C*******s

Galen just indulge by treating yourself to your favourite things & make sure they are the finest you can afford... Get a collection of your favourite TV, films & music, audio books/poems, food & drink and spend the day enjoying the things you like to watch, eat, drink and listen to, when you want to and how you want to! Add in a Xmas skype to family and almost perfect!

Only just seen your stocking filler suggestions Kat - thank you, some good ones there

We can all relax on the present-buying, the Archbishop of Canterbury says so.
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/10439197/Pressure-to-spend-at-Christmas-puts-families-under-too-much-strain-warns-Archbishop.html
Good on yer, Justin
Actually I couldn't agree with him more.

I love buying presents and also receiving them. And, I really love Christmas cards come through the door.

I stopped buying presents a couple of years ago for the adults, GC still get gifts but they seem to have so many toys already that it is quite difficult. We have three birthdays in the week before C .... sister and DS get generous gifts but DH gets a book and maybe a few chocolates.
I have been considering donating to charity instead of cards too.

DH and I hit the shops today and have more or less sorted it Things not bought are decided upon - unheard of!

Actually, I still have DH to buy for and have no idea what to get him - any ideas.

I love all the hustle and bustle and try very hard to find perfect presents for everyone. I pay attention throughout the year and make a note of things they mention. If there is a price limit it is even better because it is more of a challenge! Easy to get a nice present for under five pounds using three for two offers. I am very close to my niece and each year we try to find a really grim present for just a couple of pounds. I think I am still winning with a small furry tangerine I bought in Malta which has a whole nativity scene inside!

granmouse your joy shines through! It will be lovely, I know.

There are some salutary stories here, and I think wisewoman is right "a simple meal with people we love-that is riches indeed!"

I am at DS2's house at the moment, and my ultra efficient DDiL has X* presents wrapped up for the rest of the family, whom I'll see first, to take home with me. (She is till a lovely person, even if she is efficient!)

C** is definitely near I saw that Cocoa cola add on TV this evening.

Simple pleasure"s !

I could be wrong here but I do feel that as we have done so many Christmas"s the theme has to be lower key . It still can be as good !!

'gracesmum" my DH is fully recovered - oh the wonder of the NHS - but it has certainly changed my perspective on what is important. I spent the week before Christmas living in a hotel near the hospital not knowing how things were going to turn out. The whole world seemed to be going mad around me with loud music and obsessive shopping. Nobody looked very happy. A simple Christmas s meal with people we love - that is riches indeed! I hope your DH is well too and you have a lovely C******S

A few years ago I bought a couple of sheets of X**s stamps with a Hindu mother and child. They are still there in the drawer. Would they be unnoticeable now? I thought they were rather nice. And it's quite a lot of money.

I hope being on your own is a choice, Galen, I'm sure M&S must do a ready meal a bit nearer the time, there must be loads of people who would love one. I'll probably be one of them when I'm struggling with everything and the turkey refuses to behave.
As to cards, it seems a shame it has got so expensive, I do love to get them, also writing them gets more and more difficult as arthritis sets in!I'll probably have my usual last minute panic and can't remember where last year's left over ones are either.

I bought frankinsence and myrrh back from Istanbul for my local church. I draw the line at the gold though.
I am probably going to be on my own for Xmas this year. So I've been searching for a Xmas ready meal. I can't find one anywhere!

Talk of C. in hospital reminds me when I was still nursing.. We still wore the old uniforms complete with scarlet lined hooded cloak and those of us with a half decent singing voice would go round the wards carol singing. Everything possible was done to cheer those who would be with us over the festivities.

Still on the C_ theme we were down town this morning and I bought a "Colour changing " candle it is sooo pretty , and the extra thing it was on half price sale .
As it burns it goes from green to red to purple then blue .

Wisewoman I was in a similar position to you 5 years ago when DH was rushed into hospital at the end of November with a perforated bowel and subsequently diagnosed with lymphoma. BY Christmas Eve we knew that apart from chemo to come in the new year, he was going to be OK (ish) but not able to come home so I put the dog into kennels, a venison casserole in the boot of my car and drove to London to stay with youngest DD over Christmas. I had sent NO cards, put up NO decorations, bought no tree and made no other plans as trekking to and from London to be with him had been a full time job. In a funny way it was a really nice, low key Christmas - we all (DDs. self, his sisters and nephew) visited him in hospital in the afternoon taking smoked salmon sandwiches and a few presents (books!) then back to DD's flat for the casserole in the evening and quantities of red wine. The hospital staff were wonderful, each patient got a present - a fleecy blanket, done up with a bow and the atmosphere was not at all gloomy. It took me back to the real spirit of Christmas without the fuss and ta-ra. I do like Christmas but hate the bling and glitz associated with it - and the knowledge that the credit card is likely to take a serious hit. NOT what it should be al about!! Just adding, I hope your DH made a full recovery.

In our family we do a secret Santa , all the names are put in a hat , then pick out and the name you get is who you buy for , £10 limit .

So much easier all the way round and hassle free .

Last year I spent Christmas with DD3's family and in-laws and we all bought our presents at charity shops, spending £5 or under. It was great fun scouring the shops and even greater fun opening them all on Christmas Day!

On my quest to save money I've just visited the charity shops in my town which I don't usually do as I generally buy stuff on line but I found some real book bargains - brand new books for GC and BinLaw! When I go to the hairdressers in a couple of weeks in a nearby town I shall do a similar trawl. There's some very nice jewellery / bling around too. I actually enjoyed the experience too, which must be a first

Surely we should stick with a bit of tradition. Gold choc coin for the gold soap for the frankincense and for the myrrh I put in toothpaste and brush if they have to be reminded to clean their teeth or a shoe cleaner sponge if they go round scruffy or a mending kit from a holiday hotel . A sugar mouse and a tangerine . I also include socks and have included in the past very expensive small things which don't merit a proper present like sheet music . I'm not always a cheapskate.

Fenwick's windows have been unveiled now.
Has C... started now?

goldengirl Well said! I agree with your thoughts about how overloaded we are with "stuff" just for the sake of it.

I bought cards in a sale last year, forgot all about them and bought some more. Now I'm not sure if I can afford to send them! I always thought that stocking fillers were bits and pieces to keep the kids quiet until it was time for the parents to regain consciousness! As kids we had my dad's old rugby socks which my kids inherited. Nowadays, they expect to have a well-filled pillow-case.