50 days to go and counting...time to get organised as the big man is on his way soon! Countdown to Christmas 2025, thread 3

[NoWordForFluffy]

50

Here we go...time to go go go all the way to the big day.

PSA: you need lots of batteries and sellotape, plus tin foil! #yourewelcome

Morning!

I'm battening down the hatches ahead of the forecast later on. It's already wet and windy, but luckily I dodged it in the main for the dog walk. Poor DH later is unlikely to be so lucky!

Which mincemeat recipe do you use, Magnolia? I do a cider based one and it's lovely!

I like the idea of making mincemeat as is smells so festive but I don’t like the taste (am the same with coffee) 🙄

Sad to say I didn’t get back to sleep after posting yesterday and I didn’t have a great amount last night either.
Im hoping for a slow-ish weekend to rest even I won’t be able to nap. This includes attempting picked onions - I’m stitching together ideas from several recipes but need to remember to note down what I do just in case they’re nice!

Weather is horrible here too so work on the house is on pause for a day or so. I don’t mind, it feels like a break is needed on all sides tbh.

I bought some things off my lists and when I was in Marks , I realised I haven;t bought the December Good Housekeeping It comes out around Guy Fawkes night . They had a GH/Red double magazine bundle but Red isn;t me .

I had an awful night's sleep again too, Meeces. 🥱

I love the smell of coffee (proper coffee) too. Cannot abide the taste!

I'm not even tempted by the Christmas mags these days. I think I've bought enough in years gone by!

I did that once Meeces made a lovely mango chutney by stitching together a few recipes but didn't write down what I did. Never able to make it again. DH sometimes mentions how nice it was years later.

I also love the smell of coffee but don't drink it coffee cake is one of my favourites though

I've got a BorrowBox account through the library and have been looking at various Christmas magazines via that.

I really hope your shoulder is feeling better @Glennponder and you're not too discombobulated

I used the Nigel Slater one from Christmas Chronicles- its looking and smelling really good. Might leave it a few weeks before I make the pies though.

Hope your shoulder feeling better @Glennponder and hope everyone gets a good night's sleep tonight.
I'm also knackered, must be something in the air.

I was watching Nigel on the Food Channel, not his Christmas ones , he was footering about in his kitchen cupboards ,
Extremely clean fridge and pretty empty .Paper bag of mushrooms, wedge of cheese in paper . I bet he never has a Christmas Fridge Jenga issue !
And his open plan shelves under the units . He obviously doesn't have dust , but he does have a cat . Any cat worth its whiskers would be meandering round those shelves testing the Theory of Gravity (like my FemaleCat did with TWO fruitbowls )

40

Time is galloping along now
I bought my DS Loungewears , some more socks (yes he'll be thrilled ) and a BabyGuiness gift set for DD (mainly for the cute glasses ) it has a miniature of Tia Maria and Baileys and you layer them. That can be her BWPFTC (Badly Wrapped Present From The Cats )

I've ordered some bath oil for me . (I'm not the easiest to buy for I realise ). For when we go away. ( I do have a perfectly good bath at home but cannot remember the last time I used it . Showers for me , baths are boring )

I don't bother with baths anymore. New build house = water saving bath, so you can't fill it nice and deep. As I'm tall, I need to deep to fold myself under the water!

40 days is nothing! But still the cries of 'it's too early!' can be heard across MN. It really is another planet about Christmas on here!

When I was out yesterday in our town centre there were Christmas tunes playing , not "Last Christmas" but that only counts after Dec1st . I got knocked out of Whamageddon very early last year in Costco .

Last year I was in a hotel and I debated between a morning bath or an extra 30 minutes sleep then shower . Sleep won, Couldn't have done at night as it was Hallowe'en and we all know how those films start off !

The kids have requested Christmas bedding on this week.

I've made mince pies and sausage rolls. I'm making one more batch of both after this, and then I should be well-stocked!

I sorted next weekend's Sainsbury's delivery out earlier. I've been stalking the 2.3kg gammon joints they have, and they're down to £10 from Tuesday until 9 Dec. I've popped one onto the order to do one for Christmas Day's buffet.

I've been busy buying a few more gifts...
Tkmaxx haul today was a lovely candle, a Ralph Lauren table runner, and some Ciroa toiletries for dd2
I've done a primark click and collect for next week for a couple of jumpers for dh, dd1 and gym gear for dd1
I really must stop now 😬😉😊🎄🎁

Heard my first Christmas song in tkmaxx today...
One more sleep by Leona Lewis 🎄😊

Thanks for the wishes re: shoulder x
It's quite sore...defrosting the fridge freezer earlier hasn't helped 🫣

39

In the thirties, yikes!!!!

So annoyed - I just did the Nigel Slater gammon yesterday and I'm pretty sure it was £12 for 1.5kg from Sainsbos. I'll look out for the £10 2.3kg ones though as it turned out really nice and we host a big family gathering mid Dec so I can do it again for that. So thanks for the heads up Fluffy.

I'm going to do a present stock take today as I've got bags everywhere and maybe even wrap a few.

What a good idea ..I've never thought of doing this

Morning. I'm feeling refreshed today as DH realised I was a bit on my knees with the relentless broken nights and decided to treat LO to a night in our bed with him and me with a night in the spare bed with ear plugs and no interruptions. Unexpected and all I can say is 🥰 for the difference it's made!

70 There is no bath in our house and I miss it. I save bath bombs etc for whenever we're away and the deal is that at least one evening includes a long hot bath with a book for me.

I think the Christmas feeling is getting me. I saw my first decorated house complete with tree in a bay window yesterday - and I had Heart Xmas playing in the car.

Also went to Aldi and am now the owner of both bottles of Buck's Fizz and a tinsel Christmas cactus that LO decided we needed to have for his bedroom

Today plan is to chill for a bit (and do a bit of tidying but since cleaner has started I need to do so much less) then go into Cardiff for a couple of hours. Need to pick up a few things and thought I'd show LO where I work and have some lunch.
After that DH is taking LO to ILs and I'm going to peel and soak my onions for pickling tomorrow. Then there is a giant pile of ironing awaiting me 🙄

My DH is "doing things" with the cabling ( I have no clue ) but there's a shed load of dust ( cat mainly) so I'll vacuum that .
I was going to potter into town for a wander ( need potatoes ) but I talked myself out of it . The car parks are busy on a Sunday , if I get there early not to bad but then getting out if another matter !
DS can pick up potatoes on his way home.
Everything else can wait till Friday.
We're going to London on Friday and DD has decided we need to go into Liberty's . I keep saying "Oh I bet it's lovely at Christmas" . I haven't been in there for 20 years . I don't think there's anything in there I want , but I have FOMO.
The Christmas lights should be on too .

Saw my first Christmas Dec's up in a house on Friday 🎄
Out for lunch today so not much else planned other than taking dd2 to a party and picking dd1 up from the train station
Oh, and ironing 😬

Our neighbour has their tree up. Two weeks still for us. Though it's steadily creeping in as I got two nutcrackers from my hairdresser which we put straight into the lounge.

Always up 1st sunday of Advent here...dh rolls his eyes 🙄
He thinks thats too early!

My kids would revolt if the trees weren't up by 1 Dec at the latest! 🎄🎄🎄