so we’ll see!

Caz, CJ and Coxy it sounds like lots of us have done well out of WHSmith – we’ll all have to remember this next year!

beshki Joules stuff is always lovely so great to get a bargain.

Coxy how did DS2’s birthday go? I hope you got the ring in time! Photobook’s are always such a lovely idea.

princesskitty29

I've just updated my Christmas spreadsheet with my recent purchases, it's so satisfying doing this even when Christmas is ages away! 

Coxy11

Hi all,

My WHS is on it's way #excited.

The jeweller rang on Friday afternoon to say DS2s ring was ready, so I hot footed it down there. He is very pleased with it and also the pint glass from Poundland with the slogan "Beer - because no epic adventure ever started with mineral water". Also got him a silly big badge. I will do the photobook over the next few weeks as have to go into the loft for pre-digital photos to scan!

We had a meal out with relatives on Saturday lunch - 15 of us - and I had paid a deposit and pre-ordered food. We were on a mezzanine floor and furthest from the kitchen, so the delivery of food was a bit hit and miss. Some of it was cold (didn't find out until afterwards as nephews gf didn't say anything and was sat at the other end of the table). All steaks were cooked medium - no one asked - and DDs bf likes his blue! We ordered 3 bottles of fizz that were plonked on the table, no coolers, and glasses came later. Ended up leaving half a bottle as it was warm. I'm not sure if that was a covid precaution, but would have expected to be served wine? Anyway, upshot is I paid the bill £eyewateringamount, and have sent an email to provide feedback. The staff were doing their best but management were less than bothered we were there. I almost felt like an inconvenience tbh.

DS went to spoons in the evening with DD and some friends. He had a good time and we enjoyed seeing wider family at the lunch, so all good

I too have updated my gift/Christmas spreadsheet princesskitty!
Coxy

Coxy11

My WHSmith order has arrived! Pleased with everything bar the stationery - thought it was a pack of 4 A4 Oxford campus notebooks for £2.87 but only one... Other than that the special cards are lovely and have all close family members covered for less than £10 for 8 cards. Jigsaws look fab, so that's a couple of other gifts sorted too. Spreadsheet updated 

C_J

I was pleased with my WHSmith order too. I'd included the Ordnance Survey quiz book, which I had intended as a stocking filler for Mister CJ, but now having seen it I think it would make a really good gift for the parents of one of my sons-in-law. We have a budget of £20 for exchanging Christmas gifts with them, and this book was only £6 (reduced from £25) and looks a lot of fun.

mandco

Princesskitty congrats on the new addition  what breed did you get?
the first few weeks with a new puppy are a bit like having a newborn  and can be tough at times but it does get easier and it will be worth it in the long run 

sounds like a few of you managed to get some great bargains form WHsmiths its somewhere I always forget to check during the sales 

haven't really manage to get anything for my xmas stash so far this year did pick up a few bottle bags for 6p each in asda but haven't been out much so missed all the instore deals and virtually everything online seems to be oos for collection locally or delivery to me as usual. 

Had my 1st proper night out since pre covid went out for a meal for oh birthday and got a great last minute deal on hotel in town (it was cheaper than paying for taxis)  ok so I was in bed asleep by 10pm  but it was so nice to have some time to myself and a decent night of uninterrupted sleep. 

Booked a couple of cheap butlins breaks for march & may -its a big bonus to homeschooling taz not being tied to weekends or school holidays means there are some really good deals to be had. 

I'm trying to do a themed meal/day at least once a month so we have something to celebrate regularly after the last year or so I think celebrating the small things and having something to look forward to is more important that ever 
We're doing chinese new year today. I'm doing some themed school work with taz today and we're going to have a chinese meal for dinner tonight   anyone else doing anything?

C_J

Well, today has felt a bit like Christmas for two reasons:

My younger daughter had her first baby (our third grandchild) in the early hours of this morning, after an awful 74 hour labour and emergency c-section. Mum, Dad and baby (and grandparents!) all doing well.

Consequently I've been on cloud nine and unable to concentrate on work while at home today, so it was a welcome distraction just now when the postman delivered a huge parcel of items I'd ordered from AliExpress two weeks ago. Each item was individually sealed in bags inside the mailing bag, so it's been like Christmas opening each package and logging it on the spreadsheet!  Really pleased with everything I had ordered - lots of things for advent calendars, stockings and table gifts. Almost all of it was unbelievably cheap, in most cases just a pound or two per item and the quality has been excellent.  Favourite items have been the men's manicure sets (which look way more expensive than they were), the snowflake shaped hex spanner (two sons in laws are always tinkering with things, so perfect for them) and the USB sticks in little rosewood cases.