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!

We've been apple picking this morning and I bought some Baileys cinnamon swirl yesterday to start off the Christmas cupboard so I'm feeling very autumnal.

Impressed with all the crafting, I'm planning to make some gold cushion covers but at the moment I just can't be arsed.

I made some puff pastry cinnamon sugar apple slices yesterday...
There are only 3 left!
A success 🙌
No blackberries to pick around here...we missed them - they ripened much earlier this year.
So I've got frozen blackberries arriving next week with my groceries.

Same here with the blackberries - was hoping for apple and blackberry crumble but the blackberries were either gone or wizened!!

@swampwitch0Those sound delicious 🤩

SO easy.
Pack of roll out puff pastry (or you could make your own but I'm lazy 😃)
Cut into thin strips
Slice apples, take core out
Dip in brown sugar and cinnamon mix (i used 3 tbsps brown sugar and a sprinkle of cinnamon)
Wrap in pastry strips, dust with brown sugar, wash with egg, 20 mins on parchment paper in a 180 degree fan oven (200 gas)
😃

They sound delicious swamp ( and all the TV chefs say buy puff pastry , life is too short to do all the rolling and chilling )

I picked loads of tomatoes today , some to eat with dinner ( delicious ) and some to roast , ones that had split their skins , I' wondering if the heavy rain on Friday was the cause ? They got to their perfect size then the influx of water was too much for them?
Makes no difference to them being roasted . Just need to store them and decide what to do with them.

I spent a while last week cutting back brambles but I left some for the wildlife .

@70isaLimitNotaTarget
I make puff pastry in my food processor a la nigella...it's pretty easy tbh but I just can't be bothered 😃
I suppose I should think about dinner 🍽

I’m now basically on bed/sofa rest for next few weeks after delivering our final baby on Friday by c-section. 2 weeks early but a good weight of 7lb 3oz. Settling into life with a newborn again.
school runs start tomorrow, 4 in 4 schools so glad dp has the month off work.

been making the most of my rest so far by Christmas planning. added baby boy to our Christmas holiday trip. Purchased a few gifts. But mostly been planning our big shopping trip and the budget.

@sunshineandrain82
Congratulations 💕

@sunshineandrain82
Congratulations . Squishy newborn cuddles and four little ones , Christmas will be brilliantly manic in your house .
You can spend all your cuddling /feeding time reading through past Christmas Threads to inspire you all over again.

@Magnoliasunrise
Have you tried the Cinnamon Swirl Baileys before ?

If not then I think you need to sample it because :
If you open it in December , you might hate it then you;ll need to scramble about to buy something else .
If you open it in December and love it , you;ll kick yourself for not buying more , and it;ll be a Limited Edition so you might not get more
Aldi will no doubt do a dupe so you could look out for that too....

It's like my mince pie/clementine juice/lemon curd/Panettone buying . I know only Waitrose lemon curd , Sainsbury bakery shortcrust mince pies , , whatever lemon panettonne I can find in TKMaxx, any brand of clementine juice .
No pressure

<Enabler>

115

@70isaLimitNotaTarget good point re the baileys. I don't need any reasons to drink though 🤣.
I stored excess tomatoes last year by roasting in herbs and putting in a jar with olive oil, they were quite nice.
Congratulations Sunshine whata very magical Christmas you'll have.
Back to school/6th form for the DC this week although I'm not starting back till next week. Can't believe the Summer holidays are over 😢 . Lucky we've got this thread to cheer us up.

@sunshineandrain82congratulations 🫶🏻

@sunshineandrain82 congratulations on your new little one. Baby snuggles are the best.

114
Congratulations sunshine 👶🏼

I’m having a lovely but decidedly emotional day - it’s my last day before returning to work after almost 11 months off. Everyone is ready, LO probably more so than me and DH (and I’m not made to be a SAHM) but I’m so sad about it.

Have decided to do lunch out then a trip to LO’s favourite soft play/park and book some holidays for next year to cheer me up.

Good luck for tomorrow @NoCheesesForUsMeeces

Oh, Meeces. I know that feeling! (Particularly not being cut out to be a SAHM.) Good luck tomorrow!

Ahh @NoCheesesForUsMeeces back at work next month after 14 months mat leave….looking forward to it but also sad. Good luck!!

113 Thanks for the good luck. Am on the train home. Feel decidedly rubbish right now - went in to the office but hardly anyone was in and IT took ages to get me up and running. Seems such a waste of a day and I missed LO (which is mad as this isn’t the first time he’s been in nursery for a long day)

Did have a conversation about Christmas with some nice people on my team. Was interesting to hear that it’s a 50/50 split between the ‘it’s just a day, a few presents and a roast’ people and the ‘I start planning now, cook everything from scratch and use special Christmas crockery etc’ people.

Hope everyone else is ok.

starting my countdown now, 16 weeks to go! does anyone know when the shops are likely to start advertising all their delicious christmas dinner foods and when delivery spots become available?

@audrey86 if I recall correctly delivery slots are usually open in the first couple of weeks of October with the first tranche open to people who have delivery passes and then afterwards it's a free for all. The food to order magazines come out at about the same time.

I fully expect my butcher to have his Christmas order forms ready to collect when I go in at the weekend.

I usually get my ocado slot in October
I used to get a few bits from M&S food to order, but it just got too expensive
I might treat myself to a new electric toothbrush on black friday

I get a Sainsbury's slot in Oct / Nov (the dates change each year; touch wood I've never struggled to get one). The Booths' book will be out next month, so I'll order some stuff to collect from that (not too much, mind, as it's quite dear). They also did a TGTG bag last year which I'm tempted by. You collect on Christmas Eve and get a random selection of Christmas dinner items. There were 3 prices of bag. I'm VERY tempted to get one to see what it's like this year (we aren't generally fussy what meat we have for our dinner, which I usually do on Boxing Day or the day after).

I've already put my order in for a salt marsh beef box from the local farmer here as well.

Meeces, sorry your first day back was underwhelming. I think it's pretty standard, sadly.

Thanks all, looks like a few weeks to go yet then! Wish we could get Ocado in Scotland

112 Afternoon. Posting to take a break from the monotony that is online training 😩

I went for a short walk on my lunch break and it is decidedly autumnal here (I was in a cardi and felt quite cold). Bloody love that feeling!

We don’t do online food shopping but I’m expecting a conversation with DH soon about his farmer friend and where or not we want to order a turkey.
Did see selection boxes in Sainsbury’s yesterday though so Christmas food is on its way!