In preparation for Christmas today I will……

[Beautifulsunflowers]

…….organise the freezer space and get if it stops raining I’ll go into town to WHSmiths to hopefully get the dark chocolate toblerone for ds’s stocking. I’m also going to make a few more Pom poms for my Pom Pom wreath.

Whst are you all doing today in preparation for the big day?

Booths' stollen bites are lovely. But that only helps the northerners, I think (do they still deliver down south via Amazon?).

I'm going to make my cards soon, and I've just ordered more Christmas hand towels, as we move into a house with 3 bathrooms / loos soon (hopefully before Christmas), so need more towels!

I can vouch for the Aldi stollen( I've eaten one this week!).

Yesterday I removed all halloween/autumn traces (things like my Halloween lego and my velvet pumpkins)

Have now scheduled the day for putting up decorations. Like to make a day of it and watch xmas films

Becuase I've done that I can now mentally plan the big clean

Also organised with a friend to have dinner week before Xmas so mentally planning food for that.

Last year we had them around and I cooked a very grand dinner with the aim to impress. Sadly my dog began to pass away while they where here so dinner was a disaster and Christmas was pretty grim for me. Hoping redemption is on its way this year.

Today I am sorting out things bought at a trip to Homesense in the week. Got lots of little bits for stockings/teacher presents/colleague pressies, so need to sort them out. Oh and go through the mountain of Christmas gift bags I’ve got in the cupboard under the stairs 😂

Today I am prepping some food for the freezer. Pigs in blankets, homemade stuffing balls and I'll make extra stuffing to make up some sausage rolls for lunch today.

Finish writing cards. I've moved house recently and need to get them posted in early December with change of address info.

I went to Aldi and got excited when I saw Snowman and Snowdog kitchen roll. I've just got it home and it's loo roll. I recently made a bulk order with Who Gives a Crap, so I now have even more toilet roll!

Later today I'm going to make boozy mincemeat with Triple Sec and cranberries.

Posted in wrong xmas thread!

Having a big sort out of toy cupboards, books, art materials etc
Writing a list if what else needs to be sorted out

Go to my local garden centre to sample their Christmas drinks menu and a mince pie. I will report back on here later.

The cake, puddings chutney and blackberry vodka are made so may start on the cards today or i may just ignore it all and go for another walk in the sunshine before the rain settles in later this afternoon.

I'm peeling shallots in preparation for pickling them. I should have done them a couple of weeks ago, I just hope they're ready for Christmas buffet.

@MissMarplesNiece please could I have the recipe for your pickled shallots?

You inspired me to go out into the rain to buy Snowman 🧻 🤣 I always buy this, as it's not Christmas til you've wiped your bum on the Snowman!

I bought Cadbury's advent calendars and selection boxes for the kids, plus crackers (for 🧀) and one of those savoury mix trays while I was there.

@TangledWebofMincemeatDeception2 I just use the recipe from the Sarcen's web site. However I don't add any sugar to the vinegar - DH says it makes them too sweet, so I leave it out.

This year I'm going to make some pickled, sliced red onions too. I've looked at some online recipes but haven't decided which one to use yet.

I bought danish cookies today (thanks to another thread) and ordered a couple more gifts on Amazon.

@MissMarplesNiece Thanks!

The Snowman loo roll bought and stashed away .

I have my sequinned hat for ABBA Voyage so I'm wearing it round the house to scare the cats .

Today I have baked two Christmas cakes, 1 large jar of pickled eggs and another of pickled onions.

Stir up Sunday will be the Christmas pudding day!

I have not done this for about 20 years so really enjoying it.

I've ordered Nigel slaters Christmas chronicles inspired by people on here mentioning it.
And I've reviewed my decorations, ordered some bits I'm missing and made a rough plan of where they are all going. Excited to trim up this year as last year we were miserable in a rented house due to having had a huge fire at ours. This is the first year we will have Christmas here so I'm working out where I will put everything. Trimming up is my favourite thing!

Just arranged to have Christmas lunch with another family to mix it up a bit after a few difficult years for both of us. Might be the making of a new tradition and I'm really looking forward to it 😊!

Today I will find the reusable advent calendars and get them out ready to fill.

I was going to make a start on my wrapping but the stickers I ordered haven't arrived yet so may have to hold off on that one.

I couldnt sleep so got up early and ordered some bits and pieces from the Cats Protection catalogue.

I'm going to find my Christmas cds this morning. DH won't approve - he's a "wait until Christmas Eve" type person :(

My plan towards Christmas today is having a reset week for my diet - intention is to lose a few pounds which will inevitably go on over Christmas.

Increase water
Two meals only - lunch and dinner
Gym x3

I think that's about it for today.

Nothing much - I’m between jobs right now so £ a bit tight. However I have cleared out and cleaned the livingroom so we now have space to put a Christmas tree up and it looks cosy and welcoming rather than the horrifying den of miscellaneous crap it has been recently! Spent yesterday evening in there with candles and the log burner on for the first time this year. Felt a bit festive already! Will be starting to buy a few items this week I think. Never do the tree til early December though.