Countdown to Christmas 2023: It's the final countdown (thread 3)

[NoWordForFluffy]

30

Morning!

It's the final Rudolph Day of the year! A month today is the big day!

I'm sending DH off to his parents' house with the kids so I can wrap today. I usually fail to be Christmassy on Rudolph Days! 🤣

What did you think of Voyage 70?

It;s the 2nd time we been Constantly , we did the dance floor again. I think they changed a couple of the songs this time .
Not a fan of the animated video or the Backing Band who murdered my 2nd favourite ABBA song (Does Your Mother Know)

I don't think I'd go again, the effects are brilliant but there;s definately the Wow Factor when its all new . We cannot go a an ABBA Tribute again though , we're spoiled for life

It is very well organised , we walked from Stratford , queue and bag check then put our coats in the cloakroom and it was time to go into the venue .
I bought DD one of the Voyage 2023 from the official website a couple of months ago and I wore sequins !

22

I feel lucky to still be here...the dog seemingly tried to kill me on about 50 separate occasions on black ice! I don't recommend going outside today! 😬

We got some packing done yesterday. I need to feed the birds at the allotment later, and then come back and do more packing. I want to make mince pies too, to build up stocks!

It’s raining and mild here (7°). Humph. Much prefer the cold and bright. Anyway…

IT’S TREE DAY!

It is now raining here after a hard frost last night. Crazy times with the weather.

I am off today so putting the tree up in a bit then going to look at carpets as we (I say we loosely it is my husband really) are decorating our bedroom.

I am away next weekend as my friend has paid for it for my 50th birthday, which is whizzing round in a couple of weeks.

Good luck with the packing Fluffy!
Wreck we are preparing the tree I bought on Friday, so standing it outside in a bucket of water for a couple of days to hydrate it (I wish I could do the same for my skin). I am hoping to decorate Wednesday evening (but will do my mantelpiece today and change towels snd mugs.
I have been to voyage twice now 70. I missed the 79 tour so teen me has been waiting a long time for this!

It's too cold to sit in a bucket, Constantly, so don't be concerned about your skin! 🤣🤣

We're putting the Christmas cushions out today, and the bedding on. Which is as Christmassy as it's going to get in this house!

Our decs are finally done. I still don't like our tree - we only use it every few years and each time I have a mini moan about how gappy it is 🙄
I've also skipped the lights I normally put around the conservatory - going to pop them in my suitcase and take them away for Christmas in case where we're straying didn't decorated.

We have ILs coming for lunch so it's been a mad scramble to put the empty boxes back in the attic and clean up - but it's done and my house is now cosy.
Only thing outstanding are the lights I hang in the window. I can't find the hooks so either need to pick some up or bin them off and I'm undecided.

Who is it that needs to find 'the thing' that decides how the table will be set? I can't remember but am curious to know if it's been found...

CrazyBaubles it.s me that has The Thing
I'm still looking but I did buy some cute gingerbread man coasters for the coffee table . We use coasters (wooden ones) all year so DH didn't roll his eyes too much ............

I'm going out to Bluewater next weekend and hoping M&S sends me a discount for gloves , my favourite /only pair look a bit rough now , I hadn't worn gloves for years but now the menopausal internal furnace has departed , I'm freeziing .

We put water in our tree stand indoors. It gets a bit smelly by Christmas though 🤨😅

All decorated, dd helped now she’s resting. Ds is wearing Christmas pjs, socks and jumper.

We've had Proper Snow ❄️ 😲

Couldn't tell you the last time we had Proper Snow here! There was a good couple of centimetres this morning so I dragged the kids up and out by 9am because it was forecast to warm up and rain! Giant snowman built, snowball fight orchestrated (I arranged with one of my friends down the next street for both of our DSs to fight with each other so we didn't have to get cold and wet 😁) and now most of it has gone. Except the giant snowman. Who, by the way, DS named Jeff Bezos...

Did you get much packing done Fluffy?

70 keep an eye on the Sparks app - they're doing an advent thing with different offers every day and the offers last quite a few days. 20% off nightwear today, but I already ordered DM's PJs from Freeman's.

Firefly I've had (so far) 20% off cards/wrapping paper , 30% off Christmas Homeware and 20% off nightwear .

So I;m crossing my fingers for Accessories (and not tickets to a Virtual Gary Barlow Concert that they were offering a couple of years ago !)

I did get a 20% of Nightwear on my Sparks which I used for DD pyjamas .

70, I’ve had exactly the same. My sister had free Christmas cake slices….

I have a free apothecary reed diffuser. Then I had a discount off wrapping paper and today it was nightwear.

Firefly, a good deal of the kitchen is packed up. I also bottled the 4 litres of fruit vodka which has been going since the summer.

The good thing about house overlap is that we can unpack some things and reuse the boxes and bubble wrap as I seem to have used 100m of the stuff already! 😬

We've chucked loads out, which is good. I refuse to move with stuff we don't want!

That's always a benefit, Fluffy.

I got free Christmas cake slices as well, Wreck. I'm going to Leeds on Tuesday so hoping they'll have them in stock 😁

21

In three weeks it'll be The Big Day

I have pre-booked A/L it is nice to have a day to Do Things in plenty of time .
Bins have been put out .
I;ve bagged up some of DS clothes to recycle .
Then when everyone else is awake I;ll hoover . DH is already WFH so he's busy.

We're going out for DS Birthday Meal (it's this week)

Just finishing coffee and thinking about having a shower

Morning!

Warmer (3°!) and wet today. Makes a nice change from icy ground!

Can't believe we're only 3 weeks away. That's bonkers. Still can't believe we're moving house before then too! I must be certifiable...especially as we're having people over for dinner on Christmas Eve and then again on Christmas Day itself.

3 weeks?! Argh I am not ready!

You are v brave @NoWordForFluffy but I’m sure it will all work out in time :)

3 weeks?! Argh I am not ready !

Well ......To Be Fair @Hopingforno2in2024 you have had about 344 days notice .............

I was planning a jaunt to Waitrose but I decided that can wait as we'd probably eat it all before Christmas .

Better use of my time to go on Mumsnet take clothes to recycle and clean various surfaces .

@NoWordForFluffy

Yes , certifiable is probably as good a description as any (Note I am not a qualified Psychiatrist apart from watching You Tube videos on Britains Most Certifiable House Movers at Christmas )

Well Fluffy if you nip down to your hometown I know the right people for a mental health act assessment.....

Ha ha haaaaaa! That is true.

I don't have time for a mental health incarceration holiday. I think I'll stay put, certifiable or not! 😜

20
I'm not ready either Hoping. Not sure how that's happened considering I started in plenty of time.

We have niece and nephew coming for tea as there's a Santa coming along where we live later. I can feel my headache starting already - the kids are already over excited and they don't know my decs see up. They're going to exhaust me.

Oh god. I'm clearly too busy. I managed to order a Sainsbury's order from both my account and DH's today. I've just rung and cancelled DH's though I think it's already on the way as mine is!

Crazy, hope you feel better soon. You've had a bad year, you're allowed to fall behind.

I paid the completion money today, so I'm now officially poor and we're good to go for Friday. Just the mortgage funds to receive on Thursday now.

19 I feel I am behind with prep but am hoping to catch up this weekend. Work is always busy at this point plus I am in a new job so nothing is automatic and I keep discovering things that need to be done that everyone just knows about. I should catch up this weekend. My tree is still hydrating in the garden!
On the plus side I have watched The Holiday and Let it Snow plus wrapped DD's advent calendar.