How did your Christmas go?

in #teamuklast year

If you celebrate Christmas,I hope you
had a lovely time with whoever you spent it with. It's been a little busy for me the past few days, that I haven't had much time to get online. There was the usual last minute shopping, with a very welcoming sight for festive shoppers outside the supermarket.
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In recent years, these toppers have appeared in many places in UK. Knitters or crocheters make these beautiful toppers and place them on the top of our iconic red letter boxes. They change with the season, like Easter, Halloween, Christmas or even the Coronation earlier this year. These people are incredibly talented and bring so much joy to the community.


Some of the supermarket shelves were starting to go empty already, particularly the Christmas food.
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I bought a whole salmon as they're always on offer at Christmas. Salmon is such a versatile fish and so easy to cook, I always stock up when they're on offer. This one is over 3kg,and I cut it up to four portions for freezing which means it's enough for eight people.
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Christmas is also about remembering those who are no longer with us. It's been a while since I've visited my parents grave.
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On Christmas day I hosted dinner for my sister in law and her family. This is their second Christmas in UK and I figured I'd cook them a traditional Christmas dinner. OK, not 100% traditional as I did gammon instead of turkey, and the sides didn't go as well as I would have liked. But overall I think it was ok.
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I think I did much better with the dessert.
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Yesterday, on Boxing Day we went over to my brother's. That's always quite a big social gathering as I have 4 siblings living nearby, plus their kids and grand kids who sometimes turn up. My niece @kathrynkw came with her kids and I did my great aunty duties playing with her son in the garden. It was so lovely watching him play and his sound of laughter just makes my heart melt.
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Nowadays we don't do Christmas presents anymore. Last week hubby saw a bottle of Springbank whisky in the shops. They're a bit hard to come by so he was very pleased when the price was reasonably affordable. When he went to pay he realised he forgot to top up his debit card so I paid it using my card and told him that's his Christmas present 🎁 😂
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Last and not the least, I cannot not mention the lovely Christmas package I received from @zirochka that arrived just in time for Christmas, perfect timing. It included a bunch of Christmas goodies all the way from Ukraine. The ceramic Christmas tree decorations looks so stunning on my tree.
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How did you spend your Christmas and did you have any nice surprises?

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My husband and I were fortunate to have all four of our children with us this year. It has been a while. This year we also had our son-in-law and his mother, too. He's an only child, so we wanted to include his mother so she wouldn't be alone (she's a widow).

It reminded me of Christmas when I was a child. Both my parents were only children, so all living grandparents were always there to celebrate.

That so lovely, it must have been quite difficult to arrange for all your children to be back on the same day, especially those who are married and have big in law families. I hope your son's mother had a great time at yours, I imagine it would be lovely for her to spend Christmas with a big family if she only has one child.

Thanks for dropping by @greensandpinks, I really appreciate it. And I wish your and your family all the best for 2024!

We had a nice quiet Christmas. It was easy and relaxed. Which was a nice break after a rather busy and productive second half of the year.

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We had a great Xmas with the family. I even got some whisky (details later)! It's just a strange time of year when we get that extra time off work, but we may do a bit of travelling around.

Have fun and take care. Here's to a great 2024.

Great to hear your had a great Xmas Steve, and that your little mishap didn't spoil it for you in the end.

I'll be posting about his Springbank later on as well. Although I don't drink it, I think my nose is getting better at it, I picked out the top note immediately , pretty chuffed with myself, for some weird reason 😆

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It looks like you had a really great holiday! Ours was quite busy with a lot of running around here and there. Things are finally starting to slow down for us thankfully. I wish I ate more salmon, but my wife doesn't care for it, so we just never buy it.

Was the running around visiting familie? We get two days holiday in UK for Christmas so it makes it a little easier for those who need to spend time with different families.

It's always difficult when one half doesn't eat a particular type of food. I don't like spicy food so we never have it at home and my husband can only order it when we eat out.

Yes, it was pretty much all spent running back and forth between families. We just went out for dinner last night to celebrate with my side of the family.

看着很充实的圣诞节

今年剛搬了新家,所以可以搞點氣氛😀

Looks like you cook up quite a little feast

It turned out OK, I think. There wasn't too much left overs so I guess that's a good sign

Ah, that is good project management. 😎

Hello friend @livinguktaiwan , Merry Christmas!

I didn't know your parents had already moved on, it must be so hard to go on without parents.

You must cook tasty.

To answer you I had a good time, a little different from previous years but that variant made me happy.

They've been gone for many years, especially my dad, but that's life

I'm glad you had a good Christmas. Changes are OK, as long as you're happy with it

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You had a pretty business Christmas and Boxer day. I think you choose well having gammon instead of turkey. If I was there I would have appreciated it, I'm still turkeyed out from our last holiday. The dinner looks good you did well 😊 Last minute shopping, I picked one gift up on Christmas Eve, hehe.

I thought my Christmas day went well. I woke up to snow fall (it really hasn't snowed here yet) so that gave it a little more aroma. I made a small Christmas breakfast than relaxed watching sports. Boxer day was dedicated to a lot of stuff I put off on Christmas day. Mostly shoveling outside and cleaning. Fornately I teleworked so I got a lot of that done through out the day. Back to work today.

May the rest of the year be good to you and family.

I'd love to have a white Christmas, it certainly adds so much to the atmosphere. We got storm in parts of the country, disrupting traffic and public transport, and some areas and houses sadly flooded. But if nature wants to cause havoc on Christmas day, I'd much rather have snow than a storm.

Hope you have a nice relaxing week to round off the year.

Yours look festive 😍

Ours... aside from feasting on some nice food, we also went to the Gardens by the Bay to visit the Christmas-themed wonderland.

I bet that would have been enchanting. I remember when I went in February 2020, it was so beautiful. The potential to do it up properly is hugh there!

Some improvements are on the way, I recommend for you to revisit in the future 😊

I spent this christmas with the family and relatives. We had a simple gathering and we prepared foods in the table. We also sing different songs until sunrise 🤣...

Anyway, merry christmas to you and advance happy new year 🥳🥂

What a nice way to spend Christmas. That's all you need sometimes, spending time with those closest and dearest to you.

Best wishes for 2024!

Bonding with fam is always the best 😉

Advance Happy new year to you 🥳🥂

Lovely Salmon something that is far too expensive here, have enjoyed smoked salmon from Scandinavia in previous years working for a Swedish company, always a wonderful present to receive.

Whisky looks interesting, one way of arranging a present you know will be enjoyed, well done!

Gifts from far away places always a surprise, sadly our postal service no longer operates, everything must be via courier service deliveries.

Awesome you had a happy Christmas with family getting to visit relatives living and no longer around.

I bought 2 more whole salmon yesterday as they were near their sell by date, and were reduced to less than £8 for the 2.5kg fish. Was really happy with that as I got there just in time to pick up the last two on offer.😊 Now I got three in my freezer, all cut and portioned up, it will last me for a long time.

I hope you had a great Christmas with your family Joan, and all the best for 2024!

Going to taste better being a reduced purchase !LOLZ
Always enjoy it more when you get a better price.
Quiet Christmas with my family thanks, it was quiet.
Wishing you and your family everything of the best for 2024

I haven't sold a single copy of my autobiography.
Sigh. That's the story of my life.

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So you guys have Boxing Day too? . yesterday, it was holiday here because of boxing day. It's about unboxing presents but we didn't receive any present haha... I did give gifts to some...
Merry Christmas btw... foods look delicious.
.

HK has Boxing day holiday from the old days when it was under British rule, but given the way things are going, I wouldn't be surprised if both Boxing day and Christmas day holidays are gone in the coming years.

Hope you had a nice couple of days off

Hello, P!

Funny to read out that the gift exchange it is also a thing that you didn't put in practice this year. I just did the same. I haven't but anything besides the gift for my goddaughter. I arranged with her mother, since I'm not close by... she bought some clothes, and I splited the bill with her.
Got a call from them yesterday, and she said that my goddaughter was very pleased with the clothes, since she was taken to buy them 😅

I gifted my mother a natural plant. I bought her the Peace lily (not sure if this is the correct translation), and she said that today the flowers started to blossom! Best coincidence ever.

My brother need some socks... yeah? Socks, can you imagine that... ahaha and it was very simple, since he likes dark and sober colours.

But for me, the best part of Xmas, it is to share time and a warm meal... simple... getting older has this effect on me. Keep things simple and without any unnecessary distress.

Thank you for sharing your Christmas day with us! Loved to see @Zirochka surprise!

You did end up buying presents for your closest and loved ones!!! Even though they're not big massive expensive presents, it's the thought that counts especially if it is something they like. Socks are actually very good presents, not something I would normally think of as presents. But zirochka sent a couple of pairs over in her package, they're in between the red box and the chocolate. They were so soft and Christmassy!

Are you taking time off this week or back to your long shift work already?

I love socks! When I was younger it was a shame gift in my perspective, but as I get older, I like to receive things that are useful and memorable. I have a "small" collection of Xmas themed socks (about 6 of them), and I use them during the weeks before Xmas :) It reminds me the essencial things in live... Strange, right? How can an pair of socks have that "effect" 😅

This week, between Xmas and New Year's I'm working at "full time". I already have planned a short weekend off in the first week of February :)

!LUV

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You know you got me hooked when you said Christmas is all about remembering others. It is not about ourselves but the people. I really love that statement

Thanks for dropping by.

Of course you were busy, we all were a bit. I loved your Christmas...and everything looks so delicious and nice.

How good those forgetfulnesses are... hahaha... gifts are received, even for bad memory.

🙃😇

Compared to many other families, mine is already a very watered down Christmas and didn't involve too much work 😃

These dates are assumed in so many ways, but the important thing is the feelings and all those sensations that are experienced through these celebrations. As long as there is joy, union, love... that is the spirit.

😉

Those postbox toppers are too gorgeous, very festive, and such a nice change from the usual Christmas decorations!
Your meal looks delicious, with my sweet tooth I would have made sure I left enough space for the beautiful dessert, looks like a traditional Yule log?
We always remember those who no longer are with us at Christmas time, this year's as you know was a big one, but the day turned out really nice in the end. We shared secret Santa gifts which was a lot of fun, I drew the number 1 'ticket' so was first to choose a gift from the ladies' pile of gifts. Of course, everyone was trying to swop gifts with each other, but I held onto my scented candle ;)
What a lovely surprise and nice gesture from @zirochka, awesome how we are able to make friends with people from all over the world here on Hive!

The toppers is one of my favourtie Facebook group at the moment, there's always new toppers popping up around the country. The people who make them are so talented and selfless.

It's been many years since I made a Christmas log, so long that my husband said he's never seen me make one and we've been married for a very long time. For some reason I seem to remember my logs always broke when I roll them, but this time round they turned out fine. I even taught my sister in law to make one when she came round for dinner because she's never baked before. Talk of the blind leading the blind 😅

Scented candles are lovely to have around the house, and is so soothing on a cold winter night. Well done for keeping hold of it!!

Nice to see you had a wonderful Christmas ❤️
Dont ask for mine .. 😂 we all catched up covid one day before Christmas Eve.... So, it was a very quiet Christmas once again.
Should write a post about

oh dear😲

but then.... if you all caught covid, you can still all celebrate Christmas together because everyone is infected already!! Joking aside, take good care of yourself, keep nice and warm and get well quickly for New Year so you can start 2024 on the high!

Nice thought 🙂 but it was only one part of the family and we the "positives" we're almost only sleeping all the time

You're a great aunt, Pauline! Both for making sweets and for playing with your nieces and nephews haha. Kids these days needs to spend time with them the most.

Kids grow up so quick, at this age, they are still willing to play with you, once you get to about 6 or 7, they're not interested at all. So now I'm probably enjoying myself as much as they are.

Sounds like everything is going well over there. Great photos too!

As I'm sure you know, Christmas isn't celebrated much here. They are big into Santa and getting the kids all hyped up for presents, but beyond that it is nothing special. We enjoyed watching the kids go nuts, so that was fun.

Today was the last day of work for the year. Tomorrow (Friday) starts New Years holiday, which for offically lasts until the 3rd but for most companies will last until the 8th. I'm looking forward to some nice time with the family, though I'm sure the kids will drive me crazy after a day or two, but that's part of the season.

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