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

goled

Mrs_Ryan said:

Hiya  
I’ve been away in London and Norfolk this last week. 

I bought a load of pressies for OH as I felt so terribly guilty about abandoning him for the week- but I decided to keep some of them for Xmas. 

I fell in love with the most gorgeous soft red hoodie in Hollister in Norwich- so I’ve bought it for OH (but I think I’ll be ‘borrowing’ it 😂) I bought him a new wedding ring too. I’m on my 4th wedding ring in 3.5 years (one broke, then I lost loads of weight, then gained weight, then I bought a beautiful simulated diamond ring on Vinted so I bought a titanium ring with sparkles on Amazon. I like the fact that we both have the same metal in rings now) I’ve been promising him a new ring for ages and I finally managed to get one when I was in Norwich. I’ve bought him a River Island shirt, new with tags, on Vinted as well. 

Had a look to see if Boots had their Xmas stuff in stock yet in store but they didn’t seem to have. Just as well I think- I’m trying to save it for when I go to Glasgow in November. It was exciting looking at the website though and picking out gifts! 

I love the idea of buying a ring. My husband lost his several months ago. He still hopes to find it and it makes him upset, so I think buying another ring might cheer him up. Thanks!

Treasurequeen

@Abbafan1972 I’m sorry about your cat. 

Popped into Sainsbury’s and picked up lindor chocs as they are on offer this week. I also Picked up two bulldog shaving gels for a few pounds in a sale, one for my dad and one for my brother. I’ve made a start on my parents hamper and will be buying a few things for it each week. So far I’ve picked up a box of tea and a jar of chutney for the hamper.

In my local b&m picked up some baileys chocolates and snowball sweets. SIL is now finished, dads stocking is finished as well. 

Peppa537

The Christmas Magazine was available in Tesco today so I grabbed that. A few of the others due out by this weekend I think. 

Spendless

Treasurequeen said:

@Abbafan1972 I’m sorry about your cat. 

Popped into Sainsbury’s and picked up lindor chocs as they are on offer this week. I also Picked up two bulldog shaving gels for a few pounds in a sale, one for my dad and one for my brother. I’ve made a start on my parents hamper and will be buying a few things for it each week. So far I’ve picked up a box of tea and a jar of chutney for the hamper.

In my local b&m picked up some baileys chocolates and snowball sweets. SIL is now finished, dads stocking is finished as well. 

Really, how much? I bought on Sunday and gave the larger box a miss as they were close to £10! Think they were £9.50, thought the smaller box dear enough at £6.50. Typical, especially since Nan's birthday isn't until tomorrow, but I've been at work so couldn't have visited her if i#d waited anyway

Treasurequeen

Spendless said:

Treasurequeen said:

@Abbafan1972 I’m sorry about your cat. 

Popped into Sainsbury’s and picked up lindor chocs as they are on offer this week. I also Picked up two bulldog shaving gels for a few pounds in a sale, one for my dad and one for my brother. I’ve made a start on my parents hamper and will be buying a few things for it each week. So far I’ve picked up a box of tea and a jar of chutney for the hamper.

In my local b&m picked up some baileys chocolates and snowball sweets. SIL is now finished, dads stocking is finished as well. 

Really, how much? I bought on Sunday and gave the larger box a miss as they were close to £10! Think they were £9.50, thought the smaller box dear enough at £6.50. Typical, especially since Nan's birthday isn't until tomorrow, but I've been at work so couldn't have visited her if i#d waited anyway

Lindt 200g all flavours box is £4.50 with a nectar card or they are £4.25 in Tesco with a club card. 

Coxy11

I was in the office yesterday in central London and popped into M&S in my lunch break. Saw they had bags of infused fruits for making Christmas cake plus tins of biscuits for gifting (stag tins) and the light up tins. Also slabs of iced Christmas cake and packets of individual slices - same price but 400g slab vs. 250g slices. Obvs I can't remember the prices, but looked good for hampers.

They also had a Percy advent calendar for £6 I think.

princesskitty29

Thanks for your messages about the football cards, you’ve given me food for thought. I don’t know how much difference it will make in the end if I don’t buy the big pack as he will end up spending that himself over time buying a couple of packs a week with his pocket money. He really loves it, he’s got an album that he loves looking through and makes football teams with his cards. These companies know how to suck children in with these card and sticker albums! Although I do remember the excitement of doing it myself as a child. Plus the added bonus this year is Luton Town are in the album and he’s a huge Luton fan.

I’ve bought Pringles, peanuts and crackers for cheese to pop in the food stash for Christmas. My Tesco always  used to have the Christmas magazines in early but they’ve changed the layout and cut down on the amount of magazines they have, I checked yesterday and no Christmas magazines so far unfortunately. I popped to B&M and HB, got a few ideas for presents I might go back and get. I also picked up a book in a charity shop for my auntie, it’s the genre she enjoys and looks brand new and was only £1.25. I had to smile to myself because every year at this time of year I walk down the Christmas aisles jumping for joy on the inside as I love it and there are ALWAYS people grumbling about it being put out too early! 

I’m really excited as I’ve finally booked the Polar Express experience for us in November! I’ve wanted to do it for a few years as the boys love the film but always remember too late and it’s been sold out. I’m glad I’ve finally sorted it out as I’d like to go whilst my eldest will still enjoy it.

Abbafan I’m so sorry to hear about Jasper, they really are one of the family and it’s horrible to have to go through. I hope you are left with lots of happy memories.

Coxy well done on your charity hike, that must have been difficult in the heat but very rewarding.

mandco

Abbafan sorry for your loss losing a pet is heartbreaking 

coxy Belated Birthday wishes

hiking in that heat can't have been easy. Some more great CS finds too. Id have been a little annoyed that Sil forgot too honestly its not hard to send a quick text nice she did bother to send you belated flowers though.
I really need to be sorted by the end of November too but I feel like I've hardly started so you're not alone some of the others do seem super organised this year.
MrsRyan some more great buys. Great you finally found the right ring for Dh. Vinted can be a great source for bargains.
Spendless - a few places did get xmas stock even earlier than usual this year but it was more the odd item rather than full blown stock and the other places that have it now instore like B&m are at about the same point as previous years so a lot of it is media hype. I do like browsing the xmas stock online which many more places do have sections already but much prefer to look in person
Princesskitty the Polar express looks amazing you must be really excited to finally be able to do it - I'm sure the boys will love it and the memories will be extra special as ds is getting to that age
The collectable cards market can be a huge money sucker but the kids love it and ultimately if it makes them happy then that's what that really matters. At least its cheaper than the tech stage that hits once they get to their teens where you spend waaay more for far less.

had a great break at butlin's this week the weather was brilliant if a little overcast on occasion but spent a lot of time in the park and going swimming so I'm totally knackered today. Morrisions had some free from xmas stock in and the sainsburys had a load of free from items none of my local stores have- the free from sections was bigger than all 3 stores local to me put together so picked up a few bits to put away for xmas. Did have a look in a few Cs but didn't find anything and tbh what they did have was incredibly expensive/overpriced.

My harry potter book- TKmaxx reward came while I was away and its a lot nicer than I was expecting so might look for some stationary bits to go with it pop it it the donation box.  Back up to 4 keys so hopefully I'll have enough for another reward next week.

ignore the spoiler box didn't mean to add it but can't figure out how to get rid of it 

Spendless

Can't wait to hear all about the polar express. By the time I knew about it, mine were too old! Before DD got her current drama school offer, I had suggested it as a job she applied to do.

I decided to call at M&S and look at their Christmas foodie bits.  They have some lovely stuff in. I was particularly looking at the Christmas cake slices for my Nan. The only downside was the price (£4) was the same price as for the slab, but a lot less weight, so I started thinking they weren't value for money. Urggghhhh I hate that my head does this, I have an M&S card I got for free to pay for them and Nan would much prefer slices so why do I care,  especially since I then used actual money to buy DD some chocolates that are in the shape of dogs on the grounds they were cute-  I know, I know, DS once told me I was a marketing manager's dream! 

I looked in TK Maxx and was v glad I bought my Dad the travel stuff earlier, barely anything left and had been moved to a different area. Not going to buy the musical singing with meal for parents because the ad came up again on fb but this time with menu and it's burgers and pizza - nothing wrong with that - but I'm looking for a more glamourous event for Mum's dress so stilL back to afternoon tea at a nice hotel but whether this will be their Christmas present or not will depend on finances nearer the time. There was no tins of tea-bags in there despite them being several earlier this year, so I may buy the one from M&S. It'd be good to get Nan's present sorted soon. 

Mrs_Ryan

Hi everyone 

goled- you’re welcome  

I have decided to do my Boots shop when I go to Liverpool in a couple of weeks. I was going to do it when I go to Glasgow in November but I’m flying- and I’m flying EasyJet so I want to try and keep the baggage to a minimum. I do have hold luggage but I don’t do travelling light. I wanted to do the shop when I went somewhere with decent shops as our shops aren’t great here. 

We’ve booked our Christmas meal out. Since my dad passed we’ve been going to mum’s so she’s not on her own but cooking is too much for her so we go out instead. We’re trying somewhere different this year as last year was a nightmare. This year’s is a carvery (I don’t eat turkey because of my sensory problems so I usually have the veggie option which does look good I have to say) 

DH took me to Costco on Thursday as I needed some coffee, and they’ve got some great stuff in for Christmas. I’m going to get DH a box of Peroni 0.0 which I think was £15. 

It’s annoying as I really want to buy Christmassy things but I’m being severely hampered by lack of cash 😂just another couple of weeks though and I can buy stuff. 

Hope all are okay xx