Pass the mince pies- Christmas Chat Thread Part Deux

kitten_k

Hi everyone, hope you are all good. Haven't had much time to be in here but hopefully will be around a bit more now in the run up.

Congrats on the new elf Jelly!

ChewChew

I adore this time of year!! I'm already full of christmas cheer

I am on a day off today so after dropping my 4 yo to Montessori I went to Range and they've started the assembly of their Christmas section.. boohoo... got home with herself and she asked to watch The Grinch. So happy. What a brilliant Monday

CheerLouth

DvB wrote: »

I booked it on opening day. We went last year (family of 4) and loved it, so when we asked the kids where to go this year they jumped on going again. It does seem a tad pricey but all these kind of things are a little on the pricy side, IIRC the gifts the kids received were of a decent quality too though.
Personally I thought it worth it as its an infrequent event & the 'santa' years are coming to an end soon for us so are trying to make the most of them.

My sister is the same with one of hers so she is pushing us big time. Ours are still quite little and we've never done an experience before. I'll give it some more thought!

chuckles30

Congrats to Jelly on the arrival of the new elf

Was out and about at lunchtime and both Dealz & Euro2 are gone full on with the Halloween decorations, so won't be long now!!

Need to pop to the Range in Limerick later, so hopefully they'll have some crimbo stuff out

TRS30

Haven't been around much the last few weeks and been full on house renovations however back in work today so will definitely be on much more. Just been reading through all the threads (had 12 in my followed threads- all Christmas ones!) and has seriously got me in the Christmas mood. Really cheered me up after my first morning back in a good few weeks.

Elf 1 started school last week, no bother to her (I wasn't crying, I had something in my eye:)), Elf 2 started Montessori this morning and by all account loved it so really feeling we can getting into the Christmas season.

Have booked Santa in Christmas Island so have that in the calendar already.

Anyone recommend any Christmas tree farms where you can go and pick your own tree, cut it down etc?

PS. con'grats Jellybear on the arrival of new Elf, hope all going well.

Wife ordered us all matching Christmas jammies from Aliexpress. Quality is about what you'd expect for the price however delivery does take a while so order early.

freshpopcorn

Dealz!

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Strange looking weed killer.

Loughc

kitten_k wrote: »

Hi everyone, hope you are all good. Haven't had much time to be in here but hopefully will be around a bit more now in the run up.

Congrats on the new elf Jelly!

Thanks for popping back in Kitten



We missed you

Loughc

freshpopcorn wrote: »

Dealz!

So Much CHOCOLATE.... it truly is the most wonderful time of the year!!

Mam of 4

Aw , congratulations JellyBear , that's wonderful news !

Mam of 4

chuckles30 wrote: »

Congrats to Jelly on the arrival of the new elf

Was out and about at lunchtime and both Dealz & Euro2 are gone full on with the Halloween decorations, so won't be long now!!

Need to pop to the Range in Limerick later, so hopefully they'll have some crimbo stuff out

Was in Dealz here yesterday and in one aisle , one side was full with Halloween decorations , the other side , Christmas

TRS30

https://twitter.com/ed92live/status/1168489895930880002?s=21

My kind of heaven

DvB

CheerLouth wrote: »

My sister is the same with one of hers so she is pushing us big time. Ours are still quite little and we've never done an experience before. I'll give it some more thought!

To be fair, ours were 5 before we brought them to any of the christmas 'experience' events, up until then it was just Santas's grotto in the Blanchardstown SC. We felt they were a bit too young to appreciate them before then & one of them was freaked by the idea of meeting santa before then anyway & had refused to go in & see him, even in a family group.

CheerLouth

DvB wrote: »

To be fair, ours were 5 before we brought them to any of the christmas 'experience' events, up until then it was just Santas's grotto in the Blanchardstown SC. We felt they were a bit too young to appreciate them before then & one of them was freaked by the idea of meeting santa before then anyway & had refused to go in & see him, even in a family group.

Yes you see this is it. We normally just go to see the same Santa every year. He's just in the local toy shop but he is the real deal! Real beard, belly full of jelly chuckle, his suit is amazing! Plus he only lives down the road from us so we see him in the local pub quite often and the kids know him. I'm a bit worried that an "experience" would bring questions from our eldest about why the Santas aren't the same & I'm not ready yet to start explaining that Santa is a very busy man in the run up to Christmas so sometimes, he has to deploy stand ins!

TRS30

CheerLouth wrote: »

My sister is the same with one of hers so she is pushing us big time. Ours are still quite little and we've never done an experience before. I'll give it some more thought!

The first couple of years we brought ELF1 to see Santa she cried and wouldn't go near him let alone sit on his knee. Was only when she was 3 did she seem to enjoy it at all and then last year she loved it and was yapping away to all the ones we saw like an old one!

Jude13

This will be the little ones first Christmas so we would like to get a pic visiting Santa even if she will look terrified. Does anyone know of a good Santa in Limerick around Chirstmas, or at a push Dublin city centre? also do you need to book these in advance?

TRS30

Jude13 wrote: »

This will be the little ones first Christmas so we would like to get a pic visiting Santa even if she will look terrified. Does anyone know of a good Santa in Limerick around Chirstmas, or at a push Dublin city centre? also do you need to book these in advance?

Not much help with Limerick I'm afraid however we have enjoyed the one in Arnotts the last couple of years. You cant book so have to get there early to get your ticket. However you don't have to queue then you can head off and they'll text you 30 mins before. There is lots to do in Arnotts it's self or around Henry street. Also it's free and you just pay for the picture.

Jude13

Perfect, I have a 300 yo yo Arnotts voucher which might get hammered whilst there.

kitten_k

Jude13 wrote: »

Perfect, I have a 300 yo yo Arnotts voucher which might get hammered whilst there.

Make sure you get there early or you could be either left waiting all day or they could be out of tickets.

TRS30

They have two Santa's (shhhh don't tell anyone) going on busy days so get through a lot of visits however you do need to get there early. I was queuing up from 8am when we went last year because it was a Friday close to Christmas. Two years ago we got in around 10/11 and was told it would be 6pm before we get seen so went to one in Jervis centre (was ok however not as good as Arnotts imo)

Jude13

Fudge that, two things I cannot abide, queuing and bah-humbugers.

TRS30

Jude13 wrote: »

Fudge that, two things I cannot abide, queuing and bah-humbugers.

I hear you on the queuing thing. However I queued on my own with a coffee and my phone while wife took kids to brekkie. Doors opened at 8.50, ran in and got ticket and then we went off to the toy section till we got the call to say it was out turn. Saw him around 10am then took lots of pictures in gretto and when went around a few shops and home for lunch.

Jude13

Change the coffee for a hot chocolate and you have me.

chuckles30

I have heard good reports about the Santa experience in Jetland Dunnes in Limerick - always looks good from the outside anyway.

Bunratty also have Santa - but you need to book it to get times/dates that suit. Haven't seen it advertised yet, so not sure if they have started taking bookings.

Don't have any elves myself so cannot comment other than hearsay!

chuckles30

The Range in Limerick was in total confusion yesterday.......pallets of Christmas stock......pallets of summer stock and empty pallets.......basically looks like they are trying to swap over from one season to the next.....but at least the Christmas stock is coming!!

Was in Homestore and More too - but they didn't even have Halloween stuff out yet

freshpopcorn

chuckles30 wrote: »

Was in Homestore and More too - but they didn't even have Halloween stuff out yet

From my experience Homestore and more won't have Christmas stock out until 1st November!

freshpopcorn

Littlehorny

Has anyone started putting on the heating yet?
Chilly enough this evening, I'd say the heating will be set to come on and off with the timer soon!

SCOOP 64

Littlehorny wrote: »

Has anyone started putting on the heating yet?
Chilly enough this evening, I'd say the heating will be set to come on and off with the timer soon!

No, not yet,trying to avoid at all costs, wait for -10 or something.

Posy

Littlehorny wrote: »

Has anyone started putting on the heating yet?
Chilly enough this evening, I'd say the heating will be set to come on and off with the timer soon!

I have the heated towel rails on all year around, so I have warm dry towels.

I also use my electric blanket a lot during the summer because I'm generally pretty cold.

CheerLouth

TK Maxx in Drogheda have some Hallowe'en bits out - no Christmas stuff yet, but think it is probably too early yet for a lot of shops.

Littlehorny wrote: »

Has anyone started putting on the heating yet?
Chilly enough this evening, I'd say the heating will be set to come on and off with the timer soon!

I turned our heating back on yesterday - we have a geothermal system with underfloor heating so it takes a few days for the house to get back to being cosy. I'm the coldest creature known to man