Tag: Christmas

Christmas Gift Ideas for Family and Friends

On By samanthaIn SHOPPINGLeave a comment

I went to the dentist a couple of weeks ago, it was the 26th October and she asked “are you all ready for Christmas?” Huh? Christmas, we hadn’t even had Halloween. This year has flown by and I suppose I need to get organised. It will only be the five of us and my parents for Christmas lunch but I also have my elderly aunt and my parents over sometime in early December.

So gifts, I want to get on with buying them and wrapping them up as they arrive so I am not wrestling with the Sellotape for hours on end. I would like to say the presents I choose are all sourced from local businesses and, before I went back to work, that would be the case but now I have no time to go to the shops so they are mostly bought online. For my elderly relatives I now stick to Marks and Spencer vouchers and they can spend them on nice food if they wish. Here are my picks for other gifts for 2024:

Girls older teens/early twenties

Earrings, not very expensive because they lose them but no so cheap they will turn their ears green. I have chosen these nine carat gold studs from QVC, I bought them when they were on special offer, they are currently £75 which is a little expensive for a stocking filler. They will look nice with my daughter’s suits when she is on her new work placement.

Travel Jewellery Box from Oliver Bonas, because I always have to buy something when I go in to this shop, they sell so many pretty things. These boxes are reduced at the time of writing. They come in lots of pretty designs and are a useful, inexpensive gift for just about anyone.

Joggers from ASOS My daughter plays a lot of sport and all young people seem to live in joggers. Last year I bought her a fleece lined pair but I don’t think they were a hit. These are a little sleeker. I noticed while shopping for these that most of the styles now have wide legs but they’d trip my daughter up if she were wearing them for lacrosse practice.

Teenage Boys

Cash, that’s what they really appreciate but I will also buy some clothes for my younger son. Again, joggers, boys seem to prefer grey. Wide hems seem to be the trend for boys too but I have stuck to the traditional, cuffed style

Crew neck sweatshirt from Uniqlo. My younger son already has one of these in navy and the quality is great. He doesn’t tend to wear hoodies, he likes something a little smarter.

Suitcase, one of my sons is travelling to Australia next year and will need a new case. I was not terribly impressed with my recent purchase from Samsonite so am thinking of ordering this one by brand Americal Tourister from Amazon, Not a brand I am familiar with but this product has almost 1500 excellent reviews and is reasonably priced at £90.

Anti-theft laptop backpack, my older two children take very inexpensive flights where they cram clothes for a week into a backpack because it costs around £100 for them to upgrade to a small suitcase. I purchased two of these from Amazon in grey and in black, they have proved to be a winner so I will buy another for my younger son. My older son takes his into the office as does my daughter when she is on work placement. She said all the girls use similar, no one uses a traditional handbag for work anymore.

I always seem to be buying water bottles and then the lids get lost and they are useless. I am sure there are ten lids under my son’s bed but I daren’t look for fear of what else is lurking there. I will probably buy one or two of these from Chilly’s

Other sure-fire winners are those nylon, fluffy socks, slipper boots, plaid pyjama bottoms in brushed cotton, lip balm sets, body sprays and some of their favorite sweets.

Friends

I have about half a dozen friends that I buy gifts for, usually spending around £30 on average. Most of us complain about the amount of clutter in our homes and I am keen not to add to anyone’s burden of “stuff”.

For my friend who works from home I am going to buy this burgundy Parker Pen. I think it is a useful and elegant gift.

For my friend who takes her dog on lots of chilly walks I am going to buy her this cosy sweatshirt from Marks and Spencer which she can return if she doesn’t like it.

For my friend with whom I just exchange a tiny little gift, I am going to buy her this cute teddy keyring from Harrods. A very little bit of luxury.

So, an expensive and busy time of year, especially for women in my experience. Start writing your cards now, assuming people are still sending Christmas cards given the recent rise in the cost of stamps. My aunt writes her during August. Last year I sat writing ours for so long that my legs went to sleep and , when I tried to stand up, I fell flat on my face, not the best start to the festive season!

Happy Shopping!

Thank you for reading

Samantha

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Busy Doing Nothing

On By samanthaIn FAMILYLeave a comment

It’s December 27th and I am not in a good mood. I have two weeks away from work for Christmas, unpaid, as I have to work on a self-employed basis since the pandemic but that is a whole other, moany post. Since last Christmas I have only taken one week off so I have been looking forward to relaxing but, here’s the thing, I seem to have forgotten how. If I am not running around wearing myself out I feel anxious and lazy.

It has been a busy couple of days. At very short notice my mother-in-law was discharged from hospital on Christmas Day so my husband has not been at home very much at all. He spent Christmas day at her house refilling her kitchen cupboards and organising carers for her. I had our three children for Christmas lunch as well as my parents and brother. I did all of the cooking and clearing up. I had to collect my parents and, at the end of the day, drive them the short way home. Getting my house-bound mum in and out of the car safely was stressful but my oldest son did a wonderful job of helping. By the end of Christmas Day I was completely frazzled. On Boxing Day I went for a walk and had a big tidy up of the house. Oh the excitement!

Today I decided to let myself sit on the sofa and watch one of those soppy Hallmark Christmas movies. I was about fifteen minutes in and thoroughly enjoying the film when suddenly I realised it was 11am and there I was, a fit and able person, watching TV in the daytime, surely this is an actual crime. The film now spoiled, I went upstairs to sort laundry , barking complaints at my daughter for dumping just about every garment she has ever owned in the wash. Jeez, what a misery guts I am. Perhaps, I think, I will pointlessly catch a train to Tunbridge Wells and have a pointless wander around the shops, at least then I will be doing something but I am thwarted as the trains all appear to be cancelled and I can’t face driving around trying to find a a parking space. In the end I walk to my parents house and do a little bit of cleaning for them, I instantly feel better for having done something useful.

I wish I was a laid-back type of person, it would probably be far better for my health but that just isn’t my personality type at all. I don’t remember ever seeing my own mother sit down and rest during the day except perhaps on a Sunday afternoon when we would watch Hart to Hart or Butterflies together. If I wake up later than 7.30am I feel an instant sense of panic and guilt. I feel I should be up and doing something. Why am I like this? I read somewhere that we are Human Beings not Human Doings and sometimes we should allow ourselves to just…be.  I do worry about the link between cortisol, the stress hormone, and cancer. Apparently cortisol levels are higher on waking which is why I probably feel at my most jittery during the mornings. I need to make time for some deep breathing exercises and maybe I should try meditation.

My off-switch kicks in around 8pm and then I will take a bath or shower and maybe read or watch some TV . My daughter and I are revisiting old episodes of Dr Who. Probably not what I would choose to watch but she will be returning to university soon and it is a nice way to spend some time together. Phew, I can finally let myself relax. Hopefully I won’t wake up at 3am worrying about a mistake I made at work in 1997. 

Thank you for reading

Samantha

Cover Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash

Christmas Lunch at The Ivy, Tunbridge Wells

On By samanthaIn GOING OUTLeave a comment

Every Christmas my good friend Helen and I have a pre-Christmas lunch at the beautiful Ivy restaurant in Tunbridge Wells,  It is rather an extravagant treat but we both work hard all year and agree that we deserve the occasional expensive cocktail.  Today didn’t get off to a very good start as my boiler was broken and we had no hot water or central heating.  British Gas came out surprisingly quickly and managed to fix the issue but I was half-frozen by the time I left home. Helen and I were catching the train and she waiting was at the station wearing the most beautiful pair of caramel coloured knee-length suede boots from Sosander. “Did you spray those with water repellent” I asked Helen. “No”, she replied, “they’ll be fine”. Cut to a couple of hours later when I am blotting an enormous water stain on the toe of her brand new boots with a tissue.

We had booked a table for twelve thirty and The Ivy confirmed that the table was reserved for an hour and a half. I understand that it is their busiest time of year and it must be somewhat tricky to tactfully move patrons along without appearing rude but the constant, not so subtle nudges, were just too much. We arrived about five minutes early and had barely sat down and had not even opened our menus when we were asked what we wanted to eat. We asked to be left for five minutes but about a minute later we were asked again. We both ordered the aforementioned pricey cocktails, mine was some sort of candy-floss confection and Helen’s was gin and cranberry, both wonderful and very strong. As we had to speed-eat we didn’t bother with a starter and both had the goose and turkey shepherds pie with a side order of broccoli, absolutely delicious and a chocolate bombe for desert which tastes like a melted Crunchie bar, a little sickly and it made me very thirsty. The plates were whisked away within a millisecond of us taking the last mouthful and the waiter told us they needed the table, this was an hour and twenty minutes after we’d arrived. The bill was brought over without us asking, clearly a very efficient system. The waiter proffering the card machine did not utter a word or make any eye contact whatsoever, it was really quite rude. I think next year we will go somewhere a little more relaxed. One cocktail, the shepherd’s pie, broccoli and chocolate bombe came to £51 each so certainly not cheap but not ridiculously expensive either.

After lunch we visited Hooper’s department store as Helen wanted to browse their Christmas shop. Instead of being on the ground floor it took a bit of detective work to find and it was a little disappointing. They had a lot of fabric decorations which had been overstuffed and were split at the seams, clearly some quality control issues on the part of the manufacturer, and some feathered things that looked like roadkill. Despite this, I did manage to spend £25 on some beautiful Gisela Graham ornaments which I didn’t really need.

So, back home now the heating is on and I need to think about getting the tree down from the loft, we can’t have a real tree because they make my husband and son sneeze, and decorating it with my new purchases.

Thank you for reading,

Samantha

Header photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

Ugh, Christmas already??

On By samanthaIn SHOPPINGLeave a comment

Ok, admittedly rather a Scrooge-like title for this post but, let’s face it, Christmas is a lot of work, not to mention a lot of expense. Maybe your household is different but, I think it is fair to say, in many families the bulk of the to-do list falls on the woman. I am writing this with a month to go but already I am conscious that I need to choose gifts for friends who live overseas and post them. Last year I bought a friend in Australia a beautiful pale grey bag from White Stuff. Unbeknownst to me, a couple of days after I posted it, my friend moved house. She never even set eyes on that bag but I hope her former landlady enjoys using it.

Christmas becomes a little easier, but perhaps less fun, once the children become teenagers. Two of my children have birthdays in early January by which time I have usually run out of gift-giving steam. Now, I still fill a stocking (well actually a pillowcase) for each of them but they are happy with cold hard cash as a main gift. A tip to anyone considering buying a teenager a gift set of some sort, especially toiletries – don’t! They would rather have five pounds cash than a fifteen pound box of smellies that they will never use. If the idea of giving money just doesn’t feel right to you then perhaps compromise and give them a voucher, maybe ASOS who stock hundreds of different fashion brands and seem to have a permanent sale on. My youngest son would probably choose a simple white T shirt like this one from The North Face,

If you really want to give a physical gift then, for girls, I don’t think you can go far wrong with Oliver Bonas who sell beautiful accessories starting at around £15. This pretty star bracelet is simple yet elegant.

I am a sucker for a cuddly toy so, for younger children, I would probably buy a cuddly Christmas reindeer. In fact my youngest son has quite a collection of these from years past and I was very sad when he was obviously too old for soft toys. This little chap from John Lewis is very reasonably priced at £15 and is good for cuddles all year round because reindeer aren’t just for Christmas!

I enjoy choosing gifts for my friends and sometimes do adopt the “one for you, one for me” approach when I find something I really like. I usually spend around £30-£40 on these gifts. I do have rather a repetitive repertoire I must admit, silver earrings, nice make-up bags, a leather purse or card-holder, silver keyring. Something like this cute mouse keyring from Alessi or this beautiful leather purse from Sage Brown which looks like you’ve been shopping at Bottega Veneta.

My parents are n their late eighties and really don’t need much but this year I have bought them new pyjamas and dressing gowns, predictably from Marks and Spencer. I took a bit of time choosing carefully because my parents, sadly, are both very frail and can easily trip when going down the stairs if the pyjama hems are too wide or the leg too long. My mum has osteoporosis and has shrunk considerably during the past five years, so much so that I now buy the cropped leg length for her.

As for my husband, well he isn’t really worried about receiving gifts as long as everyone else is happy. This year I have bought him a much-needed new coat from Crew Clothing. They had a 20% off event which was very helpful.

Our first Christmas card arrived today, as always it is from my eighty-eight year old aunt who writes them during August. She send over two hundred and fifty, many to people she hasn’t seen for thirty years. To be honest, I suspect may of the intended recipients may have moved or even died years go as she hardly receives any in return but I am too polite to suggest this to her. She enjoys her yearly ritual of sitting out in her garden during the height of summer preparing for December! Receiving this fist card always sends me into a bit of a panic so I had better get my address book out and start writing some of my own.

Thanks for reading.

Samantha