Random Christmas chat.

[lunar1]

I was reading through the Christmas topics and noticed that all the threads are very specific. Can we have a general chat thread for Christmas, without me being thrown on the bonfire in the proper chat topic!

It's ok if not I can always talk to myself about Christmas. I've just been to Costco and they have lots of their Christmas stock in. Can anyone think of a genuine reason why I don't need to buy the 8ft outdoor light up snowman? I also bought a tray of their mince pies which are warming up in the oven as I type

Can you make mince and Christmas cake without the booze? I'm not keen if it's too boozy which is what stops me making my own.

Thanks everyone for responding. It's good to know I can get one thing done before the big arrival.

Recipe for mincemeat looks fab - I might give it a go if I can't find my old one. And I am loving the idea of putting orange and marmalade in to it as well. If I can remember, years ago I added custard to some mince pies which were AMAZING! Now where did I put that recipe ....

Funny, DH asked me yesterday what we will do for Christmas (it's not like we have a choice, every year we have to go to his parents who refuse to have Christmas anywhere else).. yawn ...

They have been talking about christmas on This Morning, this morning. Martin Lewis doing some xmas tips. I love xmas. First one with DD! I'm so excited for it all.

My tree is red and white, nothing else. Bloody nightmare finding white baubles, everythings silver. I am slightly worried about my naice glass baubles this year with a 11 month old in the house

Romeo - do you live anywhere near London or travel to London? I spent far too much time (and money) in Libertys Christmas department last year, they colour coordinate it all and they definitely had a white section.

I'm near bents garden centre they have absolutely loads of white normally.

itsfab Thanks for the pudding tip! And your mincemeat looks yum!

TheOnlyPink, you've reminded me to get my Cath Kidston planner out But where is it?! Who knows!

Ooh great idea about the mirrors 70. Definitely nicking that idea

I always make my own mincemeat and cakes too. I just use some recipes off the BBC good food website.

We have two trees. The one in the dining room is all white and silver decorations (on a beautiful tree I got for £3 in the sale at B&Q a few years ago!) It's totally sparkly and pretty.

The one in the living room is a collection of baubles bought from everywhere. We buy new ones for it every year. There's no theme but it's my favourite one as every bauble tells a story.

I bought all my wrapping paper and cards and have almost finished my shopping, though I know I'll twitch a lot before Christmas!

I am finally more organised for Christmas than I have ever been.

I had my kitchen refitted last year and I now have a Christmas Drawer with tablecloths, stockings, wrapping paper, cards etc

I also have a Christmas Cupboard that I keep all my tableware, candles and candlesticks in.

I may open them periodically during the year to stare at my festive bounty

Woolly I am very of your drawer and cupboard.

I cashed in my topcashback money for amazon vouchers and had just over £200 so that is paying for alot of presents . Can't wait for all my parcels to arrive.

I went to lidl today and bought 2 panettone and some gingerbread. They seemed to be running low on panettone already so I am not the only bonkers one .

I also had a delivery last night with my Matalan order which included 4 festive wine glasses. Am very tempted to christen them, or at least one of them but am trying to hold off till December.

I have a new kitchen too this year and have a dedicated christmas cupboard with a spinning thing inside. I keep having a peek in. It has all my portmerrion christmas set which I've been collecting for about 14 years.

I've just finished all of my christmas cakes today, all 23 large ones :). Just need to feed them now and decorate just before giving out. I love christmas and my DH is already asking if we can eat one now.

Wow, 23 christmas cakes! That must take lots of time and money.

I want to watch a christmas film tonight. I have an abcess in my tooth and am feeling really really sorry for myself :(

Lunar, yes it does take ages and is costly but I make the best christmas cake in the family apparently and that's their present in the main part and buying in bulk saves money. The only problem is how tempting they are. Feeding them every week is hell.

Jersey hope you get it sorted soon which one have you picked to watch?

I bought my first two Christmas presents today. Play dough on special offer to go in stockings

For people making mincemeat, I add some chopped clementines, orange juice, dried cranberries and lots of booze. I've spent ages working on what ingredients I like, and I think the clementines make it freely fruity and rich.

I make my mincemeat the week before christmas so it's ready for the next year.

I've just finished my Christmas shopping and I've booked the food delivery

If anyone's interested, I found this article about some of the beauty advent calendars coming out this year.

Quite a few look tempting but I think they make a great gift to yourself for all the hard work we do preparing christmas

Loving those beauty advent calendars - especially the benefits one!

The Co-Op have mince pies in near me and I'm so, so tempted.

DBIL said he visibly saw my eyes light up when I spotted them.

I used to make my secret recipe mince pies and Christmas pud but no one in the family likes dried fruit now my grandparents aren't around and ex-p is gone.

I had a momentary sadness when I realised I wouldn't be able to have my annual Christmas bottle snifter of Baileys because I'm pregnant, luckily I've managed to discover the Baileys do a non alcoholic coffee creamer which claims to taste the same.
I draw the line at attempting non alcoholic egg nog though.

We've got MIL, SIL, BIL (x2) and DNeice here this year. I'm quite looking forward to it.

I'm a big Christmas person, I get cross with all the "NOT UNTIL December! Brigade"

xalyssx what shop have you booked delivery for? I really want to sort our delivery, but didn't realise the slots were out yet.

Thanks for the link to the beauty advent calendars, SashaOfSiberia. I ummed and ahhed (sp?) too long over them last year and didn't get one. I need one this year!

I've got a huge spreadsheet with different tabs on (bought, to buy and food so far) that makes me do a happy sigh. I love being organised! I've also organised all the presents I've got so far (lots!) and often just go and look at them and feel happy!

My favourite tab is the 'bought' one. The columns go-

Recipient, Item, RRP, Actual cost, Saving, Arrived Y/N then at the bottom of the sheet is-

Total RRP, total cost, total saving. So far the total RRP is £823.01, total cost is £270.87= total saving of £552.14

I'm thinking of buying the elemis calendar. I don't know many of their products but hear good things so it seems a good way to try them out.

You all sound very organised. I just have one spreadsheet with the columns recipient, gift, bought, arrived, wrapped and gifted. Maybe I should try to cost it all out but think I'm too lazy