We're rocking around the Christmas tree, waiting for Santa to come to town. It's countdown to Christmas thread 4!!

[SideOrderofSprouts]

99 days to go

disclaimer. This thread is up early because I am old and tired and need to go to bed. It's actually 99 from midnight

Jesus wept! Is that the going price for a washer these days?! We were kindly bought ours as a housewarming gift from my grandmother...

I never would have accepted if I had known they were that much!

There is a large variation, but we wanted a quality one and which best buy was this much, it has to be integrated. We have never bought one before, we've been together nine years. I am hoping this one will last for 5-10 years. This one that has died is a 6-year-old AEG lavamat. I'd try and have it repaired but it has felt iffy for a while.

My heavy duty tape dispenser and scotch tape have been delivered ready for Christmas wrapping. I usually use the wrist things and the strips but decided to try something more old-fashioned and hopefully cheaper this year.

Hope your niece is ok handbag!

Payday tomorrow so can do my next wave of Christmas shopping :)

Just giving my washing machine a loving pat and hoping it doesn't pack it in

I have to start wrapping soon. Usually I wrap as I stash, but Ive fallen behind this year and now it's a big job I don't have time for instead of a pleasant three minutes here and there. Oh well I'll just have to let the house go to rack and ruin, neglect the children put on a Christmas movie and get down to it, I suppose. and maybe even give my washing machine a day off

Ds asked for an xbox one game yesterday for christmas. I added it to my wish list and told him Santa might not bring it as it's £60! I checked my wishlist today and it was down to £43....so that's been ordered! 🎗

Ugh. DH was told completely out of the blue this afternoon that he has a 50/50 chance of being made redundant. He will find out in November and will be out of work by mid December. I'm not in work due to chronic illness so his is our only income, so it will be disastrous for us.

I bought my Christmas notebook this morning and was all excited about starting it tomorrow - I have a bottle of Bailey's I was going to crack open and everything. If he loses his job there won't be a Christmas.

Obviously there's a lot more at stake than Christmas but what a shit time of the year to do this to him. Ah bollocks, I'm cracking open the Bailey's now

Ah, Quim, that's shit.

Is he able to look for other stuff now so he can escape sooner rather than later? How long has he been there? If he's over 41 he's entitled to 1.5 weeks' pay per year redundancy if it's more than 2 years.

Massive big fat hairy bollocks, so sorry, that is really rubbish.

Thank you for the good wishes / congrats! Niece is obviously very small and needing extra care but she's doing very well all things considered. She is gorgeous.
I believe she has inherited the family impatience trait and was desperate to meet us all!

Quim that's awful for your DH, but this board is nothing if not resourceful so we can all help regardless of the outcome.
If he is made redundant is he likely to get a decent redundancy payment?

As I am currently on pins waiting for news from dsis all the time my crochet has gone into overdrive and I'm working away on presents. My hands hurt right now 😞

Thank you all 💐

Fluffy he's 33. His redundancy would be pretty rubbish - he's been there for six years but has only been a manager for two. He loves his job and the company he works for and was desperate to progress further with them - he's been so committed. The restructuring is long overdue but that's cold comfort right now

Ahh Quim I hope he isn't made redundant my dear that is very worrying for you sweetie

He's entitled to 6 weeks' pay as a minimum then, Quim. I'd honestly start looking around now and see if anything comes up. Two years as a manager is good experience for a new job.

Oh, and redundancy pay is tax free up to £30k, so that's almost 2 months' money in reality.

93

🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄

Oh, they also have to give (or pay, at least) 1 week's notice for every year worked, so that can add up too. That would be taxable though.

quim
I know how you feel it is really stressful and the worse time of year for it.
Hope you get good news fx

How was your DP's interview, Hairspray?

Thanks Fluffy He seems positive but I think it is really hard to tell unless you majorly mess up IYKWIM

We have everything crossed

Oh Quim, fingers crossed that your DH doesn't get that letter.

And Hairspray, fingers crossed for your DH too that he does get the right letter.

I drove to work today and have moved 2 large boxes, 1 large Tesco bag, a smaller bag with a big bubble wrapped gift and a camping chair to my car already from under my desk, and I have a bag of wine to go down later. My poor mini is groaning! I am just hoping that DH does go up north after all tomorrow, as he threatened this morning not to (weather), as I need to get everything in the car into hiding places over the weekend while DD is away with him (mostly that she doesn't see things, but I hadn't yet told him about the chair either ....).

I did bulk buy on chocs at the airport (I couldn't get to the supermarket for the office box) so I now have 3 boxes for Christmas put away (1 each for DM and DMIL, and 1 for our house).

I didn't bring my cards though, as I have at least 1 trip alone in October and possibly another 2/3 Brussels trips before early December posting dates.

Aw this thread really is the loveliest corner of MN 😊

Thank you all for your kind words. He had a meeting with his boss today and it transpires there will be new roles he can apply for, but of course there's no guarantee he'll get one. If he does, it'll mean a £10k pay rise but a lot more responsibility - he'd thrive on it though, he loves his job and the company he works for.

Soooo... Christmas might be utterly miserable or especially lavish (we don't usually do lavish but after the months of stress and worry we've got coming up, I think we'd deserve it just this once!). I'm going to continue planning, but tentatively. And make the plans worse-case scenario ones. After all budgeting like a demon will be extra important this year!

Sorry to be a downer on such a happy thread, I was feeling really negative yesterday but today it's more typical Northern onwards and upwards grit. There are people who will be a lot worse off than us at Christmas after all, we're actually incredibly lucky when it comes down to it. We have a secure home and food to eat and enough to buy a few presents and most importantly, each other.

So yes, onwards and upwards

Hairspray hope the news is good for your DH 💐

🎄🎄🎄 92 🎄🎄🎄

quim I'm keeping everything crossed that your dh isn't made redundant.

What else have I missed?? I've been asleep early most evenings this week as I've been working solo and I'm shattered!!

I can't remember, Sprouts. My brain is fried by my new job! 😂

God so is mine. I could sleep for a week!