Christmas Day hits and misses

[RosieLeaLovesTea]

a surprising hit- we got a funny jelly bean roulette game where you spin the spinner and you don’t know if you will get a good or horrible flavour. The kids loved it and it cost about £2.

The turkey was a hit - cooked at 120 for 7 hours- just a half crown- came out lovely and moist.

my son said it was the best Christmas Day he has had -he is 9- said he loved the turkey. Mainly very happy with his small presents.

the wine - I bought some nice sparkling wine from a local vineyard and it was very nice.

we watched home alone - Home alone 1 and 2, and Bridget Jones. Plus the snowman.

come and tell us what was a hit and what was a miss.

I made the Mary Berry chocolate roulade for the first time ever instead of buying a chocolate/fresh cream one in. It's absolutely lovely and was surprisingly easy to make. Far nicer than shop bought!

Here is the link: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Candy-Double-Dares-Assorted-Flavoured/dp/B0DH8823WG/ref=asc_df_B0DH8823WG?mcid=39f6227d4a0e395daefe02e635ec849a&tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=712298737169&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=4760803066897946618&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1006680&hvtargid=pla-2369499362370&psc=1&hvocijid=4760803066897946618-B0DH8823WG-&hvexpln=0&gad_source=1

my DH for it in Home Bargains slightly cheaper.

What a lovely thread. My Christmas was a fleeting visit but the Tesco finest pigs in blankets that were served up were lush, as was the Snowdonia cheese. Misses as others were more expensive than normal wine not being worth it.

Wins--DD4 loved her Bluey Duplo which was a last minute purchase. Big hit was some cheap Troll figures from Home Bargains. And she loved the Elsa dress I picked up in the charity shop 😂. Nutcracker teddy is currently tucked up in bed with DD (she'd asked Santa for a real one with nuts but I have a nut allergy!).

Misses - personalised name puzzle (DD couldn't be less excited!). My roast potatoes were a little under done. I used a different red cabbage recipe this year and it wasn't as nice unfortunately.

Big hit - a set of crackers from Sock Shop with a pair of festive socks in, rather than cheap tat that gets chucked away!

No real misses, my kids weren’t fussed about the food, no surprises there.

Unexpected hits for my kids were probably the smallest gifts I bought them. They haven’t put them down. A blanket with my daughter’s favourite characters on, she just keeps looking at it and naming the characters - and a hand drone thing for my son. I could have saved myself a small fortune lol

We also enjoyed that board game where you put elastic bands to make triangles and claim that section with a marker. Oh and the chicken vs hotdog game has been a hit too!

Hits were Cards vs Gravity game around £10 from Amazon. Great fun especially when everyone was a bit tipsy! Definitely recommend.

Homemade sticky toffee muffins with homemade salted caramel sauce for dessert. It was my first time making them. I was so chuffed they were amazing. My husband surprising me with this weekend away just the two of us.

Misses weren't too bad..I forgot the pigs in blankets and the red cabbage..still in the freezer.

Hits: Morrisons frozen Turkey crown - last minute emergency buy as Tesco😡 delivered everything except a fresh turkey crown! The frozen one cooked up lovely and moist, very surprised, in a good way.
Tesco piggies… smoky bacon, decent sausages.

Misses: Tesco fresh roast potatoes… stuck to the foil tray like poo to a blanket then fell apart into bits when I tried to dislodge them! Complete mess, tasted ok, but looked like they’d been got at by the Bomb Squad😢
Some Italian deli meat from Tesco, in a pack with 4 different salami and other meats. Only opened at 8pm last night, wrapped up and opened again at lunchtime…drier than Ghandis flip-flop! At £5 a pack, it was a bit disappointing.

I've just finished this morning, a run of 4 night shifts, so spent all of Christmas at work. I'm hosting family tomorrow, so not all bad 😊

Christmas at my parents went well, despite a few worries in the build-up around how my older disabled daughter would manage everything went well overall.

We all got lovely gifts and the kids did well, 11 year old especially loved her skincare gifts.

Dinner was lovely and enjoyed by all.

Eldest daughter was very well behaved and no issues with her. We all planned ahead so everything went smoothly.

Only real "miss" - a cheap bingo game that was fiddly to set up but we got going in the end!

2 of us, prepped the dinner, turkey really good, Parsnips on point, forgot the Pigs and bloody blankets!

Wrapping my autistic sons present was a miss. He handed us every single one back so we could open them. Next year not wrapping his gifts.
A hit was a game from b&m T-Rex tantrum.
Turkey was cooked perfectly not dry at all.
A miss was also buying ds 3 paw patrol figures he announced once he opened them he don't like paw patrol. News to me he asked for paw patrol things.
I miss judged the size of the mutton leg it was way to big for the cooker. Dh was fighting Xmas eve to chop it in half did make me laugh.

My son hosted. I put my feet up …. win win! (First time since my now adult children were born, so I’ve done my time 😂

I second Potions Kit. My DGD loves them. I would recommend the Magic Mixies one

Made Nigella’s cranberry sauce again this year. It’s very therapeutic making it. So so easy and less sickly sweet than shop bought,

Can you post the link for the muffin receipe please.

Going out for lunch, managed to keep my sister away from my mother even though there were only 5 of us so they couldn’t poke at each other and start arguing

Hits: the turkey breast joint from Aldi, (we had planned to have duck but when I went to M&S they had sold out), a thin, lightweight North Face fleece for DS age 12, the make your own cheese set DS chose for DH.
Misses: non really, but DS wasn't impressed with the amount of toiletry gift sets he got ( to be fair he did get a lot this year but was happier when he realised the people that had got him these had also gifted him cash now he's a bit older)

This is easy and it's very nice. You can also add apple or replace the cranberries with apple. It's lovely hot or cold as a relish) pickle
https://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/seasons/what-should-you-be-cooking-in-december/spiced-sauteed-red-cabbage-with-cranberries

@Myblueclematis I can't believe we also forgot the yorkies..my youngest DC fav as well

Not sure if you own or have heard of the board game Tension but this is a huge hit in our household and very similar to the game you’ve mentioned. Comes out for every family games night

All hits here, thankfully! One potential miss was that my grocery delivery on the 23rd was missing the panettone and there were none to be had in any of our local supermarkets. Then, on Christmas Eve, we did the usual edible gift exchange with our lovely Italian neighbours - and they gave us a panettone! Christmas was therefore saved! 😁 My Yorkies were also epic this year.

Hits- 7yo DS loved his potion making kit too it was the first thing he wanted to go back to this morning.
The Makedo set I’d seen recommended on here, it’s a kids tool kit to make things out of cardboard boxes. You get screws, a child safe cutter and you can get hinges and wheels too. Hours of fun especially with all the leftover boxes!
Boxing pens from flying tiger. Added one to each of our stockings and DS has been battling with them all day.

Misses- Bitzee. It was on DS’ Santa list but he bored of it after about 30 seconds 🫠. I tried to have a go and it made me feel so sick I can’t even looking at it😂
DH forgot to get the frozen croissants out for breakfast but other than that it was smooth sailing!

i spent £50 ordering a M&S halibut for dinner from their Christmas food to order that was like tasteless cotton wool and went in the bin...same for the Waitrose No.1 seafood shells..also a Christmas order....absolutely without flavour except for an unpleasant sauce. Bought 12. 6 went in the bin. Waste of money. Best thing was a Lidl smoked gammon.

A low key Christmas for DH and me so not much to choose from for these categories, but loved Lidl's venison with stuffing and bacon which was our Christmas dinner - delicious and couldn't have been simpler to cook.

No misses on the day itself, but we were disappointed by Newcastle Christmas Market in the run up. It seemed to be all takeaway food and not much else - yes, bags of choice and some exciting street food but once you've eaten there's nothing to keep you there, couldn't see any local craft type stuff.