Woooooooahhhhh, we're half way there! Countdown to Christmas 2026 (thread 2)

[NoWordForFluffy]

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Phew, it's a scorcher!

Happy birthday to 70's DD. Best date for a birthday ever!

Shall we all bombard M&S customer service with questions re the bucks fizz supply?

Well I'll know tomorrow if they turn up in my Ocado delivery, I've also ordered a M&S Cherry & Orange Xmas Pudding, a trio of M&S Chocolate Bombes and 2 boxes of M&S mini chocolate selection - I am not really expecting any of them to arrive but hopefully I will be pleasantly surprised.

Yes! Because they've ghosted me on TwiX.

Oh turds !
Have they banned you from the shop though ........

Not as far as I know! It's hassle going there though...I'll try on Weds next week when I'm in the office.

Well my Ocado email receipt has arrived and it shows all my Xmas stuff available and ready for delivery no substitutions no missing items 😀its not due to arrive until 10 -11am but its looking promising.

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I find Ocado a bit dear, so I'm waiting for it to be available in store. Hopefully it'll be soon if Ocado already has a supply though.

We had more heavy rain last night, which we weren't expecting. It's meant to be dry today though. We've trusted the forecast and put the washing out! 🤞🤞

I need a bit of dry weather so I can strim our grass, as it's got long in places.

DH 'accidentally' opened a bottle of the M&S c&c fizz last night and I can confirm it is as delicious as I remembered 😍

Two more bottles just arrived on the Ocado delivery; wouldn't want to run out!

Can confirm all mine arrived as we haven't had the Bucks Fizz before I have decided that we really do need to taste it before we give it to guests at Xmas so a bottle will be opened and tested during the weekend lol

Ok. I think I’m hosting Christmas. For my SIl + 3 adult kids, my other SIl, and my late mother in laws partner. Plus us 4.

i over cater so much it’ll probably the same amount I cook every year.

though we think 100 pigs in blankets might be the right number.

I’ve added Buck’s Fizz to my Ocado order to officially start the Christmas cupboard.

I was in M&S today , they had a half aisle of Christmas food , mainly chocolate , cakes , mince pies , Very Merry Munch and Judgey Stag Shortbread, but I didn't see the Clementine and Cranberry Bucks Fizz !

Edited as didn't see the countdown update

We’ve already eaten a giant box of their mixed malt balls from the Christmas aisle. Taste testing.

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Morning! Such a beautiful day here in London. I have 2 washes already on the line.

I saw the M&S tins of chocolates (the big mix) and I think those will be my first Christmas cupboard purchase. I need to clean and sort the utility room first though so I can have a spare cupboard.

Off to the gym shortly then supermarket then ironing, oh the glamour.

DH is off out for most of the day, DS has a driving lesson this afternoon and DD is doing something with a friend so with a tiny bit of luck I may get an hour of peace at some point.

Morning.

It's been shitting down here and is set to again shortly! I can just hear the rain starting again actually. Just before I head out with the dog, obviously. 🙄

I'm making our Christmas pudding today so will stick the fruit in brandy to soak when I return. Mum and dad are coming round (we'll fetch and return them) as mum likes to be involved in the pudding-making.

We are re-doing DD's bedroom, so we've boxes of her new stuff everywhere! We will be getting as much done as possible, though we're just waiting on her new mattress now. Hopefully it'll come soon.

Our plans have gone a bit awry as MIL is unexpectedly still here.
Today DH has just left to take LO to club 1, I’m in Argos picking up a c&c, then we’ll meet at home to have beans on toast before we all go to club 2.
Then DH is working on my office build and I’m taking LO to a birthday party.
MIL is going out for the day with a friend so we won’t see her until tea time which will be something simple before bath for LO and earli
nights all around.

Something on top though - I booked the Santa train for me, MIL and LO yesterday and it’s at the start of December so will kick things off nicely

Oh dear, that should have said ‘something on topic’ but I was typing in the Argos queue and got called 🙄

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Morning!

Busy day yesterday. DH was building furniture in DD's room until late. She does now have her new desk, bookcases and bed though. We just need to swap her mattress today as it needed to 'rest' after unrolling! (She had her single mattress on the 4ft bed with the gap filled with Squishmallows last night!) 🤣🤣🤣

I did the book transfer...she has so many. She needs another filter of the ones she doesn't want really. Once she's done a soft toy filter! That's her job today.

Christmas pudding is made and we will steam it today as there wasn't time yesterday.

DH needs to do tip runs today. Exciting times. Not. 🤣

by Friday we'll be into double figures !

I bet the house will smell amazing @NoWordForFluffy when you cook the Christmas Pudding .I'm sure in the recipes I've done before they say to leave it overnight before steaming. Dont know why , it will have months of languising in a dark room to mature
I started my Christmas Clean-a-Long - and wrote a list !
Yesterday - bag of clothes to Charity Shop
Cleaned the bathroom
Today - summer clothes to be bagged up to go in the attic . I'll keep out a couple of dresses that I'd wear if we got nice weekend weather again.
Theres a kerb side pick up bag waiting to be filled
^
These are not One-Off Clean-a-Longs , they'll be added back on the list again and again.

I need to re-arrange the pantry , I;m sure there's a jar of lemon curd in there .

We were up early. Waved off MIL then cleaned the living room. LO and I went food shopping while DH went to B&Q (again). Washing is on the heated airer, roast is in (just need to peel and put the fresh veg in steamer then make gravy).
Need to clear the conservatory and dining table as DH had been using it as tool and material storage then LO is very excited about laying the table.
We have Dm and my dsis coming for dinner.

Hoping they’re gone by 4 so LO can have bath and DH can do bed. I need to revise for an hour or so as have an interview tomorrow then I’ll be having an everything shower, putting various lotions and potions on my tires and dull skin before chilling and either crocheting or reading in bed.

Im not a fan of Christmas pudding but always loved the smell in my nans house the day she made hers. Agree your house will smell amazing Fluffy

Good luck for the interview tomorrow Cheeses

We've been having a decluttering/garage clear out for the past few days still got loads left to sort through we need space in there for the new bathroom to be delivered into, but we have had it on our "to do" list for over 15 years hangs head in shame 😆 Once the bathroom is installed the plan has always been to put up wall to wall garage shelving and have everything labelled up in a box on a shelf so we can walk around in there and find what we are looking for & we can store my mobility scooter in there instead of the conservatory. It would be great to have it done before Xmas this year so I have places to store all the extra food/drink and presents etc. and know exactly where they are - we just found last years uneaten chocolate advent calendars in there!!

I'm being utterly ruthless and not over thinking it if I haven't set eyes on something and haven't missed it for 10+ years then we do NOT need it...... in theory 😂

Good luck tomorrow, Meeces! Is this the job you mentioned the other week?

We've had a productive morning, to an extent. DH took loads to the tip, so that's not going to be lurking round the house for weeks on end. He took all the old bookcases, two mattresses, shit loads of cardboard and two old chairs which were on our balcony, but we've replaced.

We still have the bunk beds, but they'll go tomorrow if nobody on Facebook says they want them.

I've set the Christmas pudding off, done / hung one load of washing out, put another in and I'll be doing another once that's done. I've also cleaned the kitchen and vacuumed downstairs.

It's now beer time on the sunny balcony before being productive again.

DD hasn't been productive at all. It's all overwhelmed her and I'll help her in a bit. It's too nice not to sit out for a while though and we have to make the most of it at this time of year!

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Morning!

Sounds like you all had busy weekends. I did too and managed to clear out and clean the utility room ready for my Christmas food stashing. I found a bottle of cinnamon baileys unopened so that has gone back into the cupboard.

Good luck for the interview Meeces!

DS has started driving lessons but really hates it. Would drop it like a stone if I let him. Where I am from (Bolton) we were desperate to drive and learning as soon as we had our 17th birthday but in London I guess not as much need and none of them can be arsed.

Work shortly, urgh.

Morning.

I had my first driving lesson at 2pm on my 17th birthday. We were the same and desperate to get passed!

It's going to be warm today, apparently. Good job really as we still have washing on the line from yesterday! 😳🤣 It's not drying as well now, so it got left out to see how it did with the extra time (and we don't have room to air 3 loads inside, on top of the two already airing!).

Day off today. Flu jab and a bit more housework to do.

Good luck for the interview Meeces. Hope it all goes well.

I have started thinking about the Christmas food shop. I have a decent amount of Tesco vouchers so intend to use those for the big shop. My daughter intends to let her baby daughter try her first brussel at our house on Christmas day, will be interesting to see what she thinks of it.

Thank you. Interview is done but I won’t hear anything until next week. I’m not holding my breath, it’s a 2 rung jump up the ladder and a move sideways into another area of the business. I’m quite surprised I got an interview tbh. Just glad it’s done now and it was good practice if nothing else.

Magnolia the utility room is on my list here. What sort of storage do you have?
Ours is small so we have a tall cupboard and on a wall we have one double and one narrow cupboard. I need ideas on how to configure the tall one as currently the ironing board, mop, Hoover, sweeping brush etc are all just kind of balancing in there but a lot of it falls out when you need to use something.

Re driving, I’m from south wales and where I lived, the bus came 3 times per day. I couldn’t wait to drive even though I found it hard (and I’m a summer birthday so most of my friends had passed their tests before I could start learning).
I guess lots of people in big cities don’t worry about it if they don’t need to though.

Fluffy I literally had a text about 20 mins ago about the flu jab so will need to book that in. May try and convince DH to get it this year too.

Please report back about the sprout on Christmas Day why. I always assumed kids didn’t like then because me and my sister hated them (and it’s a standard joke on tv) but LO and a few of my nieces and nephews love them. LO calls them his baby pea cabbage, no idea why 😂

Ive put a wash on and am supposed to be picking a cupboard to sort out but I can’t motivate myself so I’m sat on in the sofa browsing mn. Going to read the poncetastic thread then try again…