Countdown to Christmas 2020 (thread 7): To buy or not to buy a Balsam Hill Christmas tree (AKA: Christmas in July)?!

[NoWordForFluffy]

I just noticed we only have 20 posts left and I'm off to the allotment! So here is thread 7!

I clicked on this because I saw Balsam Hill in the title!

@KVlovesWinter I have a BH tree and genuinely it is the most beautiful thing.

I wish I had gone for a pre-lit one as I now spend a lot of time with the lights. I literally string the lights up and then down each branch which is very time consuming but firstly it looks unbelievably good when it is finished and secondly, it is a family thing we do together so I have 2 teenage sons who help. We stick Christmas music on and all 4 of us sort the tree out from fluffling it, lighting it and decorating it. Yes, I have sons who decorate the tree beautifully. Each person has one set of baubles at a time, you either do a triangle or a diamond shape with the baubles, we have white, silver and glass. We do each colour in order. Sounds regimental but it is actually fun and everyone has favourite baubles.

There are videos on YouTube about fluffing the tree but I also paid attention to the photos from BH website about what my tree was meant to look like finished. The first year is hardest because it is so tight from packing, after that it is easy. It fits into the bag they supply without much effort but it is heavy. We let down each row of branches, light it then the next row.

I bought it in the "sale" several years ago. It felt a ridiculous amount of money to spend on a tree but then we worked out how much we had spent on real trees and felt it was worth it.

166

Morning.

I have a hangover. Ouch!

I went allllll the way back to Last Thread and made a note of the Countdown (166) because I'd have forgotten en route ............and Fluffy with-a-hangover has got there first
/ water / sleep

I sorted out some Charity Shop things and glas recycling .

Making vegetarian chilli for dinner served with wraps, lettuce, grated cheddar , sourcream dip.
DD doesn't like chilli , she'll have Quorn roast fillets
I've got some potatoes to do skins
DS - chicken ( he doesn't do New Fangled Food . He's very plain )

Morning

It's a beautiful day here for now, can see the clouds heading this way though

I can't deal with hangovers anymore so don't have a drink that often.

Thanks for all the advice about the Balsam hill trees I'm still undecided.

Nero I got my £50 Balsam Hill discount code by registering a new email address for their email newsletter.

Lazy morning so far, going for a walk to the shops with ds. We were going to go to the beach for a long walk but nobody can be bothered today so may do that tomorrow instead.

I have a joint of beef that I bought half price from Aldi before lockdown, that's been in the freezer ever since. I've defrosted it, and am sticking it in the slow cooker for tea with some red wine and garlic. Just discovered there's only a dribble of red wine left, and the other bottle I have has pretensions of grandeur a cork and I don't know where the corkscrew is...

Thanks for the anniversary wishes. It'll be 6 years - DS was our honeymoon baby

Can you have a quiet day today, Fluffy?

When our extension is done, I plan to splash out on a BH tree. I don't know about pre-lit, though. I have a 6ft pre-lit one from Sainsbury's and don't even bother plugging those lights in, because I like a lot of lights. Professional decorators recommend something like 100 lights per foot of tree, I use a 1000 string on mine.

I just had a massive twig drop on me from the birds who build nests in our room I had to re-read your post, Wreck. I was imagining you living in a sort of treehouse, with squirrels bringing you coffee in bed

I use 900 lights on my 6 foot tree.

If something went wrong with the lights then the BH restringing lights video shows it would be a pain in the arse but it saves you stringing it every year for several years. I have heard that their customer service is really good if anything goes wrong.

I was undecided for a couple of years and then MN had people post their tree photos and some of them were BH so I did a lot of research and realised that some of the morning TV shows over here and in the US used BH trees, plus other venues, I watched real families putting them up to see what they were like. I waited until the sale and bought it.

Morning everyone.

Happy Anniversary Firefly hope you have a wonderful time.

Just went for a run in the park and there was the whole of a karate club, (kids, instructors, parents) must have been 300 people. Even when I was leaving there were more arriving talk about SD. Definitely making a mental note to arrive earlier next time.

DH went to Lidl and we bought stuff for our Winter/CV/Brexit box.

Wreck that sounds absolutely fabulous, my DC (and me) would love it!

70 Vegetarian Chilli sounds fabulous, we are having Chicken Curry today courtesy of my DD.

Panic over! I've found the corkscrew!

Now I need to find the wine stopper...

Happy anniversary, Firefly! Bloody wine with corks, eh? You don't get those very often now!

We're on the way to the wetland place. Way later than we'd normally go, but I couldn't face doing much before now! 😂😂

Marshmallow I started making soup as a filling way to increase my veg intake and stop waste. I was quite surprised when DH not only stole some but enjoyed it so much he makes requests. It's so easy, I had 3 saucepans on the go the other day, everything was chopped, cooked and blended within 90 mins and I made enough for the month.

Fluffy how are you feeling now? FWIW my hangover cure is a lemonade / fruit lolly, nap, food.

Firefly your tea looks tasty 😋

It's so warm here, I have emptied my washing basket (only 2 loads) and stuck them on the line. I've also cooked us sausage and egg rolls for breakfast, had a bath, cleaned the bathroom and stripped the bed.

My ankle is stopping me going with DH for a walk so I'm potching at home and making plans to sort the overgrown front garden out later.

Ah but do Balsam Hill Trees have Cat Repellant Properties ?

I went through periods of a Tree ( before the DC)
Then ok when DS was born ( the Millenium Christmas he was only days old)

Then- we bought a fibre optic which we used until DD was older .

We used to all go to the local garden centre ( 5 minute walk) to buy our tree .

Changed to fake tree , then another real one , then a better fake one ....

Then The Cats .
So no tree , Female cat is even more entitled this year and Male cat less shy . My tree wouldn't even last the night

Crazy I would really like to increase my DCs veg intake. I give them veg every day but it is always eaten under duress. So soup would be ideal as I could 'hide' lots of veg in there, and maybe mention to them only the ones I think I can get away with What veg do you usually put in yours?

Fluffy drink a litre or two of water before you go to bed and you will wake up fresh as anything (well maybe not but definitely helps the hangover ) But for how you're feeling now

70 pet repellent trees - there must be a market there somewhere?
When DH got me to switch to a real tree, DDog kept trying to pee on it. It was so bad, we did a few years with a tree on a table/ behind a little fence. We finally solved the problem by accident - I bought baubles with bells in. Ddog went under the tree to pee, shook the branches, the whole tree chimed and scared him so much he hasn't been near a tree since 😂 Of course, shortly after, DH decided he didn't want a real tree anyway and we bought our fake, and as nice as it is, it's not the same.

Marshmallow a favourite one of mine started off as a red pepper soup - onion, red peppers, carrots, potato and stock. As time has gone on I've chucked all sorts in there (spring onions, sweet potato, celery, parsnip, basically anything that needs using up). I chop, fry slowly for 10 mins, add garlic and chilli (if it's just for me, DH doesn't like it), add stock and lentils and leave it to simmer until all the veg is cooked, then blend.
Each batch tastes a little different depending on what you chuck in but I've enjoyed every one.

I also do a pasta sauce which is basically celery, tomatoes, carrot, garlic, chopped chilli, stock and passata. Fry the chopped veg in garlic. Add chilli. Add passata and stock. Blend. Bung in a casserole dish, bake on low (I don't know why, this just makes the flavour nicer I think). Use as pasta sauce / for pasta bake or as a pizza sauce. I always have this in the freezer too.

My veg hating nephew loves both because they're smooth - he told my sis "auntie Crazy's dinners don't have bits in that I have to pick out (aka veg)" - he has no idea there's probably more veg in my soup that he'd usually agree to eat in a week!

Also, with batch cooking, I tend to do it while also doing something else - so chop veg while tea is cooking. Put the sauce / soup on to boil while I eat tea, blend and pot up just before cleaning tea mess so it's all done together, then it's done in the time it took me to cook our usual meal anyway IYSWIM?

Thanks for all your tips Crazy, definitely am going to try the red pepper soup this sounds fabulous. Your pasta sauce sounds yum too will put it on my al forno (pasta bake). We also make a corned beef pasta by just chucking a tin in after you have added the onion and my DC love it, they also have it the next day with pasta/rice for lunch.
That's such a good idea to multi task while batch cooking, do you put these in the freezer in tuppaware or freezer bags?

I couldn't be arsed drinking 2 litres of water at 2am! I just needed sleep. 😂😂

My two don't like soup. They love veg though, so no need to hide it anyway.

Crazy just want to ask do you soak the lentils before using, not very familiar with pulses, but want to use as great protein, thanks so much.

Haha I'm sure Fluffy another way is while you are drinking have glasses of water in between your drinks!

I didn't want to do that either! 😂😂

Oh well Fluffy you're just unhelpable

fluffy lightweight!

Wreck DH was sitting in the chair on the patio asleep, gob open and a bird dropped a sultana on his nose I said he was lucky it wasn't a different gift from the heavens

Firefly your honeymoon baby 🥰 that's so sweet. Don't forget to embarrass him with that fact at his wedding Mother of the Groom speech bit of a bugger about the corkscrew.

It isn't that I don't know how to prevent a hangover, it's that I chose not to! I don't actually drink heavily very often, however, but a friend came over, so it was just nice to relax.