Santa Baby - it's the 2026 Christmas Chatter Thread!!

suprisinglynice

@mandco I also got the chocolate oranges today, as did lots of other people! Mine are now hidden in the cupboard. Nope to the puppy sitting, I would not be tying myself to the house for anyone elses dog. We regularly dog sit at ours, but the dogs are older and are able to be left.

Looking at booking a day trip to a Christmas market with family.

Spendless

Oh my gosh to a hyper, chewing, not housetrained puppy. Surely they knew they had a hol booked and a puppy??!

We have what I call Bonus (relative's) dog to stay, which I dont mind cos relative returns favour with ours. Bonus dog is very sweet in nature but also high energy and I have to rearrange my days around her and that's with just me and DH not a household full. I think I'd be saying to DH that he needed to take annual leave to be an extra pair of hands at home if puppy sitting is required at yours.

We took eldest to buy curtains today for his living room. Long overdue present from last Christmas cos we didnt finish off the room for him that we'd promised.

The chocolate oranges were a great spot, but I'd already got gifts and cant be trusted not to eat them myself - lol.

mandco

hope everyone’s doing ok in this heat

Sdd knew they had the puppy as they only booked recently but just assumed we’d take it for her and now they’ve booked she’s playing the if you don’t we’ll have to cancel we’ll lose all our money and the girls will be upset card as They’re going with extended family parents, siblings etc so I’m pretty much the only option 😡

Just got back from a cheeky little couple of days away kids free - totally spur of the moment decision but dd was told she could work from home this week and the oh had had me pick a score on the footie as he had a £5 free bet -it was a long shot and not believing it would happened he said if it came in at those odds I could keep the winnings - came in at 50-1 😀 so thought I’d make the most of my unexpected windfall and the lovely weather and get some me time for once. Got a great deal on a last minute break booked before and Had a great time lots of relaxing doing what I wanted when I wanted for a change including taking a mid day siesta - added bonus the hotel room was air conditioned 😍

Picked up a couple more squishmallows reduced to £2.70 each @ Argos for the Xmas donations box

PennysIntoPounds

Lovely return @mandco congrats, glad you spent it on having a lovely time 🥂

Spendless

Oh my gosh mandco that's a big presumption. Your trip sounds lovely, def jealous of the air con bit - lol.

mandco

I’m really glad I did it I’m a nightmare for putting my own wants/needs last and usually end up spending any extra on the kids ect so despite feeling a bit guilty it was great to have some quality me time for once - I’ve definitely missed the ac since I got back

Ordered a 2 piece outfit & some character pjs in the sale for youngest dgd for Xmas

Birthday wise dd is sorted other than a birthday card & I have a couple of small token gifts for dgd1 so she has something to open as we’re giving her money in currency to spend while they are on holiday s9 she’s pretty much done.Still struggling with ideas for the boys.

Realised today its July tomorrow and less than 6 months till Xmas already

mandco

anyone else disappointed with the next sale? Not a premium member so get later access but very little that I’d have wanted this time round anyway- did order some bath & bodyworks fluffy socks for DD’s stocking assuming they arrive as it’s saying over 2 weeks for delivery and I’ve had stuff get cancelled when it’s that’s far out before.

tickets for the Xmas light trail we’ve done the last few years went on sale so need to get that booked soon as some dates sold out quickly last year just have to sort out a date everyone is available.

booked a trip to our local theatre to see a show with Taz this month. he’s never been before as he struggles with noise/crowds ect and generally its quite a bit of money to spend if we have to leave part way through but this one’s under an hr & was reasonably priced. Hoping if it goes well he’ll be open to seeing the pantomime at Xmas.

princesskitty29

Hi all, gosh i'm so sorry i've been missing for so long! DS1 hasn't been to school properly since February so it's been a bit of an adjustment and I had to let some things slip as I was getting a bit overwhelmed. He's actually at school at the moment for an hour in the SEN room, he goes for one hour on a Tuesday morning and sometimes a Thursday morning. It's not much and it's quite a faff for an hour but I do appreciate a bit of breathing space, however short it is. Despite him not being able to go to school properly we've had our EHCP application rejected naturally, so now we need to go through the appeal process. Our long term goal is to find a more suitable school for him but that's not easy to do and it will take a long time. I am actually open to home schooling him but the big problem we have is that he never wants to do anything! It's very hard to engage him, and I don't even mean sitting doing work like you would in a school, I mean any kind of activities or trips out. I think we're just limping to the summer holidays now and will reset again in September.

Christmas has been on my mind lately as it always is in summer (:D) and i've still been stashing bits and bobs away. This year we're spending it with my parents so we've booked the barn on the farm that we usually stay at as it would be too much in my parents tiny bungalow.

Anyway i'm going to try to read back as best I can and I will hopefully get back on here more often now. I hope you are all well xx

Spendless

Oh bless you @princesskitty29 - I dont know what it is but ND kids, adolescence and schooling is frequently not a mix!

When I was on some SM support groups when DD was struggling, some if they suggested home ed would suggest a period of unschooling first. Not totally with it as to what that entails but Im guessing that child doesnt need to engage with anything at first but instead learns thru experiences, bit like the learn thru play like the way early years children do. Might be worth looking into.

@mandco - I hope you include in your Xmas plans you being out/doing something on Xmas Eve so you dont get a repeat of last year!

Inspired I decided tosay to DH about Xmas 26 and my request is that there's no long distance/airport runs on signifucant days inc XE, XD, BD. NYE & NYD. He said he wouldnt cos it cheesed him off last time, to which I said, no idea why it cheesed you off cos you agreed to do them. Didnt go down well but Ive now drawn where my boundaries are.

Coxy11

Hi all,

Haven’t been on here in weeks. Holiday to Majorca was lovely, great hotel (DH did good!), lovely unspoilt resort and great food. I hit the ground running on our return with work - still just doing Mondays and Wednesdays and haven’t been into the office since before the holiday as boss has had various appointments (nails, hair, Botox!!) so have been lucky enough to WFH.

When I’ve not been working it’s been back to back Daddy Day Care which is fine but he’s quite hard work sometimes with spouting politics and repeating himself plus being half deaf doesn’t help. I take him back to Cyprus on Sunday and am staying until the following Saturday. If I want to watch the next England football match it’ll be 3am kickoff!!

FD we went to ILs and took DDad with us. Bit strained as they’d done sandwiches of ham and mustard or coronation chicken and DDad doesn’t do sauces of any kind. He gamefully ate his share though.

Other than that we’ve been out and about to exhibitions, visiting relatives, eating out and going to the Kent coast for days out.

I’d got DDad a pair of socks in Scotland earlier in the year and paired them with a toblerone. FIL got a book. Mums birthday whilst we were away so I gifted her the necklace I’d bought earlier in the year and have given her an IOU for lunch/entrance to Batemans which is a local ish NT property. I’m a member so will only have to pay for Mum. Need to find a Friday when she’s free though and it’s looking like end of July.

How wonderful to get away @mandco but cannot believe the cheek of SDD and the feral puppy. Absolute pi$$ take. I hope your home survives intact. I haven’t looked at Next sale.

Glad you got DS’s curtains sorted @Spendless x

Sounds like a lot with DS @princesskitty29 hope you can find him a more suitable educational setting although homeschooling may be the way to go if you have support?

Next June DSis will 60 and 3 days later it’s our 30th WA. BIL and I have hatched a plan to get the whole family away for a week somewhere in the UK and I’ve set up a WhatsApp group excluding DSis as it’s a surprise for her. Now looking at Airbnb for suitable accommodation for 15 adults and 2 dogs!!

Next birthday is FIL at the beginning of August thinking of theatre tickets (London) to see Abigail’s Party - just trying to find a date and may well join them.