What are you up to today if you have a Chronic Illness. Thread 11 🧵Last of the Summer

[MewithME]

Link to last one https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/5556429-what-are-you-up-to-today-if-you-have-a-chronic-illness-10-summer-edition

Thank you for being here, friends old and new and sharing our gentle chat, trials and tribulations.

You know the rules though...let's be good and fill up the last one 😊

Morning all!

Where's my heat dome? It's so chilly this morning.

Waiting for the Waitrose delivery. I noticed the Christmas slots are open, so I've booked 7am on December 22nd. It is scary!

Oh good grief @TeaAndStrumpets ... Christmas thoughts already. Yes, those slots get booked up. I'd better have a look. 😖

I suppose it is almost October. Can't quite get my head around it.

I just woke up. Had a restless sleep. You know where you dream a lot and wake up feeling like you've been busy? Anyway, coffee in bed now and I don't intend moving for a while.

More laundry and rest today. Boring boring

I talk a lot in my dreams! It's a proper party, friends pop in (some dead!) and we chat. It makes up for my solitary waking hours I suppose.

I think Christmas is going to be toned down this year so I won't be buying loads of gifts. The boys want cash for their hobbies, dgd will need a new trike and loves books. Kids get so much. It's a revelation reading on here about the things parents feel obliged to buy. I had never heard of a Christmas Eve Box before!

Morning both, another quiet one for me today 😴

Can't even think about Christmas yet. My DB's birthday is at the end of October and it's a family rule that the C word is not discussed until we have celebrated that 🤣

Kettle's on if anyone wants a brew ☕

Yes please! Peppermint tea as ever, very kind of you.

Dgs 3 will be 13 in the second week of December and he pretty well gets into birthday and Christmas mode long beforehand....the excitement levels are off the scale! I suppose the other eleven and a half months of the year must seem quite flat.

Oh god yes ... It annoys me. Late stage capitalism at play. Invent new gimmicks so people have to buy more stuff. It's awful.

The nice rituals that used to mark the seasons changes seem to be getting further away .. was just reading a thread about Halloween decorations going up already.

Low key sounds good to me @TeaAndStrumpetsthough I think it's nice that your DGS is still excited at 13! I don't get excited about anything anymore...i miss that feeling though I don't think I have the energy for excitement 🙈

I just made one thanks @Swanhilde . I'm enjoying my Littles coffee. I've got an instant pumpkin spice latte...get me!

As far as I can tell there's a lot of competitive parenting going on for the benefit of social media. I can't believe every child in the land is this spoiled! It does take away from the actual meaning of the day, making it about greed and envy rather than peace to all mankind!

I watch Curious Travellers on YouTube sometimes and shops have Christmas stock in now and the amount is insane. There’s nothing wrong with new of course but people should be happy with what they have

I also like that phrase “if it isn’t broke, don’t fix it” which I do try to adhere too

@TeaAndStrumpets there isn’t just Christmas Eve boxes but also December 1st boxes, elf on the shelf and other stuff when you venture to the Christmas board

@JewelleryCat oh that's too much. It's sad. When I think about childhood excitement about Christmas coming, it was much simpler. We all got excited when school put up the big foil decorations in the hall. Same every year. At home, we had a very seventies artificial tree with coloured lights and and loved it. Again, same every year. I was lucky that my parents could afford nice presents and we always did ok but it was not OTT.

I have fallen in some sort of routines with DS. He has struggled with Christmas on occasion due to his autism...too much stimulation and different food. We're in a comfortable pattern now where he asks for one main thing and I just get bits and bobs I know he'll like without any pressure on him to think of stuff. He loves his Xmas PJs, bless him. I always get him a calendar, too.

I think you're right @TeaAndStrumpets . Everyone is living for what things look like in socials. It's so empty.

Aneeeway... Hope everyone is ok today. I'm ok ish. I have a touch of Sunday blues I think this morning.

Blimey that Dec 1st one is news to me!

Yes I am very much in line with you re If it Ain't Broke Don't Fix It. Christmas was perfectly lovely before! Now people are stressed trying to do/buy all these silly extras.

@MewithME dgs2 is much the same, he is very definite about what he wants and everything else is irrelevant to him. He's turning 17 next month and ALL he wants is money towards a new amp. That's it. Refreshingly straightforward!

I must confess I always used to start thinking about Xmas around October just from the perspective of pacing really as my health has been so unpredictable over the years, I’ve felt better if I’m organised early and it spreads the cost over a few months rather than all in December. And DD has a near xmas birthday so it’s two lots of gifts to plan but Xmas in September is a step too far even for me!

Though my kids are adults now so it’s much easier really. DD has a big travel adventure planned in January for her gap year so would appreciate money to help fund that. DS can’t carry much back on the flight home! So gift wise, it will be fairly low key this year.

I think it’s gone absolutely crazy with social media and the pressure on parents! We did always have a tradition of new pjs on Xmas eve which even as adults they still like to do! But all these other ideas just seem over the top. I’d imagine most kids must be utterly hyped up by xmas day itself if all these things happen in Dec! I mean some of the advent calendars cost a fortune alone…. In my 70s childhood I used to be thrilled to just open a door to reveal a picture and I had to take turns with my brother as we only had one between us 😂

A quiet one here. Resting in bed as utterly shattered after lunch out yesterday.

It’s 4 days to my steroid injection… Countdown time🤞🤞

@TodayIsabetterone very much fingers crossed for your steroid injection.

Yes I remember our cardboard advent calendars, they were very much part of the build up!

DD2 has asked for just money. They are saving for a new kitchen, nothing fancy but desperately needed. Luckily there's a neighbour who fits kitchens so he will be doing it, and because they know him they are happy to leave him the house key while they're at work. I absolutely hate having people working in the house, I just can't relax. This is why our decor is so outdated!

There are some websites that still do picture calendars and I like the Jacquie Lawson advent calendar. I bought an advent calendar about maybe 7 years ago, it lights up and you turn the squares each day and it’s still going strong

That advent calendar sounds lovely @JewelleryCat

No I’m the same with people in the house @TeaAndStrumpets although a neighbour has done some decorating and that’s a bit easier. He’s very calm and quiet and just gets on with it!

Sounds ideal!

That advent calendar sounds lovely @JewelleryCat

My kids are 5 & 7 so very deep into the Christmas spirit. We tend to not overdo it, generally a light show and get a couple of bits for throughout December. Mine get so much joy out of the rotary coming around with FC on the back of a pick up. A lot of the elves are members of PTA or TA's at school so the kids think it's amazing that FC knows all the village children by name. We also in December walk around the village a couple of nights a week before bed with torches and look for house lights, followed by a hot drink when home. We really try and do low pressure, they get so hyped up at school with it all, so weekends are sacred for relaxing and resetting during December.

Afternoon all. I always used to have to start thinking about Christmas quite early due to preparing for musical things - less so this year!

Feeling rough today. The new neighbours who've just moved in upstairs were really noisy last night - people turned up at about 10:30pm, were really loud, shouting at each other around midnight, shut up a bit after I closed my door really loudly... and then all went out for a couple of hours, came back and continued to chat (they're still going somehow although quieter now). I'm going to give them the benefit of the doubt that it was house-warming excitement but will have a word if it happens again. As it is, I feel awful from the lack of sleep. Just waiting for a grocery delivery so I can have some lunch then go back to bed.

That sounds like a proper Christmas! They will remember it all forever.

@martha79 hell is indeed other people! Hope they calm down a bit.

Afternoon all.
I must confess to starting Christmas thoughts already. I have several online baskets on the go. Deciding what to get is half the battle.

We get a festive tractor trail & the local fire station do a Santa run around the village.
Nothing OTT but nice.

@TeaAndStrumpets I think we might sack off the light show this year. It's coming all in at about £70 now, whilst we can stretch to it and they have enjoyed previous years I'm not sure whether they'll be fussed if we don't do it.

I have done some Christmas shopping but there isn't much left to get really present wise. I tend to try and do as much as early as possible really.

I don't like that elf on the shelf, he looks a bit shifty to me. Also designed to make yet more work for mums when there is plenty to be getting on with.

When mine were little we had a fairly low key Christmas eve tradition of new pyjamas, hot chocolate with marsh mallows and a gingerbread man, and reading 'Twas the night before Christmas' DD is now doing something very similar with the DGCs, which is lovely.

Anyhoo, I've done nothing towards Christmas, and don't intend to until after my birthday in November. Then I will do a concentrated week of internet shopping for presents, wrapping paper and cards. I get all the non-perishable food items on a dedicated supermarket trip, I can't be thinking of getting regular shopping and Christmas at the same time. I tried that, it wasn't successful. Then the fresh stuff on a very early morning trip in Christmas week. Bish Bash Bosh!

Had a rough few days with sciatica, I over did it one day last week and have been paying for it ever since. Still, it seems to be calming down now, just another over reaction from my nervous system I could do without.

Hope everyone has a good week.

I do understand Christmas shopping from the point of view of pacing. It is a good idea.

I feel awful tonight. I've got that slightly fluey feel. I really don't know what the answer is to my life. Work is taking too much. Even when I'm not there, it's in my head but I don't know what else I could do. Anyway, I don't suppose I need an answer right now. Just feeling in pain and a bit maudlin this evening.

Let's hope we all get a decent sleep. Nn all.

@Oioiqueen I'm sure they'll be excited enough without a light show! The house opposite us gets overexcited about the end of November and their house has inflatable raindeer and Santa plus flashing fairy lights. For some reason they flash blue and the first year I saw them through our high front hedge I thought there had been an accident.

@CoffeeBeansGalore It's good to keep things saved for later, not necessarily Christmas things but such a lot gets reduced on Black Friday. I need new cookware for induction and my son in law wants a fancy ceramic pan ( he enjoys cooking)

@danglethedingle my birthday is also November and starts my Christmas panic! I aim to get cards written by then. We do send an awful lot, but I've really streamlined it over the years. I print labels from our Christmas list and I stick them on one day then write the cards the next, so it breaks it up a bit.

Sorry about the sciatica, it is horrible. My osteopath digs away at my tight lower back and it does help but I think a lot is everything being inflamed. I get tight jaw and neck too, swollen glands you name it.

@MewithME It does help to be all done by Christmas because the crowds are unbearable in December and it just adds to the stress!

I hope you get a good night's sleep.