Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer - it's the 2024 Christmas chatter thread!

mandco

Belated happy new year wishes everyone

Xmas went well a few minor mishaps with Xmas dinner - I forgot to cook dds chops and the pigs packaging on the pigs in blankets has gone off as the packaging had split but otherwise everything went pretty much to plan. Missed out on the Xmas sales by time I went to the shops there was virtually nothing left - did pick up a couple of gift bags and some heavily reduced free from items with longish use by dates but that’s about it. Oh did find some absolute bargain reduce to clear pigs in blankets in Aldi @ 28p per pack so have those stashed in the freezer. 

Ended the year in bed laid up with with a cold/flu type bug so hoping that’s not a sign of how this year is going to be - how you spend New Year’s Day is meant to be an indication of the year to come. Need to summon up the energy to sort out the fridge later as pretty sure there some stuff at its use by date - not used 1/2 as much as planned due to being unwell and the Xmas food stash has barely been touched either so loads of snacks left. 

coxy oops easily done though no doubt frustrating as it meant the rest of the day ended up being rushed. Great that all the clothing sizes were spot on it’s always a bit of a gamble as they can vary depending on store. I’m sure dh gilet will be fine after the Xmas bloat goes all those little extras & rich foods often  makes things a little snug 

Spendless frustrating the pillow didn’t turn up in time but glad it was a hit once it finally arrived.

sorry to hear about your nan understandable it’s very worrying considering her age hope shes ok and you get some answers soon.

Spendless

Thanks for good wishes re Nan. She is still in hospital and improving but remaining there until assessments are carried out. I will visit over the weekend when I'm not at work.  

pixtotts

Happy New Year! 

The Christmas season gets crazier and crazier for me, so much so that I completely missed checking in with you all! I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas. Once the Christmas markets finished ( middle of Dec) I then had family and friends orders and a wedding order to complete... and if that wasn't mad enough I volunteered for a local eco charity offering gift wrapping for donations in a local shopping centre - LOVED IT!! I bloomin love wrapping!!  

Our actual Christmas went a little wayward with a family member going to hospital straight after christmas dinner  - didn't even get their pudding or pressies! With the sad outcome that cancer has spread but treatable, thankfully! They are still in hospital undergoing treatment. Then Christmas no 2 with the other side of the family which was supposed to be between Christmas and new year has been postponed for most - we had 1 of 3 over - as they have covid... so we will be having a Christmas no 3 and no 4 at some point, hopefully noone has gifts that go off... >.< 


@Spendless your dog antics were somewhat similar to some twin 3 year old antics we had, they thought they had hit the jackpot and found more bags of presents! and tipped them all out, it was the rubbish bags of wrapping paper... They were soon distracted with cars and trains though!



The M&S by me had no signs by gift wrap saying that it had gone into the sale so there was loooads left still - so I took a risk taking some ribbons to the till to check - some gorgeous foiled and velvet ribbons half price, I love a ribbon! 

We're in despirate need of new wrapping paper for next year, this year we used all the odds and ends we had, but I just didn't love anything, and don't know where to look really. We used to buy paperchase paper in the sale but of course they have gone now... and I'm a bit of a paper snob - sorry. I have cut up all the Christmas cards to use as tags for next year ready though, I realised last year we keep storing the whole card then throwing most away the next year so now we cut up as we put away so we're ready to go. 

S'burys was good to me in the sales too I got my aunt a festive apron for next Christmas, some gift bags and paper for the boyfriends house, and treated myself to some fancy mince pies reduced to 75p! I had only had 1 mince pie all Christmas! My boyfriend doesn't eat them so limiting myself to one every couple of days haha. 


Does anyone have any recommendations for artificial tree storage please? 
When we went to put everything back his loft was full of condensation, I think a combination of us both being home for 2 weeks and the heating being on more, the fog, and using the aircon for heating...  anyway my concern is the tree weighs a ton and a half! and now the box has got soggy I'm so worried it's going to disintigrate and one of us is going to end up with a tree on out head next year as we try and get it down. I know you can buy bags for them, does anyone have one? Are they sturdy? Its the weight of the thing worries me! 


Hope everyone had a lovely Christmas and I will try and pop by more than once a January! x
 

MrsCD

We have our tree and decs in the garage. The decorations are in Really useful boxes, all wrapped up in paper,and packed in boxes, inside the big box. The tree is in its original cardboard box, wrapped in plastic sheets and secured/sealed with tape. If I could afford a long RU box for it, that's what it would be in! I don't know how heavy it would be to put in a loft. We took everything out of the loft a few years ago when DH said he was getting too old to climb up!

pixtotts

@MrsCD I had no idea RU did tree boxes! That's great to know, looking at the price on amazon I'm considering putting away a pound a week in case the box does fail next year... or maybe some wishful thinking that they may get discounted in the summer when noones looking at Christmas *fingers crossed*. It's up there now so I'm not going to worry too much about it until I have to, I might pop some plastic over it when I'm certain it's dry, it came down wet so I'm wary of sealing the wet in if I covered it now.

Better not tell my boyfriend about your garage storage though, caught him looking at houses with garages last week, his house really is lovely, it's just missing that one thing! 

MrsCD

@pixtotts, Argos sell them too. It might be worth watching there as well.
We can't use our garage for the car any more, for various reasons, but I sometimes wish we didn't have it at all. It's where all the 'stuff' goes!

pixtotts

@MrsCD amazing! Thank you I will keep an eye out! 
Ah if it wasn't the garage it would be somewhere else, my parents lost their dining room to 'stuff', we call it the tardis nowadays

Spendless

Yesterday was Mum's 80th bday and Nan came out of hospital, so their day was very much spent making sure they were at Nans house when she returned home, putting the new carers in the picture and sorting out/getting meds. A diff day to what theyd anticipated as they thought theyd be on hol.

Was very glad we suggested they came to us on the evening and ordered a take away and decorated the room/table with banners n decs. 

Daughter has returned to London today, Mr S has taken her. Its a week or so earlier than thought but her plans fell through at the last minute and due to work shes doing this term made sense to return earlier.

Before Christmas I saw a youtuber making a baking gift basket and I'd recently thought this might be a good stocking filler for my Mum who likes to bake. Today I saw some Christmas themed mini spatulas, tongs and cupcake cases all in Tesco reduced, all between 45p-90p. I intend to add items when we visit the US later this year. 

I was also thinking about items that might not necessarily be reduced, because they are winter stock rather than xmas stock, but by the time next winter comes round are likely to be more expensive. Thats because the min wage is set yo jump in April plus employers will have to start paying employees NI at a lower starting point. These costs will be passed on to the consumer. I noticed cosy/fluffy socks in B &M the other day £5, cant remember how many pairs this was for and thought then I bet theyre more expensive next winter which started my chain of thought about the liklihood of rising prices. 

For some time Ive noticed how cold my parents property is. I dont feel the cold very much, its a standard joke at work how often I put on and off my cardi to regulate my temp whilst they are often too cold. Id put the coldness of parents place down to the size and configuration of yhrir rooms but a chance remark by my Dad had Mr S discovering that Dad is setting the temp far too low. Im going to be having a tactful word about it, but if it falls on deaf ears Im going to make sure theyve got some items next Christmas to help them keep warm. 

Abbafan1972

Happy new year to all! The last time I visited this thread was in September! 

Hope everyone had a good Christmas. We were all ill unfortunately with coughs and also a stomach bug. 

In October my Mom was in hospital with Pneumonia. She’s fine now thankfully. 

We have been very busy, as in October we rehomed a Beagle and he certainly keeps us on our toes! 

We had Christmas dinner at my Mom’s but hubby & my daughter cooked it. 

I don’t know about people here but I’ve got to the stage where I am losing interest in it and it’s just another day to me. My Mom started going on about what to do on Christmas Day this year and going out to dinner (my Mom waited until my Dad had left the room). Me, I’m not a fan of going out for Christmas dinner because of the cost (I am not a Scrooge by any means). 

To be honest, I would rather just go away for Christmas and not even be here. (We plan to go away for Christmas 2026). 

On a plus note, I have joined the 1p challenge with Monzo!!

Coxy11

Morning all!

My only sale purchases have been special cards for the family. Instead of ‘mum and dad’ etc I got plain ones this time and can decide who gets which one in December. These were HP from C!intons and cost £10.57 for 7. Don’t think we need wrapping paper as we will be reducing who we buy for this Christmas and tbh I got some decent paper in A!di last minute last year which was fine and only 99p a roll. Gone are the days when wrapping and embellishments featured! Maybe now we are buying less it will be less of a chore?

Good point @Spendless about the forthcoming rise for retailers. I saw a headline this week that N3xt prices will rise 5% and can see others doing the same. Good plan to grab things as you see them and particularly if your parents are economising on the heating. 

I too had a bit of ennui about Christmas just gone. I think the combination of a stressful year with DH being out of work and in low mood, the subsequent house move, plus SILs illness just got to me. We had a good day but tbh I prefer the build up rather than the day itself as there’s pressure to get everything right. 

SIL waiting to be transferred to an in-patient MH facility (against her will) but currently stuck in hospital waiting for a bed. All very sad. 

I still need to broach the reduced gift buying topic. DH isn’t making any moves to so do, so guess it will be me looking stingy! Need to act soon as SIL (not the one in hosp) has a birthday at the end of this month. 

Have a good day all
Coxy x