Melting from the heat, yet still Counting down to Christmas 2025 (thread 2)

[NoWordForFluffy]

OK, so you all went on a bloody posting frenzy!

Can someone add the countdown from today to make it easier tomorrow? Thanking you!

I've gone for a national geographic snowy winter scene card. It's her birthday, too, so I'm thinking a very posh candle?
Spring bulb lasagnas planted 🤞
Just about to lob the chicken in the oven for dinner 🍽

Not a 1kg chicken ? Between five ?
(TAAT - very bad form . It's in AIBU . And to compound it , the chicken is pre cooked )

I don;t eat chicken so I;d have no clue but DS and Les Chats could easily polish off a couple of plain roast chicken breasts

Ha! I saw that thread and decided it must be a troll, fanning the infamous MN chicken flames! Still voted BU though!

I honestly can't think of anything worse than a pre-cooked Christmas roast either. 'Just warm it in the microwave with some gravy'. Noooooo, how to ruin your meal in one easy lesson. <<<not envy

I do 3 bloody roast meat choices, and I do them fresh. Just cook everything else while the meat is resting!

Absolutely 💯 @NoWordForFluffy
My mil is constantly amazed that I cook my roast meats fresh on the day 🙄

I'd rather stay home alone than go somewhere with reheated meat! Thankfully, I always host!

@70isaLimitNotaTarget
I've got a large m&s (serves 5 allegedly) chicken from marks but dh, dd's bf and I will finish it all off, I'm sure 😬
We never seem to have leftovers in this house!

My mil always cooked the meat the day before, always really dry, as fil only likes meat very well done 😬
Veg boiled to mush...🤢

When I cook chicken -very plain, DS doesn't go for fancy - the MaleCat hovers like I'm his 'bestest friend' . The rest of the time he ignores me <sigh>

I always know when the person behind me in the supermarket queue has bought a rotisserie chicken. (not a smell I;m a fan of )
My parents bought a herb/garlic roast in the bag chicken from Iceland . They said it was nice , didn't dry out and not messy ,

You should've said "Oh are we having soup too"

Has anybody seen the tray of mixed pretzels / snacks anywhere? Lidl don't have them, though I normally get from Aldi, but they weren't in stock there a couple of weeks ago either. I do like the mixed ones (as does DS).

🤣🤣

I think your MIL might just be my DM. I remember seeing a lovely beef joint reduced to half its original size many times, gravy was a precious thing in our house.

quick question, now Halloween is out of the way is it acceptable to get the Christmas mugs out?

@GrannyWeatherwaxsBroomstick
Yes!!!! 🎄
I start subtly introducing Christmas themed things from next week😊
Dec's go up 1st Sunday in advent 🎄
We always go and see Kate Rusby's christmas show a few days before Christmas 🎄

We have Christmas mugs in our cupboard all year and a couple of Easter (bunny rabbit) mugs .

DD asked me what straws we were using ( Hallowe'en straws all October ) I said multicolour ones ( striped ) for November . She was very judgey I have to say "Well that;s just not good enough Mother"
I have the Christmas ones all ready just not yet

granny Swamps MIL can’t be your dm and she’s definitely mine 😂 She always over boils the veg (I’ve taken to just switching it off when I feel it’s ready now and she hasn’t noticed 🙄)

I like quite plain meats on a roast but they have to be cooked fresh. It’s one of the reasons I don’t like going to ILs - they both cook the meat on Christmas Eve.

I’m trying to avoid being too Christmassy before December this year. Last year was great as it was our first as parents but we over did it and I was both stressed and Christmased-out by the time the day came around.

@NoCheesesForUsMeecesI'm with you on not going too full on too soon. I realise that it's probably hypocritical especially being on a Christmas countdown thread but I like plodding along, doing little bits here and there until December. My days of nativity plays and Santa visits are long over so there's no real danger of overdoing it really. Half the fun is in the planning rather than the doing, for me anyway.

I cook the meats, the pigs in blankets, stuffing and gravy fresh but one of my early December prep things is to sort the veggies and part roast the potatoes and then freeze everything. I'm then not peeling spuds and trimming sprouts on the day.

52

I'll keep an eye out for that pretzel mix Fluffy.

I'm not going too full on too soon either, I did last year and by the time Christmas came I was a bit bored of it.

Although I did think I might make the Nigel Slater stuffing and freeze it this weekend.

And I'll definitely be cooking a fresh turkey 😂and it'll be more than 1kg!!!

Spirit of Christmas starts at Olympia this week.

@NoWordForFluffyin Tesco £1.75. The crackers have poppy seeds though.

Well done, Woolly. I shall head to Tesco! [fgrin{

51

Morning!

Wet and windy here again today. It's pretty set in for the whole week, it appears.

I'm on a short day today and then off tomorrow as it's my birthday. Looks like I'll have wild weather for it!

Morning. The weather it awful here too and we have some work that needs doing outside before my dad can get on with inside so the rain is a total PITA 😩

I’m having the opposite kind of day to you Fluffy - it’s my first one back in work after a week off and my calendar, teams and emails are full so it’s going to be a long one.

I watched the JL Christmas ad this morning and not sure how I feel. Like the message but not the actual ad I think - it’s not the cosy Christmas vibe I want (although I’m not a JL ad fan really, I don’t want adverts that make me cry in December)!
I prefer the funny Aldi ones and some of the Sainsbury’s ones have been good over the years (I have a big soft spot for the school production one where there was a boy dressed as a turkey being a drummer 😂 and another who was a plug and had to jump to plug himself in to the socket

I worked an hour or so over, Meeces, so my day was shorter, but not as short as it should have been. I wanted to get loose ends tied up though.

The weather is dire now. Properly wet. The good news is that our autumn wreath gets well-watered in this weather. No spraying needed!

I saw the John Lewis advert too , jury is out , I'll need to rewatch it .
There was another one on YouTube with a couple in the 1980s /90s taking photos with Polaroids then laughing and dancing . Then they're older ...then the woman is at her husbands graveside .
It was one of those thousands will spend Christmas alone ones ( it was listed as a JL advert but not sure )

Hello all, now the half-term holiday is over, I can focus on Christmas! Like many of you, I’m not starting anything Christmassy until December, but need to start organising. I am resisting buying food too early, because I end up buying too much ( in my head , I am hosting Christmas in a huge house with drinks parties and countless dinners, whereas the reality is a family Christmas at home with me eating florentines until June and freezing left over mince pies!). I have booked tickets for A Christmas Carol plus Carol concert tho’ - and infused vodka!

I'm terrible for over-catering, Constantly! But I'd hate people to go home hungry / not having drunk enough, so I just keep on doing it.