its nearly Christmas -a thread dedicated to the angst, the drama, & the joy!

[miss.potatohead]

Honestly dreading the moment the workplace music systems switches over to the Christmas carols.

 

[australiankaren]

Honestly dreading the moment the workplace music systems switches over to the Christmas carols.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.........think of the children.........just got chills up and down my spine....oh, and how much do you want a bet that carly chick will release a xmas version of call me maybe, but it'll be call me santa baby.....oh god, the humanity....bugger, its stuck in my head now......too.......damn.......catchy.......

 

[Andona]

I do enjoy the time honoured spectator sport of
"Thank god its your house that's getting trashed & not mine this year as I'm still getting playdo out of my shag rug from last year & I do hope that spill/ burn/breakage is covered by home insurance but hey it adds character to your benchtop/lounge/carpet/blinds" followed by the drunken & hysterical
"why do we do this, next year we are all going on a cruise/ car trip/ voluntarily admitting ourselves into a facility"

family..gota love them

and I still have the pink creaming soda stain on my carpet from Christmas 2006, thanks to a beloved niece...

Andona

 

[australiankaren]

and I still have the pink creaming soda stain on my carpet from Christmas 2006, thanks to a beloved niece...

Andona

take a photo of the stain and present it in a frame for her 21st.......see every family is the same, different locations, same crazy

 

[frangipanisam]

do you think it captures the joy of the season???? Oh, I do hope so

Hahahaha I have these gingerbread cutters! They call them ABC cookies, already been chewed Got a set of three for $8 at DFO at Homebush

 

[WAMUMOF4]

You should get one of these, it is the simpliest most amazing thing ever:-

http://austnz.chefstoolbox.com/tctmarketing/Cooking/Gingerbread_House_Instructions.pdf

And this is the pic of the one we made with it. I cannot tell you enough how easy this is to make. Last year, my 13 year old daughter did it all herself from start to finish:-

You can thank me later

I am in i want one of those beats measuring and cutting all the pieces before we bake

 

[battymum]

Last year I made a gingerbread house we had visitors and it was a beautiful centrepiece, but I didn't know what to do with it afterwards. I put it on the kitchen bench with a box over the top , next morning lifted the box and a mouse had been nibbling on it and there was mouse dropping all on my coconut snow!
Sort of turns me off making another!

 

[Andona]

Last year I made a gingerbread house we had visitors and it was a beautiful centrepiece, but I didn't know what to do with it afterwards. I put it on the kitchen bench with a box over the top , next morning lifted the box and a mouse had been nibbling on it and there was mouse dropping all on my coconut snow!
Sort of turns me off making another!

eeeewwwww!!!

My DD made a house from scratch last year, it took ages to create it but after Christmas lunch, she and her brothers demolished it VERY rapidly. Nothing left for the mice...or the ants ( which are our particular household pest nuisance..)

Andona

 

[5ofus]

I love Christmas, but I also love Halloween and that's this month!!! Yay!

I've started shopping for Christmas. We have 13 nieces and nephews, 7 cousins and our own three kids so we have to be organized. I've got a lot of Jake and the Neverland Pirates plushies for the boys and a main present for the two older ones so I'm well on my way, as well as about half of the other kids' pressies.

Chrissy day is easy: PIL.for lunch or dinner and my folks for the other.

Oh, and I already have my Disney Hallmark ornaments for this year

 

[dabecs]

I adore Christmas Definitely my favourite time of year! This year though I have hardly thought about December *eek*. It will be an easy Christmas, I have managed to pass off the Christmas Eve dinner (which is usually at my house) to my MIL and I'm hoping to get all the present shopping done while in the States.

The weather here in Melbourne has been very wintery so it doesn't feel like Christmas is near..

 

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

do you think it captures the joy of the season???? Oh, I do hope so

Honestly dreading the moment the workplace music systems switches over to the Christmas carols.

OMG Miss Potatohead, I love Christmas carols. I'm already playing them in the car. And often when I am editing clients images on the computer I play disney christmas music. Sad I know.

Last year I made a gingerbread house we had visitors and it was a beautiful centrepiece, but I didn't know what to do with it afterwards. I put it on the kitchen bench with a box over the top , next morning lifted the box and a mouse had been nibbling on it and there was mouse dropping all on my coconut snow!
Sort of turns me off making another!

Ummm, ewwww. That's gross, I feel very uncomfortable with that story.

I usually throw the gingerbread house away. The kids have usually spent weeks devouring the massive batch of ginerbread cookies so I quietly sneak it out to the rubbish bin.

 

[australiankaren]

so my plumber came today re the bathroom......DH had replaced the tap washers 6 mths ago, and now with a full house the bathroom has had a work out...long story short, washers were put in wrong, leaked in wall...plumber replaced washers, repaired grout/leaks...fixed..... ye-ha..no total bathroom reno, no mess, no dust, no angry aussiekaren......

so Dh is officially banned from any work around/in/on top of the house...yep, i married a squirrel.

so Christmas is back on, with bells and a song in my heart.....I luv youse all

 

[battymum]

OMG Miss Potatohead, I love Christmas carols. I'm already playing them in the car. And often when I am editing clients images on the computer I play disney christmas music. Sad I know.

Ummm, ewwww. That's gross, I feel very uncomfortable with that story.

I usually throw the gingerbread house away. The kids have usually spent weeks devouring the massive batch of ginerbread cookies so I quietly sneak it out to the rubbish bin.

It was gross, I think I cried , DH had to put it in the bin for me! No one in my house eats gingerbread but I still make them - I cant bear to just throw it out!, did the kids pick the lollies off yours at least !

 

[dabecs]

so my plumber came today re the bathroom......DH had replaced the tap washers 6 mths ago, and now with a full house the bathroom has had a work out...long story short, washers were put in wrong, leaked in wall...plumber replaced washers, repaired grout/leaks...fixed..... ye-ha..no total bathroom reno, no mess, no dust, no angry aussiekaren......

so Dh is officially banned from any work around/in/on top of the house...yep, i married a squirrel.

so Christmas is back on, with bells and a song in my heart.....I luv youse all

Yay!

 

[miss.potatohead]

OMG Miss Potatohead, I love Christmas carols. I'm already playing them in the car. And often when I am editing clients images on the computer I play disney christmas music. Sad I know.

Oh so do I, they bring so much cheer and joy but after listening to the same 12 songs on repeat during 6 hour shifts 5 days a week it gets a little tedious.

 

[BecBennett]

LISTS - I truly love me a list and I think they make me feel more in control if I can see what I have to do. I find nothing more satisfying than being able to cross things off a list so I will be getting started on some more detailed lists for Christmas as well as truly getting down to the nitty gritty of trip stuff.

Me too! I don't know what to do with myself without a list. I'm also a list pusher, I tell everyone they should be using lists...

so my plumber came today re the bathroom......DH had replaced the tap washers 6 mths ago, and now with a full house the bathroom has had a work out...long story short, washers were put in wrong, leaked in wall...plumber replaced washers, repaired grout/leaks...fixed..... ye-ha..no total bathroom reno, no mess, no dust, no angry aussiekaren......

so Dh is officially banned from any work around/in/on top of the house...yep, i married a squirrel.

so Christmas is back on, with bells and a song in my heart.....I luv youse all

Oh thank goodness!!

As for me - I Luuuurve Christmas!!! I decorate my house from top to bottom in lights and baubles - no tinsell, too messy. I play Christmas carols non stop all of December, well until the 26th, then I pack everything away for next year.

I buy everyone gifts! And I hate (no offense to those that do, but you're silly) the families that say gifts are only for the kids.

I still get Santa...

DH complains now that I spend too much money on him at Christmas, but there will probably come a time when he just gets one or two gifts and our kids will be spoilt, and he'll miss all the gifts then. (He says he won't, but I know... oh I know...)

 

[Toy Story]

We picked up an IKEA gingerbread kit last weekend. We will make our gingerbread mean but my houses never seem to fit together when I bake them.

I have to finish embroidering a Christmas stocking for my niece, I thought she would have had it two Christmases ago

We have started present buying - Lego Advent calendars or American Girl clothing for all my younger nieces and nephews - not sure about the older ones yet.

Not sure about my own DD's either. My older DD wants to go to NY and maybe WDW in Feb, and my younger DD has two trips OS with school next year - so they may both just get some spending $.

I am looking forward to unpacking the decorations we bought at NY and WDW this year and adding to those from our last trip.

Not feeling overly worried yet - though with a puppy in the house, putting a Christmas tree may be interesting.....

 

[Marlea98]

just remember that...evil pixies I say....

Just had quote for bathroom leak, happened when we were away...$20,000 +...they need to rip it out as leaking in 2 walls etc, new bathroom, carpets, walls etc...and the house is only 8 yrs old.....I hate christmas

evil pixies at work

wheres my cocktail

oh, and christmas will NOT be celebrated...it will be endured

We moved into our house after the previous owners had it vacant for over 6 months only to find after a week that our bedroom carpet was all wet - the wet seal in the adjoining bathroom didn't do what it was supposed to do So we ended up reluctantly pulling our 'gorgeous' '80s bathroom into the 21st century when we had anticipated using that money we HAD to spend on remodelling our even uglier 80s bathroom that the kids use

I know how you feel about bathrooms!

 

[Marlea98]

I've been wondering if it's not too early to start putting up the decorations yet? Well, I don't know if I should ask that as I still have some up from 2 years ago...

I put up our Christmas tree in late November last year, before we went away, and when we got home in late January, I left the decos up until about the first week of February. Then I turned the tree into an Easter tree and considered decorating it for a Christmas-in-July tree but didn't get around to it. It's still up It's actually one of the two trees I would normally have up but this lounge in this house isn't set up right for our 7' tree that I bought for the last house so I've been using this twiggy looking thing that I paid $20 for at Target about 8 years ago that was marked down from $90-odd. I even have some Christmas lights up on the lattice on the front verandah from 2 years ago... (except I think they might have died and it was such a pain stringing them up I don't want to have to do that again).

I do confess a weakness for tinsel - it blends in nicely on the floor with the dog hair, it gives my house that extra festive touch

 

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

Me too! I don't know what to do with myself without a list. I'm also a list pusher, I tell everyone they should be using lists...



Oh thank goodness!!

As for me - I Luuuurve Christmas!!! I decorate my house from top to bottom in lights and baubles - no tinsell, too messy. I play Christmas carols non stop all of December, well until the 26th, then I pack everything away for next year.

I buy everyone gifts! And I hate (no offense to those that do, but you're silly) the families that say gifts are only for the kids.

I still get Santa...

DH complains now that I spend too much money on him at Christmas, but there will probably come a time when he just gets one or two gifts and our kids will be spoilt, and he'll miss all the gifts then. (He says he won't, but I know... oh I know...)

Glad you are a list lover like myself Bec. And I totally agree about the tinsel. I don't have any any any, yuk.

My DH also complains about how I spoil him at Christmas but he doesn't complain with conviction .

We picked up an IKEA gingerbread kit last weekend. We will make our gingerbread mean but my houses never seem to fit together when I bake them.

I have to finish embroidering a Christmas stocking for my niece, I thought she would have had it two Christmases ago

We have started present buying - Lego Advent calendars or American Girl clothing for all my younger nieces and nephews - not sure about the older ones yet.

Not sure about my own DD's either. My older DD wants to go to NY and maybe WDW in Feb, and my younger DD has two trips OS with school next year - so they may both just get some spending $.

I am looking forward to unpacking the decorations we bought at NY and WDW this year and adding to those from our last trip.

Not feeling overly worried yet - though with a puppy in the house, putting a Christmas tree may be interesting.....

Yes, the puppy could pose a slight problem but it will make for some funny stories I bet

I've been wondering if it's not too early to start putting up the decorations yet? Well, I don't know if I should ask that as I still have some up from 2 years ago...

I put up our Christmas tree in late November last year, before we went away, and when we got home in late January, I left the decos up until about the first week of February. Then I turned the tree into an Easter tree and considered decorating it for a Christmas-in-July tree but didn't get around to it. It's still up It's actually one of the two trees I would normally have up but this lounge in this house isn't set up right for our 7' tree that I bought for the last house so I've been using this twiggy looking thing that I paid $20 for at Target about 8 years ago that was marked down from $90-odd. I even have some Christmas lights up on the lattice on the front verandah from 2 years ago... (except I think they might have died and it was such a pain stringing them up I don't want to have to do that again).

I do confess a weakness for tinsel - it blends in nicely on the floor with the dog hair, it gives my house that extra festive touch

, I'm giggling at you having your decorations up for so long. I usually cannot wait to get mine up and once Christmas is over I feel like the house is closing in on me and I can't get rid of them quickly enough.