Hang onto your hats; we're on the home straight, sprinting to the finish line! It's the Countdown to Christmas, thread 10!

[NoWordForFluffy]

Evening all! I'm not sure if this will be the last or the penultimate thread, but here goes!

Nero, O2 appears to be working now (conveniently now I'm home and don't need mobile data!).

Acey- ewwww everything covered with blood would make me throw up honestly! That's horrible!

You are going to have a houseful on Christmas. Husband has sent a letter to MIL to see if she will decide to come off her high horse and visit us for Christmas Eve.

I love your little elf bathbomb. My oldest daughter has super curly hair. It gets frizzy in humidity though lol

seafood it really is stressful. I'm considering pushing my iron infusion off a few days because Christmas Eve is going to stress me out a bit already. I'm not sure if that will be ok though. I might call them and see if we could do it maybe Friday? I'm kind of panicking about my Mother in Law maybe coming Christmas Eve for dinner. I don't cook much because of my disability but if she lets us know we can probably do a ham or a roast or something plus some sides!

Thank you for the comments on my Calypso both of them and thank you all for not minding me sharing her. You guys are some of the most amazing and sweetest people I know

Sea - it’s disgusting isn’t it! I understand Christmas is a busy time of year, but surely it’s just common sense not to put raw meat in the same bag as fresh cream cakes and fruit!
I’m 6 months pregnant and if I wanted to go traipsing round the shops then I wouldn’t have had it delivered haha! The customer service person told me to just wash the items! I lost my temper and said A) I shouldn’t have to wash them your staff should do their jobs properly. B) it’s cross contamination and not something I want to deal with at 6 months pregnant, and C) it’s not my job to sort their mistake out! Cheeky mare! She said being pregnant is no excuse 😂
Jesus, that’s terrible service! As you said you can’t just switch a babies formula like that plus really they didn’t have any of the same formula on the shelf or in the stock room!
Thank you lovely! My grandad and dad hated when I straightened it, said I should embrace my natural beauty haha!

Wheelie - mine turns into an Afro when I hit humidity, when I got off the plain in Miami it tripled in size and volume, then I got stopped at immigration because it didn’t look like me in the photo 😂
I squealed for paddy to come help and he was like oh shit, wash your hands thoroughly and several times, don’t touch anything until you have and I’ll sort it! My hero again! He cleaned the fridge from top to bottom too bless him!
Ooo I wonder if MIL will show up or not! Thank god I don’t have to deal with paddy’s toxic parents as he’s no contact!
You’re very welcome, it’s lovely to see pictures of her :)

Plane* bloody autocorrect!

It really is an amazing hamper Seafood! So far the DC have had Weetabix and Fox's biscuits out of it.

acey LOL I'm cracking up at your hair!

Paddy is so sweet to clean up nasty blood for you. That guy is a keeper!

It's very stressful for me to not know if MIL is coming or not yet. I'm waiting for her to reply to husband's texts lol

PSB Woot! Sounds like a good bunch of stuff you got :)

Wheel Calypso is gorgeous. I'm so glad you can share her with us.

Acey that's disgusting. And that person on the phone is a joke. I'd make a complaint about her and your service on social media. The big companies usually deal with it then.

Seafood I've had formula switched brands as well in an order.

I used to have very curly blonde hair. It's now just brown and frizzy. A lot of my hair fell out after I had dd. It's all broken now and growing back really crap

No kidding Wheelie! DD's crazily lucky with raffles, at least next year she'll be at secondary school and give someone else a chance!

We were 'lucky' in that both of ours had prescription formula (DD is lactose intolerant and DS is CMPI) so didn't have to suffer subs.

Woolly, yay for finishing wrapping! Do you want to come here? I'm struggling to get going with it!

I'm on the fizz; I got prosecco and an allotment cook book in the Secret Santa. It was funny, as I got the guy who got me, so we swapped presents! We sit next to each other as well.

Bit grim re the delivery, Acey. We've had similar with chicken before.

Hmm, I need some beer.

Ike has been up since 8 with sickness and diarrhoea, DH has made a bed on the bathroom floor which woke Clement and Algy up. So now all 6 of us are sat in the bathroom because we can’t sleep. I’m off to make us some hot chocolate and then try and get everyone asleep again.

fiddle Thank you!!

I shave my head. I have such fine hair that breaks off so easily it's just not worth it. Being a Jewish woman I head cover and can get away with it and claim religious so haha no one ever sees my hair

psb I wonder if secondary school will have any raffles he can clear out haha

ewww fluffy that kind of mess happening with chicken is my nightmare. All the contamination!

Just heard from MIL. I am now hosting Christmas Eve dinner for my fam (4) plus MIL, SIL, nephew, and BIL. So now I'm trying to figure out what to serve for dinner!

Oh frange I am so sorry!! It's that time of year for illness. I hope you all will be well by Christmas. Thankfully only one more school day so hopefully you won't pick up more germs?

Wheels I know, we constantly seem to have bugs here. Ike will be off tomorrow because you have to keep them off for 48 hours if they’ve been sick. I’ll see what time the others go to sleep and if they’re too tired in the morning will keep them off too, it’ll only be the last day of term so they won’t miss anything.

frange I'd probably keep them all home no matter what unless they were crying to go. LOL that way you won't bring in new germs before the break too haha

I'm still pondering what to do for Christmas Eve. I think I'll do a roast in the crock pot and go from there

I was just starting to sleep after my lovely bath, and Addie has decided it’s time to go wild 😁 it seems she has worked out how to kick with both legs at once, as she’s kicking me in two different places it blows my mind that I’m growing a human inside me and my god I just love her so much!

Wheelie - honestly it was so funny! Immigration had to confirm with one of my bro’s that I was who I said I was LOL. It seems to happen all the time though, when paddy and I came back from Spain I got stopped at border control because I was so tanned and my hair had expanded so I again didn’t look like my passport photo 🤷🏻‍♀️😂
He certainly is a keeper, he got all protective it was so sweet! He’s fast asleep next to me now, I was playing with his hair and it always sends him to sleep
Ooo I see MiL has got off her high horse, you’ll have to let us know what you decide to cook. I’m sure it will be delicious!

Nero - I don’t have social media but one of my bro’s does, so I will get him to complain tomorrow. I couldn’t believe it when she told me to just wash it, Ergh.

Fluffy - it was disgusting! I’m glad secret Santa went well for you!

Frange - sorry to hear Ike is poorly bless him I hope you all get some sleep soon!

Let the heartburn commence; always when I’m trying to sleep 🤰🏻

acey awww Addie is like 'no sleeping mom' haha you are going to be such a wonderful mother! I can tell from your posts here

HAHAHA I love it. I'm so amused at Immigration asking your family 'is this her' hahaha

I'm amazed MIL came off her high horse but if she's coming here I'm going to bite my lip and attempt to be nice and give them a killer dinner and a nice evening. I need to get a folding table. We don't eat at the table in my house because of accessibility but my dad has some I'm sure he'll let me borrow lol

Your Paddy reminds me of my husband Joe. He's been all protective this week because I've been so stressed and crying about everything lol

Evening all
Shaky seems better , Dad is saying he is no different but he rowed with Mum this morning and they were both not speaking to each other so l know that he must be better because he hasn't been able to summon up the strength to even speak let alone argue with Mum
We shall see watch this space!
Went to Cwmbran did loads of shopio , bought Indian and Chinese from M& S for meals in the evening when we are too busy to cook or bothered to wash up , also bought a lot of mini meals for the parents to put in the freezer in case it snows! Picked up a Christmas double duvet for the parents from Asda , washed it and dried it and put it on the rad to air , will put it on tomoz for them. The underneath pattern is very passable for non Christmas so it will be very useful for them they have never had a Christmas duvet before
So what has everyone been getting up to today?
Acey hope your back is better m'dear your hair must be beautiful if it is like that when you were 3 . Sorry about your delivery sweetie , never mind , soon get more in and looks like you will have no choice with 16 others to cook for I don't think l would be so ok about it tbh well done you !
Biddy thank you for being my Baker (wo) man and l am so happy for you that you have good news for your Dd. TBH my DD1 is verging on the autistic spectrum imho but for the life of me l cannot get her to go and get tested! Good luck with the job too !
Also Sea she has no friends either and l feel so sad for her so l understand how you feel abut your DS too
PSB that sounds like an amazing hamper indeedy!
Nero thank you re Dad m'dear . The time goes so quickly when they are babies it is just like yesterday mine were still in school and little coming in to bed with us in the morning ahhh lovely memories you enjoy every minute with her/ them
Fluffy whooo off work now , l don't blame you shelving the job hunt till shoulder is better , wise decision methinks . Specially as they are arranging for you to work from home when you are recovering . Secret Santa gifts sound just brilliant for you , well done that man who sits next to you
Frange hope you and baby Laszlo are getting to know one another bless you enjoy it , such a wonderful time for you poor Ike , hope no one else catches it
Wheelie l don't blame you not wanting Mum and DSIS , they scare me too! The lights are amazing!! fgrin]
The unicorn and your darling Calypso are beautiful bless you my sweetie . That is lovely re the gifts peeps are so kind sometime it is only what you would do though if you could l know ! Glad the mil is behaving herself now
Woolly, YAY for finishing wrapping! Well done !
Think l have caught up and not missed anyone out, hope so anyway have a good night sleep everyone

Mrs It definitely sounds like dad is doing better! I'm so so happy to hear that. From what I understand he should keep getting better for a bit because infusions take a while to feel a lot better.

I think it's great you found a nice duvet for your parents!

I have to ask you brits. How does your heating and radiators work? Even if you only find me an article from google I'd love to know? Growing up we just had forced air which is a furnace and heating vents so radiators are completely a different world for me to think about. I guess houses in the USA used to have them but by the 80s when I was born they'd done away with them.

Sleep tight lovely!!

Ok lovelies! It's 10:11 PM and I'm exhausted so I'm going to turn in or at least go lay in bed and play on my phone hahaha! I hope you all have a wonderful night and a good morning since by the time I wake up it will be afternoon for you

4

Morning! The DC woke at 7.30 today which isn’t too shoddy.

I’ve got loads to do today, but it’ll start slightly later than anticipated.

Wheelie, houses with gas central heating have a boiler linked to the radiators. The boiler heats hot water and pumps it round the system to heat the rads and therefore the rooms.

There’s also storage heaters which are electric. They take electricity on board overnight and then the pump it out as heating the next day. They’re inefficient, not as controllable as rads and expensive to run.

Morning!
4 glorious days, woohoo!

Just having a coffee and mince pie before we crack on with another busy day!

We were going to take my dads wreath on Sunday, but we’re not going to have time so we will do that today.

Wheelie - aww thank you lovely, that’s so kind of you to say! It still terrifies me on a daily basis that I’ll be a terrible mum, but I just try and shake those thoughts off!
They were proper grilling my brother like ‘are you sure?! And are you really her brother because you have blonde hair blue eyes and she has brown hair brown eyes?!’ 😂
Thankfully, when we go to the states now you can actually go through immigration in Ireland which means when we Get to the states we can pretty much grab our bags and leave. Much easier as my hair doesn’t expand in Ireland LOL.

I read that as ‘Kill her over dinner’ LOL. I was thinking cor don’t do that! She better be nice to you when she gets there! Dad to the rescue with the folding table, yay!

Ah bless him, your hubby sounds like a keeper too bless him! I sure love my protective paddy

Mrs - yay I’m so glad your dad is starting to feel better! I bet you’re so relieved my dear nothing like a blazing argument to know he’s better lol! I hope they like their new Christmas duvet cover. The M&S meals sounds like a grand idea for when you just can’t be bothered or don’t have time to cook!
When we were going through old photos, there were some really nice once’s and on the back my mum has written ‘family Holiday to Tenby, beautiful place’
My mum was on oxygen plus a nebuliser constantly, so she must have been feeling pretty well when we went
My back and hip are still giving me lots of pain unfortunately, I think it’s just going to be like this until Addie is born haha. I will try and get a good pic of my hair when I’ve washed it and let it dry
I figured he would invite some extra people, but I wasn’t expecting 16 haha! I really don’t mind though next year will be different as we will finally have our beautiful wee Addie with us, and I can’t wait

Right, time to dash, lots to do and not a lot of time!
Sorry if I’ve missed anyone, it’s not intentional!

Have a grand day all
🎄☃️🎁

Firstly, a quick half view of my Christmas dress in work!

It's totally festive, and DD wouldn't let me get out of the car at school this morning, but as it's my last day, I thought it was suitable!!

Running to get jobs done, between desk jobs, intelligence gathering (for the promotion) before everyone else goes on holidays, and jobs I need to do around town today (I don't want to have to come into the city until at least after 26th, preferably a lot longer than that!!).

My head feels like it is floating around the ceiling again (sinuses), but I totally ignored my "to do" list last night except to put away the groceries when they arrived. DH and I watched the Masterchef final and then a couple of Russell Howard programmes, and just slowed down!

I reckon that I would be shot if I didn't get a turkey, but that is the only real job left that MUST get done (well, wrapping the presents for our house - but that's small - it's the other wrapping that's the big job and that can also wait as we won't see most until around NY).

Damn, phone - chat soon

Biddy - that dress is fabulous! I have one very similar that I need to find before I don’t fit in it any more with Addie bump!