Here we go again...Countdown to Christmas 2026 (Thread 1)

[NoWordForFluffy]

365

Evening!

I'm a bit tipsy and very tired, but it's been a good day.

Round 2 tomorrow with the roast dinner!

That sounds like a lovely day @NoWordForFluffy

I'm starting to take the decorations down but I think will drag DH and DC out later for walk and shop. It looks like being a beautiful day.

Beautiful but bloody freezing, by the look of it! And Liverpool always feels colder than here as well.

I've earmarked Sunday for decoration removal, then I'll clean on Monday when the kids are back at school.

God that is disappointing.

Decorations down today in our house. Hopefully also a walk/run around the park. It's so sunny! 🌞

My husband took the decorations down yesterday while I was working. Makes me feel sad seeing the empty lounge.

We have had a sprinkling of snow here this morning. It won’t last long as the sun is out.

Had a gorgeous sunny walk at a reservoir. I can’t walk far still, but getting out feels so good. We came home and ate most of the brownie wreath I purchased for Christmas Day and didn’t open 🤣

We went to London, (Camden) and had a nosey about the markets .
Lots of clothing , jewellery and Tattoo/Piercing places .

Went to a VR Coliseum venue - I cannot get over how my brain knows it isn't real , but my eyes tell me it's the edge of a precipice so Do Not Go There even though I know it's solid floor

Looks like we'll be having some snow this week .

We have snow forecast for Sunday. We rarely get snow, unless it's BAD! Worrying! 😬

@70isaLimitNotaTarget would you recommend the VR experience?

No snow forecast here but I recall when they shut the M4 in 2018 as the snow was so bad! Hope you don't get it. X

@70isaLimitNotaTargethave you been to the War of the Worlds experience? We genuinely jumped at certain points (even though we knew it was VR).

Jumping back into the thread for Christmas 2026!

@ChopstickNovice
Absolutely , it was really interesting ? I have been to the Coliseum and it was THE creepiest place . Worse than the Catacombs. It's a theatre of death for entertainment .

@ConstantlyCooking -
I haven't been to WotW no, been to an Ancient Egypt one , a Tutankhamun, a Pompeii and this one today .
There's the Titanic one but I haven't seen the film and I like cruises so I might pass )

356

Had anyone got snow? It was proper cold here overnight but no snow.

These felt trees look like a good deal for younger kids rooms

https://amzn.eu/d/gt4HO0j

No snow in SW London. Was minus 1 when I went to the gym at 8am and icy but not a single snowflake.

How do you all get through the sadness that Christmas is over 😢 does counting down help? January Blues have properly hit today.

I find counting down and planning next Christmas really help pumpkin. also, planning a holiday for later this year

We booked a holiday last night, just in the uk in August for a week but at least it breaks the year up

My DC are adults but I used to feel really sad when it was the tail end of Advent and the decorations that were so lovely on peoples houses gradually vanished .

January is not my favourite month ,it's long , I'm skint !and the adverts on TV are adverts ,
Holidays are booked - DH does the planning

Therapeutic clearout - the Christmas-Clean-a-Long is great for planning and preparing .
I have some clothes to go out and a couple of electricals (our local Currys does recycling)
This year the garden needs some trees lopped and I need to decide on plants but not to buy yet . A proper clean and tidy first , and jet wash the patio .

I have a diary for Christmas , I write when I think of something or buy something . And , very important What Didn't Work

DD loves everything Christmas . The planning , the food , the shopping , the presents .
DS not bothered , so DD,DH and I are planning a weekend away in early Dec then we have Christmas at home .

We spent New Year’s Day in the ridiculous Lego store queue. Thanks ds for being totally obsessed with Lego.

decorations need to come down this weekend and I’m now in birthday planning mode.

ds son is 9 this month
dd is 6 next month (well she’s my leap year baby so we will be celebrating early)

then it be on to our baby 1 in August, christening. Thank god for an August holiday planned.

we went away just before Christmas this year. I’m not sure I’d do it again. I only had Christmas Eve to unpack for 7 people, washing etc but I’m toying with the idea of being on holiday for Christmas next year.

picked up some cute bits from Disney store to put away for Christmas. Mostly pjs, slippers etc.

im predicting Lego will be the big expense this year. So I’m watching for sales and keeping an eye on Vinted etc. thing is my son has a Lego room. So I have to sneak in to see if he has it or not 😢. I know he’s got his eye on some pretty expensive sets so I’m price watching at the moment.

Oh , and I work the week between (Twixmas Week) otherwise I'd get into bad habits and the Back to Work on Monday is a horrible thud back to the real world !

When the DC were little the 2 weeks holidays seemed to go on forever and after the build up , the excitement of Christmas and family coming over (hard work for the host with all the cooking and house work ) the rest after ......then they got bored . So more planning .
They were pleased to go back to school , for about a week . Then a long time till Feb Half Term.

I used to book some days in January but not this year , I have time off in March .

We are going to Gran Canaria at Easter with my parents so have that to look forward to - parents have never been to Europe! DM is Asian so they usually go there.

In preparation for 2026 Christmas I’ve updated my Christmas spreadsheet for cards received, and made a note to reduce the budget per adult DC by £100 each. Part of me hopes I won’t be here though.

Still feeling pretty festive here as we're away. Temp today was -9°, there's about 2ft of snow everywhere and our accommodation still has Christmas decs up. Plus here the trend is warm white lights and big stars in windows and everywhere still has them up. It's so cosy.
Snow pics attached ☃️

70 I have something similar- it was a Christmas planner then became a Christmas journal. Each year I list what I bought, what to change for next year then a little wrote up of what we did and how it was/how I feel.
I brought it with me and filled it in the first night we were away.

Things to change next year - feel free to be more generic in my gift giving (I put loads of thought into Nieces and nephews on my side while LO got money in a card). And as always, plan earlier because I ran out of time and missed some stuff I wanted to do this year.
Things that worked were lists - one for me so I don't get random crap I can't use and another with ideas for LO for the same reason!

Are you ok Gardenalia?