It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas Off Topic Chat

Ordered that bauble from Etsy, €14 incl. postage. Hopefully it looks decent in the flesh now.

First day back in work after the holidays & actually not feeling too bad, for all the things that went wrong on holiday I did manage to get plenty of rest/sleep so I actually don't feel bad this afternoon at all. Have managed to blitz through the email backlog too so doing better than I expected really.

Have enough work to keep me busy for the week too so hopefully it'll not drag.

Just thinking there too, this day 2 months is double digit day!! Doesn't feel that far away at all.

Looking back and we seem to say that every year 🤣

Some cute pieces there but nope I'm going to be strong 😂

I say it every year but it seems very few people complain when Eater Eggs appear the first week in January or when Halloween decorations appear 15 weeks before it!?! 😮

Woo betide if Christmas appears in the shops before Dec 1st for many though ha ha

just putting it out there, Halloween yay or nah for you guys?

I was never a big fan of Halloween. I used like carving a pumpkin but it sort of brings me out in a rash.

My favorite thing about Halloween nearly is a lot of the multipack mini bars are on offer.

I do like it in October when you start lighting the fire most evenings and you sort of feel that Christmas.

Also, a lot of he Christmas stuff appears in the shops.

Saw this on Facebook.

Apart from going tick or treating to a few of the neighbours, we never really did much for Hallowe'en when we were younger. I don't think many did back in the 80s. And I've never really got into it as an adult either. I do put up a few decorations, just so that I don't look like the Hallowe'en Grinch in my estate, but they get taken down straight away. To me, it's just one day, but some seem to see it almost as a season!

I was never a Halloween fab, but I love that time of year.

This is exactly how I feel. The OH is far more into it. I try but it's not a season like Christmas so I hate putting in too much effort for one day.

@DvB glad to hear the bag showed up. Don't know what else went wrong for you but hope it didn't kill any good memories. Our European tour is into its last few days. All fab so far except for Trieste. We hated it. Had 3 nights booked but ended up finding a place in Slovenia for the third night. The air con wasn't working due to work on the building and it hit 34 during the day so 2 nights of no sleep. Also the balcony was a building site and the promised parking turned our to be first come first served so we spent nearly an hour trying to find on street parking. Too many people, too many cars. Couldn't get out of there fast enough. But have to say, Slovenia is amazing. So lush and green, like Ireland, but with fab weather. Spent yesterday kayaking and snorkeling in Croatia and today we're in the Austrian alps. We have 3 nights here and thunderstorms predicted for all 3 days with low 20s. We're all actually OK with that, having hit 35 earlier on the drive from Slovenia.

Kids are happy cos there's WiFi- easily pleased 😆

One downside to UK travel is the £ is so weak atm. Hotel is £188 for 2 nights and its a Wetherspoons hotel so making somewhat of a bargain for my buck (if I even get time for a pint in the hotel 😄)

Looking forward to going back to London next month. Hoping to do the Twickenham Stadium Tour and Richmond

Time goes by so fast with the amount of exploring to be done

Am sure I said it last year, but I do like Halloween (a close second to Christmas of course), more so because it’s a Celtic tradition & it’s origins. I’m in some FB groups for Halloween decorating & absolutely amazes me what some of them can create as far as a display, just by picking up random bits & pieces that other folk are getting rid of.

Only thing I hate is the fireworks & trauma folk cause for animals with them

Where abouts did you go in France, Heroditas? We came back two weeks ago and I'm already planning for next year. We'll probably do a few nights in Des Ormes again because it's great for the kids, but I'm keen to go somewhere else too.

Since the kids got to a certain age (3 or 4 IIRC) the Mrs had started putting up some halloween decorations and we went around the houses in our area trick or treating and dish out treats of our own as other children call in to ours. I must admit i got a bit of a buzz out walking around with the kids and checking out what others had done in terms of decorating etc. (some incredibly impressive it has to be said) Covid unfortunately hit that for a year or two but they returned to it last year, but my son wasn't in to it at all and had to be coerced, and some of the buzz had definitely been diluted. We all enjoyed tucking into the many treats they got on their rounds though!!

As mentioned before Halloween wasnt that big a deal for us growing up & even up to before the kids came along, I did used to enjoy when the TV channels made a deal of it with Horror films being shown but with the advent of satellite movie channels that's died off too and doesn't have the same charm at all.

If it falls on a weekend then we'll probably organise a small get together or night out (more of an excuse to socialise than anything else) but outside of that can see it fading in importance for us as the kids grow up. We tend to head away for a few days around the October b/h weekend anyway and that takes on greater importance really.