Festive frugaleering - Merry Christmas, and a happy 2019 to you all.

[AutumnLeaves12]

Welcome to the new thread!

Merry Christmas!

All gifts went down a storm, DS1’s face when he realised he’d got a laptop 😍. I was a bit concerned about the Segway, a few tantrums had by DS2 but he soon got the hang of it. Everyone’s trying to get me to have a go on it. I’ve told them if they’d rather spend the afternoon in A&E instead of having their Christmas dinner, I’ll jump right on....

As I suspected the bonus free vr headset is broken. But predicting this might be the case I labelled that one to DS1 who being older would be absolutely fine about it. So no drama there.

Beef is in the oven, just having my first glass of fizz. Cheers to you all!

Well at least he tried eh autumn 🙄😳😂

We are a bit late as friends were running late. Cagletini has fallen asleep sprawled on my friend!

The Caglets have been playing endlessly with their stop motion kit. Seriously money well spent (£50ish) they are going to get so much out of this.

NSD

Santa has been and gone. Everyone was very happy with their presents. I was rather spoilt and got lots of nice things - some of them were things I'd hinted at and others were a nice surprise. DH gave me a lovely Christmas lantern which I wasn't expecting and is now proudly displayed in the hall. DD gave me a lovely snuggly fleecy Bambi blanket which I really appreciate. When we're watching a movie, we always fight over snuggle under a blanket so now I've my own.

We had family over for breakfast but they've just gone so I'm taking 10 minutes for a peaceful cuppa. Lyric FM is playing in the background and the fire is cosy.

DD wants me to do her Lego with her but I've to cook the veg. for dinner so I've told her to go ahead and start it (she's well able at 14) and I'll do some with her after dinner. I think Monopoly is scheduled for after dinner.

Happy Christmas everyone. We are still avoiding it.... Went for a walk to port soller instead. It was lovely and sunny.

Happy Christmas everyone!

Lovely day. Ds has been thoroughly spoiled as have we all. Dh bought me vouchers to my fave shops so I can treat myself to things after the baby, Michelle Obama’s autobiography and a dna geneology kit. Dparents the usual pjs socks pants slippers (and they slipped us some cash too...very naughty but so generous).

Dsis bought me a bracelet which has 3 small circles on it one on top of the other which say. My. Marvellous. Mummy. And labelled it from ds and new baby. She is lovely.

Dinner was amazing. Le yum.

I’ve had a lovely glass of my fave champagne. And a sip of the red I bought dh for Christmas. It was delicious.

We didn’t let ds open all his presents as it was al just getting a bit much for him. So he’s still got a few for tomorrow.

I've also been veryvery spoilt by dh and our parents and I now have some vouchers and cash to go shopping with.
Dcs loved their presents too. It's been hard work today but general consensus is that it's been good. Already in bed!

It's lovely reading these

Hope everyone is having a great day!
We are snuggled up watching iplayer on the playstation (it’s really lovely to be able to use these apps on the tv) having had an awesome day.

A few tears from DD1 mind. She finally stopped believing in Santa and that’s been quite sad for her, but we’ve talked about how in future years she can help make it magical for Cagletini instead, so that helped.

We have been thoroughly spoiled by my friends who spent the day with us (college friend and his mum who would otherwise be alone, she is like an extra mum to me and thinks of the Caglets as honorary grandkids) and they were happy to have company and not have to cook.

Not a NSD really as I’ve signed up to Spotify premium (99p for 3 months then a tenner a month) to use with the fucking amazing speaker I’ve been given :)

I’m about to have a leftover sandwich. Not having leftovers tomorrow as we are doing a whole other meal for DSCs :) can’t wait!

NSD

A house even more full of stuff again

Nsd. Signed up with Netflix free trial to binge watch the crown. It’s right up my alley

Well that’s christmas ticked off. Now we just need to get new year over with.

fluffy, my dad normally opens his presents and then says "well that's Christmas over for another year." He forgot today!

Merry Christmas everyone! We’ve had a lovely day here. The kids have been a delight. DS has been overwhelmed by previous Christmasses but seemed to cope much better this year, and yet he is still not very driven by ‘stuff’ so was a lovely mix of happy but not hyper. Except when his beloved aunties turned up - they got a rapturous reception . DD was very excited by a couple of her presents and was generally highly entertaining (she spat out her pecan pie pudding and yelled ‘more turkey please!’ ). And there were some very lovely moments of interaction between the DCs which made me feel so happy too ❤️

We all missed dad and had a couple of emotional moments but overall I think we gave mum the best day we could. Thank goodness for the kids!

DH did me a rubbish stocking (just loads of chocolates - I’m on a diet - and a pack of post it notes ) but then redeemed himself with some lovely thoughtful tree presents. Including a beautiful gold and Tanzanite ring (I love the colour of tanzanite and it reminds me of dad - long story). A surprise as we don’t normally spend much. And the attached knitting book - Lonely might approve

Lunch was ridiculously OTT and there’s a lot of leftovers. It took ages to clear up and will take days to eat.

Now watching the Torvil and Dean thing with a glass of Chablis and some chocs. Feeling content.

Need to work out some goals for 2019. Money and otherwise.

Forgot the attachment!

Happy Christmas everyone! We had a fabulous day, spending time exactly as we wanted and are now tucked up in bed after being stuffed silly with delicious vegan food and considering a re-think of the number of gifts ds will be given for his upcoming birthday because despite what seemed quite restrained on our parts, there is clearly a toy explosion downstairs!. Sweet dreams now.

It’s so lovely to read about everyone’s days!

Seacow no story too long if you would like to tell us why tanzanite reminds you of your lovely dad. That’s if, though, so no worries if not ❤️

Sneaky I hope you’ve had a good day. I started playing Crash Bandicoot 😍 and fell down the gaps several times 😂

Considering I’ve felt hideously unfestive for weeks I’d say this is actually the loveliest Christmas Day I’ve had in years. :)

We have had a rather lovely day. I'm feeling very contented just now 💗

The dc had a lovely time - yes, I utterly overindulged them, just so many little pressies...for my lovely little nephews too (the cuddly toys I got them were carried all afternoon, I chose them so carefully, I was so pleased they loved them)...my mum was a bit at the quantity.

But, nothing was very expensive, I've been collecting stuff up since October...and for the first time in years I have earned the money I have spent on everyone I love...not slapped it on credit. It made me happy.

Dinner was nice (too much food), we have a lot of lurkey left, every bit will be gubbed though.

seacow thats the funny sort of things I make. 4ply and 2 1/4mm needles all the way for teeny tinies! I'm so glad you had a good day and ds managed ok, it must be a joy to see him coping with whats frankly a bit of a batshit day x

I hope you have all had happy days, and onwards we steam towards 2019!

Cag I think I'm just waiting til I have my own family to start doing Christmas again.

And I can't get past the first bloody level of crash!

Lovely to hear about all your Christmases. As you can see the dts don't understand about Boxing day lie-ins.
I love Boxing day - playing with new toys and eating leftovers. I think we need to get out of the house too so we might go and feed the ducks.

Sneaky what's crash like? We are on snipper clips and zelda skyward sword.

We had my parents over and it was good. Also a neighbour dropped in. A third and different proxy granny, not previously mentioned.

Dh got work email on Christmas day, which is a new thing that has not happened before.

I have relatives coming today and I am stoking my people skills.

Good day here too despite mh issues (mil) and colds.
Switch was a massive hit and dd still believes age 11. DS was super cute too, excited about his gifts.
Doing it all again today at DM. Some left over meat left for Wednesday.

Lovely day here yesterday. Off for round two today with DPs family- it will not be a quiet day

Did anyone get any good random gifts? We got a lawnmower, although we did need one. No doubt I will have more random to report on later

I find completely off the mark gifts hilarious! Although then have to do something with them after Christmas

Snuggly poor you with dts, I've no one in the house this morning except myself so it's my body clock that's woken me.
I'm going to try sleep for another while & then get up & go for a run.

I got my electricity bill by email yesterday autumn

Hope everyone has a lovely day today

Yesterday I reserved a new toaster for dm fed up of alternating between burnt toast & warm bread, it's got to be more frugal than throwing out lots of toast €23.49 down from €37.99 Argos

Need to buy a little gift for my Nan too as I'm visiting her today

Lawnmower is fairy high on the unusual gifts list love