Round up your broom stick, black cat and cauldron and get ready for Halloween, it's the Countdown to Christmas, thread 7!

[NoWordForFluffy]

Here we go again. I think the last thread was the quickest ever, so this one probably won't even get to Halloween, but we shall see!

Evening all
Have been busy with the parents today, Dad is slightly better imho but he wouldn't want to tell me that lol, had to go and get 'pop' for Dad in the local shop , the grocer who has known us all for 50 yrs gave me a Victoria sandwich cake for Mum & Dad and said if they cannot get to town for any reason then he will deliver to them. I was so touched, l offered to pay for the cake twice but he wouldn't hear of it , that was so kind of him. Have got my DSIS to go tonight to check on them and we have a day off tomorrow but l will be worrying about them no matter what
Fluffy it sounds like a lovely hols l am so pleased , you work so hard bless you
Crazy thank you so much , yes he is better , ever so slightly and he wouldn't want to let me know but he commented on something and l thought ahh he is feeling a little better , your day sounded lovely , weather has been so beautiful we have been so lucky here Crazy
Wreck we will have to alert you to any bargains we find m'dear !
I always buy pic n mix for DH for Christmas and l buy it at Halloween half term and out it in the jars ready for him, it keeps a treat and it is half price in half term in Wilkos, will do that this year too , even though we are not giving each other pressies . I also shushh don't tell em Pike regift things too have you anything like that you could give away? Just a thought
Am rooting for you m'dear
PSB that gammon in cider sounds delish!!!
Right l had better go and do tea , think we are having pot luck tonight lol
Have a lovely evening everyone

Wreck Hampers are always good. My dad loves his. I also do a chocolate only one for MIL and an ale and cake one for her DH.
The other thing we did on a bit of a skint year was buy presents for each family, rather than a present for Dsis, her DP and both DNs. Was generally a game & sweets or something. Would that work?
I imagine the toy shop will be busy so that'll be good for you. When will you know if DH is going to get paid for this job? Sounds stressful not knowing!

No one insists on gifts in our families but DMs face lets you know she absolutely expects something she likes - and her taste is bloody expensive!
I tend to put thought into gifts but stick to my budget which isn't tight exactly, but I refuse to go overboard because for about 4 January's in a row something expensive broke and we couldn't repair or replace because we'd spent so much on Christmas. It was hard the first year because I used to refuse to keep count 🙄 but now it works and I don't care.

MrsMad how sweet of your grocer. You don't get much of that anymore - usually because supermarkets mean there aren't many local traders. I can't think of any near me except in the markets (this is why I love visiting MIL up North. Her butcher, grocer and baker always remember us and make sure we get the good stuff  )

I enjoyed lunch at FILs - he used it as a Christmas dry run so we had pigs in blankets, sausage meat stuffing and trifle.
Took the dogs for a walk in Cwmbran then Home to do the last bits of housework. I opened Tesco winter berries washing up liquid and it smells lovely - like a festive candle 

Actually crazy my sister has recently got a girlfriend who also has dc (don't ask 🙄🤣) so a game they can all play might be a good idea. I will ask my sister as she understands us not having much money.

Mrs nothing I can regift unfortunately it usually goes to the schools fair! My family tend to all give us money 😳 I usually end up with about £200 so at least I'll be ok after Christmas 😅

Dh should have it before Christmas but I'm not sure how far before. We have enough money to pay all of our bills etc I don't want to make it sound really awful it's just I need money to buy bits for Lapland and ds' birthday and hmrc messed up my tax so have reduced my tax code to 534 😡

Ah, Mrs. How lovely and heartwarming! You don't get much of that these days!

I like Crazy's idea, Wreck. Never feel guilty having a very real tight financial situation. People will just have to accept that Christmas is about giving and not receiving. Ignore any cats' bum faces?

Crazy where do you take your dogs for a walk in Cwmbran, do you go to the boating lake or is there a lovely hidden walk l don't know about lol, only l would love to know for future walks , thank you my dear.
We are really lucky , it is the local grocer in Crickhowell where l was born & bought up , the rest of my family still live there. I would love to move back but it is really expensive to buy a house there and because it is so small the housing stock isn't there to chose from !
Tesco Winter berries wup liquid it is then! Thank you for the heads up !
Lunch at FIL sounds delicious bless him
Better go Dr Who on!

Ahhh Wreck that is awful of HMRC to do that ! I understand how you feel, never mind l am sure things will work out and Christmas will be sorted and everyone will be happy
Fluffy l know we are in a time warp lol

Also that's so nice RE the Victoria sponge cake. There are some lovely people in the world 😊

Ahh l know Wreck l was really touched bless him

Wreck what does that tax code mean?
Family gifts can be a god send if funds are a bit tight. It was the little things they liked - I bought some glass bottles of Diet Coke as a novelty (multipack which I split) and added them with some Disney straws (from the pound shop).
I've also done a practical present - so for Dsis, a night of babysitting, and for DNs, a dvd, hot choc, popcorn and fluffy socks for our night in which was specifically used for my night of babysitting. £10 ish - bargain and the DC still talk about it now because they were allowed to stay up late and have marshmallows at 10pm 

MrsMad today we just did the Boating Lake as Ddog1 is old and struggles to do much but we have done the canal - from Cwmbran to Pontypool, including a stop at the Open Hearth for a drink. Walking isn't really my thing, I do it for the dogs and the fresh air helps my MH. DH is always off climbing mountains or going to walks though. He likes to do the mountain behind the Queens pub in Cwmbran (no idea what it's called though) or he comes to you and does the Sugar Loaf.

It means my personal tax allowance has gone down to just over £5000 for the rest of the year because I owe them money. Idiots.

Crazy I love the boating lake and l used to take a little boy, I nursed in his own home, out along the canal right by the Open Hearth pub. I had forgotten about that route though so thank you for reminding me Crazy l will remind DH and we can go when we go to Cwmbran that will be great !
Wreck that tax code seems savage my dear

64

Morning! DS2's in bed with me because he doesn't know what he wants to do, so he's cutting off his nose to spite his face.

Ooh what time were you at the boating lake yesterday crazy? We may have crossed paths!

You're welcome MrsMad! It's so easy to forget some of the scenery etc that were lucky to have so close to home!

Redgreen we were there around 3:30pm for an hour. We walked around very slowly with 2 dogs. I'm hoping we didn't cross paths as I wasn't at my best and had a few words with a man who's dog jumped on me (I grabbed it's collar to make it get down and held on to it until the owner came as there was a very scared child nearby. I love dogs and was perfectly friendly, talking to him and smoothing him but the owner kicked off a little because I dared to touch their dog ). If you witnessed that, I'm very sorry, it wasn't my finest hour!

Back to work today and I feel like the weekend passed by in a blink.

Don't worry Crazy we were there in the morning :)

I've just paid my mobile phone bill and ordered stuff for DD to make her Halloween mask, now I can start buying Christmas presents!

Crazy I'm glad you said something to them, lots of people would have been upset at a dog jumping on them, I definitely would, I'm terrified of since being attacked as a child. Your christmasy lunch sounds amazing!

I've not been on much as I've got a horrible head cold and generally having a pity party at not being able to take ibrupofen. DS1 turns 8 today, feeling very emotional (thanks pregnancy) as a result today.

I'm still looking for Christmassy handwash.

Happy birthday miniSeafood! 🎁🎂🎈🎊🎉

Thank you :)

the molton brown christmas hand washes look nice, I'm thinking of getting the juniper and pine :).

Ooh, I'll have a look!

I can't believe it's Monday already, and that there are only 9 weeks to go until Christmas Eve!!! 9 weeks people!!!!

I will get caught up tomorrow (work is manic today, and I have my course tonight). But I don't want this to fall off the "threads I'm on" or I will lose it for ages...

Ah happy birthday to your dc sea!

I've made apple muffins this morning they're delicious! Must resist another until tomorrow....I really need to lose a stone 😳

Happy birthday, MiniSeafood! 🎉🎂

We are on the motorway heading home now, thank god! DS fell out of bed last night, clonking his throat on the bedside cabinet. I'll be glad to be in our own beds tonight. We've approximately 4 tonnes of washing waiting though! Good job it's good weather all week really.

I'm tired today. Though I always get loads of sleep in hotels due to an enforced early night! 😂

I think I still have my bayliss and harding christmas handwash, I have trotted that out for the last two years!

We made the christmas cake, it was a bit soft on the bottom but looked cooked. It took ages!!!!

We also used meerkat meals this weekend, such a saving! We went to prezzo, was lush.

On holiday on Friday to the far North, weather was threatening it might snow on us!