Frosty the Snowman - it's the 2025 Christmas thread!

CrazyBee787

I am sorry to hear you are having so much trouble @princesskitty29 it can't be easy at all being a mum on the best of occasions. I am not a mum and I always thought I could be a good mum but in all honesty I don't think I could do the job that I see parents face today, so give yourself as pat on the back that you are managing and you are doing the best job you can do. We all support you.

Sorry about the cruise that can't be nice not going on the trip you alll wanted to go on, in laws sound like a blessing. I am glad you had an allright time in the end. Good luck getting Christmas sussed earlyXX

Spendless

Sorry you missed your trip @princesskitty29 . It's since we left the EU that you aren't allowed the 'extra' bit over 10 years on your passport that you got when you renewed early. It has been flagged in various stories online  but I suspect with you being ill  and having a lot on you'd missed them. Glad in-laws gave you an alternative hol.  Having a ND child can be a challenge, especially in the early days when you're trying to make sense of it all and I absolutely believe that hormones play a massive part.  Reach out for all the help and support you can.

DH's next worktrip that I accompany him on is up in the air and could potentially be close to Christmas with all the challenges that brings. If it is I will be looking to make things as simple as possible so we can just 'step in' to the holiday period when home (I am hoping for a lot earlier date to be going away though!)   

mandco

@princesskitty29 so sorry to hear about your holiday understandable you were all devastated to be turned away last minute. Fantastic of the in-laws to arrange for you to still have a break.  

Puberty is a huge trigger for nd kids all those hormones & emotional changes play havoc on their ability to regulate and it can start over a year before any outward signs of puberty are visible and it’s often the worst part - once they start showing obvious signs the hormone levels start to even out and things start to settle. Doesn’t help it’s normally at a time when there’s a lot of change going on in their life too like moving to secondary school ect. Like Spendless said definitely take all the support you can get even if it’s just talking to someone & venting about the tough bits- you’re doing a fantastic job but parenting a nd child is incredibly hard work at times and can really affect your mh. 

Happy Birthday to ds 

@Spendless frustrating about dh work trip being back up in the air after getting provisional dates hopefully you’ll get a final date confirmation sooner rather than later - a couple of years ago we were away on holiday till mid December and despite the planning before we went everything felt so rushed when we got home so I definitely understand the trepidation about going close to Xmas.

@Abbafan1972 57 years wow that’s a real achievement 

picked up some stitch theme nail polishes £3.99 for dgd2 Xmas hamper in home bargains also picked up a few bits for the medicine cabinet ready for winter & the inevitable coughs & colds ect. they had Palmolive 500ml hand wash refills on offer for 99p too.

fionaandphil

Sorry to hear about your holiday @princesskitty29 it is frustrating that our passports don't just run until the date it say it does these days.  Mine is due to last until almost the end of January 2026 but due to the new rules I will have to change it before we go away in October as I'm 2 days short. Very frustrating to have a 10 year passport and then not be able to use it for the full period.

I agree with what others have said re DS1, hormones will be making a big difference and any changes of school arrangements are always difficult.  I hope that you can continue to get some respite from it, even just for a short while.

Abbafan1972

Hi all. @princesskitty29 oh my god about your cruise, that’s awful but lovely of your in-laws to step in. Also, you are doing great with your kids - sorry but what does ND mean? 

On the subject of passports, I have just renewed mine as we are going to Benidorm on 5th October and my old passport was running out in November. So my new one is valid from 18th July.  DH’s passport runs out in March next year - is that ok if we are travelling in October? Without looking I think it’s 26th March it runs out. 

I have been struggling the last few days and finding it hard to focus. I had a colonoscopy recently but this needs to be repeated, as the stuff they sent me to clear out wasn’t strong enough, so they have re-booked me in for 18th August and sending me a stronger prep medicine. It was horrendous last time so not looking forward to this again at all. 

Yeah, 57 years is a long time for my parents to be married. But to be honest with you all, I am surprised they have stayed married for this long as my Mom sometimes is so vile to my Dad and says the nastiest of things and they bicker so much and hardly agree on anything. A couple of years ago I believe my Dad threatened to divorce my Mom as she said something really nasty about my Dad to his sister (I don’t know what was said). 

Anyway ignore me rambling on, the working day is about to begin. 

Take care all. Xx

Spendless

@Abbafan1972 - ND means neuro diverse so someone who has a condition like autism or ADHD as opposed to someone who hasn't who is NT (neuro typical) 

A ND person will think/act/behave in a different way to someone NT because the brain is wired differently (for want of a better description). It can be both a blessing and a curse, a superpower whilst fetching many challenges. 

Our passports are all new so someone with an old passport might be better looking inside theirs and explaining but before leaving the EU if you renewed your passport early ie before it went 'out of date' you were added the extra bit on (upto so many months). You could then travel with it including this extended bit. Since leaving the EU thats no longer allowed. You passport is only valid until the earlier date and you have to be going so many months before that expiry date too. Definitely worth checking out.

I'd left my passport in my bag for ID and my dog then still a puppy got my passport out of bag and chewed it. I was cheesed off cos it had 18 months still on it, but he'd chewed near a barcode and we were planning on going away so I just bought another - then the pandemic came and I thought I needn't have bothered as it was 2 years till I needed it, now I think it was a blessing in disguise that my current passport doesnt have this now invalid extra bit on it thats caught people out. 

mandco

@Abbafan1972 I’ve got to have a colonoscopy that week too absolutely dreading it so you have my sympathy over needing a repeat due to prep failure.

I’ve signed up to do a fire walk for charity later in the year  actually quite excited about it as it’s on my bucket list but weirdly nervous now Ive committed. 

Ds has decided he wants to build a new pc so asked if he could get parts/money towards that for his birthday so that’s him sorted which is great as I was really struggling with ideas. 

Coxy11

Hi everyone,

Sorry to hear you missed your cruise @princesskitty29 - I didn't know that about passports but assume ours are okay as DH and DS2 went to Prague last year for a stag do, and DD has been to Greece and is now in Cyprus. Blimey maybe it's just mine that's an issue..... best go check......

Sorry to hear of investigative procedures @mandco and @Abbafan1972 - I guess better than leaving symptoms though and missing something. You have my sympathies as I know it's really unpleasant xx

Four birthdays this week and all on DH's side of the family. We went to Canterbury last Thursday to look for said 4 gifts and really struggled, partly due to them being the most difficult to buy for but also due to reduced budget. There's a Fenwick but even the wine and chocs were c. £20 a pop. Ended up getting FIL two books from Waterstones, SIL an apothecary gift set in M&S (this one which I thought was good value for £18 Restore Wellness Collection | Apothecary | M&S ), ordered BIL an Oasis tshirt from Amazon once home as didn't find his 2XL size in the band t-shirt shop, and niece from Dublin got Euro30.

I'm hoping the fact that it was so difficult has made DH more aware of how I struggle at Christmas. Neither FIL or SIL have hobbies, FIL doesn't wear fragrance, SIL doesn't like choc and only uses Jo Malone or L'occitane (she once told me) and despite there being 20% off in L'occitane it was still out of our revised down budget. She seemed pleased with her giftset though. DH is at BIL's now and niece's birthday is on Monday when she's back home.

In other news I have given in my notice at work. Only did 3 days a week for the NHS Band 3 admin, but really wasn't happy with some of the ways of working and dreaded going in. The whole point of us moving home and uprooting everything was to have a simpler way of life, and this job doesn't fit that brief unfortunately. My last day was Monday when nobody spoke to me. Just awful. Anyway we are off on holiday in two weeks time - a week in Seattle with the whole family. I'm hoping to take some time out and look for something else eventually as feel I'm not done with work just yet. The only Christmas gifts I have so far are SIL/BIL (DH's sister and husband) have a handstitched Christmas sampler I made. I just need to frame it but have the frame already. Also picked up an Only Murders in the Building board game in Waterstones for DD when we were in Canterbury. Have not had the conversation about stopping gifts for grown ups so we move forward with a revised budget and take stock again in the new year.