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?

I’ve never heard of Book Nooks before. What an amazing idea!

Hedjwitch
How's things with your DH? Sending hugs.

Today is Christmas shopping day in Canterbury with my best friend.

By this point we've both got most of our presents so it's more of a coffee and cake, lunch and a couple of cocktails day.

Last year was really special as it snowed 😊

Today I'll hopefully buy the last three presents. Then begin wrapping.

Sorting out all the recycling I've built up from cleaning/tidying and from shopping.

Cleaning the main bathroom.

@Hedjwitch sorry to hear about your DH. Hope the surgery goes well and he makes a good recovery.

@BaconAndAvocado enjoy your day. I love it when the shopping is pretty much done and you can enjoy a leisurely browse without any pressure.

Today the elves have brought a santa shopping lost pad for any last minute items ro be added by DD. They also left out some snowflake clings to be added to windows later. I've wrapped four small presents and put them under the tree along with a bingo pad and pens. We will play bingo tonight (I try my best to fix it that DD 'wins' most of the prizes and I get one myself)

We are going for a walk in the woods to get our yule log too. (Well, we will be blown around as the wind is nuts here atm)

I also need to order a stick of Scottish fruit pudding and some onglet steaks from somewhere...

I love the Book nooks, but they do look fiddly to build, good luck with that!

I didn’t have my DNephew on my previous list but did manage to take DD out to a lovely local toy shop and get his Christmas & birthday presents (Jan birthday). Not a lot else happened as was hungover this morning, when will I ever learn?! 🙄😂

To Do over next few days off:

rehang outside lights (DH tried but tbh did a terrible job 😂)
sit down with what I’ve actually got DC Mostly DONE ☑️
check DC lists for last bits that are missing
check what I’ve got DH/last minute panic buying
get spare room ready for PIL (tidy away spare bedding that’s dumped in there) DONE (except hoovering) ☑️ hoovering Done ☑️
wrap everything! 🙄
General tidy before PIL get here on 21st - Started
get stockings ready before Christmas Eve
get DH to sort Christmas food shop as he’s cooking
Christmas meal out Sat DONE ☑️
last Christmas concert Sunday afternoon DONE ☑️
pop into care home I used to work at with chocolates
drop off teacher wine x2 at DD’s school as she’s not sure about walking it in herself (Monday before lunch)
One last box of decoration stuff I’ve just spotted downstairs to tidy away/commit to last bits of decorating
last Governor meeting of term (Monday am)
meet friends for lunch (Monday)
DD Scouts dinner & thank you wine (Monday eve)

plus usual loads of laundry/dishwasher/rehoming random crap that seems to generate itself around the house 🙄 Ongoing
What else??

Feel like I’ve done bugger all today as we’re all ill with this cold bug. However I have:

-cleaned out freezer of old food we don’t eat
-cleared fridge of old food
-ordered kindling and firelighters to last us until January
-cleared out the miscellaneous drawer of shit
-put in my Asda shop for Christmas which I’ll have delivered tomorrow. Still need to go Aldi and finish my Iceland order too.
-ordered some hair dye to do my hair at home. I barely do it and feel I need to look put together for once 😁

Tomorrow I need to go to Aldi for the rest of the shop including nappies, bread and some bits. I need a cheap secret Santa present for a party next week too for £5. Might look into Aldi for it.

I also need to wrap 4 presents then I think I’m fully done with presents! Dh needs to wrap mine though.

We went to a toddler class Christmas party today with a Santa visit and then we met my friend to exchange presents 🎁

Do Christmas cards that are for hand posting

Wrap some more presents

Last night I wrapped all the DCs presents, they're away at PILs.
All Christmas cards were posted on Friday.

Wrap presents to go to DD's, write cards for dgcs. Anything else I get around to.

I handed over a present to a colleague who has had a difficult year this year. We don't normally exchange presents.

Need to print off labels for my Christmas cards and post off cards to France and Italy because today is the last day for posting to Europe.

Hoover and mop floors
Get rid of the accumulated cardboard to recycling bins
Remove random glass collection and wash and replace with new sets I've bought
Wrap and deliver present for my neighbour and her 4 year old
Tomorrow buy alcohol free beers for DS2

I've got a very attention-to-detail daughter coming for part of the day on Friday (she's an accountant), so she can help me build her sister's Book Nook. I've just ordered some glue which will arrive tomorrow.

Today I went for a lovely five mile run with the dog, to make sure she'd had a good leg stretch. Got another load of washing dry on the line (I've been washing everything that's not nailed to the floor while we've had mild, blowy weather), gave the garden a bit of a tidy, then scrubbed the bathroom, which needed it. This evening I've wrapped another set of presents, only a few more to go (and visiting daughter can give a hand with those too).

Tomorrow is living room and kitchen, but the rooms are mostly ok, it's just the floors to mop and some fresh scents in, and a bit of a dust. And to buy the tree (because different daughter is coming on Wednesday to help me decorate it, but it's no good asking her to help with her sister's Book Nook because she is as cack-handed as I am).

@Vroomfondleswaistcoat good plan to get the detail person to do the fiddly stuff! We have a 7month old lab, I need to find out more about when she can start running properly with me.

TO DO:
Rehang outside lights (DH tried but tbh did a terrible job 😂)
Check DC lists for last bits that are missing
Check what I’ve got DH/last minute panic buying
Wrap everything! 🙄
General tidy before PIL get here on 21st - More Done 👍
Get stockings ready before Christmas Eve
Get DH to sort Christmas food shop as he’s cooking Orders Given lol ☑️
Pop into care home I used to work at with chocolates
Drop off teacher wine x2 at DD’s school as she’s not sure about walking it in herself (Monday before lunch) DONE ☑️
One last box of decoration stuff I’ve just spotted downstairs to tidy away/commit to last bits of decorating DONE ☑️
Last Governor meeting of term (Monday am) DONE ☑️
Meet friends for lunch (Monday) DONE ☑️
DD Scouts dinner & thank you wine (Monday eve) Wine Delivered ☑️
Buy myself Amarula (way better than Baileys if you haven’t tried it!)

Plus usual loads of laundry/dishwasher/rehoming random crap that seems to generate itself around the house 🙄 More Done 👍

Random other jobs I wish I had time to do:
2 x picture frame for DS2’s posters & hang up
Clean the patio
Hang up all the framed artwork that’s been down since the building work started 🙄

I cleaned out the fridge today and made space for a food shop that was delivered this afternoon.
In preparation for Christmas dinner I decided what sides were going into what dish and figured out if they'd all fit on the three warmers I have - they do, excellent!

Tomorrow I'll:
Buy selection boxes and treats for the kids stockings
Buy surprise gift for my husband (big present is already done)
Make spiced cabbage

Didn't make it to the post office until 6.10 p.m. and they were closed. I thought they might be open late 'cos its' the week before Christmas. But nope. Will try to get in early tomorrow morning.

Go to bed very excited, because tomorrow is my Christmas Day. All of my children work shifts so it is rare that they are all off togetherness. Hardly ever happens at Christmas. However everyone is off tomorrow so , offspring and GCs are coming here.

The shopping is done, the Turkey is prepped and the presents are wrapped.

That's lovely, @florentina1! 😍

I've put the garland and lights on the banisters today. In a weird twist of fate, the lights I got 2 years ago go almost all the way from the bottom to top in the new house, only missing the last couple of feet!

Enjoy your day tomorrow @florentina1

Nearly done wrapping presents which is great and only two of the kids toys need preassembled this year which is such a relief. Will finish wrapping tonight.

Need to write family cards so will do that tomorrow night and assemble the two toys.

Have a busy few days ahead after tomorrow with work so realistically beyond the usual household chores I probably won’t get a whole lot of “Christmassy” things done, but I don’t have much to do after wrapping, anyway.

Friday morning I will do the Christmas food shop and pick anything else I need up on the Saturday. I do need to write a list of baking ingredients and finalise the Christmas food shop list, so I might do that in bed tonight.

After Saturday I really shouldn’t have anything else left to do. Presents will be wrapped and under the tree, DP does the Christmas dinner so he’ll be cracking on with the prep etc. So I should have lots of free time for activities with the kids and calling up to see family before the big day.

Only one more present to arrive in the post (on the 22nd) so I really am getting there now, which is a relief!

Tomorrow we are visiting Santa in the afternoon after DD gets out of school so I want to keep tomorrow quite free. Might pop into M&S after I do the school run to pick up bits and pieces (not so much Christmas food but anything that comes in a jar/herb plants etc).

Sampled my home made gravlax after 3 days of curing and it is good. It won't last the week. Just as well that I intend to make a beetroot version at the end of the week with the other piece of salmon.

I will start the wrapping today.

I've said that a few times on here but today is the actual day I start.

Parcels collected yesterday.

Santa day!

Was meant to go to M&S but the idea of sitting in the school traffic is putting me off. Will head over slightly later this morning (and sneakily go to bed for an hour- was up in the night with one of the kids so feeling particularly tired this morning).

DP off today so he can stay home with the youngest. Hopefully the shop isn’t too busy when I eventually head over.