Countdown to Christmas 2022: the final straight (thread 4)

[NoWordForFluffy]

New thread!

42 (for ease tomorrow.)

Christmas Market was all festive and sparkly but so busy and bloody freezing (but dry) . Now that I've done it , I don't think I'll go to another .

Christmas Cake is in the oven right now , smells lovely

Our decorations won't go up till this weekend , usually wait 10-14 days before the big day .

Fluffy our old washing machine coughed its last about a year ago , we had the "repair/replace" dilema and bought a new one . Extended warranty so covered for a good while , they are a pain in the arse when they go

I put the cake in at 3.15 , on the recipe it says 4hours 45 minutes (give or take 15)

Just gave it a stab with a knife (it smelled "done" ) and it's cooked . If I'd left it the length of time in the recipe it would be like a charcoal biscuit

Cooling now ready to be doused in Amarretto and wrapped later

19

Morning!

I have a community day off work today, and I'm going to be fundraising for our allotment. We're creating an orchard plot with fruit trees / bushes as well as wildflowers and bees. The produce will go to food banks in town. So I'm going to go to all of the shops in town to see if they're interested in donating anything towards it.

I'm having my eyes tested first though. Exciting times! 👓

Morning all

that sounds amazing fluffy!

I am posting the gifts that need posting today and then this evening we are meeting DH’s grandparents for dinner as they are in the area, we are having the Christmas menu :)

the decorations are up so feeling much more Christmassy now :)

happy as well as the school have decided to put an inset day on the 23rd so DS actually breaks up on the 22nd so at least we get a day off before going into Christmas Eve.

Ooh it has just started snowing!

Where abouts are you

We have bright cold but no forecast for any snow (thankfully)

Please no snow I’m not missing bingo party on the 15th I’ve good friends who’ve helped there and it’s the biggest night of the year.

North Wales 70 and it only lasted 10 mins and didn’t stick but was lovely to watch :)

Jealous of you getting to see some snow Dreaming

70 Christmas markets always seem like a much more relaxing experience than they are don't they?
I quite like the Cardiff one because it's relatively small and you can easily walk passed enjoying the noise, smells and lights without being caught up in it.

What a nice use of a community day Fluffy Is that a company wide thing?
Ours allow 2 or 3 days per year off to do volunteering - our dept spent one walking dogs and one planting trees.

I'm so tired today and I have a cold so lovely scratchy throat and lots of sneezing 🤧

I'm going to spend my evening writing Christmas cards I think.

Thrilled we are having Christmas lunch at the centre where I live on Christmas Day we all chip money wise so looking forward to it and if god can sprinkle Christmas magic and I get my ticket on 21st December for To kill a Mockingbird last day in April I’ll see Mathew well say see but just being there will be magical.

No snow here (very rare on the coast to get snow; we don't even get frosts hugely often).

Crazy, everyone in the company gets one community day per year to do anything which benefits their local community in some way. It's really nice.

Have to say that I'm not hugely keen on Christmas markets. Though my friend went to Bruges last weekend and I think I'd like to do that one! 😁

Evening. I’m very tired. Had to put another £50 of fuel in my car today (put £50 in on Thursday last week) it’s just ridiculous. So tired as well not sure I’ll be able to stay up much longer 😳

18

Morning!

I'm annoyed as I've had to go to 100 posts per page, instead of view all, as any long thread just wouldn't load for me in the last week or so. Well done MN on such a shitty update and for not caring about having broken it!

It's really cold this morning. 🥶🥶🥶 We're trying a heating experiment with keeping the heating on all day as opposed to two blasts of it. I'm not sure it'll work as we're reliant on TRVs rather than a room thermometer, but it's worth a try! I'm hoping we get to a more-normal December temp soon, rather than this Feb-style weather!

Morning all. It's verrrrry cold this morning and there are warnings of much colder temperatures on the way and the possibility of black ice and freezing rain. But on a positive note, it looked very festive and frosty this morning. I have a cosy, fleecy blanket wrapped around me.

I'm going to a Christmas market later but it's a small, local one. I'll be taking money at the door or selling raffle tickets at it. I know a few of the stallholders.

I left out one of DD's presents last night . She went to a 21st party last night (well, not so much a party - more like food and drinks in the family home) and I was under the impression that she was staying the night there. I got home from work and had to go out in a hurry and left a shopping bag on the sofa. When I got home (close to midnight), I discovered that DD was at home in bed. So she probably saw the bag. It will be obvious from the bag where I did my shopping iykwim. DD probably didn't look in the bag but even so. Wish I'd been more careful.

Morning. Cold here too - everything was frozen when I got up. Apparently we're getting a high of 4°around lunchtime before it drops back down with a low of -2° by 9pm 🥶

Fluffy how did your fundraising go?

I've been trying to get to the Bruges Christmas market for the last few years. I had a cruise there booked that was cancelled because of Covid so I moved my reservation to the next year and that was also cancelled. Last year it was altered to dates I couldn't do and this year is a no go because of work and us going away.
Maybe next year 🤞🏼

I ended doing unexpected childcare with niece and nephew yesterday evening so no cards were written. Will try again tonight 🙄

17

I have been awake since 02.30 with joint pain. How marvellous. It is -1 and I am sitting here in my dressing gown and fluffy socks with the Christmas tree lights on. I am thinking about watching the rest of Home Alone 2 that I started the other day.

Morning!

It's very cold! 🥶🥶🥶 We did an experiment with our heating yesterday and used thereabouts the same amount of gas with the heating on all day (every radiator is TRV-controlled, and we went round setting them all) as opposed to at either end of the day, which was interesting.

Crazy, not much joy with fundraising. Nowhere I went / called had the right person to speak with, so I left leaflets / emailed in the end.

Home Alone 2 is good fun, Why. It has the woman from Casualty in it with the pigeons!

That’s interesting fluffy. I’ve been putting ours on for 45 mins in the morning and 45 mins in the early evening. Still haven’t had any correspondence from the energy company though so dread to think how much we will be paying.

It’s -1° here too although we’re nearer the coast now so not as cold as at our old house. I’m so mad though as we were running a bit later than usual due to my car taking ages to defrost, I got dd to the bus stop at 7:16 (the time the bus is due) and the bus was there, I pulled in front of it at an angle and as she got out he pulled away. What a wanker. It was so obvious I was dropping her off and it would have taken her five seconds to get on and show her pass so wouldn’t have made him late. I’m so cross as dd got really upset and started crying. I know it’s our fault for being late but we were right there 😡

Morning all.

so cold here! Interesting to see the results of your experiment fluffy!

hope you get some rest soon why

busy day yesterday as DS had two Christmas concert performances. Today is the school Christmas fair and I have volunteered to make mince pies so will be getting those done this morning.

also posting my very last package for christmas, then I can hopefully sit back having bought all the presents

-1° here too. I'm revising / studying this morning so sat in the living room with Christmas lights and a blanket on.
We've been having heating on for an hour in the morning and 2 hours in the evening but I'll be putting it on in the middle of the day too if these temps stay.

why definitely finish Home Alone 2. I think it's better than the first one.

Fluffy I hope people come back to you about the fundraising!

Wreck what a git the bus driver was 🤬 Hate it when they do that (was a regular thing with the school and college transport when I used it).

I've got niece and nephew again this afternoon after work. Quite looking forward to it - planning to do get them to draw a Christmas card each for dsis.

Good morning all. Work has been hectic this year so I have been a sporadic poster. We now have lots of staff off sick as well!
My Christmas crockery is now in use and the decorations are down from the loft. I have had my annual trip to carols with friends and now have a run of 4 Christmas events in 4 days- they will each be lovely but it would have been nice if they could be spaced out! Hopefully, I can put the decorations up at some point. We are still debating about a tree- our local IKEA has closed and although I like a real tree, I can't justify more than about £20 so the artificial tree might come down from the loft.

I finished Home Alone 2. I think the lady with the pigeons is called Brenda Blethren or something like that anyway.

I had forgotten I have Christmas plates, will dig them out at some point.

Morning everyone. I'm on a day's Annual Leave today so I'm currently snuggled under a fleecy blanket, having my morning cuppa.

Another frosty morning. It was so cold last night - I woke during the night with the cold even though I had my dressing gown on in bed. I might set my heating to come on for an hour during the night at least until the cold snap is over. I've also picked out some electric blankets. I think they might be a good investment. Am I right in thinking you put them on before you get into bed but turn them off when you're getting into bed?

I enjoyed the Craft Fair last night and bought a few bits for DD's stocking. It was very slow at the start but we had a decent crowd by the end of the night. We had some really decent raffle prizes - we asked the stallholders to donate a prize in lieu of an entry fee and then put them together to make up baskets. I didn't win though.

I had to deal with a work issue earlier, even though it was my day off. Not a happy bunny and I will be having words with a staff member next week.

70 glad you finally made it to a Christmas market. Good thing you checked your cake! Recipes can be unreliable. I like BBC Good Food recipes because people who have tried out the recipes can leave comments underneath saying if it worked or didn't work.

Fluffy that's really nice that your company allows you time off to volunteer in your community.

Dreaming hope you had a nice dinner with your DH's grandparents. Good news about the inset day. I love snow (in theory) but our roads can't cope with any volume of snow or ice and everything grounds to a halt. And we never seem to get large quantities of fluffy snow for making snowmen and having snowball fights. The big snow of 2010 was a nightmare. And the beast from the east.

Crazy hope you feel better soon. That's so nice of you to help out with your niece and nephew.

why sorry to hear you're in so much pain. Hope you manage a nap at some stage.

Wreck so annoying about the bus.

Constantly enjoy your Christmas events but yes, it's a shame they're all on top of each other.

Going to have another cuppa and then clean the kitchen and dispose of the recycling mountain in the utility room. I was waiting for a dry day so I could put out my cardboard and paper bags etc. without everything going soggy from the rain.

Hello everyone had bad night loo trips all nights then pain codeine again I’m afraid, but this morning it doesn’t matter three autographs arrived Mathew Modine they are going to be framed. I’ve decided decorations up 21st of December. So happy this morning. Sorry about your pain Why it’s dreadful isn’t it when you can sleep? Hugs

That's brilliant about the autographs Always - hope the pain eases soon.