Not dropping Santa down the chimney!: 2025 Santa, Shoebox & Life Chit,Chat,Chunter! ALL welcome....

Happy_Kitties

For some reason I always start to wrap during the summer when it is really hot as I can’t do much else, so I always start wrapping and go from there. It really does help, i hate wrapping with a passion. Opening my storage tub in December and finding all of the presents in it were wrapped-I was so happy!!!!

Katiehound

Hello @chanie, glad to see you are back even if you did 'store' items so well that they will be fine for Christmas '25!

I haven't been on here overmuch recently.
problems healthwise, I think I must have caught some form of bug because I really felt 'off' for most of December.
My celebratory meal on Christmas day (& NYD) was an omelette as I didn't go anywhere.

Since then I've had an endoscopy (nasty) followed by very strong drugs which upset me.
Face ache/ migraines (in Dec) which aren't eye related or dental so now on strong antibiotics in the hope that it is a sinus infection. I have to say Specsavers were brilliant, really thorough & only charged me £10 for the extra photo thingie. Dentist took 3 x-rays & the total there was over £10!

On Monday I lost my house keys in town- they haven't turned up

Possibly the worst is that my lovely hound had a mini stroke yesterday and essentially hasn't had any drink or hardly any food. Just not interested & that for a hound who will eat anything...... I'm not confident about the prognosis. Fingers, toes & paws crossed....

Katiehound

Quick update: he has no control over his legs but made it to the garden and has eaten a small amount- especially pleased that he ate the scrambled egg.

Happy_Kitties

@Katiehound I’m so sorry to hear about your lovely hound. It’s horrible to see something like that happen. Two of my cats developed seizures, a mum and son, really good ages for cats. Massive seizure finished mum off but by god that cat fought right until the end. While the body was finished, the head wasn’t and she bit hard. The vet had to give her a sedative to help with the ending, at this point I was so distressed I needed the sedative and all I remember is the vet continually jumping back from this biting head coming at her. It is so so hard when something happens to your  faithful companion.

Sorry to hear about your health aswell, I also had an endoscopy last year. Pleased to say after lots of discussion with my health conditions, they decided to knock me out, it was trying to break out of hospital at the end of the day that was the hard but. Hoping you feel better soon. You sound like you have been really going through it.

Not much happening here at the minute. I’ve parcelled up more charity items ready to be sent (felt weird to be hunting out Easter items), tidying things away and now Chanie has mentioned wrapping (a job I hate), I do fancy wrapping some items…..might work on some birthday items as I have a 21st coming up

Happy_Kitties

Forgot to say, I’m now seeing photos of the shoeboxes being delivered on various media outlets

chanie

@Katiehound sorry to hear about your dog poor little mite.

great news about the shoeboxes.  i’ve decided to step back from the shoeboxes for now, as although i enjoy doing them, i just don’t go to the shops like i used to and i can’t fill the boxes up like i used to.   hopefully, i’ll get my mojo back in the future.

im determined to get xmas sorted early this year as it’s becoming increasingly painful having lots to do at the last minute.  

i’ve already bought DD a few stocking fillers, but it’s more difficult for DS, as a teen boy, so i’ll have to think extra hard.  i did buy some chopsticks  as stocking fillers from shein and instead of getting a pair of chopsticks, i got the chopstick trainer (it’s a plastic thing which is used to hold the chopsticks together for newbies).  my fault - i should have read the description more closely, but it was only a pound, so i can’t complain.

Katiehound

He's certainly improving slightly but as I was writing this he tripped over the edge of his bed & fell in a heap. He's a fairly big boy: I can't lift him @ 25 kg. It still seems as if his legs don't quite belong. (he is size & build of a dalmation.)

On the positive side i've got him outside for pees. He can get to the water bowl unaided & has eaten some very yummy food!
Looks like when I go to Aldi I shall be buying food for the canine invalid. I'm thinking eggs & chicken for sure.

Frustratingly I can only see a very few of the shoebox photos on FB after the first few it locks me out, same with Instagram

chanie

i’ve bought a few stocking fillers.

  Something i found on shein was personalised chopsticks. They were really cheap (under £2 a pair), so i’m not bothered if the quality isn’t brilliant but i think my children will enjoy them.

i’ve decided to do stockings for me and OH, as i did them for years and stopped, when i felt like it was becoming too much of a chore, a few years ago. TK Maxx had these zodiac star sign socks for £4.  i have been eyeing them up for ages, but just never bought them.  when i was recently in TK Maxx, i found my star sign was  randomly reduced to £1, so i snapped them up for my stocking and picked up some thermal socks for OH.

chanie

just bought a couple of Lidl Bargains:

mulled wine - i get a bottle every year and drink it whilst decorating the tree or wrapping presents.  it’s normally £6 a bottle and i got it for £1.99, with an expiry date of 2027, so is going away for this Christmas.

Winter queen shower gel - it’s supposed to be a dupe of Lush snow fairy.  i bought the Aldi dupe, which was )1.99 and finished it today.  The winter queen one was on offer for £1.69 so i bought one and put it away.

Happy_Kitties

@Katiehound I hope hound is doing okay

@Anglea i hope you are doing okay and health is holding up

@Chanie it was you that got me into TKMax as I never used to go in. I’ve picked up some fantastic items for birthdays and one charity I support, the items are so much cheaper and suit the auction perfectly.  I love going in before Christmas when you go upstairs and they have all their Christmas things out.
 The zodiac socks for a £1….bargain! I also picked up a few bargains after Christmas in there, they had a very slow sale. I  had been looking for a particular Heathcote and Ivory set for awhile but couldn’t justify the price, found it in their post Christmas sale at a bargain price so that was snapped up for a present to tuck away.
Unfortunately I haven’t got a Lidl near me🙁

I have been doing some decluttering and popping a few things on Vinted. Trouble is I have been buying quite abit from there aswell. I always do some research beforehand but the items bought, they have been either for birthday presents or the charity auction. One item I picked up this morning will get wrapped this week as it’s for DDs birthday. It’s a busy time with a few birthdays coming up.