Jingle All The Way - It's the 2023 Christmas Chatter Thread!

princesskitty29

Hi all, I hope you are well? My husband has been off the last couple of weeks and we’ve been busy! We started with a tour of the Tottenham Hotspur stadium, then we went for a week to Haven Hopton with friends then we tried camping for a couple of nights for the first time as a family. So it’s been busy but enjoyable. Whilst we were away we popped to a garden centre with The Works, I found a Christmas book for my friend (she loves books and Christmas) that was reduced to £1, then I remembered I had 60p on my Works card so got it for 40p! That is to go with the John Lewis Christmas candle that I got in the sale for £2.50, so I’ve spent a total of £2.90 on her so far! I also found a box of 3 golf balls for DH’s stocking for £1.99 in a charity shop. I was happy with that charity shop as last winter DS1 wanted some leggings and top to go under his football kit when it was cold, I found a Sondico set in there for £2.99! That’s saved me £20.

Treasurequeen I hope you had a lovely birthday!

Coxy if you are able to take December off then you should go for it, it’s nice to have an opportunity to do it and I’m sure you would appreciate the extra time in the lead up to Christmas.

mandco That’s a good indicator, if you’re disappointed you didn’t get something and it goes out of stock it’s telling you something! Glad you got one in the end. Thanks for the heads up on the Christmas stock appearing online.

Welcome back Mrs Ryan! It sounds like you’ve got lots planned already for Christmas which is a great start. I really like Romesh Ranganathan, I hope you have a great time!

Abbafan I’m sorry to hear things happened between you and your parents, it’s hard to forget those things and for partners to as well. I hope it gets better in time for you all. Do your girls like going to the cinema? How about movie hampers? It could include a cinema voucher, popcorn, sweets/choc etc.

Coxy11

Hi all,

Glad you had a nice couple of weeks with your DH and the children @princesskitty29 . I too have done the THFC tour and Dare Skywalk (with my 83 yo DDad!). Loved it. Those are great bargains you've got for your friend and good to get some bits in CSs too.

Sorry you have family disagreements @Abbafan1972 believe me you are not alone. Agree that hampers might be the way to go with your DDs - how about pampering goodies? 

DH has decided that yes the J Conran washbag is too big for his needs - usually only goes away overnight - so that is now in the Bay of E for charity pile or gift pile. Still deciding. 

I've accepted the VR compensation package and the terms state that if you are owed annual leave, you need to take it as part of your notice period so I will be leaving on 24 Nov! I've applied for two new jobs, so may be lucky to start something new straight away, but won't be too disappointed if not. Plan is to get all Christmas gift shopping done for 'externals' ie. anyone other than my DH and 3 children before I leave work (thank you @Spendless).

I joined the Superdrug points scheme the other day and they have been emailing almost every day with offers. Today's offer is free delivery on orders over £20 plus triple points on everything. Will consult my list and see if there's anything gifty (never sure if SD is better value than B00ts?).

Treasurequeen

Thank you for the birthday wishes, I had a lovely day. Which was then followed by catching covid and I’m still slowly recovering. I hope everyone is ok… 

I bought next year’s calendar and diary for a couple of pounds I like to get them, I don’t like relying on technology much prefer paper copies. 

My gran sat me down and told me not to spend too much on her and grandad. As the highlight was them seeing me instead of the gifts. So instead of spending £25 each she told me to only spend £15.00 each. Don’t know what to get them as my grandad has to be careful what he eats and he hasn’t got any hobbies. They don’t understand gift cards either. 

My sister in laws presents are nearly finished, picked up some nice candles and will put some nice chocolates to go with them. 

With Shopmium app I got a pack of dog treats free which will go to one of the dogs for Christmas. I do love a freebie. Each week I pop a few items in my trolley to go in the Christmas food cupboard and I’ve got some nice bits so far. With my birthday loyalty vouchers I picked up some chocolate coins to go in my reusable advent calendar. Along with some food essences to make own sweets and to give as gifts. I picked up some Christmas cellophane bags in sales which will do nicely to gift. 

FeistyFidget

Well hello strangers! I'm not sure if anyone will actually remember me, although you lovely lot still have me on the birthday list!

I can't believe my last Christmas-related chatter with you all was 2015! I'm so relieved to see so many familiar faces in here. I've thought about you all lots over the years, but locked myself out of my account and could never get the time to sort it.
I had my baby, who is now 7! And I've done my very best to make each Christmas truly magical for her, but I know with your help I can make this year magical, but less stressful.

princesskitty29

Coxy Oh wow you’re brave! Although when I saw people doing the sky walk part of me wished we had done it. Good luck with the jobs you have applied for, I hope one comes through for you.

Treasurequeen I’m sory to hear you had covid, I do hope you feel much better soon. I’ve heard of a lot of people having it recently, my mum, dad and brother are just recovering from it. My dad was actually taken into hospital as they thought he was ill with one of his existing illnesses but it turned out to be covid! I am just like you, I much prefer a calendar and paper diary, people roll their eyes when I say I have to go home and check my diary! It sounds like you are getting well prepared, Shopmium are great for freebies and discounts.

Wow welcome back FiestyFidget! It’s so great to hear from you again! I’ve thought about you on and off over the years and wondered how you were getting on, same as some of the other names that are no longer on here. Gosh I can’t believe your daughter is 7! Time flies. Mind you, I have a 9 year old and I’d joined this thread 2 years before having him which I can’t believe. I’m very happy for you though. It will be great hearing from you again and what your plans for Christmas are!

FeistyFidget

PrincessKitty  9?!? Wow, that is unbelievable!

We've got a rather special Christmas surprise planned this year after losing someone special last year. The in laws are taking us to Lapland early December and we'll be visiting the official Christmas village. Our daughter has no idea, and has just accepted that all the ski clothes are in case of a cold winter it's something unbelievable for us and was only possible due to an inheritance. 

mandco

Princesskitty sounds like you've had a busy few weeks making the most of precious family time together some great cs bargains too.

Feisty welcome back. 7 already I remember when you had her time definitely flies by. You must be super excited for lapland 

treasurequeen hope you're feeling better I know quite a few people who've had covid lately and most say its worse than the 1st or 2nd time.

Coxy at least now you have an official leaving date and can plan accordingly hopefully you'll have a bit more of a relaxed run up to xmas this year. Goodluck with the new job search 

New idea for ds for xmas  a new tv as his blew up - on his birthday of all days - I got woken  about 1am with shouts of there's smoke coming out of the tv  he's currently using his pc monitor but its tiny so not practical long term. so will be on the look out for any offers.

a few of the smaller xmas chocolates are now appearing instore sains had various choc santa's cadburys xmas puddings and candy cane(red& white) smarties tubes in yesterday. 

anyone started thinking about colour schemes & table settings yet? kinda feel like changing it up a bit this year
I know its a little early but I need to be done by the end of November and it feels like its coming round pretty quickly now as its September tomorrow and with Taz's birthday/butlin's that's going to feel like it flew by too
still waiting to hear when ds goes back to college next week as they still haven't sent him his actual start date yet hopefully his schedule will be better than last year when he spent more time travelling to/from than he did there as it was only part days on campus.

princesskitty29

I’ve had a few more ideas for presents, I’m going to look out for an enamel camping mug for DH as he really enjoyed camping and we’ll be going again at some point, we didn’t buy everything this time in case it didn’t go well and mugs were one of the things we didn’t have. When I was doing my online Tesco shop I saw they had large bags of Twirl bites on offer for £3, usually I sort the shopping when it arrives myself but because DH was off he was going to be around so I couldn’t order them. I had a look in store but they didn’t have any and now they’ve gone up to full price online so I need to keep an eye out for them going back on offer. I’m also going to start buying Christmas food now to pop away in the cupboard.

Fiesty wow Lapland!! That’s amazing! I’m really sorry for your loss, how lovely that something that will create wonderful memories has come of it, I hope you have a brilliant time. That’s something I’ve always wanted to do even as an adult, I hope to get there one day but I’m not sure it’ll be when my boys still believe. I think I have one more year left with my eldest which makes me very emotional.

mandco Oh gosh the TV blowing up must have been a shock for your DS and a headache for you! Definitely top of the present list. For the last few years I have foraged holly with red berries on Christmas Eve with the boys to fashion into a centrepiece on the table, it’s become a bit of Christmas Eve tradition now! I’m not good at changing the colour scheme as I love the traditional red, gold and greens. I’ve seen lots of lovely schemes on Pinterest though. Fingers crossed your DS schedule is better this year.

Treasurequeen

Boot’s Christmas section is online, lots more products being added but The selection so far isnt bad. 

@FeistyFidgetWelcome back

Spendless

Ohhh exciting off to browse Boots website. Welcome to everyone old and new. I am currently saving for DD's student rent  next month which is whacking amount of nearly £4K!  Highly relieved I buy for Christmas all year round! 

Tk Maxx treasures early today had beard as an option, in case anyone has treasures to claim and someone would use this.