With the supply chain problem, we have been hearing "buy now, get it while you can" for Christmas decorations and gifts, especially toys. Perhaps this will remind us that Christmas is about more than stuff. It is a wonderful time of year to share what you have, give of yourself rather than purchased goods, and don't worry about getting your hands on something that a month later will sit in a corner, gathering dust. Christmas can be so much fun and so fulfilling. It doesn't have to be stressful. So, an early holiday wish for all of you--enjoy!!!
Thanks @marlingardener and you too. We haven't bothered with presents for a long time now. But we have got in the few foods that we have earlier just in case that they go and they won't have again. We don't have a lot but just different, can't eat as much as we used to.
Christmas wishes to you and yours Jane. We usually have a family get together - the three children and us. We supply the main course for lunch and all three bring something for the table. It could be dessert, crackers or cake. We don't tend to go wild with pressies. We have a limit of £10 for each person and that really is enough. After all it's a day to enjoy each others company not a day to see who can buy the most expensive gifts.
Thank you @marlingardener and the same to you and yours. I know people have started to panic here already. We're usually buying presents that can be eaten, drunk or used, and no exception this year. There's no small children in our family any more. We're hoping a Californian friend can spend Christmas with, and that's really all we wish for for Christmas. (I have hinted heavily about a Millennium Falcon Lego set, but I don't think I'm getting it.)
Anyone remember Lincoln Logs? I received a set when I was little, and immediately started to build a "pioneer village." The fancy doll my parents thought I should have sat in its box until it was relegated to the attic. Never had Legos, but they could have made a great pioneer village!
I happened to visit a garden centre today, in an attempt to purchase some green plastic plant pots. No green pots, but I've never seen so much Christmas tat. There's obviously no shortage. Maybe some is what was left over from last year, unsold because of Covid?
Yes! And when I see what my grandchildren can build these days I feel cheated and left out! But fortunately one's never too old for Lego.
Recently found out that the Millennium Falcon was sneaked into Star Trek "First Contact" during a battle with The Borg
My brother who is 5 years older, he had a lovely electric train set, had to put the track together and all the other things the engine and everything. One day when he went out mum let me play with it. Those days we only have one present for Christmas and a stocking filled with fruit.
I think Christmas present choices kids make can indicate chosen career paths. Our daughter was into dolls. She always wanted one for Christmas every year. She'd play "schools" with them. They'd be lined up on her bed whilst she took the "lesson." She had more than half a dozen of them. I built a shelf unit above her bed for them to sit on. When she became a teenager, we decided to give her money instead of a Christmas present so she could choose something herself. She went out and bought another doll! They eventually become more like ornaments in her room. At eighteen she left home to train as a nurse at Great Ormond Street Childrens Hospital. Bottom row, second from the left. After several years at GOS and a lot of additional qualifications she went to St Mary's Paddington and was in charge of a specialised ward there. She gave up nursing after having the second of her four children. Recently, to help out during the Covid crisis she went back and "did a bit" to help out for a few months.
What impressed me about this photo was that these girls always looked like this at the start of their shift in the late eighties and nineties. They were provided witth a fresh uniform every day. They also had a full length locker if they weren't living in the nurses' accommodation. The training was tough, several exams, fail one and you were gone. Our son's partner, is a nurse at the biggest hospital in Manchester. She gets supplied with one uniform which she has to launder herself. They aren't provided with lockers.
I don unnerstan him either - MOST of the time, you just have to nod and smile and pretend you know what he's on about. I dunno, life is full of difficulties