Yawn Yawn Wakey Wakey 2025

I had 3 brothers @lizzie27. My youngest brother who lived in Perth, Australia, passed away 3 years ago in November. He is the one whose son and daughter-in-law had their first baby last month. I was just sad he didn't live to see his first grandchild as he would have made a super granddad. The middle one of the three brothers lives fairly close by with his wife in Warrington.

 

That is sad @Ladybird4 but at least his genes live on in his new grandchild, something to celebrate. My younger brother who died last year had no children of his own, only 3 stepchildren. He was a good father to them.
My older brother lives up your way on the outskirts of Manchester so we don't see each other very often.

 

Yes Bosch &Siemens, are essentially the same ( bit like VW &Audi cars) just small defences in spec. We changed our very old Siemens one for a Miele and frankly we're disappointed, it works ok very low power consumption but the racks etc inside are not as flexible as our old one. In spite of my wife's ability to pack things into a given space we can't get anything like as much in. Especially if you have big pans etc when hosting family and friends, as we will be in a couple of days time. So my advice is take your time looking , to get exactly what you want.

 

Morning.
I am pleased to report that, as night fell, we looked as tacky as our neighbours! (Though 2 of them have giant inflatable penguins, which we will not be copying!)
Thanks for your advice @Allotment Boy. Our oven is a Bosch, so we're favouring one of those, at the moment. Can't do anything, yet, of course.
We booked a table at our local for this evening, but not sure that eating out is a good idea for OH just yet. We have plenty of 'light bites' at home.
We have the usual selection of unsigned cards (good job I recognise the writing!), illegible ones (Bob and Tuna, anyone?) and ones which mis-spell our names (and they're relatives!!).

 

Our first dishwasher (50 years ago) was an indesit, very cheap but faultless, it could clean anything you threw at it. Our current one is an IKEA own brand, but made in Germany, can’t remember which of the big brands we managed to work out had made it, but it is possibly Siemens. We have Bosch in the past and they were good. The IKEA one is actually bigger than our previous one, same external width and height, but the working internal space goes down nearer to the floor. It means I have no trouble with big dishes and saucepans, whereas in my last machine, I had to juggle the shelves for some of the bigger stuff. It also has a cutlery shelf, which im finding much better than the cutlery baskets I’ve had in previous machines. Worth checking whichever machines you are looking at to see if any have a bigger capacity than others.
Just checked on the ikea website, and they aren’t doing our model anymore. Ours also has a light display onto the floor which tells you how long the programme has to go, plus little pictures depicting what is happening inside, spray for rinsing, and heatwaves for drying! We spent a lot of time standing in front of it watching the first few washes until the novelty wore off!

 

Dry but a bit cold here. OH has fixed and installed the final light display. Soldering was involved, and a voltage regulator.
The guest room and bathroom are cleaned and ready for our visitors on the 27th, and now there is just a bit of vacuuming round to do, before we can relax. I’m still waiting for the new Sim to arrive for my smartphone. Just one card in the post today, and it was posted in Bristol on the 17th. So I think I’ve got fat chance of the sim arriving before Christmas.
In an hour, it’s off to Waitrose to collect the Turkey and any last minute items. Then time to hunker down for a few days.
Is anyone else being irritated by the spellchecker insisting that Turkey should have a capital T? I suppose I should be grateful that we aren’t having Türkiye for our Christmas dinner!

 

We've just got back from Brent Cross shopping
We only go there because there is free parking and both a W'rose and an M&S food shop. My wife has already been to Sainsbugs recently. M&S was HEAVING, W'rose was a little calmer. We had pre- ordered our Turkey crown, we know they are expensive but it saves on oven space and cooking time vs a whole one.
We don't order anything else on line because we have to check for Allergens ourselves especially any snack food. One GD has severe peanut and Nut allergy, her parents aren't much better with intolerance to wheat, dairy, celery, raw tomato and Apple between them. A big issue is just because one product was OK in the past it doesn't mean it still is, over the years we've encountered several occasions where ingredient lists have changed. Sometimes they announce it, sometimes not, so I can't think how many hours we've spent reading the back of pack of products. My wife does make things from scratch, but there are limits as to how much we can do in advance.
I keep saying it but I'm not sure how many more years we will be able to do all this.

 

Afternoon folks. I hope everyone is doing ok with all the busy prep and shopping going on. A mixture of reasons have contributed to me slimming down Christmas over the years so now, even if I’m not working (rare), a quiet PJ day is the norm. I do like to have plenty of food treats and snacks though and look forward to those. I’ll do my big ham tomorrow (Mary Berry) and that will last all week for various snacks and meals.

Have a good evening folks and keep cosy and well.

 

Anymore I hardly do anything for Christmas. Might have mentioned it earlier.
We go out for dinner on Christmas Eve. Christmas day I make something special.
No need for gifts for each of us, we do not need anything. Just dropped of a bottle of FINE Bourbon Whisky to our good neighbor, which I got from a distillery down in NC. it is good stuff, I have tasted it, goes down nice. That new thing ---the Invisible apple cake got me curious, so baking it today. Even if I baked a whole bunch of Christmas Cookies, MR. Skinny Husband would not eat many of them, so can't have those calories about. Can't get the Veal Shanks for Osco Busco, so getting some Scallops for the dinner on Christmas day, with spinach pasta and some type of veggy. So that's it folks.

 

Waitrose was actually fairly peaceful. We got a parking spot right outside the door too.
Just before we left home, I got a message from daughter letting us know they wouldn’t be arriving until the evening on Saturday. Good news, I was able to cross a few things off today’s list, as I can pop out and top up the supplies on Saturday morning. I was able to get the necessary stuff in record time today, and won’t have to overload the fridge and freezer unnecessarily.
I’ll cut the turkey crown in half and freeze half for a later date. I’ve put the fancy turkey crown bauble thingy into the freezer. That will come back out in time to defrost for Sunday, when the rest of the family arrive. It looks a bit scary! It’ll be served alongside a ham, pigs in blankets, and far more roast potatoes than seem necessary, plus a pizza in case the boys don’t fancy anything else!
Last minute tidy up now, and I think we will start our holiday relaxation tomorrow. Phew!

 

@wiseowl, @shiney, @Loofah, @JWK and @Fat Controller, thank you for your kind seasonal greetings and a big 'thank you' to all you do behind the scenes to keep the wheels of Gardeners Corner running smoothly for us. Wishing you and yours the happiest of Christmases and every good wish for 2026.

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We cancelled our meal out; hub is just not right.
Popped to Aldi for a few bits, but they didn't have what I needed. Their carpark access is good, but I didn't dare brave Tesco, with its deadly mini roundabout, where you close your eyes and shout Geronimo...
Goosey is relaxing in the garage, out of the reach of dogs.
We've ordered a new Bosch for delivery Sunday. He chose it, paid for it and will be in charge of loading it! Annoying after we'd paid for a 'repair' to the old one, 3 weeks ago.

Ditto, one and all.