so its only....

[RabidCarrot]

364 days till Christmas

I'm at work this afternoon , this thread always cheers me up. Have a good bank holiday.

Didn't know the christmas thread was active all year! love it! Sun and beach today but give me christmas anyday, tinsel,baubles,twinkling lights on the tree Oh I will never grow up I love christmas!! Have a top shelve started with bargains put away for christmas,will be watching the bargain thread too! 233 days is too long to wait!!

I've just replaced the bedding in my guinea-pigs house and fetched a bag of newspaper. There was one from 31/10/12 (Hallowe'en ) that had a wrap-around advert for a butchers Take the stress out of Christmas.

I got all Aaaaah and nostalgic for Christmas adverts .
But I did let the guineas have the paper (Gives them something to read)

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Jings we'll be into the Two Twenties soon.

(Must think of nice picture to make with smileys)

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Celebratory Christmas Tree for 230

70s, you are very talented! :)

Fabulous tree 70!

Thank You

229 now.

Love the tree I told dh how many days were left till Christmas and he looked at me like

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Yes, I told my DH . He was

I got excited reading I had £56 on my Nectar Rewards (and it's only May)

I shake my £2 jar and ask him "How much is in here? Go on Guess "

He's still

No presents for DH this year to punish his tardiness.

Loving the tree 70s . My dh is always giving me strange looks when I talk about Christmas this early, in fact the whole family does!

I'm off to Disneyland Paris, really hoping they keep the Christmas decorations out all year so I can get lots!!

Oooh very Disneyland.
I bet there will be gorgeous Christmas Decorations there.
I remember years ago when there was a Disney Film out (can't remember which one but the Oxford Street lights were blue and gold. It looked magical )

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I'm looking forward to the christmas in July thing on QVC. I'd never heard of it before, so as there will be no Disneyland for me this year and I am going to buy lots of stuff then

Buzzgirly yes they do have Christmas decorations out all year. Last year they were in the shop in the castle
Have fun!!

Oooh. How have I missed this? I'm an absolute Christmas freak anyway, but this year ill have a dd to spoil rotten share it with, DH is already warning that he will only be nine months and won't remember it, so don't go too mad. Pah, what does he know, that's what cameras were invented for. :)

He - she even.

Oooh ratbag you haven't missed it, plenty of time to Get On Board

Of course you need to go mad at Christmas, in years to come, your DD will look judgily nostalgically at the photos of her First Christmas and question.

(My PFB was 18 days old on his first Christmas. I made sure all the decoration were out even though he wouldn't let DH and I sleep or sit down to eat.)
DD was 6 months old and rolling round (no fewer decorations with a toddler and a baby) but she loves to look at the video of her clutching the Santa Letter and was more interested in her brothers presents than her own)..

DH needs to read this thread + last years + all the threads about Christmas Traditions, Stockings and Christmas Eve Hampers.
And tell him there are only :

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Days to go

That should be SO fewer decorations not no fewer.

No candles, no tree (well a fibre optic) nothing glass.

Hehe, I ritually read all the Xmas threads to him anyway, he does that nod and smile that most people on here advise others to do to their mil
In fairness we have already started a work sharesave, so when dd is six we can do five days in Lapland over Xmas day :) so he's not all bad when it comes to Christmas as I've worn him down over the years

Christmas Eve hamper definitely happening, already considering what to put in it :)

Hello everyone, sorry I'm several months late! :o

Loved this thread last year. Not been thinking about Xmas much but was randomly browsing Disney store website (our local one just closed, I am gutted - same with ELC :() and spotted some Wreck it Ralph undies for both my DCs which would be perfect for their stockings... and suddenly I thought ooooh Xmas yay :o

Oh and my parents took us to an animal park place which had lots of lovely handmade stuff so I bought a bauble too.

I set up an Xmas 2013 wishlist on Amazon a while ago which has some things in it (only specific Xmas things like a nativity story and stockings etc, stuff like toys/DVDs go on their specific separate wishlists!) but it is DD's 6th birthday next month and DS' 4th in August, so obviously thinking about that first.

This year has been spectacularly shit in terms of health and money so I'd like something to look forward to.

I am now catching up with the whole thread as I hadn't posted since January!

But before I forget I just wanted to mention a couple of foody things. I went to a chocolatier class (friend's hen party - yes, somebody did make a chocolate penis!) which was great fun. We used huge slabs of praline/gianduja (SP?) stuff, does anyone know where one can buy it?

Other thing - I really want to practise 'tempering' chocolate - in a GU book at work they had instructions to make chocolate bubble wrap! Basically you just pour the tempered chocolate over bubble wrap, and peel the wrap away when it has set. Thought I'd mention it as it might make a nice quirky gift.

Haven't been doing any cooking at all let alone practising for xmas :( but I recently got an adjustable chair from adult social care, so I can lean on it when I am cooking (my illness means I can't stand up without feeling dizzy/faint) so that might help a bit. Am now working part time so hopefully things will be less hectic. DH now has some casual work too.

Hi fuzzpig - have you had a look on sites like Squires? They do cake decorating products but IIRC they do chocolatier products as well.

Is gianduja (I'm copying your spelling ) a ganache type filling with nuts in it? Like a praline?
You could practice small batches? I made a ganache for DS birthday cake one year - double cream and dark chocolate (can't remember the proportions ) but he found it a bit too rich for his tastes (RiffRaff)

You could add ground almonds,hazelnuts, walnuts. or make some nut brittle and powder it (that would be nice, make it sweeter too) and a bit less oily than ground nuts.

I'm sure there are lots of birthdays, Anniversaries and events that you can use as practice before Christmas. Everyone except strange people love chocolate.

But you've only got

225

days to go.