The OFFICIAL buddy bench/naughty bench thread No. 6

[Teaandcakeplease]

Come hither all those who haven't found their place on mumsnet, have scrapped in Aibu or crossed words in chat. The buddy bench shalt not judge.

The buddy bench will hand out wine and cakes, it will join you on your scoffathons getting pissed

All those who sit on the bench, will have their sins erased and be given a warm welcome and cheerful chat from CheerfulYank, gomummy, tiredmum, Elmo, valiumredhead and far, far too many more to mention.

Welcome to the buddy bench, we look forward to meeting you all

Oh and don't forget, last one to leave polishes bench and locks up!

You can use either. My suet here is the beef one.

Great, thanks Tea. :)

Well it is a balmy -19 here today and we feel very lucky not to have had really cold weather yet, but according to the long range forecasts, we really are looking at a green Christmas. It is so so so strange. Somehow doesn't feel like the holidays without the snow. Having said that, we are saving a small fortune on snow removal, so not complaining!

What are you all up to this weekend?

If you skip the cloves and mace it won't be quite as spicy. Shop bought mince meat doesn't include those 2 ingredients usually

I completely lost it today and had a melt down over something minor. It was the icing on the cake. It wasn't important. Why oh why do I sometimes just do this

-19 Fahrenheit?

Aww tea, I hope you are ok

Cheerful and gomummy, I hope you enjoy the mince pies, you'll have to report back and tell us what you think

Might give it a go without the mace then, as I won't likely use the rest of the container, iykwim. I do like cloves though, and don't get much opportunity to use them. Will report back! :)

No, -19 Celsius yesterday, hovering around the same today. Not that cold yet! We are metric mostly. Actually, we're rather inconsistent and many people my age can't go back and forth between the two as we were halfway through school when everything switched over. DH and I decided long ago (he is older than I am and only uses farenheit) that we'd leave our confusing temperature conversations to "too bloody hot" and "too bloody cold." Basically describes everything accurately except two months of the year.

Hope you are alright, Tea. Think we all do that sometimes, don't be too hard on yourself.

Brrrrr! Isn't really getting below -1 here, which is at night time. Day time is about 4 degrees.

How can it be a green Christmas at -19 though, that's flippin' freezing!

I'm just getting shouty too quickly with the children mainly at the moment. Trying to take them out as often as I can but they both feel the cold within 30-45 mins despite gloves, hats, etc so we tend to come home again to the warm. So I think cabin fever maybe something to do with it and having both home for 3 weeks in a small flat. Muchos squabbling between them Tis the season to be jolly. Need to dig deep! Oh and go to bed earlier

Did you see this link on mumsnet for mincepies: www.mumsnet.com/food/making-mince-pies-with-dan-lepard

Just popping in to mark my place, be back later! :)

HELLLLLOOOOO !!!!

How are you all ? I will have to read back to catch up on what you are all up to
I was sitting in my hairdressers this morning & learned all about "the NEW way to cook the Christmas Ham " which to me sounds absolutely Bluggghh tbh but everyone who has tried this swears it's gorgeous Apparently if you boil the Ham in Coca Cola for 3 hours , then honey glaze it and oven roast for another 1/2 hour it's meant to taste amazingly good . Tempted to buy a small bit of ham just to try it out .

Any one ever heard of doing this ?

Less than a week now!!!

Green because we have no significant snow...sort of hoping for a little this week for the ambiance, but forecast just calling for a dusting here and there.

I shall check out the link, thanks Tea! When we are spending lots of time indoors during the cold weather, DS really needs the physical activity or he I goes a bit mad. Sometimes I just pull the couch cushions or matresses down onto the floor and he just goes wild for a bit jumping around, making "forts", etc. That, and I drink insane amounts of coffee

Welcome back Elmo! I sort of do something similar to your ham thing. I boil it in ginger ale for a couple of hours before glazing (maple syrup) and roasting with pineapple chunks on top. Now DH doesn't want it any other way. It is very moist and sweet.

Gomummy I bet ds is so excited about xmas, he is adorable

Elmo I think I have heard of it in the past, dont think i'd be brave enough to try although gomummy yours sounds delicious. I'll have to try it one day

Christmas time, mistletoe and wine lalalalalalalala

ooooh it looks lovely in here tiredmum

How is everyone ? Are you all set for Christmas?

Thanks elmo

My mil is grabbing the last thing we need tomorrow in way of pressies that is, its an electric guitar for ds1, which we may live to regret, other than that all the other pressies are sorted and locked away, they just need wrapping. And we just need to grab a few bits of groceries ie. Alcohol , which dh will be going out shortly to do while its quiet.

How about you, are you ready?

DH and I are braving the crowds tonight to finish up our bits and bobs. Then my last day of work tomorrow, woo hoo! We're off until the third. I can't WAIT!

Ooo goody cheerful that'll be a lovely break for you, I hope you do get through the crowds, thats why I like to avoid going to town in the lead up its mayhem

I put another piccy of jamie up, dont know if you can see it properly, this phone is rubbish

OH he's so cute! He's getting so big!

HELLO!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sorry I have been neglecting you all - been busy and went away from a few day to visit family.

How's things? x

Bought a hamster for DD yesterday and collected it today.

Mostly done here for Christmas just hoping my Amazon delivery arrives

We love our hamster tea we have him SO tame now, he's so sweet and very cuddly :)

Aw Tiredmum, he is getting so BIG! He looks so much older in that photo! Adorable. :)

I've been done for a while (positively can't stand going to stores in December due to the madness!), all about prep work for the meals now. We will be having 14 for the big meal, as well as a few smaller ones, so anything I can do in advance is good! :)

We have snow now, not as much as usual but much more than we did a few days ago, everything has a nice thick layer on it and the trees are all picturesque, iykwim. Did you get any significant snowfall yet Cheerful?

A hamster! Neat idea, Tea! I bet DD will adore it!

Welcome back Valium, hope you had a nice visit!

Elmo I must know what you serve for Christmas Dinner?

Aw, I love little cuddly things. I had lots of guinea pigs when I was little.

Sigh...there's a girl in the class I work in who has been more and more neglected looking. :( I finally brushed her hair today and it took me almost an hour and a half to get the point where I could put it in braids. (It's the same little girl as last year if anyone remembers when I did it that time! :)) Just makes me so sad! Certainly all kids look a little grubby now and then but this had huge, sticking out snarls everywhere; hadn't been properly brushed for weeks. She really needs it cut into a little bob or something that she can manage better on her own, but she says "my Dad likes it long and says I can't cut it."

Oh yanky, I remember you talking about that little girl You wouldn't be allowed to brush her hair in the UK, so I am glad you are in the US and she got her hair brushed by someone who cares.