OS Christmas Support thread & timetable

Burlesque_Babe

A colleague yesterday asked me if I knew where she could buy the DIY christmas cracker kits to put personalised gifts in. I said, I know they have them in Tesco, but (and this just popped into my head!!), why not collect loo roll innards, and use tissue paper to cover them, old Christmas cards cut out for the picture on the front of them, and make your own!! i even offered to have a cracker making evening at my house with glitter, ribbon and some bargain white wine I bought in Tesco last week on hand!! :beer:

I was really proud to have offered my first Old Style tip!! :j

Chris25

My daughter's friends will be getting some of this instant hot choc drink with baby marshmallows put into some 'girly' mugs we found in the saver shop. We also got mini whisks (discontinued-60p for 2 in Tesco) and she's going to put in a couple of flakes too.

http://southernfood.about.com/od/christmasfood/r/bl81127g.htm

Hope to do some of these for the Church Fayre aswell

sallypurple

What a fantastic site Chris 25. I'm going to make some of the chocolate mix to go in my hampers. :T

kscour

Sorry but somehow depite the sub zero temperatures I can't do the Christmas spirit thing with Shops screaming Jingle Bells at me! Have I hit a mid life crisis here or is this normal? I was going to book us all in to a woodland cabin in centre parcs (not brilliant I know but I was desperate) but they are all booked up! So PLEASE from an ex I love Christmas person how do I get the old style christmassy feeling back? December used to be a wam glowing feeling and now I don't know whether to reach for the earmuffs or the sick bag first :eek: Help - pretty please!

wigginsmum

Stay away from shops from mid-November. I do all my Xmas shopping online so I don't have to face the shopping addicts. This year I'm mostly giving people copies of Martin's book

Unfortunately the front garden of the house across the road has a 10-foot inflated fluorescent Home Simpson Santa and similar size Frosty the Snowman, with pulsing lights, shining right through my bedroom window every night from last week until mid-January so some of the 'Christmas cheer' is truly in my face ... bah humbug indeed.

Jules

Spendless

• go to church
• volunteer to help out at school for xmas fair/concert
• buy and donate a christmas present to one of the charity appeals
• if we get snow build a snowman with your own/friends kids
• take friends kids out to look at the decorated houses-whilst their parents get a chance to wrap stuff up
• take part in a carol service

Caterina

Dear kscour,

You could do Christmas the OS way, make cards and decorations at home together with the children and partner, make mulled wine and drink it in the cold evenings in the run up to Christmas, cook mince pies from scratch...

If you feel like doing so, you might want to explore the spiritual side of Christmas, which is totally overlooked by the mountains of material stuff and piped-music in the shopping centres. I don't mean to preach, just offering a suggestion!

Another feel-good Christmassy activity (again, it is up to you of course!) is to sing carols, either in a group of friends at home (mulled wine and mince pies are obligatory!) or sometimes local groups go around the neighbourhood houses carol-singing and collecting for charities, or you could even join a church chorus - it is great fun.

I hope you find something that gives you back the Christmas spirit!

Love

Caterina

Caterina

Spendless, hi! Long time no see!

I see that great minds think alike hehehe

Ciao

Love

Caterina

nabowla

• Carols by candlelight in an old church;
• Long walk in the countryside on a crisp Sunday afternoon;
• Christmas baking on a Saturday afternoon (but not too much - you don't want it to be a chore!);
• Make an Advent wreath and light one candle each Sunday to mark the approach of Christmas;
• Long soak in the bath with medieval carols gently playing in the background and candles everywhere (you might want to get the kids out of the house so that you have a bit of peace and quiet!)
• Set aside an afternoon for present wrapping. Make sure that you've got everything to hand before you start - wrapping paper, ribbons, bottle of wine, favourite nibbles etc. Put your favourite CD on and be as creative as possible with the wrapping.
• If you don't have a real tree, what about some scented pine cones to make your home smell Christmassy? Rummage around for a source of free pine cones or pick some up v. cheaply from the local market. Put the pine cones in a plastic bag and add a bit of pine essential oil or similar. Seal bag and shake very thoroughly. The pine cones will smell fantastic - just like a pine forest.

chinagirl

metherer wrote:

I must say, its this thread thats made me go all Christmassy. I don't normally get excited by it, but at the moment I can't wait!

Just wish Work still gave Christmas bonusses, so I could afford to go shopping!

When I was a little girl, (bout 20 years ago) I remember my Dad coming home laden down with Christmas gift goodies from work. He got given numerous bottles and gifts from customers of his company. One year we had 7 bottles of Harvey's Bristol Cream sherry, and another year, a fresh Scottish salmon was delivered to our door. We always had bottles of Whiskey, Brandy and Advocaat.

Perhaps my Dad was very well liked by quite a few people, 'cause I certainly don't get given anything like that from where I work. I think times have changed, and companies are feeling the pinch, so don't give so generously today.