Disaster!!

Of course it's a disaster, kitty! With a big crowd, you don't want heaps of dishes mounting up waiting for volunteers to do the washing-up.

kitty That was me last Christmas, but you are more economical with the dishes you use when you have to hand wash them

Give the guests a piece of bread to wipe the gravy off and then serve the pud on the same plate !

I could not live without mine.

tiggypiro!

That's quite a good idea.

Met up with a friend yesterday and she told me that last Christmas Eve she had to work in the morning and spent the afternoon preparing and cooking a huge meal for 9. At the end of the meal everyone stood up and walked into the lounge, leaving her with the washing up

This year she is taking no chances, she is going abroad with her DH!

I would have walked into the lounge with them and sat down, then after a reviving drink or two, stood up again and said "Well, the dishes won't wash themselves, and was at work all morning and cooking all afternoon. Who is going to wash and who is going to dry? Who will stack the dishwasher and who will empty it?"

Added to the disaster of the dishwasher, the aerial needs replacing for the two tvs that are not on Sky and the outside light sensor (security light but also necessary for our drive now they village lights are switched off overnight) has died.

I suppose that's three things - if we're lucky

I've never had a dishwasher ( well except for DH) but I think the time has come to consider getting one.
Unless we wear our glasses we don't get the pots really clean in the sink.
It's a nasty revelation to check the cutlery and dishes after a cursory wash without glasses - sorry, yuk!

Fingers crossed for you Kitty , re three .

sunseeker I very often have large gatherings here for meals and I can't think of a single time (and believe me I'm sure I would remember) when my guests didn't offer to clear/wash up. I don't often take them up on it because I like to use that time at the end of the evening to chat to my husband about the evening as we work together, but if I'm tired then I can quite happily allow myself to be shooed off and let others do the work. I'm actually sitting here feeling quite sorry for your friend. In similar circumstances I would have done exactly what Elegran advised.
As for dishwashers, ours broke a few years back and we simply never got around to replacing it and then decided that as we were managing so well without one we'd use the space for an extra (third!) freezer.

Ok, the dishwasher man has just gone. We definitely need a new flow chamber (£120 fitted) but we might also need a new programmer (about £200 fitted) Equivalent new dishwasher £450 ish and it's nearly Christmas. What to do

You could throw it all in the back of the car and bring it here! I only use my dishwasher as a glorified draining board. If I was you I'd check you've got plenty of light bulbs [and a torch that works] as it loks like you're having one of 'those' Christmas's. Our drain blocked on Christmas Eve a few years back but it's amazing what can be done with an old Vileda Supermop.

I have just seen an advert for an online white goods company that promises to deliver an appliance to you before Santa, they will even deliver the same day for under £30. I don't want to advertise on this thread but if you want to know who it is you can pm me. I am taking notes because my dryer blew the mains fuse twice the other day.

Yep I think it's got to be a new one! But, worst case scenario with all those helpers each armed with GN teatowel and extra pairs of marigolds, you could delegate the lot ( if you play your cards right) Not forgetting the invaluable "puppy prewash" programme to get the bits off the plates

Thanks Harri. I've gone for the £100 option and the hope that that is what is wrong with the programmer too. If it's not - it's panic stations.

DD3 just came for a couple of hours with DGS2 (otherwise known as Bertie the b****r - not in his hearing, obviously!) He opened 3 presents from under the tree (none of which were his) and then unpacked DGD2's Peppa Pig picnic set. I'm going for a and a lie down. Oh, can't do that either, the aerial man is everywhere!!

I'm so tired after last nights lack of sleep I knocked back a glass of 'orange sidekick alcohol 20%' that has been in my sons room for years [this is after saying on the other thread that I don't drink ] because we're going out tonight and I need a nap. Of course, as soon as I nodded off the phone rang. I hope it was a drink and not something to clean his bike with.

Hee hee Tegan - alcopops at your age??
Have fun tonight, sounds as if you've got a head start on everybody else.

Why do kids, animals and electrical goods always choose weekends and holidays to be ill/breakdown ?

Ha, Tiggypiro, thats one of life's rules! You must be very young to be asking that question, lol.