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?

Just bought the last of my presents in the Amazon black Friday sale. Now I need to wrap them which is my most hated job ever.

I'm crocheting tinsel. Yes, really! A ball of King Cole Tinsel yarn (which comes in a huge range of colours, some mixed, & costs about £3) will make yards of the stuff & while it looks like decoration tinsel, it's really soft & drapey, so can be worn as an OTT seasonal scarf or used to decorate the house or tree. This year I'm also experimenting with hair ties & dangly hair decorations on grips.

I made up the pattern. It uses a 9mm crochet hook & is quick to do. If anyone wants it I'll post it here.

Bought pyjamas for my sister plus a bag of chocolate covered hazelnuts which I'm going to transfer to a jar with a pretty ribbon.

Also ordered slippers for DM from cozyfeet- she suffers with swollen feet and has very poor mobility, so needs "special" slippers. Cozyfeet do some quite attractive ones.

That sounds fascinating, @ifIwerenotanandroid - I might do some if I get my current works in progress done - the camel, and an Aran cardigan for my granddaughter. Dh has just come back in from walking the dogs, so I’ve had to hide the camel.

I've just wrapped two more presents bit of a feat when I can only use one hand( disability not broken) so that's my limit before I start swearing!
Next months money for the food

I'm nearly there with the presents. I'm usually done by now. I need to be done by December...

Wrapping is starting to do my head in. I'm probably about half way through now.

Popped into town (it's payday weekend) and went round supermarket with a trolley. Got a few bottles of very nice wine for middle daughter, who only wants consumable things as she's back off to Oz where she lives in the summer. Also bought some nice bits of food to put to the back of the food cupboard. Youngest daughter is hosting Christmas, but there are so many dreadful bugs around this year - she's already been quite poorly twice - that I like to have lots of nice food in just in case Christmas day is cancelled on their part. If I can host a scratch Christmas in an emergency I feel a measure of control over the whole thing.

If Christmas all goes as planned... Oh Noes! I will just have to eat all the treats myself!

Giving suggestions to my ex-DH as to what he could get for our soon to be 21yr old DD.
We get on okay. It was a very civil divorce. But I am definitely better at choosing gifts for our DD and he always likes ideas.

The only other thing I did was suggest to DH that we maybe could get one of those moving fish toys for our 1yr old beautiful cats for Christmas. He rolled his eyes and said “fine but don’t be surprised when they don’t play with it.” 😆

I bought balls of red, green and white yarn from The Works to make a Christmas pom-pom wreath. I'm hoping that my very aged DM will join in with me & that it gives her a relatively easy activity to do in the run up to Christmas.

Made the Christmas cake last weekend and am feeding it weekly in the leadup to Christmas week. I bought sausage meat from our local pork specialist butchers and made apple, sage & onion stuffing for the freezer. Put our order in from another local butchers for centre cut fillet beef (Beef Wellington on Christmas Day) plus beef shortribs (to be cooked in our smoker) when we have guests for NYE. We've decided not to go away for Christmas so having a fairly indulgent Christmas at home.

@ifIwerenotanandroid I love the sound of your tinsel and would love to see it.

@MissMarplesNiece Did you get the chocolate hazelnuts from Holland and Barrett by any chance? I've been eyeing them up. No reviews as they are new, buy better value than Claridges and Fortnums!

I have bought Pigs in Blankets. And even more almond Green and Black's chocolate from B&M to stash away (69p for 90g bars dated next April) Also bought Shloer which I will have to hide from DD.

@RainbowZebraWarrior Yes, the chocolate hazelnuts were from Holland & Barratt. I looked at the Fortnum ones but thought they were quite expensive for the actual amount of nuts. I pondered whether my DSis would prefer a few nuts in a F&M tin or more nuts which I could put in a nice jar. I decided the latter 🙂. They had chocolate covered dates too - one of my favourites.

Thanks for the heads up about Green & Black's at B&M. My DB was telling me last week how much he likes Green & Black's so I'll get some for him. I've made him a fish themed quilt that I'm going to try & finish this weekend.

I sewed up one of my Nativity set sheep. They’re a monumental fiddle! Still have to knit the legs for the other, then it’s just the donkey to go.

Since it’s for the school raffle, I probably won’t be tempted to add the little pile of donkey poo I made for the Gdcs’ set - 3 ‘holly berries’ done in brown and stitched together - to add authenticity to the stable. 😂

Those of you who are wrapping presents already, do they stay wrapped until Xmas? I've ready somewhere about the tape becoming unstuck? Never been organised enough to wrap this far in advance before so just wondered

Never had an issue before! Didn't know it was an issue.

Research and order one lot of presents for one household.

As tomorrow is a rare day me and DP are both off together we are going to the Christmas tree farm to pick our Christmas tree. Then we are going to Morrisons to hopefully pick up the cheese advent calendar and some j20 glitterberrys as they should be on offer. Then we are going to the local garden centre to check out this years Christmas section and then DP is starting the Blackpool illuminations in the front.

I’ve had a few issues in the past but it’s was a different type of paper, I find it’s usually the foil shiny paper that causes problems.

I managed to book a delivery slot for Wednesday 20 Dec for long date and none perishable items. Fresh and dairy will be collected via click and collect on Christmas eve morning.

I know this isn't necessarily a bargain hunting thread but.....

When DH asked what I'd like for Christmas I said a Rosie Huntington-Someone (??) dressing gown from M and S.
It's £45.
On my retail travels yesterday I found an identical dressing gown in a nicer colour in Sainsbury's for £25...there's also 25% off clothing AND I had a £10 voucher which had been knocking around for ages in my purse so.....I got the gown for £8.75!!!

I'm usually very anti buying my own presents but couldn't pass this one up.

My problem with wrapping early is the paper tearing where the presents are all squeezed into a box/cupboard

I’ve only known it with the relative who was so stingy with the sellotape that they often came unstuck, with labels missing, too.

I try and plan wrapping but it usually gets left to the last minute .
In my Christmas Dreams I'm in the lounge with all the presents stacked up , the wrapping paper out , tape, ribbons .
CCF (Cheesy Christmas Film) on and something nice to drink (that I hopefully won't spill)
My best scissors , and set up the ironing board as a wrapping table - flat wide surface , perfect height .
Everyone has their own paper , no tags needed .

Reality :
sitting on my bed trying to wrap on Christmas Eve , trying not to cut the duvet cover .
A couple of years ago , I bought DD a Superdry coat and of course , no paper . Had to make a last-minute purchase and it was rubbish quality .

This Year:
DS having money transferred (his choice) and everything else in big squishy stocking
DD wants Levis and clothes (I have paper)
Her Dec 1st Box is all ready to wrap

Dec 1st Box has beauty/hair products she can use in the lead up to Christmas . makes December a nicer month and any favourites I can rebuy in January .

Go the florist wholesaler and buy a tonne of birch twigs for my Christmas door arch.

Get all the decs down and review what I've got and what I might need to get. Next weekend is the only available one for trimming up-it takes me about two days all in as a rule as I go quite hard on the decs-and this year especially so as it's also my daughters 18th birthday in December and we are having a big party. I might start the dining room tomorrow. (Im secretly itching to start it. I've always had a strict no trimming til 1st December rule-but time is short due to party that weekend)

Checked ex-DH read the WhatsApp I sent with a link for a suggested gift he might like to get for DD(almost 21).
He said he’s going to look into it later. He likes suggestions as it was always me who had the art of choosing gifts.
If he doesn’t want to get it then I probably will and that will wrap Christmas presents up for DD (pardon the pun 😆).

I also perused the free from section in Asda and 2 very nice packets of fancy cookies threw themselves on me and wouldn’t let me leave without them. I don’t buy a lot of Christmas treat foods but it’s good to have something special to munch on.