NST December 2023 The Most Wonderful Time Of the Year?

ladybird1106

Thanks short_bird for info, I will have a look next time I'm at sm.
It turns out that today is my 5th nsd not my 4th. I obviously can't count or more likely menopause brain strikes again.
DH still hobbling, attempted a walk but he had to turn back after 5 minutes. 
Love 🐞

wishus

Managed to achieve 4 NSDs, but a speedy time was to be had today.

Got most of my Christmas list ticked. 
The freezer has been defrosted and cleared ready for more food. 
I haven't got my tree down yet, but I've started making a few papercraft stars. Tomorrow it's gingerbread house making day! Never made one before. Wish me luck!

beanielou

One today. 

weenancyinAmerica

I can't count either. Today was NSD5. Actually made money today. Went to a senior fair put on by one of our local congressmen. Gave out lots of handouts, including pens, a nice notebook, yarn with toy attached, lots of Covid tests for at home use, a couple of bags for life, among other things, plus a $10 gift card for filling out a survey. They also put on a show of holiday music and fed us snacks and lunch (beef and rice burrito). Di and I had sat down in the right place - we were the first fed lunch. We were there to get help on a problem of Di's and the Congressman is having his staff look into for us. 

Came home and got two birthday presents ready for tomorrow. We will celebrating my sister's birthday (the 8th) and my grand- nephews (the 16th). Will be seeing a presentation of the Nutcracker by a number of dance schools that go together every year. This will be the second year my great-niece and great-nephew have been dancing in it. My sister, their grandmother, bought the ticket for me as it is $52, which is a bit much for me. 

We are getting a strong cold wind tonight. Hope everyone stays warm and dry. My friend in Colorado is having temperatures down to -15C tonight. She called to tell me she is sitting in front of her wood stove planning her next move to a warmer place.

ditty1234

f0xh0les said:

ditty1234 said:

Just checking in to give hugs to all and that I am grateful for a fairly tidy house, about to make a very serious Christmas cookie dough and had a catch up with neighbours last night. 
Christmas sort of have started around the house, but any good tips to get Christmas light chains to stick to a painted wall, my tape came straight off? I don't want to put nails in everywherd e?
Have a lovely and relaxing weekend all. 

You can get tiny see through sticky back hooks, they are usually next to where you buy the picture hanging strips you pull to remove. Cost a couple of quid but there are so many I am on year 5 of mine and still have loads. I use them on my window frames to hang the lights from. They stay up all year and nobody notices 😂😂 see through! 

Thanks I'll have a look later :-:smile:

grandmanerd

Sunday 10th December 2023

My brain just logged  me out due to 'inactivity' and now I can't remember my password

Gentle reminders for Christmas
You're  allowed  to step away for alone time  when you need it
It's okay to feel grief, sadness or disappointment for lost experiences
You don't have to force yourself to be in the Christmas 'spirit'
It's okay to set your own boundaries and say 'no'
You don't need to abandon your regular self-care habits and rituals
You're allowed to  indulge in your favourite Christmas treats

Only buy food that you and your family love
If you're on a tight budget, don't waste it by buying 'traditional' items you won't enjoy eating. It's supposed to be a special time, not a punishment. For many years I made my sons make a list of 10 Christmas foods they wanted (to cover the whole school holiday period).  It doesn't matter if they put down 10 types of crisp, chocolate or biscuits - they'd probably get through that much anyway (and things like custard creams are cheap and filling). Writing their own list makes them accountable - if they didn't put it on the list and it's not on the table, they're not allowed to  complain. And if pizza or beans on toast is what they want, why deny them.

I always put lots of veg out with the Christmas meal and the boys helped themselves from an early age. No carefully rationed portions all alike (or worse by gender). Their plates  were filled with veggies they liked and if you don't force them they will try a wider assortment. DS3 loved broccoli (still does) and would even have
it with pizza. He's still a veggie fan - as long as he  can cover everything in gravy. When feeding a crowd, I let everyone else pick their veg first before he attacks it.

None of us likes fruit cake (I like it raw) or Christmas pudding so we had Heinz sponge pudding for dessert or ice cream if we were stuffed (I still treat myself to sorbet) or just saved dessert for another day -why spoil the treats by piling them so high you can't remember anything.  Our New  Year's Eve meal was takeaway Chinese - the baby was happy with egg fried rice with peas and the choice of dishes meant we all got something we liked (dishes were shared not individual). This was partly a reaction to my childhood when mum would make a vat of potato pie (hunt the meat) and even if we got lots of visitors (my brothers brought friends back from the pub when they were older)  we  still had several days worth of it. This was after nearly a week of 'turkey stew' - my mother wasn't a great cook and the tiny sprig of herbs that came with the veg was quite enough for her.

I don't like shopping for food with the boys and tried to make the school holidays a shopping free zone so even though it sometimes meant dropping them off at the school disco and heading for the SM whilst some other parents went to the pub, that's what I did. The Christmas when I was carrying DS3 I let my OH and the 2 older boys (then nearly 3 and 5 yo) do the shop. He had a list  but came back with raw beetroot, a few missed items and strange substitutions. Grating raw beetroot for a Delia salad recipe alongside prepping the rest off the meal whilst taking regular breaks to go and be sick is not one of my finest hours but it is memorable (others  are available if you want a laugh).

I always put the fruit bowl out a week before the big day to try and get as much as possible inside the boys (they like fruit but it loses out in a contest with chocolate). When I was a child it went out on Christmas Eve but then we never saw grapes or bananas at any other time and most of our fruit came in tins.

I made a habit of going through what was left and reducing the amount purchased the following year. Cheese mostly - I love cheese but budgetary constraints meant it was mostly a large block of whatever was cheapest for most of the year so for Christmas i picked a selection but then rarely had time to sit and eat it all. I also have a January birthday so at a certain point I'd earmark a few goodies to set aside for that (one year my mum gave me a chicken for my birthday as I was so poor). She also gave me her wedding ring to sell to buy our Christmas turkey (this was when I was married but my husband worked 300 miles from home and put all our money into slot machines)

There are lots of ways to use up Christmas leftovers - one side effect of OH's work was that all joints of meat were sliced up and frozen (layered in boxes with grease proof paper so that enough for a sandwich could be taken out) and all the meat juices made up into gravy and  frozen in little plastic beakers for other meals. 

I've always baked - Sundays when I was a child were spent making plate apple pie, custard tart, jam tart, scones,  singing lily to eke out our meagre budget (dad kept most of his wages). As a grown up I've baked for the family, for school and church fairs, fundraising for voluntary groups, for larger family celebrations (including my 21st, my wedding and my 40th) and for weekends when DS3 and his friends would descend together with any waifs and strays  they picked up.

DawnW

Lost track of NSDs but today will be one, and yesterday was too.

I was intrigued by the use of gravy browning for darkening rich fruit cakes. In our family, black treacle was used. I don't recall anyone using gravy browning for anything, even gravy. Not sure I have ever seen it. It is really interesting how different ideas in cooking come about. I wonder if it is a regional thing?

My cooking day today, so I am making a beef stew in the SC, and a chilli is bubbling away on the stove top. We will have a meal of each during the week, and the rest will go in the freezer. Taking the opportunity to use up various bits and pieces lurking in the fridge, and adding items that I am using to the shopping list for Tuesday, or whenever I go. Tonight we will have a roast as I am going to fetch my brother later. He has a video appointment tomorrow with a hospital consultant and is not confident about the technology.  Hopefully I can sort it.

Also need to make orange curd to use up some sad satsumas in the fruit bowl. I often make lemon, but haven't done orange before. I can't see it would work any differently though. Might add a lemon to add a bit of sharpness.

Grateful today for an (almost) clear fridge to accommodate next week's shopping!

f0xh0les

I think it was a war thing!

apple_muncher

Today I am grateful for a surprise gift from a friend, for a walk with dc, for knitting some more beehive, for the noise of the wind in the trees, for a successful fair yesterday.

Thrifty_Taylor

Well done on your sales @apple_muncher. A your hard work paid off 😃

Good luck to DS1 @f0xh0les, what is he wanting to do? DS3 will be in the same position next year, he'd like to be a joiner.

My work do went well on Friday, though the food wasn't brilliant! Pleased I'd only pre-ordered one course! Hadn't been there before cos I'd heard it was expensive. Don't think I'll be heading back either.

Stayed the night at mum's, so woke up there on my birthday. We went & got tickets for her birthday treat in February, to see a local production of Footloose. Then did the food shop. In T0sco we noticed festive gift cards at the till. They had £25 + £5 treat on them, plus gift cards are in offer, so only cost £24, though worth £30. We each bought 2!

The architect came over in the afternoon for an initial discussion about extending our house. He thinks we should be able to, though will have to do measurements first, as the septic tank position might not allow us to go where we'd like. A couple of friends dropped presents round, then after DS3 had caught the bus to see his GF, me & DH watched a Danish film with subtitles. It was really good!

NSD#4
I woke up @8, did some yoga, then made some energy balls, using the leftover tub of peanut butter & throwing in some oats, honey & flaxseed with fruit combo. Tastes ok anyway & cleared some space in the fridge.

Hung the washing out, then read whilst eating my breakfast. Walked nearly 5 miles with DH, read more of my book whilst having dinner. Collected DS3 from 2 villages away, as the bus didn't ce any closer. A customer dropped some sewing off, then I wrapped my childhood best friend's present up, ready to post tomorrow & wrote the last few cards to post south. Updated my business income/expenditure & logged receipts onto our house budget. Did the ironing & listed s couple of things on a local page (1 sold already). Put Christmas bedding on & had a nice bath. Now wearing Christmas pyjamas 😃 might as well wear em a few times, or I'll still be wearing em once a year til I'm 90!! 🤣

Grateful for positive extension news, good films, time to read, laughter with friends, time with family