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

princesskitty29

Hi all, I haven’t been on in a while as there’s been so much going on but I have been getting a few more things for Christmas. I had £5 Nectar points so I put that towards two little gifts for DS1 and DS2 on ebay, I went to the local retail park and picked up advent calendars for them and some other bits and bobs. I’m trying to savour them being little still, recently DS2 who’s 6 has been watching Peppa and reading his Peppa books again so I got him a Peppa advent calendar, I’m sure this will be the last year he’ll be ok with it, although I said that last year!

I’ve got to that point that I get to every year where I feel a bit frustrated as I think I’m more organised than I am! I looked at my spreadsheet and I realised I still need ideas for people’s presents. My MiL is one of them, she’s not easy to buy for and her birthday is also at the end of November! She did mention she’s looking to buy an air fryer though so I think we will give her some money towards that for her birthday. I need to start wrapping soon, every year in the lead up to Christmas I say I’m going to start wrapping earlier as it always ends up being rushed and a chore so I’d like to avoid that this year, the same with Christmas cards which I still like to send.

I noticed that a 70cl bottle of Baileys is currently on offer in Tesco for £8 with a clubcard if that’s of interest to anyone. I recently dug out the bottle of chocolate Baileys our Bil and SiL gave us last Christmas and I have to say it’s delicious!

mandco I’m glad they managed to fix your tooth for now. I don’t grind my teeth but I’m always clenching my jaw together during the day and night. I try to be mindful during the day but I don’t know I’m doing it most of the time.

Coxy I’m so sorry to hear about your dad, I hope the treatment starts soon and is effective. It’s hard because it gets to the point where you realise your parents aren’t invincible, it slowly changes over the years with who is looking after who. I did start the Postcode Lottery briefly but had to stop it to save some pennies for now but I know what you mean, you just know what will happen when you stop!

Coxy11

Hi all,

I had very little to do yesterday WFH as 2 out of 3 bosses were out. Made a few online purchases.

Hotel Chocolat velvitiser and 2 boxes of hot choc for DIL2B - offer was £30 off the machine itself and 2 boxes of sachets for £20 instead of £27. Also got the mini crackers x 10 for £18. Will keep 5 for us for Christmas lunch and pop one each in nieces and nephews present bag. 

Order 2 x wrist warmers for Mum and niece from Pachamama £18 and £14 respectively

Also ordered the M&S PJS for DIL2B plus a different pair for DD. Went onto Not on the High Street and got a couple of Seattle themed gifts - a framed print for DS1 and a votive to use with a tealight for DIL2B - her dad lives in Seattle and I think they plan to relocate there some day 

Got DS1 an air fryer cook book in The Works for £7 - could this be an idea for MIL @princesskitty29 ?

Will get niece (15) a music journal to go with her oodie. Other niece (16) maybe some smellies? They live in Dublin so it's a little difficult knowing what they're into. 

Getting there, slowly!

mandco

sounds like everyone prep is coming along even if it seems slower then we'd like

Princesskitty - Its hard when they start outgrowing all the younger stuff so I totally get wanting to cling on to those moments while you still can.
I've recently brought an airfryer and coxys suggestion of a book is a great idea 

Coxy sounds like its all coming together - I do love my velvitiser and some of the flavours are lovely though its not had much use this year as I've had to avoid dairy as much as possible.

things are hectic here at the moment as trying to sort xmas & stuff for the holiday. 
ordered some of the superdry bodysprays ds likes for 1/2 price in superdrug picked up a slushie puppy set dd saw, had a £5 off voucher for hobbycraft so ordered a bambi scrap book for dd and ordered taz some controller grips he asked for so a few more little bits sorted.
My local toy appeal opens for donations on Monday so I will get all those bits dropped off next week and need to drop the others off at dunlem once I've picked up some gift bags - found I only have small ones left in the xmas stash.

the xmas tree has lights on which has really cheered me up the last couple of days as its been cold dark and damp - hoping to get it decorated later but popping into town with dd in a bit to try and pick up the last bits we need for the holiday so I can get everything washed and together ready to pack next week.  

Spendless

Im currently away in  the States  (accompanied DH on a work trip). Very much enjoying the experience (meals with alcohol all paid for, 2 pools inc a lazy river, brunch at Disney) Then yesterday most people left, me and DH decided to spend an additional night here and part of the day went shopping. I bought my Dad a suit garment holder that folds down into its own pocket. That will go well with the packing cubes.

Also thinking about getting my parents an air fryer. They currently cook chips in a deep fat fryer in the garage (Im not making this up!). This is because Dad claims that the oil in the deep fat fryer makes the kitchen greasy. The garage isnt even attached to the house, its at the end of the garden path. Last week I watched my mid 70s Dad carry the chips in down the dark path into the house (first time Id dined there since clocks changed)  and thought this is only a matter of time before he does himself a mischief doing this. Came home and suggested an air fryer for them to DH. Will look on my return. 

Hitting walmart later hoping topick up some bits. 

Coxy11

Hi everyone,

The postman bought the Hotel Chocolat order this morning - all present and correct. I've also just had a delivery of The Ordinary skincare for DS1 and DNephew. My M&S order is ready to collect, so might pop there after work depending on the weather. Last thing I'm waiting for is the Pachamama wrist warmers - had 4 identical shipment notifications, so hope I'm not getting 4 packages.

I was in the London office yesterday and due to workload only managed a brief stroll around the block at about 3pm. Went into the Oxfam bookstore and got BIL two paperbacks - one by journalist Martin Bell and the other by an American war journalist (BIL is a journalist so thought they'd be interesting). £7.98 for the two. The book I'd earmarked to get him is out of print, so this felt like a good alternative. He also has a garlic grater so he's now done.

My Amazon basket is still waiting for the additional gift voucher - just 790 points needed now. 

Not sure whether we have Mum for Christmas lunch. We had her last year but DSis hasn't confirmed what she's doing and tbh it's a bad week for her/us as it's nephew's anniversary. It makes no odds to us but Mum (and dog) will need to stay over so I'll need to sort the spare room out properly and organise when to collect her.

Hope you got back okay @Spendless? I don't have an airfryer but know that A$da have a double drawer one on offer for £55 which I think is a good price? plus it's Black Friday soon. Can't have your DDad walking his chips up the garden!

Spendless

Hi

I'm back. DH is napping. We both return to work tomorrow but DH is working 100 miles away which means setting off either tonight or early tomorrow. He also drove the 3 hours home from the airport this morning, hence why he's asleep and I'm not.

Picked up quite a bit of stuff in Walmart. The cashier even said to me as she put it through 'you have a variety of items here' which I think was a polite way of expressing the WT-H she was thinking - hahhahaha

Can't remember everything as haven't unpacked but I know we got some different Reece's shapes so I can make DS a peanut butter choc hamper. Also bought a set of 2 reeces mugs with chocs for DS and DIL and another single one with a cake mix in for DD. A glass bottle/gar with the cocktail botanics/mix in it - yes we really did fetch this back from the States in hand luggage. You just add rum, which will be bought in whole or part with the remainder of the money on the M&S gift card.

My Boots loyalty points have gone down - thanks to DH telling me he'd bought F50 suncream and I wanted lower so bought at the airport. When I unpacked I found DH had bought the F30 I wanted in the first place! I added a slab of fruit cake to Nan's present, it's the lighter type one rather than the 'Christmas cake' style plus she loves Lindor chocs and over there you can get little bags - don't know how many they contain for a couple of $, so picked one up. At duty free got DD a Brazilian Bum bum cream set.  Was so very tempted by the box of American president chocolates I saw at the departure lounge yesterday for DS who is interested in US politics, but I'd bought enough. *IF*  we are back in the Spring and it's still there I'll buy then.

Back in Blightly DH pulled onto motorway services to give himself a 15 min break so I said I'd nip inside. In WHSmith they had tins where the plant grows the person's name on a leaf. They had all 3 names , DS, DD and DILs but the girls wouldn't be that interested whereas it's the sort of thing that will intrigue DS.  They also had cushions in the shape of animals that also had a blanket in the middle of them. They were £25. If I was still buying for a younger generation and had that budget then that is something I'd be interested in getting especially if child did long-ish car trips. Forgotten the name of the company that did them and what the animals were except for hedgehogs, but maybe worth a google if anyone interested. 

Spendless

Thinking cap back on re my parents because it turns out they already use an Air Fryer. Yes this is what Dad is traipsing down the garden to cook chips in! I quizzed Mum tonight (I've been there for my tea) about it hoping to glean ideas as to a suitable one and to my astonishment she told me that yes they used to have a deep fat fryer but when air fryers became popular swapped to that but Dad still won't have it in the kitchen as he believes it will make everywhere greasy. I pointed out it contains no oil so how would it. Mum just rolled her eyes and agreed but will go along with Dad's 'ways' (struggling to find a suitable acceptable word to describe), whereas I'd have had no qualms telling DH he was being another work for donkey and ignored him. Ageing parents - sigh. As trying as toddlers and teens but you can't tell them Santa is watching or ground them!  

Mrs_Ryan

Evening everyone

It’s finally starting to come together here. I’m off work for a few days so sat down yesterday and wrapped everything. This sent me into a panic as it looks like I have very little- ive spent a fair bit of money too but it feels like it hasn’t gone far, especially with my mum. 

The hamper baskets came today so I made them up. I’m not the best with stuff like that- I’m pleased with one of them but not so much the other. I had overdone the treats for mum- I had a tin of coffee, a box of chocolates and some CoffeeMate left over. Ive wrapped the coffee and CoffeeMate (mum is always desperate for both of them!) then wrapped the chocolates but I’ve not labelled them- I’m umming and ahhhing about whether to give them to step MIL, but I know DH will tell me to absolutely avoid it as FIL is insulin dependent diabetic so it’s probably not fair to tempt him. I bought tea bags intended for mum’s hamper too and utterly forgot about them so I’m going to give them to FIL. I think I’ll give the chocs to my sister instead to share among her family.

I was thinking about buying my mum a heated clothes dryer, DH says I should but I’m worried about it fitting in the car- we only have a little Aygo and there’s all kinds of other stuff to go in so I’m thinking no. I’ve found some heated slippers on Boots so I’m going to get her those instead alongside some eyeshadow and mascara- last time I was home she helped herself to my makeup! (Fortunately I have two mascaras and I was using my favourite) I’m also going to get her a mug when I go home to go with her coffee and biccies. And the saga with her Oodie continues- I got an email a few days ago to say there was still a backlog and they don’t know how long it will be before it’s even dispatched. I sent them an email saying please cancel as I didn’t want the uncertainty- then earlier on a notification pops up on my Shop app to tell me it’s at the Mail Centre (ironically the one DH works at) being sorted! No notification or anything! Grrr haha. 

I also went and collected OH’s phone today. I just need to locate a case for it, I’ll have a look on Amazon. I got OH some oil and antifreeze (I know. My husband is strange asking for that for Xmas!) and I spent ages carefully boxing it up and wrapping it, and then he says ‘oh just leave it here!’ After all that hassle I went through wrapping it, we’re taking it! His hamper and clothes airer are probably staying here though- the hamper alone will be enormous so he says it’s fine to leave it here. I keep remembering things I’ve forgotten as well so just when I’m thinking I’m getting ahead with everything I realise I’m not as far forward as I thought! Hopefully all will fall into place soon. 

Beshki

@Mrs_Ryan it sounds as though you’ve bought absolutely loads, it doesn’t matter how much it looks like - but that thought and love have gone into what you have purchased. I can assure you that my entire families gifts are minuscule in comparison, but I am happy that they'll love what I buy for them. 

Coxy11

Agree with @Beshki - sounds like you have loads @Mrs_Ryan

The Em and Ess PJs for DIL2B are very disappointing. They are these ones:
https://www.marksandspencer.com/cotton-modal-pyjama-set/p/clp60458447?extid=ps_ps-pla-pmax_ggl_lg_ch__-_UK_-_-_baussc&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiAu9yqBhBmEiwAHTx5p47LjvCVs5Je4PWO_fCV8rKmlU4stzVYZeJ-guvesymRWqVRJPitzxoCG-cQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

but the patch pocket is wonky so will need to be returned. It's very obvious due to the white piping trim. A case of poor quality control unfortunately. Will look elsewhere for similar.

The 2 pairs of handwarmers are here and are lovely. Half tempted to keep a pair for me! Just the Amaz0n order to put through now and then to concentrate on my DD and DS2. DS1 has a few bits including a nice vintage watch he spotted when on holiday with us. We snuck back to get it for him. One week left at current job - tick tock.