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

princesskitty29

Sorry awol again as I’ve had a nagging virus that won’t shift. I thought it was just a normal cold last week but then it turned into laryngitis at the weekend and I lost my voice (just in time for the Easter hols! ) My voice has almost come back to normal but I’m still struggling with the virus. I’m hoping it’s most gone by the start of next week as we have plans to visit my parents, the Black Country Living Museum and Cadbury World. Fingers crossed!

Thank you all for your kind words, DH and I are currently taking on a lot of information but we are already seeing positive results with behaviour by tweaking our responses to DS1. It’s a learning curve but we’ll get there I’m sure.

Thanks @mandco for the heads up on the Boots recycling scheme, I deposited my first items today and spent £10 on stuff I needed and got the extra £5 points on my card, it’s so easy once you’re all set up. Our Boots also has a blister pack recycling bin so I’m currently saving those too. In the last few years I haven’t really bought any Christmas presents from Boots, so I’m toying with the idea of buying my normal stuff there with my points then putting the equivalent cash in my Christmas savings account so it’s still benefitting my Christmas pot.

@Spendless sorry to hear you lost your job, times are hard at the moment. I do hope you can find something suitable soon. I’ve heard of a lot of adults having a difficult time at school and getting diagnosed later on, I guess it just wasn’t on people’s radars for so long. I hope you have a great time in the states!

@mandco fingers crossed for your OH’s job. Well done on the Argos voucher win, I haven’t entered any competitions in ages, I need to get back to it!

Spendless

@mandco - Glad I gave you a heads up about a potential issue with giftcards. There seems to be something 'fishy' going off with them currently. Thanks for the reminder about bath & bodyworks and how much cheaper it is, yes of course,  thats worth picking up. Same is true of items in Victoria's secret, especially if you can find an outlet store. 

We are currently in London already (fly tomorrow) as we went and watched the play DD put on at her drama school yesterday. We really loved it and are so proud of her.  It was about being ND played and created by a mostly ND cast/crew. The comment about tweaking your responses made me smile @princesskitty29 because DD had warned us in advance not to take anything said in the play  too literallly, so knew poetic licence would be used but also that writers do take things personal to them.and scatter it amongst characters. There was a line in it where one of the characters talking about needng  a therapist  said that her Mum had taken the view that 'that was because she was being difficult - but that wasn't a medically diagnosable condition - yet. 
It drew a laugh from the audience and a wry smile from me because it wasnt quite what Id said - what I had said, was at the beginning of it, when I was struggling to make sense of it all and had actually been far worse (oops, lol, hopefully she hasnt remembered). So yeah if it gets tough remember 10 years into the future you could find your words being repeated on stage. 😂😂😂 

mandco

Spendless safe travels
the play sounds like it was a success - you never quite know what thing you did/said in the past they’ll hold onto and throw back at you in the future but at least you got a Laugh out of it 

princesskitty sorry to hear you’ve not been well why is the timing always so lousy? The Easter holidays are enough to deal with without being poorly too really hope you’re on the mend and able to have the days out with your parents you have planned.

asd is a huge learning curve and there soo much information to try and take in especially at first so give yourselves time - really good to hear that things are already starting to improve though 
 

re the boots points - using them for the basics and putting the cash saved towards Xmas is a great way to use them if you’re not likely to buy Xmas presents from there - 

dropped the grandkids Easter bags off yesterday early but was the closet day we could fit in a visit we’re off to chessington tomorrow & legoland Sunday ( booked a cheap premier inn over night stay) then next week they are away as they’re on holiday over Easter.

princesskitty29

I found the bottom of a Christmas gift box the other day, I had used the lid for something else a few years ago, but this bottom part will be perfect for the little BBQ hamper I have in mind for my brother. I’ll just pop the bits in then wrap it with cellophane.

I got enough points to request £10 to my Paypal account on Ipsos Isay this morning so I’ve redeemed that and will pop it in the Christmas pot.

I’m going to try and enjoy the lovely weather today before it changes but I do have to take DS2 to a trampoline party indoors this afternoon.

Oh gosh I hope not @Spendless! Have a great time.

@mandco we’ve done something similar, we are going to the Black Country Living Museum on Monday and Cadbury World on Tuesday with a cheap Premier Inn stay overnight. DH has booked us on a few Premier Inn overnight stays and it’s now a family joke that he’s trying to stay in all of the Premier Inns there is! I hope you have a fabulous weekend.

Spendless

Waving hello from the States.👋
We are 6 hours behind here but my brain is still on UK time annoyingly! 

Yesterday decided to enhance my American trips by visiting for the first time both Target and Trader Joes - lol. Bought bits in each for either us (food items) or DDs stocking  (toiletries we can't get at home)

The stores are full of Easter baskets, rabbit shaped chocolate and other associated Easter  bits. They dont tend to do the larger choc eggs we have, just the creme egg sized ones. If there were any children in my family Id definitely be stocking up on the different bits they do here. 

Coxy11

OMG @Spendless I love Target!!! Hope you’re enjoying the break xx

I am in Cornwall on the final few days of my JoGLE hike. We aren’t walking today as there’s a weather warning and given we’ve got some additional miles under our belts we are on track to finish on Saturday as planned. 

DH and I are going to Penzance today so will see what shops they have there. 

Enjoy Cadbury World @princesskitty29 We last went when DH was a scout leader and we took a coach load of boys!!! 

mandco

@Spendless I love a good mooch around target can’t believe you’ve never been - target & Walmart are the only times the boys willingly go shopping  so I actually get time to really browse.

@Coxy11 hope the rest of your hike goes ok and you aren’t too affected by the weather it changed so quickly - been absolutely pouring down here on & off the last few days 

@princesskitty29 hope you managed to make your trip & you all had a great time

Looks like the Easter weekend is going to be a washout - was planning on taking taz to an Easter event Sunday but not sure if we’ll go now as it’s outdoors and don’t think it’s worth going if this awful weather continues.  Easter baking with taz tomorrow so will have lots of yummy treats to eat if nothing else.

Hope you all have a lovely Easter however you spend it 

PennysIntoPounds

Happy Easter gang, I did temporarily think about taking advantage of the supermarket price wars on carrots and spuds to par boil and freeze veg for Christmas but thought better of it, I don't trust any freezers to be that good! Worth stocking up on a bag or two of potatoes for batch cooking though, thought I'd got a bargain the other day with 2kg for 15p then got another 2kg bag today for 8p!

princesskitty29

Happy Easter all! I hope you’ve had a lovely time. We had my in laws over yesterday and we had a really nice day, it was so welcome after the awful Christmas that I had. I made a beef roast dinner followed by a mini eggs cheesecake, yum!

The boys were spoilt rotten and we have a lot of chocolate in the house! It’s good though as it means I don’t have to buy any for ages, they get their chocolate boxes twice a week, once after swimming and then after tea on a Friday night so it should last for a good while. I found out my BiL’s favourite chocolate is Yorkie biscuit and raisin so I’ve noted that on my Christmas spreadsheet to get some for his present bag nearer the time.

We loved the Black Country Museum and Cadbury World however DS1 was quite challenging. This is a new thing for us, he has always been ok on day trips but he was very overstimulated and agitated this week. He did calm down and manage to enjoy it after a couple of hours but it was quite stressful and something we’re going to have to be mindful of in the future.

Spendless I hear so much about Target, I’m not sure what the equivalent is here? Glad you managed to find some bits. I hope you’re enjoying your time there.

Coxy blimey how did you manage that? It was stressful enough with two boys let alone a coach load! Your hiking sounds great, such a good thing to do. I can’t wait for my feet to be better so I’m able to do more.

PenniesIntoPounds Wow 8p! I did get two bags of potatoes and two bags of carrots for 15p each, we’ll easily get through these. It’s a great offer though and definitely worth stocking up on.

fionaandphil

Some of the cheap Easter veg is still up this week. I think potatoes and carrots still on at 8p.

I'd say target is a mix of Primark, Wilko, Screwfix, Tesco, Dunelm and more. Usually massive and they sell everything! I have many items purchased from there over the years 😀