Ho ho ho...here we go round again! Countdown to Christmas 2025, thread 1

[NoWordForFluffy]

365

Evening!

I'm tired after today, but the buffet was a success. Tomorrow it's dinner!

Everyone seems to love their gifts, which is always good. 😊 Bed soon as it's all go again from the morning!

I've also been cleaning; mainly wiping up cake mixture and buttercream. Feels like I was making the cake forever. It looks good - although anything looks good with loads of buttercream and terrys chocolate orange segments chucked on top. Ill try to attach photo. It looks barrel shaped but its actually straight.

Ooooh Decleor gift bags sound good - not sure when I can get to a Home Bargains though and they'll all be gone.

@Magnoliasunrise your cake looks fantastic! You're so talented!!!

I've never heard of Decloer but had a nosey on Google and I'm going to nip to home bargains tomorrow and see if they have any of those bags as I agree, they'll make lovely teacher gifts! Thank you for this!

Ooh. Nice cake, Magnolia! 😋

I haven't been cleaning! I usually clean the kitchen at lunchtime on a Friday, but somehow failed to take my lunch break. Again. 🙄

But, good news, my flexible work request has been approved, so once HR have logged it onto the system, I'll be doing 10 days in 9, having every other Monday off. Can't wait!

Christmas wise (kind of), I have had a nosey through the present drawer today and took out some things to go to the charity shop as realistically I have no little ones to give to! I have this habit of seeing a bargain and buying it, putting it in the present drawer but not actually having anyone to gift to. My resolution this year is to not buy for the sake of it just because something is on offer or a good price.
Although the bargain Decloer gift bags are a need! 🙈

327

Morning!

@Wholetthedogsoutwhowhowho I'm the same - I've got stuff in the drawer that i bought years ago and still haven't found the right receiver! But I'm a sucker for a bargain!!

@NoWordForFluffy well done on the work day change, that'll be great.

I'm off to the gym shortly then I'll be blowing up beds for DD's birthday sleepover. 6 teenage girls so its going to be very loud😂.

Morning!

It's a gorgeous day today, albeit on the cold side. We enjoyed our little run out this morning! FluffyDog took me on a new route that we've not followed before (nowhere we hadn't been, just a new combination / direction of streets!)

I need to paint my office today, once I've had my next cup of tea. Exciting!

Afternoon all,

Well all the teacher gifts are secured! Got another 3 gift sets, £16 for 4 lovely presents feels like a real bargain.

Magnolia - the cake looks beautiful 😍

Busy deep cleaning the lounge today, found a few quality street wrappers hidden behind the furniture!

Oh First Feb ( I did <Pinch Punch > to DH at 2 minutes past midnight )

Who is the guilty Quality Street Sofa Stuffer then MrsDiligaf ?

I bought some dark chocolate liqueur cherries last week ( usually my Christmas treat alongside dark chocolate marzipan) . My DS took one and was most put out that it wasn't a Malteaser Truffle - I didn't let him even unwrap it , he'd have spat it out and I'd be one chocolate less ( while listening to him whinge that I was trying to poison him !)
I did buy some Malteaser ones yesterday so no doubt I'll find those wrappers everywhere .

I am bravely ploughing through laundry now - WM was Out of Action for a couple of weeks . I;ve done anything essential , doing all our bedding today .
Saving the towels till we get a sunny day ( tomorrow and Monday look promising but today was meant to be nice ..it wasn't <sigh> )

Love the cake Magnolia , the drizzle chocolate is a lovely touch . I am not skilled enough to do cakes sadly , I can cook them and ice them but that's it . The artistic bit is beyond me .
Though I did do a bloody marvellous Hallowe'en cake one year ..........

I had a slice of cake on holiday one year , sponge with a peanut butter filling , Nigella does a chocolate cake with peanut butter filling which must be similar and on my ToDo list as I've never seen this cake since !

I've been vaguely productive this afternoon in that I've painted my study (I'm very pleased with my paint choice!) and done the weekly deep clean of the kitchen and hallway. Tomorrow it's bathrooms and the rest of the house!

I can't do artistic cakes, 70. I'm not an artistic person at all!

We've had lovely weather all day. It's rather breezy now. DH said it was really cold when he was walking the hound!

Well done on getting more gift sets, MrsD. Would've been annoying if they were sold out!

Is this thread literally to plan christmas 2025 or just a general chat thread?

Mostly general chat with Christmas sprinkled about every now and then!

What paint did you choose to go with your Fishes/Sea Creatures paper @NoWordForFluffy ?

IIRC you were on a thread I started about our downstairs loo , I wanted to paint it a French Navy , but DH was "Hell No"
It is white brilliant white . The tiles are blue/white and I don't like other shades of blue except really dark . DH was worried it would be dark , (no window) and a 'mare to paint over . Probably true on both counts .

So Brilliant White with a huge mirror .

We really need to decorate in our house , the hall/stairs carpet though will get shredded by the felines (little buggers attack our bedroom carpet which was done 2 years ago , complete redecoration of our room done )
If we replaced the hall/stairs it would need to be hard flooring and maybe a runner that they couldn't get their paws into .

DH makes me choose the colours and furnishing then he does the decorating . Patterned walls in this house need careful planning as no straight walls ! so need to be random. The house is 1930s so it is allowed to be a bit wonky .

Lemsipper lots of chat , daily life and Christmas Planning .
Rudolph Day is the 25th of each month when you can do some Christmas Planning .
I bought a money tin and I am dutifully putting £10 a week in ( yes I know we're only in Feb but it's a New Years Resolution I think I can keep)

And if my maths is right (which it usually isn't ) Friday is Ted Rogers Day .
You'll need to tune in to find out why

I chose this one, 70. It looks really nice with it.

We have navy in our hall (as you know, as you found the complementary colour - Hare - to go with it). I love me some navy!

Our downstairs loo is going to be this wallpaper on 2 walls and this paint on the other two.

Our parents found original parquet in their 1930's house, under the hall carpet. It's lovely!

Oh, I was scrolling through my phone and found my Ted Rogers photo the other day. All ready to go!

The main suspect in Quality Street Wrapper Stuffing is DD.

I've not ruled DH out, but as he isn't a fan of toffee pennies, the evidence points to the child 🤔

Bets are being taken on how long the lounge stays beautifully tidy (I give it 12 hours max)

That paper is gorgeous @NoWordForFluffy , I like the photos people have put up to show the paper in situ .
Love the green paint . We have sage in the bathroom , it needs re-painted too . Our floor tiles are dark green so it could easily work with a darker shade .
MY DH would have vapors at matching up the pattern of your paper bless him

When the box room was DH study he painted it dark wine red - which he had to paint over when it became DD bedroom. So he's ok with dark colours I think it's the maintenance of them.

326

We have a heavy frost this morning - I woke up freezing during the night .
I have a load of washing on waiting to go out at the moment .
Having coffee then I;ll get washed .
DD wants to go to Primark snd I need petrol so we'll potter out into the cold .

Love that paper and colours Fluffy!

We have a beautiful frost here too 70 and the most incredible sunrise.

All the talk of paint has reminded me I need to paint the hall ceiling where we had a leak in the Summer and I keep forgetting about it but I've got sheets/towels/pillowcases/sleeping bags etc to wash today from the sleepover so I think I'll forget about the painting again.

Happy frosty February everyone.

Good morning! Frosty start here too, Dd wants to go out this morning, so will have to get a move on!

To be honest, I'd be quite happy just to make a large pot of tea and ready a book, but it's highly unlikely that will be on the agenda for today.

Morning!

No frost for us today! It was sunny when we got up, but it's clouded over now. It's meant to stay dry and breezy though, so good for getting washing dry.

I've just been taken on an almost-7km yomp with the dog! But we're back and recovering now.

Cleaning and maybe more painting today. Nothing too taxing!

@MrsDilligaf well done for getting more of the gift sets! My local don't stock them sadly, never mind!

@NoWordForFluffy the wallpaper is gorgeous! I always forget about Dunelm. Gutted as I've recently decorated our bedroom and that paper would have looked great! Oh well! Living room is to be decorated this year so I'll try remember Dunelm!

I have half a wash out as it looks like it's going to rain! Thick clothing outside wafting on the line, thinner garments inside with the dehumidifier on.

Meant to have someone coming to collect toys I have advertised on Gumtree but the amount of time wasters I've had I'm not expecting them to turn up. I don't understand why they do it though, say they're coming or even on the way but no show!

Hi all! Hope you don't mind me joining. Anything Christmas related is my thing! I've made a good start on the stocking fillers and a couple of bits and pieces for presents.
Last Christmas I was unwell a few days beforehand and had to wrap all the presents while feeling like death warmed up and then my husband and toddler started with the same bug on Christmas Day so they missed the entire day! Determined this year that I will be super organised and we will have the best Christmas so far. Sunshine is out today and I'm loving the bright weather!

@Wholetthedogsoutwhowhowho, we've bought most of our wallpaper for this house from Dunelm. They don't carry huge amounts in store, but there's a massive variety available online.

The NHM collection is lovely. Really nice quality paper. We'll have it in 3 rooms once we're done! Then non-NHM paper from Dunelm in 3 other rooms.

Selling things on Marketplace or similar is soul destroying. We've stopped bothering.

@NoWordForFluffy your FluffyHound is your very own personal trainer
Obviously costs as much as a human PT (dogs are expensive) and you get the evil eye is you even think about not going for a run - though you can play a substitute and send your DH out .
Though a humanPT wouldn't cover your floor in muddy pawprints and glossy chesnut fur .

My fantasy Personal Trainer ( Lottery Win obvs) on Speed-Dial was always Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson but now I've skipped sides and I'll hire John Cena .