Season of mist and mellow fruitfulness...and ramping up those Christmas preparations! Countdown to Christmas 2024 (thread 3) (title edited by MNHQ @request of OP)

[NoWordForFluffy]

91

(Saves us checking the old thread tomorrow!)

Here goes, folks. New thread to see us through autumn!

Autumn

Thanks for the tip!
I don’t usually have a great experience at TKMaxx... but I’m definitely going to seek out the advent calendars!
Something tells me they’ll have some beautiful decorations in there too.

I have bought two tiny picture advent calendars….for our elves! The calendars are about the size of a credit card. The elves will bring them when they arrive. Our elves don’t do much, they just move around our house each day. But they’ll be arriving when we’re in Lapland!!

Indeed!😁

They just have unusual ones. I never used to enjoy sorting through things. Particularly with clothes. I was much more of a ‘I like that, have they got my size, done’. So TK Maxx was never my thing.

But as I get older I quite enjoy searching through, trying to find something a bit different. I think I’m turning into my mum!! 😆😆

TKMaxx is a shop I'll nosey in but only for housewear , there used tp be a HomeSense s a stand-alone shop but they merged . I much preferred HomeSense on its own.

I buy branded mens underwear for DS but I;m always dubious at the RRP.

I got a really traditional looking one from amazon. I'm so excited for it!

I also cheat with pastry.

DS currently reading A Christmas Carol out loud and driving me nuts. It's been one of those weeks. 🙄

It's a countdown to Christmas Eve, when everything is all prepped and ready and you can enjoy the festive season.

I sometimes buy, and sometimes make the Hairy Bikers' pastry with orange zest, for my mincers. I also have a half a batch of Jamie Oliver's sweet pastry (from the original Naked Chef book) in my freezer for larger pie shells. But that is a long time sitting there...(I have very little reason to use it).

At the end of a very long day, but waiting for a colleague to arrive front the airport for a drink before I get some sleep. As having been up at 3:30 this morning to get back here, I need to be up at 5am tomorrow to go to another city for 2 days of work...roll on Saturday (both to refill my fridge, and to sleep!).

Jings Biddy I;m knackered just reading that
You;ll meet yourself coming back !

Roll on Saturday , make sure you get some well deserved rest

I love a picture advent calendar. I think I got last years one from Calendar Club (and it was a steal as they were doing some super sale that I wasn't aware of until I went to pay).

Fluffy I've always wondered about reusing them. I don't know anyone else who does picture only so not sure of the etiquette.

I can't make pastry but will happily use ready made for pies.
I also don't really do TK Maxx but I have a family member that work there which is great as it's like having a personal shopper who shares their discount

We are in the trenches here (in a good way) so absolutely no Christmas planning is happening. I need to get a wriggle on though!

69

Morning

Some friends of mine were horrified when I told them about the countdown and the planning and pre buying and said they don't start till December and I felt a little bit of panic on their behalf!!

Morning!

Meeces, our parents made us re-use the same calendar every year! So it's stuck with me. 🤣

It's a lovely day here after it chucked it down all day yesterday. The fields opposite the house are flooded!

The dog is getting used to not going through the woods when it's dark now. I decided not to risk coming across a murderer at 6am anymore! We'll save the woods for weekends when it's light for the walk!

Morning all!

DS2's 18th today! DH made us all a Full English this morning and we've got family round for an Indian later.
No lunch for me!

Ohhh I wish I'd kept my advent calendars from childhood...probably all drowning in (now) very unPC glitter.

Happy birthday to young Mr Monkey!

Thanks @NoWordForFluffy

Sounds so very cliché but time HAS flown by so quickly...Christmasses aren't quite the same as they were when he was little but still very special.

Feeling very lucky today to have him.

68 (I think yesterday was missed). As ever I am in awe at your energy Biddy! my mother always reused Advent calendars as well(they were pressed in encyclopaedias to flatten the doors) and I had to share it with my sister, fluffy. Dmum isn't with us anymore but she would be horrified by the cost of beauty calendars.
Belated happy birthday to young Monkey!
Apologies for typos, it's been a busy couple of weeks, but I wanted to jump back on the thread and am typing as I walk to the station!

Morning all. On my phone only the 6 of 68 appeared initially and I got a bit giddy before common sense kicked in 🤣 Have to get a load of small children to create a flower display for the church flower festival today, wish me luck!

I used to have a picture advent calendar as a very small child I think but chocolate ones took over pretty quickly. My cross stitch one might arrive today!

Good Luck with that Hoping!

Its a very misty start to the day here in London.

We also had picture advent calendars only. I had great fun with the kids the other day reading out all of the different brands now that do advent calendars and the prices - theres a Dior one for £3,400 and DH said he thinks there is a Van Cleef one that has different jewels and a few of them have a random £10k diamond in them (I'm not getting the kids one of those).

And wierd ones - anyone for a noodle calendar

Koka Noodles Advent Calendar, 12 Instant Noodles for Festive Feasting : Amazon.co.uk: Grocery

@Magnoliasunrise
DD would love the noodle advent calendar!!
I've made her one using my empty Next calendar and have collected beauty bits and bobs over the year to put inside it.

We had a lovely family meal last night for DS2's birthday...feeling not great now...need toast....

To be fair my DC would also probably love a noodle calendar - I've got a stair garland with advents pouches tied to it that I put little gifts in so there may well be a packet of noodles in there this year.

Happy MonkeyDS belated birthday.

Morning!

Another nice start to the day today. Set to rain later / overnight again though.

The kids are at their grandparents' house later / overnight, so we're decorating their lounge and moving the furniture around to give more space. The wallpaper was done a while ago, so we're just painting the walls with some of the paint left over from DD's room, which is a nice yellow.

I'm sleeping badly at the moment, which is rather rubbish. Really need to get HRT sorted to alleviate the night sweats! So much fun being a woman of a certain age. 😩

In Christmas planning news, I've ordered some bits for my friend's daughter to take up when I visit next week (I have a wedding and Biffy Clyro gig on the Saturday and I'm staying at her house). At least I'll save the postage on it!

Happy Belated Birthday to MonkeyDS

I had a looksie in Marks and Spencer for ginger beer -it was recommended on one of the Christmas threads.
Diet was a 1 litre bottle and full fat was a glass bottle for £3.25 !
DH gets Sainsbury own brand diet ginger beer (2 litres are much less than £1) and I buy Fentimans on offer , so I passed on this . It would have to be blinking good to surpass these .

Had my flu+covid jab so I;m going to sit about being glum and complaining when it kicks in. I'm making soup with the tomatoes I grew so it'll be The Best Soup Ever

67

Morning!

Rather misty start this morning...we can't actually see the fields opposite! 🤣 It chucked it down overnight, but is apparently going to be sunny today. The washing is therefore out, and another load on!

I quite fancy getting some ginger beer. I shall look into what's about!