Spring has sprung...let's Countdown to Christmas 2024 (Thread 2)

[NoWordForFluffy]

235

For the forgetful of thinking AKA me tomorrow, repeating the countdown!

Do you consider The Snowman Toilet Paper a bridge too far or a Christmas Essential ?

And do you have 40 rolls of it in your garage like me?! 🤣

@70isaLimitNotaTarget

I too have never seen Muppets Christmas Carol but it was referred to a lot in a Christmas book I was reading and now I really want to

So is it too early 😆😆 to ask people their absolute favourite Christmas film? I'm a brand new member of the Christmas thread so it's probably all been done to death already, but I've not read the discussion so.....

Yes because you Enabled Me

Two years' worth here! Bargain!

@Abracadabra12345

Ours are : (not all films but Must Watch)
Last Christmas (the one with Emma Thompson and Emelia Clarke )
Lost Christmas ( with Eddie Izzard)
Dr Who : The Next Doctor
Inside Number 9 : Loves Great Adventure and The Devil of Christmas
Angels In The Snow
Violent Night

DH watches Die Hard (he thinks it's a Christmas Film. I buy him a lump of coal )

The Loo roll is a 'mare to track down, usually Aldi but they don't advertise , it's only because I saw your post that they had in stock
Wilko did at one time but not for years , now its gone

I went to Iceland and bought some...but found out I'd bought the kitchen towel . I does get used though in cooking .

I consider Christmas toilet paper an essential purchase. As is a nice christmas handwash to go with my Christmas hand towels. I’m a marketers dream when it comes to Christmas themed stuff!!

A Muppet Christmas Carol is such a sweet film! I used to watch it as a child all the time, catchy songs too. I love it. Also watch Home Alone Christmas Eve before Die Hard with party food 🎄

what day are we on?????

Die Hard's writer has settled the Christmas movie debate (digitalspy.com)

Definitely a Christmas movie 🎅

Made my own mince pies last year but they were pretty gross - Nigellas mincemeat was strange 🙄

My toilet roll is ready - first time we’ve had it. I’d forgotten about it until it fell out on me from the cupboard last week. Made me happy to see it. Looks lovely!

First couple of presents bought. Although I am planning to buy fewer presents this year. Last year was really busy in terms of wrapping and seeing Father Christmas, going on the Christmas Train twice (with both sets of grandparents), going to a local light event one evening. As we live on a small island it’s important to support local. But as well as normal weekly activities it just meant December disappeared so quickly. I got covid just after Christmas so Christmas ended very abruptly and it made me so sad. We are going to Lapland this year early in the season, so we will see Father Christmas there. I’m going to make a huge effort for a quieter December to enjoy things at home. I didn’t seem to have a single evening sat next to the Christmas tree as I was fitting in an hour wrapping each evening. Ridiculously bad planning!

PS also keep getting attacked by the piles of christmas loo roll in the garage. Its this one -

Nicky Snowman Toilet Tissue | Extra Value pack 40 x Rolls Embossed | 168 sheets per roll | 3-Ply | The Offical Snowman and Snowdog Decorated Sheets | 100% FSC Certified Paper : Amazon.co.uk: Grocery

we should get paid by amazon

233

Morning!

I don't have handwash, but I do have towels, tea towels and bedding!

Do what I do: send DH into the garage. No loo roll attacks then for me!

We don't do loo roll - I suspect it would be a Christmas too far for my long suffering husband 😂. Maybe if I'd done it when our DC were younger it might have slipped in unnoticed but l think I've missed the boat now.

I do have towels and tea towels, a pinny, Christmas cushions and a Christmas pillow on my bed so I'm not missing out.

Muppets Christmas Carol is my absolute favourite Christmas film. I watch it twice every December - once on my wrapping evening and on Christmas Eve (co-ordinating it so my sister is watching at the same time like we did as kids if we can).

Other favourites here are Fred Claus, Home Alone 2 and I also love a CCF like Christmas Inheritance and Christmas Land.

I don't have dc so I don't really do the loo roll although I did have some last year. It didn't go well as my niece was really upset at the idea of wiping her bum on the snowman

I do have a lot of Christmas house stuff (tablecloth, crockery, tea and hand towels, cushions) but no bedding as I promised DH one Christmas free room.
It's a definite skill to have the things I like but not having the house look like a grotto!

I need to get some new handtowels now I think of it , last year they looked very shabby .
I have nice scented handwash , - last year was Ginger and Sandlewood .
Tea towels are red/white candy stripe (festive but can use anytime)
Eable cover is red/green paisley
Bedding is wintery pattern not Christmas
Most things have been collected over years and re-used .
And they're thing I use , so why not have Christmassey versions ?

Every year there are threads on MN ( usually on AIBU ) asking if Christmas Bedding/ Christmas Eve Hampers/ Dec 1st Boxes/Elf on the Shelf / Christmas Jumpers are A THING
Or "AIBU / Am I the only one who doesn't do CEH/Dec 1st Boxes/Elf on the Shelf " ? and someone piles on with Is this A Thing ? with faux naivety.
"Why do they need more presents? More tat. Isn't Christmas Day enough?"

Erm, try Googling and you;ll see they 've been around for years , but if you want to mock other peoples choices then crack on. Says more about you that you're just a bully

Rant Over

Totally agree 70, I absolutely LOVE Christmas and the more the merrier regarding Christmas themed stuff as far as I am concerned. I'm also easy to buy for as everyone knows I love a Christmas theme. One of my favourite things that comes out in December is a hen shaped ceramic egg holder that has holly leaves as part of the design - its so random but my mum knew I would love it and I find it quite funny. I'll send a pic in December.

Bloody miserable BH here, its been pouring down most of the day but nice to have the day off. I've been to the gym 😇now off to friends for lunch and to stuff myself.

I agre @70isaLimitNotaTarget !! If it makes you happy live and let live. I’m all about Christmas lasting as long as possible and in as many rooms in my house as I can get away with 🤣 my argument is that DH is a mad football fan which I have to live with most of the year - I’m allowed the month of December to go mad 🎄

I do Dec 1st Boxes for my adult DC
Pyjamas/loungwear
Underwear/socks
Toiletries
Skin care
Nail products for DD

They can use them all of December in the lead up to Christmas , it is things they need anyway , so not tat .
And the nail care /skin care would be part of DD Christmas list anyway .

The rest of the house does do the eyeroll when I get the Christmas decorations out (DD is more on board but DS is a proper philistine but even he will admit he likes the Traditions )
With the arrival of Les Chat we cannot have candles (LED are ok) a tree or fragile decorations as they are vandals !

It makes me ridiculously happy to have a cup of tea in a Christmas mug or see a Christmas tea towel hanging in the kitchen so live and let live I say.

Issue with a lot of the trends now is that they add a lot of pressure.
My sister doesn't do any of it for her kids. SIL does it all. I don't think either are right or wrong but I do know Dsis feels bad but she just can't always afford it while SIL feels pressure to do it all because nieces friends all get it.

If it were up to me I'd do a December box with pjs, books, puzzle, bedding and advent calendar. Plus a little stocking with clementine, Apple, mini toy and socks or something.
Would avoid the elf on the shelf though - I think it's creepy looking.

Me and DH have spent the afternoon watching Clarkson farm. Quite enjoy seeing him be an idiot as I don't like him. Love Caleb even more this series though!

I love our Christmas mugs, and we have festive tea towels and hand towels too. We have Christmassy bedding for all beds, the same ones from 10 years ago. We have lots of Christmas books for the DC, collected over the years too. We don’t do either the 1st December box or Christmas Eve box. But we do have our Christmas Elf “Noel” (pronounced the same as Noel Edmonds, but not named after him!) Noel hides around the house, and is our DC favourite part of Christmas. He doesn’t do anything naughty, or spy on them, he just plays hide and seek for fun.

I started watching Series 3 of Clarkson’s Farm yesterday - I’m enjoying it a lot too.

Agreed -there is so much pressure probably a lot of it self inflicted TBH.
My Mum did B*All at Christmas , we got presents but she wasn't one for decorating or cooking a meal (she;d fob that off to someone else )
My DC took the mickey at my overcompensating
I was a child in the mid 60s to mid 80s things were more low key . My DC were early 00s we did all the trips to see Father Christmas ,feed reindeer, Steam Train rides, cinema , go to London , theatre , Winter Wonderland

No Insta or FaceBook for me thankfully ( and I still don't so I'm not looking at other peoples pictures)

This year we're changing things a bit , still have Christmas just the 4 of us but in Dec DD DH and I are going to a Christmas Market , leaving the Bah-Humbug DS to house sit .
I'll still have my Lists and I'll aim to be organised .
I've come to the conclusion Christmas Shopping is no fun at all so I;ll do some online and some in a one day blitz on Bluewater (otherwise I'll have FOMO)

My DDad was more Christmas focused than my DMum - I have lots of siblings so (with hindsight) Christmas was just lots of work for mum and she definitely didn't enjoy it as much as I do now. We were a religious household so our celebrations centred around Midnight Mass with one present after Mass and the rest in the morning followed by a massive dinner.

The Elf passed me by really - my older DC were too old for it so I never did it for the youngest. We did Santa visits and now I do Christmas markets and shopping days with my DDs. If grandchildren appear in the future it will be back to nativity plays and Santa visits but that's some time away yet.

One thing my DMum did every year was to buy new PJs/nighties for all her grandchildren and they were the one present opened on Christmas Eve. We still do it and raise a glass to Nana.

Christmas films:
The Bishop's Wife
Die Hard
Elf

We didn’t have much growing up but always had a stocking, lovely decorations and my mum spent lots of time doing Christmas baking with us. Lots of Christmas music on in our house too I remember! And I loved it all regardless.

I do agree there’s a lot of pressure now. I’m not on social media so I don’t see a lot of it, we don’t have Christmas Eve boxes. We do have a bloody elf but only because my cousin bought one for my kids! Luckily my eldest loves to take over and sort that for me now 👍🏻

I have steadily added to my collection each year. We all have Christmas bedding, bought I January sales year before last. I’ve got mugs I’ve had a few years and a Christmas pudding teapot I absolutely adore haha.

Starting Clarkson’s Farm tomorrow, can’t wait!

232

Afternoon!

I had a lovely 30 minutes outside at lunchtime drinking tea. I'd made dinner before I went outside as DH is taking the kids swimming after school, so won't have time to do it later. #productive

Work is being a disaster today - this is the first chance I've had to get away from my desk so I'm very jealous of your 30 mins break outside Fluffy

Christmas at my house was chaotic but in a good way. My parents grew up with nothing so they went OTT for us - several trees, having people over, lots of food and presents that were ridiculous really.

We didn't have stockings and I don't think boxes etc were a thing when I was little however, my mum would pick a present for us to open on Christmas Eve and it was always new PJs.

My mum has always done the dinner - she hates anyone else doing it.
Dad has always 'brought the magic' - he used to pretend he saw the sleigh flying over, would put on lots of music, talk about 'his friend Santa' etc.
Madness but amazing really.