Get excited about Christmas 2023!
Discussion
malks222 said:
I love christmas!!! just moved into a new house, it has a nice bay window and high ceilings and I cannot wait to get the biggest tree possible to fit the space.
I also love being able to host my family for christmas day and doing all the cooking/ hosting, means my folks don’t have to do anything and can just come over and enjoy the day and get to see their grand daughter.
my daughter is also nearly 4 (birthday on hogmanay) so she’s a lot of fun at the moment, and kinda knows about christmas and santa and presents.
but mostly,I get 2 weeks off work, everyone stops for the 2 weeks so there’s no massive amount of work piling up when off. Which means we get to have a really good break/ holiday and spend time with the family doing as much or as little as we want. can’t wait!!!
This is the sort of person I like in this thread haha. I also love being able to host my family for christmas day and doing all the cooking/ hosting, means my folks don’t have to do anything and can just come over and enjoy the day and get to see their grand daughter.
my daughter is also nearly 4 (birthday on hogmanay) so she’s a lot of fun at the moment, and kinda knows about christmas and santa and presents.
but mostly,I get 2 weeks off work, everyone stops for the 2 weeks so there’s no massive amount of work piling up when off. Which means we get to have a really good break/ holiday and spend time with the family doing as much or as little as we want. can’t wait!!!
malks222 said:
I love christmas!!! just moved into a new house, it has a nice bay window and high ceilings and I cannot wait to get the biggest tree possible to fit the space.
I also love being able to host my family for christmas day and doing all the cooking/ hosting, means my folks don’t have to do anything and can just come over and enjoy the day and get to see their grand daughter.
my daughter is also nearly 4 (birthday on hogmanay) so she’s a lot of fun at the moment, and kinda knows about christmas and santa and presents.
but mostly,I get 2 weeks off work, everyone stops for the 2 weeks so there’s no massive amount of work piling up when off. Which means we get to have a really good break/ holiday and spend time with the family doing as much or as little as we want. can’t wait!!!
We miss having bay windows for that exact reason, we are planning to redo our extension and adjust our room layout and part of the requirements is to have a bay window in some way for tree hosting duties! Also host most of one of our families every year, each year I am say "I'm not cooking next year you are on your own" but each year there I am Christmas day cooking for between 8 and 15 people I also love being able to host my family for christmas day and doing all the cooking/ hosting, means my folks don’t have to do anything and can just come over and enjoy the day and get to see their grand daughter.
my daughter is also nearly 4 (birthday on hogmanay) so she’s a lot of fun at the moment, and kinda knows about christmas and santa and presents.
but mostly,I get 2 weeks off work, everyone stops for the 2 weeks so there’s no massive amount of work piling up when off. Which means we get to have a really good break/ holiday and spend time with the family doing as much or as little as we want. can’t wait!!!
(I secretly love it but won't tell them that) In other news, props for the light show have arrived, the LEDs and controllers have left China, I have started learning how to use xlights (the software that controls everything) and have even managed to pair our existing Twinkly lights with it so I can control them and incorporate them into the show. Just finished 3D printing a tool to press all of the LEDs into them, still need to source a power supply and then decide if I want to run the show direct from xlights requiring a dedicated Windows PC or shunt everything into something like Falcon Player running off a Raspberry Pi. Pluses and minuses for both but I dont need to worry about that right now as I have all that kit when I eventually decide.
Layout is, existing Twinkly setup in red, new LED strips in green, tree is the singing prop and the star is the snowflake prop. Plan is to have the one singing prop, if I can and can get it all to work then the snowflake will step in as "Santas AI/Alexa" to do backing vocals etc
Edited by geeks on Tuesday 17th October 16:00
To say I’m not a fan of Christmas is putting it mildly. It starts off as just not being bothered by it, but the more people have seemed to try and forced me to like it over the years it has grown to actively disliking it. I come from a not particularly Christmassy family (not for religious reasons) and was probably late teens before I had a Turkey on Christmas Day. My parents had a chicken stir-fry last year. We didn’t always have a tree, and rarely had decorations.
However, now toddler I am trying get in the spirit of things a bit more… we’ve booked to see Santa and a train ride which to me seems enough - but there are any ‘must dos’ I’’m potentially missing out on.
My wife/in-laws are the exact opposite of me and a hugely in to Christmas (they are already stressing over Christmas Dinner - and don’t appreciate my thoughts that’s it’s a roast dinner with party hats…) and they seem to be of the impression we need to be doing more Christmas based activities.
He’s turning 3 in February if it makes any difference.
However, now toddler I am trying get in the spirit of things a bit more… we’ve booked to see Santa and a train ride which to me seems enough - but there are any ‘must dos’ I’’m potentially missing out on.
My wife/in-laws are the exact opposite of me and a hugely in to Christmas (they are already stressing over Christmas Dinner - and don’t appreciate my thoughts that’s it’s a roast dinner with party hats…) and they seem to be of the impression we need to be doing more Christmas based activities.
He’s turning 3 in February if it makes any difference.
CardinalBlue said:
However, now toddler I am trying get in the spirit of things a bit more… we’ve booked to see Santa and a train ride which to me seems enough - but there are any ‘must dos’ I’’m potentially missing out on.
My wife/in-laws are the exact opposite of me and a hugely in to Christmas (they are already stressing over Christmas Dinner - and don’t appreciate my thoughts that’s it’s a roast dinner with party hats…) and they seem to be of the impression we need to be doing more Christmas based activities.
He’s turning 3 in February if it makes any difference.
I don't know about "must do" things but a few cheap/free options could be:My wife/in-laws are the exact opposite of me and a hugely in to Christmas (they are already stressing over Christmas Dinner - and don’t appreciate my thoughts that’s it’s a roast dinner with party hats…) and they seem to be of the impression we need to be doing more Christmas based activities.
He’s turning 3 in February if it makes any difference.
- Pop him in the car one evening and take him for a drive to look at the Christmas lights on various houses in your area. If there's loads (or two really amazing ones) in walking distance then just bundle him up in multiple layers and walk him to them. At his age he'll be pretty mesmerised by them.
- The Works currently has 10 children's picture books for £10 and there are a ton of Christmas ones in there. Buy 10 and suggest to your wife that you two should read a new one to him every other night before bed (bit like an advent calendar but with books). And put them away after Christmas so next year you can do the same and he won't remember the books!
- Suggest to your wife that he has an afternoon with grandparents while you two decorate the tree (or you take the boy out and she decorates the tree, if she dislikes your taste in bauble hanging), then he can come home to find it all lit up (saves one of you having to distract him and stop him ripping bits off faster than you can decorate).
- Get some blank cards, some red and green paint and some sponges you can cut into Christmas tree or bauble shapes. Sit him down and help him "make" Christmas cards for the family. This will be very easy if you only have two sets of grandparents and one or two aunts or uncles to send them to.
Steer clear of any suggestion that you should do Elf on the Goddamn Shelf, it's an American nightmare writ large and must be removed! (Also it's rather creepy that a small doll is watching everything you do).
A 3 year old will just find anything with lights and sparkle pretty amazing so it's a bit easier at his age to make everyday things a bit magical.
We are going to try and cut down on wasted food again this year after Lady Hol went a bit OTT last year on the final run up and we had multiple unopened cakes and sweets. (That may be a battle plan that fails at the final hurdle again).
We also agreed to set a limit on presents and just the one big thing as we typically end up buying additional smaller things neither of us really wanted. My wife is like a big kid at Xmas, so again we shall see.
- Xmas slot is booked at M&S.
- Men’s Gadget advent calendars (I recommend these after I had one myself last year) are bought for my grown sons instead of the usual chocolate ones their mother chooses.
- The odd jars of pickles and spreads have been added to the weekly shop and a Xmas cupboard designated for them in the kitchen.
- The relatives who annually invite themselves around for a free meal over Xmas, have been told we are going away this year (we aren’t, but hopefully they will make other plans before we tell them we changed our minds). That makes me sound like a Scrooge, but just for once, we would like to be on our own and not waiting on other people who contribute absolutely nothing to the day, like serfs.
- Present buying has started already and is planned to end on 30/11 as I like to avoid the shops when they start going crazy.
I have booked the two weeks off work and intend to spend much of that in the garage reassembling a Mk1 Escort shell which is due back from the restorers early December. The rest of the family have work commitments, so nobody will miss me.
An annual Xmas eve breakfast with a load of old school mates has been in the calendar for weeks. We all used to meet in the pub on Xmas day, but that got difficult for some to make with families taking precedent, so this has been the go to for 10years.
I have deliberately saved the Equalizer 3 as my Xmas day evening film on the big screen in the games room although with no (currently planned) guests in the house this year, I might even get to watch it in the lounge. I will also watch the usual family favourites like Die Hard with the wife and kids after dinner.
We are not having a big NYE party this year, and seriously considering just staying home.
We also agreed to set a limit on presents and just the one big thing as we typically end up buying additional smaller things neither of us really wanted. My wife is like a big kid at Xmas, so again we shall see.
- Xmas slot is booked at M&S.
- Men’s Gadget advent calendars (I recommend these after I had one myself last year) are bought for my grown sons instead of the usual chocolate ones their mother chooses.
- The odd jars of pickles and spreads have been added to the weekly shop and a Xmas cupboard designated for them in the kitchen.
- The relatives who annually invite themselves around for a free meal over Xmas, have been told we are going away this year (we aren’t, but hopefully they will make other plans before we tell them we changed our minds). That makes me sound like a Scrooge, but just for once, we would like to be on our own and not waiting on other people who contribute absolutely nothing to the day, like serfs.
- Present buying has started already and is planned to end on 30/11 as I like to avoid the shops when they start going crazy.
I have booked the two weeks off work and intend to spend much of that in the garage reassembling a Mk1 Escort shell which is due back from the restorers early December. The rest of the family have work commitments, so nobody will miss me.
An annual Xmas eve breakfast with a load of old school mates has been in the calendar for weeks. We all used to meet in the pub on Xmas day, but that got difficult for some to make with families taking precedent, so this has been the go to for 10years.
I have deliberately saved the Equalizer 3 as my Xmas day evening film on the big screen in the games room although with no (currently planned) guests in the house this year, I might even get to watch it in the lounge. I will also watch the usual family favourites like Die Hard with the wife and kids after dinner.
We are not having a big NYE party this year, and seriously considering just staying home.
MentalSarcasm said:
I don't know about "must do" things but a few cheap/free options could be:
- Pop him in the car one evening and take him for a drive to look at the Christmas lights on various houses in your area. If there's loads (or two really amazing ones) in walking distance then just bundle him up in multiple layers and walk him to them. At his age he'll be pretty mesmerised by them.
Thanks for your great tips. We moved house this year so driving round and scoping out the houses with Christmas Lights in particular is a great idea.- Pop him in the car one evening and take him for a drive to look at the Christmas lights on various houses in your area. If there's loads (or two really amazing ones) in walking distance then just bundle him up in multiple layers and walk him to them. At his age he'll be pretty mesmerised by them.
I'm not sure if our village has any Christmas lights, but I think the nearest town will do if our neighbours all share a similar view to Christmas as me!
UTH said:
Think I did this thread for 2022, and I just spotted the SS 2023 thread so thought f**k it, why not get this one going too!
Not long left to sign up too 
Captain Raymond Holt said:
UTH said:
Think I did this thread for 2022, and I just spotted the SS 2023 thread so thought f**k it, why not get this one going too!
Not long left to sign up too Captain Raymond Holt said:
UTH said:
Think I did this thread for 2022, and I just spotted the SS 2023 thread so thought f**k it, why not get this one going too!
Not long left to sign up too Can you summarise what I need to do in one sentence?
UTH said:
Captain Raymond Holt said:
UTH said:
Think I did this thread for 2022, and I just spotted the SS 2023 thread so thought f**k it, why not get this one going too!
Not long left to sign up too Can you summarise what I need to do in one sentence?
akirk said:
UTH said:
Captain Raymond Holt said:
UTH said:
Think I did this thread for 2022, and I just spotted the SS 2023 thread so thought f**k it, why not get this one going too!
Not long left to sign up too Can you summarise what I need to do in one sentence?
UTH said:
akirk said:
UTH said:
Captain Raymond Holt said:
UTH said:
Think I did this thread for 2022, and I just spotted the SS 2023 thread so thought f**k it, why not get this one going too!
Not long left to sign up too Can you summarise what I need to do in one sentence?
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John Lewis Christmas add is out, it’s the usual soppy nonsense, but I have to admit I quite like it:
https://youtu.be/5y0fGsQU5zg?si=1I1cB3wNd5dPzfLz
https://youtu.be/5y0fGsQU5zg?si=1I1cB3wNd5dPzfLz
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