Class of '18 Best foot forward through the autumn leaves.

[OhYouBadBadKitten]

old thread was getting big....

we've been playing Articulate, but the CD player seems to have been broken...by someone....

I've filled one stocking and hidden it. Cannot find the third actual stocking, the Ikea wardrobe I built last month has fallen in half due to the weight of presents I stacked up up in it there is a certain amount of confusion in there...
two members of family are sulking. they shall be nameless.

I think with fingers crossed, the message of peace and love may possibly tide us through but I am not counting on it. Dh is missing his family in Europe quite a bit.

Ursula three intelligent adults..sounds harmonious to me

we have also insituted a new Christmas tradition. Sportswear on Xmas eve instead of pjs. to incentivise action instead of sloth

The window between when my family can get here for lunch tomorrow and when DS1's girlfriend needs to leave (to go with her family to visit relatives) is just under an hour. Good thing we're fast eaters.

Me and my one boob sporting Xmas pjs. It made DD2 (16 yr old) laugh. She loved mummy pig as a toddler so I couldn't resist.

Just the three of us tomorrow. Christmas is always a bit too quiet for my liking, but we can't visit family and they can't/won't visit us.

DD is going to have to do an extra shift on Boxing Day because half the staff can't get in due to no public transport. They live too far away to get a taxi (which would cost more than they would get paid). As DD is desperate to be asked to stay she has been volunteering for loads of extra shifts recently.

Happy Christmas everyone.
What a fabulous idea hardwick- teenagers cooking Christmas dinner.
We had a big family meal today. Lots of us cooking. Just 5 of us tomorrow. Has always been at least 12 sitting before.
Enjoy everybody. Has been a big change year for us all. Especial good wishes marmite, you deserve treat of Christmas day.
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Sodastream diet coke does in fact taste like diet coke. Colour me impressed. The family member who bought me anti ageing cream gets the "whoa, that's special" prize for the day. I can't decide whether they meant well or intended to put the knife in, it could be either.

DS is on dish washing duty for the day, he jumped at it when the other option I gave him was cooking.

Love your PJs Marmite!

Marmite I love your mummy pig PJs, they're very cool!!

Did you get a soda stream too knitting? I am so excited to have mine, I've made rather a lot of fizzy pop today

DD has somewhat reluctantly agreed to join the rest of the family in playing games this afternoon. She was woken by her very excited little sister at 7:30, so hasn't had her full quota of sleep and is a little grumpy.

Hope you've all had a lovely time. DD went a bit mad with the present buying this year which was lovely and a bit of a surprise. The three of us went to see Mary Poppins yesterday afternoon. I honestly can't remember if we have ever gone to the cinema as a threesome before. Well worth a watch. But gosh aren't cinema tickets expensive!

Glad Mary Poppins was good. I want to see it. Vue in Sheffield cinema tickets are only £4.99 BTW.

DD has her last shift today and has a streaming cold. She gets to hear whether she can stay on but isn't optimistic.

It was £11.50 at the Odeon. In Oldham ffs! Although I did get to see the new statue of Annie Kenney.

A new state-of-the-art Cineworld has opened in our nearest town centre. The ticket prices are quite high. The silver lining is that the Vue (leisure park on the edge of the town) has responded by dramatically reducing its ticket prices.

1 adult ticket to see Mary Poppins this evening:

New snazzy Cineworld: £13.10 to £17.80
Bog-standard Vue: £6.74

The last two times I've been to the cinema i went with a friend who was using her Tesco vouchers so it was a real cheapy for me. DS has to be continually reminded to look for the student rate because if you have a NUS card you might as well use it.

If I go on my own I try for a morning showing as it is very much cheaper.

we love Vue. Cinema trips is our family default. as we have neither a dog nor a driver...Unfortunately it just happens to be marooned in the middle of nowhere and involves lots of hiking along motorways and business parks to get to. we used to have a 1930's cinema right on the high street, but then there was a long drawn out flight between greedy developers (hoping to buy site and turn into luxury flats) and bleating council who thought the developer was actually going to resurrect the listed cinema. But no. 8 years later, still ahole in the high street with a facade.

today we managed a long game of monopoly. Unfortunately I just don't have the killer instinct. tempers staying calm atm, and ds is back in a more normal time clock (gets up at 11am) yesterday we managed a family walk in the park. without ds1, but he seemed soothed by our absence...

I'm slightly missing last year's UCAS hysteria. Seems terribly tame this year by comparison now that everything is sorted..!! however, we are lucky to have got to this point, I keep remembering that too.

Ds2 is clearly overcome by all the singing and dancing in this house and has declared he wants to "learn the piano so he can accompany the songs". As none of us, even the one purportedly doing music at university, can manage this, it is a slightly bizarre but lovely thought. Atm he cannot read music or play a single instrument. A worthy new year's resolution though.

Yeah. Agree. Relatively calm post UCAS isn't it.
So reassuring if they are settled. DD is. DS found work so hard year 1. I wasn't as relaxed as I am with DD at this point. Doing great now though. Phew. This mother malarkey has been hard work.

I'm quite enjoying my "quiet year". Next year I will have one in Y13 and two in Y11.

And I managed a long run [for me] of 2 km yesterday, wearing quite the wrong clothes, but the right shoes. My family scoffed but were amazed when i didn't stop but just kept on going into the distance..my minimal training has paid off. today I feel very creaky though..I am finding the best thing is to run every three days and then I don't seize up.

Christmas seems to get more stressful every year! I have decided that Christmas and ASD don't mix - glad to be coming out the other side

I am so not missing last years UCAS hysteria. At this point anxiety was running high as to whether dd would get an offer or not.

First That does not sound like fun next year!

It's been a nice balance of chilling and playing games together, going for walks or runs and dd catching up with work while dh does his hobby and I crochet while scaring myself silly with the Haunting of House hill.

At some point one of us will give in and tackle the washing mountain

or Hill House even.

If you leave it long enough kitten the washing mountain will get up and walk to the washing machine by itself. You may have run out of clothes by that point though.

It's lovely having DD home, she's working again today, but is spending the weekend doing family things. We're going to a panto with my mum, sister and nieces. It's a girls only outing courtesy of my mum for Christmas.

Nettle I'm impressed by running 2k. I'm considering doing c25k as a new year thing, but might chicken out. Well done you!

Cinema here is £5 for all tickets. I think people just weren't going as it was too expensive. Last time we went we were the only people there (dd2, DH and I saw the my little pony movie)