The one with the brief glimpse of summer. It’s countdown to Christmas thread 3!

[SideOrderofSprouts]

Here it is!

What were we at 247?

Evening all
Been busy today , not as busy as Biddy though l don't know how she does it l am exhausted just reading about it . Took mum for her hair appt, cleaned their house from top to bottom, did their ironing and shopping and then went to Trago mills in Merthyr , which was awful, l really disliked it , full of cheap tat which wasn't even cheap! Walked around Bryn Bach park twice then visited NDN in hospital who is not at all well poor thing , hope he picks up and comes home soon.
Fluffy , ahh love you . l hope you are feeling better now , never mind soon be your Friday off m'dear
Perfect fancy your DD thinking she wouldn't have any pressies aw bless her !
DD2 home from Uni tomoz for 9 days can't wait
Have a good evening all

We now have DS' school start date, which is scary and exciting all at once. Can't believe my last baby is off to school in September!

I've picked almost 1kg of strawberries from the garden the last two evenings, so made more jam tonight, 50:50 with ones from Tesco which needed using up, leaving plenty of the homegrown ones for the kids to eat!

We've just sat down to watch S3 E6 of The Bridge. We'll be up-to-date by the end of the weekend!

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Morning!

Later start today as I'm on the late shift at work, finishing at 6.

Bloody windy and grey here today. It rained overnight, though I'm not sure it was much rain as there aren't any massive puddles. We probably needed more rain than we got, but never mind!

Morning all :) Have been looking at Christmas trains and think we will go for the Brecon Mountain Railway one. Anyone been on it?

Morning all
Fluffy your jam sounds delicious well done. hope you feel more yourself today. Have not watched this series of the Bridge but l will binge watch it soon can't wait. Rain and windy here too more like Autumn.
Red we went to the Brecon railway last Summer it was lovely .
Am thinking about Christmas pressies for the difficult ones, am debating a naice Calendar or dairy or an afternoon tea voucher or a stained glass roundel to put on the window . Hmm decisions decisions. They may seem boring but as l age l like things like this there is no hope for me l am doomed to be a premature Granny lol
Have a great day everyone

They sound like lovely gifts Mrs! I would be happy with them and I am not yet 30 (will be by Christmas but that isn't the point 😂).

Will the train be ok for an almost 3 year old do you think? I'm not sure what level of Christmas awareness he will be at. Up to now he has been pretty oblivious but I think that at almost 3 will have basic understanding and will get quite excited?

We've done Christmas trains since ours were babies. They were both 2 1/2 at Christmas (a year apart) and really enjoyed it. They enjoyed it more at 3 1/2, but it was still fun the year before.

I've not done that one though, we go to the Lakes.

My DS was a huuuuuuge Thomas the Tank Engine fan and we were on trains on many varieties from about 18 months old. A Santa train will be amazing.

Thanks both :) DS has just got into Thomas so hopefully he will like it. So excited that he is getting to the stage of understanding and enjoying Christmas

Evening all [smile[
Red think he would love the Santa special but l would really think about booking early if l were you m'dear
www.bmr.wales/book-ticket-process/465

All booked Mrs for the 15th December :)

We booked our Santa train in January! 😱

Anyone for a strawberry?!

Wow you are all organised! And yes, I'd love a proper homegrown strawberry, please.

Ahh well done Red hope he loves it
Fluffy they look delicious , great crop this year by the looks !

2kg in the last few nights alone, Mrs!

Yum fluffy!

I'm not sure what to book this year as we're going to lapland anyway. I might just do the Festival of Lights at Longleat without the Santa train as that was good.

It's a lovely day today and we're going out to lunch as it's my birthday

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Happy Birthday Wreck

We did Santa Trains at Burnham-on-Crouch and another place that the name escapes me

Yes strawberries never make it to jam here. They get smothered in cream and eaten instantly

Too many strawberries to eat really though. Not without getting gut ache!

I'm taking DS to Liverpool as a treat on the train. It's good with my pass which I buy for work as it's essentially a free trip!

I've decided I'm going to do a cream tea in a bag for the end of year teachers' gift (DD has 2 teachers and DS has a key worker). I'll do a pot of strawberry jam and one of lemon curd for the TAs, I think. I know there's horror from some in here re homemade stuff, but they can always give it to someone who's not as precious!

Happy birthday Wreck! 🎁🎂🎈🎉🎊

DD's at my aunt's. 😆

Happy birthday, Wreck. I hope you've had a lovely day!

I made curry for dinner and I've also made lemon curd (never made it before!), strawberry jam and bread.

Evening all, been busy today and forgot to post this morning
2kgs of strawbs oh my Fluffy that is excellent ! I think the afternoon tea is a great idea for the teachers/ TA and l absolutely love, love, love lemon curd. Was it easy to make ? The bread looks lovely too, l can never do bread because it doesn't rise for me. I think l beat the rise out , hope you had a great trip to Liverpool.
Wreck Happy belated birthday m'dear l hope you had a wonderful day
Perfect , make the most of the DD being away
Have a good nights sleep everyone

It was quite easy to make actually. It took a while to thicken up, but eventually did and seems to be ok. I’ll try some tomorrow, I think!

I find it doesn’t rise if you don’t knead it for long enough; it needs longer than you think it does!

Bed now...quite tired.

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DD and I went shopping for her Birthday presents, she informed me in 6 months I'll be shopping for her Christmas presents
(Pah, as if I'd wait till mid Dec to buy presents)

My DMum used to make lemon cheese (I'll need to ask her for the recipe) it sounds a bit rank but it is actually really nice (though it is about 40+ years since I last ate it)