Christmas 2018 - Mega index and Christmas chat!!!!

yay!! love Christmas, but have no money so its going to be a challenging one this year!!
luckily I don't have many to get pressies for, only a few family and my 3 older teenagers who don't ask for anything.
looking forward to hearing all about everyones plans!!

:T Hurrah! I've been looking for this thread (I always thought it was on OS, but always searched for it, so who knows?!)

Reading it with a hot drop is one of my Christmas prep treats!

Has anyone started their Christmas shopping yet? Got the first of mine on Tuesday - I like it done before December so I can relax.:beer:

Finished my Christmas shopping, and almost finished wrapping it all:j-i have to I hate wrapping, I hate the crowds, the cold, rushing in December, i like to spread the cost throughout the year plus I have a few to send the beginning of December.

Food wise is a different story. I bought some sweets on the 4 for£5 offer:whistle: .........they might have been eaten.

So on the food front im not doing so well.......so far I have made use of special offers on a gammon joint now in the freezer and a box of biscuits:D

We've been consciously down-scaling our Christmasses for a while now, and are enjoying them all the more. We'll still eat & drink well, but not to excess. We're not doing stockings any more, as the "kids" are all twenty-somethings; we've nicked the Icelandic "book & chocolate" idea instead. Some presents have already been bought, and a few goodies stashed away, and the girls & I have decided that on the decor front, we're going for a mostly natural & handmade Christmas. Which doesn't mean buying stuff to make things; we already have most of the "makings" and will just get creative if we don't. And if I can't find a real tree inside my miserly budget, or get to the heathland nature reserve to cut one on the right day, we'll just use the old plastic one in the loft again.

A few years back I started saving a certain amount each month in a special account, to cover the anticipated cost of Christmas upfront rather than scramble to pay everything off afterwards. That's worked a treat, and in January I'm going to double the amount put aside to cover the birthdays, too; we don't go overboard on presents, etc., but we do like to go out for a meal to celebrate, and meals out for 7 adults plus assorted partners add up to a fair expense; we have 3 birthdays in July alone, then another mid-August.

So, the festive dried fruit has already arrived; I'll be making mincemeat for the pies in the next few days, and then it's on to cake & puddings. Luckily the girls are avid bakers; I foresee a glut of gingerbread shortly! I will buy in a few bits n'bobs; it wouldn't be Christmas without some German iced gingerbread biscuits, or Twiglets, but most of it we will make ourselves. When they were all small, I got overloaded & frantic trying to do it all myself, but now they take a fair share of the load, and if it doesn't get made or done, it just doesn't get done, and we'll all laugh about it.

Properly prepared this year.

Last year I bought a load of snacks & sweets in advance of which 50% didn't get touched due to changing diets in my family. So this year I've joined forces with my Mum to put £150 onto a reloadable gift card (6% of every time it was loaded up) so we'll do the shop closer to the day this time & get stuff we'll actually eat.

Present wise, don't do gifting but gotta sort out my Nephew & Niece plus two lots of Birthdays. Know what I'm getting apart from one gift, but I'm waiting for a sensible time to buy (Black Friday for example)

Aside from that, bought Xmas cards in the post-Xmas sales last year so all I really need is a small amount of wrapping paper & I'm sorted. I can really focus on enjoying the season this year now.