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

mandco

CJ congratulations on the new arrival   sorry to hear dd had such a tough time though great news that they are all doing well

sounds like you got some great bargains in your aliexpress order I really do need to make time to have a proper look as I need to start finding some cheap but more grown up stocking fillers esp for my middle ds I really struggled last year and like you say if you order now no worries on how long it takes to arrive

princesskitty29

I’m glad to hear I’m not the only one who loves to update their Christmas spreadsheet, honestly as soon as I receive any presents that I’ve ordered I can’t wait to log them on my spreadsheet! It’s the little things in life it really is. I’m regretting not buying any more of the children’s sets from WHSmith as I’ve had to buy more presents today for some parties my boys are going to. I’ll remember that next year! I’d like to get on with the bunting I was supposed to be making for last Christmas just so that it’s done but a puppy and bunting trailing on the floor from the sewing machine won’t mix very well! I will have to be patient.

I’m on a mission at the moment to declutter my house, I still haven’t gone through the playroom after getting more toys for Christmas. I need to set myself small tasks each day as I’m mostly on puppy watch at the moment.

Coxy I’m glad you got DS’s ring in time! It’s always disappointing when you go out and get substandard service, especially for a special occasion but it sounds like it was a good day for your DS!

CJ Congratulations on your new grandchild! Is it a boy or a girl? It sounded tough for your DD poor thing, I’m glad everyone is ok now though. Good bargain with the Ordinance Survey book especially for your budget and how exciting to receive some of the presents you ordered!

mandco she’s a cockapoo so just a ball of fluff at the moment! I am finding it a little easier now and we can take her out for walks which she’s loving. I made a Chinese chicken curry with egg fried rice for Chinese New Year, I like to do mini celebrations too! Great news on the Butlins bargains, it’s so much better when you can go out of the school holidays.

C_J

New baby is a granddaughter .... she's a dream (I am biased, obv!) and her name is Ffion.

princesskitty29

Deary me we seem to have two children and a dog who wake up at 5:30 every day! Our children have always been very early risers but they seem even worse now we’ve got Poppy. It’s my lie in today so I’m trying to enjoy a bit of time to myself although it is extremely noisy downstairs! I’m psyching myself up as I said I’d take the boys to watch Sing 2 at the cinema today, I’d prefer to just take my eldest as the film is nearly 2 hours long but my 4 year old really wants to come so wish me luck! Normally we’d go as a family but someone has to stay here with Poppy, just trying to get used to this new way of life.

CJ ah a granddaughter and what a lovely name, you must be over the moon!

theoldmansmrs

CJ congratulations on the safe arrival of your granddaughter and what a beautiful name.

Thank you to everybody who has been talking about the WHSmith sale; I have just got all of my christmas cards for this year along with some stocking fillers. I too will be filling in my spreadsheet when they arrive and duly attaching the photos to the spread sheet. I put the photos on the spread sheet so I can have a couple of Christmas wrapping sessions throughout the year; glass of baileys, Christmas movie and away we go. 

Good luck at the cinema today PrincessKitty29

I can recommend this website for gift bags (I have no connection with the website). I purchased these
https://www.bigbrowncarrierbag.co.uk/back-in-stock-17-11-20-white-landscape-recycled-carrier-with-ribbon-420x120x320mm-813.html and use them for birthdays, christmas etc. I don't write on the bags, simply attach a gift tag so they can be re-used and as they are already recycled, I know I am doing my bit as well as saving money given the price of some of the gift bags in the shops. There are christmas ones available too

https://www.bigbrowncarrierbag.co.uk/christmas-frieze-landscape-recycled-carrier-with-ribbon-200x80x160mm-1010.html

Coxy11

Hi everyone,

Congratulations on the arrival of Ffion CJ - what a sweet name. Your poor DD though - I hope she's doing okay and accepting help for anyone who offers! Sounds like a great haul from AliExpress - I will take a look 

Princesskitty - my Mum (79) has just got a puppy. Wouldn't listen to us saying an older (rescue) dog would be better for her. She's up at 5.50am each day and takes pup for a walk at 6.30am in the dark. She's not that stable on her feet which makes it all the more worrying. I really want to see Sing 2 - my children are all grown up so I will go by myself!

We have a new A!di in our town. DH and I visited on Friday night and they had photo frames from Friends – like the one Monica had on her door. Got one for DD for Christmas £5.99. Spreadsheet updated!

C_J

Thank you everyone so much for your congratulations and good wishes. My daughter is back at home and doing amazingly well. Mister CJ and I visited them today and I got to have loads of cuddles with Ffion (you forget how tiny a newborn is, don’t you?!).  I did a mammoth load of batch cooking yesterday to fill up her freezer with soups, curries, chillies, casseroles, stuffed peppers, burritos and cheesecakes so they’ll be OK for meals without too much effort for a few days at least.

They still had some items in the Sainsbury TU online sale, and I managed to get a few lovely things including a pretty red tartan dress in a 12 month size, for Ffion to wear at Christmas - a bargain at only £4 😀

Treasurequeen

congratulations  CJ on the arrival of your granddaughter, what a beautiful name. 

Princess kitty things will get easier with the puppy, sending virtual hugs. 

Does anyone know if free and the other original posters are ok who used to be on here? 

I managed to order all of my special Christmas cards, wrapping paper and boxed cards for under £10.00 on WHSmith thanks for the reminder to look online. Also got 6% cash back on my order too.  I will need to put a note in my Christmas planner to look in the sale next time. As there are still lots of bargains on there even now. 

princesskitty29

Blimey every day I think I’m going to get on here to post then time just gets away from me! So I found myself wrapping Christmas presents today, they’re actually presents for the boys that I ordered for my parents before Christmas as they were poorly, I hadn’t got around to wrapping them and we were supposed to be going to visit them tomorrow so I thought I’d better get on with it! Only we’re not going now, DS2 has a cold and because my parents have been so poorly lately we don’t want to risk them getting it. We’re really disappointed, the boys haven’t seen them since October. It’s also a shame because we’ve got a lot of days to fill with it being half term!

My trip to the cinema with the boys went well, they were very well behaved and seemed to enjoy themselves. My youngest eats really, really slowly and usually it’s really frustrating, but it was a blessing at the cinema as it took him about two thirds of the film to get through his popcorn and chocolate so that kept him occupied!

theoldmrandmrs glad to hear you did well with WHSmith too and have a spreadsheet! Thanks for the links to the gift bags, I’ll keep those in mind.

Coxy gosh yes I hope your mum is doing ok, puppies are hard work! It’s funny though because you don’t really appreciate it until you experience it. I would definitely recommend you watch Sing 2, I enjoyed it more than the boys did!

CJ I’m glad to hear your DD is back at home and hopefully getting lots of help and rest. Those meals you made sound great and will be a godsend, I remember after having DS1 my husband went out to buy loads of ready meals! Great bargain on the dress, I love that you are already thinking of her at Christmas!

Treasurequeen I follow freespirit on Instagram and she posts fairly regularly so I think she’s doing ok, and I’ve seen vulpix on another thread and she’s ok. I don’t know about anybody else though, hopefully they are ok, it would be lovely to hear from them again. Thank you for my virtual hug! Great to hear you’ve also done well with WHSmith, we’ll all have our watches set to go on their sale next year!

princesskitty29

Oh and i've also been a bit of an idiot, I don't know if you remember me saying I bought my friend a watch in the summer sales last year but when I went to wrap it at Christmas it had stopped? Well I was quite put out at that, I finally got around to taking it to have the battery replaced today (I haven't seen my friend yet to exchange presents) only for that man to tell me the plastic tag was still on it that stops the battery being used before it's worn! So it hasn't stopped yet as it hasn't actually been used! What a numpty I am.