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

Spendless

A 2025 thread would be good. Wondered if all the posts with the links at the beginning still needed to be posted or leave them off if it helps setting a new thread up? 

I don't have a sparks card, guessing that's how you get a bday treat? I should get one. My 2 bday freebies are £5 at bodyshop which I like because ours is an outlet store anyway and Rituals gives a lovely gift that I wouldn't normally buy eg £13 handwash! You need to be near a store or prepared to do an online order though. As my bday is towards the end of the year last time I did an online order buying some Xmas bits for the family until I had enough to qualify for free p&p.

Yesterday was my Dad's bday. 5 of us had a Chinese takeaway at theirs and Dad paid. I bought him a Nando's gift card. We took my parents there for the first time a coupled of months ago and they enjoyed it. As they have very limited time of their own due to helping with Nan so much, I suggested they use it on a weekday lunchtime on a day when Nan has another (very capable) relative call on her. 

Next month is both my kids bdays, eldest when prompted for suggestions  'didn't know' meanwhile youngest has sent over a list before I asked and it's her bday last! This year Mothering Sunday falls the day before daughter's bday. She's decided to spend the Fri  night out with friends   celebrating then come home on Sat before returning Sunday. Need to think of a birthday/mother's day combo to do. Just realised as writing this that the clocks will change that day too as it's the last Sunday in March, so an hour less to the day. I was already ruling out Sunday lunch as think it might be too rushed for time if she needs to get back on a train to London and was contemplating Brunch instead but DD isn't an early riser anyway without taking an hour away and isn't keen on eating early on. Urgghh what to do?! 


Eeek that the gift convo wasn't had @Coxy11. I wonder though if you could sort of slip it in this year that you were continuing this year just due to the amt of 'special' birthdays coming up but after this year you will be making it under 18s and special bdays only. I know I wasn't enthralled about continuing to buy for my adult Niece long after she graduated and had a good job/salary, but always reluctant to voice it cos I didn't trust her Mum to then stop buying my my 2 who were younger. First time an opportunity arose though I seized it and suggested we stopped and one of the points I made was that  that year all 3 kids had celebrated their 18th,21st & 30th and used it for justification that it was now time to stop. 

I keep on looking at the Easter eggs in the supermarkets and wonder when they'll go to the loyalty card deal. Not too sure I'm buying any/much this year. Me and Mr S are away in US Easter week and though DD has a week's hol, we're not going to be home, so unsure if she'll bother coming back or not. She didn't return for Oct half term and went back early at Xmas due to drama school related events happening so hoping she's not going to be at a loose end and bored. I know she'll not want much choc anyway due to health reasons. Tip for anyone buying check the weight of the large eggs versus the medium eggs, because last year it was discovered that the actual egg is exactly the same size/weight what made the difference was the large ones had an additional choc bar and that was the weight difference, meaning med eggs especially if they go on offer are far better value. 

princesskitty29

Hi all, I am so sorry for the complete radio silence on here the last couple of months, I ended up having a very difficult Christmas and new year. I was feeling a bit low in December which is unusual for me but I didn’t think much of it, however on the 23rd December I got hit with major anxiety and I was having panic attacks and feeling like I couldn’t breathe literally all day every day. This went on all over Christmas, I did what I had to to make it nice for the boys (they had a great time and didn’t know what was going on) however it was a complete write off for me and very hard to get through. This went on into new year and my DH ended up bringing the boys home on his own and I stayed with my parents for a week to have a bit of space to deal with it. I had to turn to medication in the short term and I’ve been doing several things to help myself since this started and I am feeling better thank goodness, at one point it felt like I would be like that forever! I’ve had to introduce little calming things and I’m just trying to keep my nervous system calm! I don’t know why it happened, perhaps it’s a build up of things over time or maybe it’s just time of life.

I’m feeling a little bit sad as Christmas is my favourite time of year and I couldn’t enjoy one single minute of it, I was watching some programmes when I got home that were recorded before Christmas and still had the Christmas adverts in and it felt to me like Christmas hadn’t happened yet! Nevermind, onwards and upwards and I’ll look forward to Christmas this year!

I haven’t caught up on posts so will have a little read back, I hope you are all ok.

Coxy11

Oh @princesskitty29 so sorry to hear you've had some health issues, especially given it was over the Christmas period that you love so much. I do hope you're feeling brighter and that the meds and calming measures have helped xx

princesskitty29

Thanks @Coxy11, I appreciate that. 😊

I am happy to set up a 2025 thread, we're just visiting my parents until tomorrow so will try to get it done over the weekend.

Spendless

Sorry to hear you've been unable princesskitty. Hope you're soon feeling better. Thank you for offering to do the 2025 thread

super_car

Thanks for the thread

princesskitty29

The 2025 thread is finally here!!

Frosty the Snowman - it's the 2025 Christmas thread! — MoneySavingExpert Forum

mandco

Princesskitty posting here so the new thread has a new start if that’s what you’d prefer. no need to apologise for being awol your health comes first just glad your ok even if things still aren’t great. sorry to hear you had such a tough Xmas as we know how much you love it. I’m sure the boys still had an amazing time even though it was hard for you . it sounds like you’re getting the support you need now but we are here if you need to chat or just vent about how things didn’t go as planned.