Ok so I gave in - @Andrew_McP please don't press that red button and cancel Christmas.
View attachment 61767
I may even put some twinkly lights on it as we get nearer Christmas
Darn... Rocky Mountain Reindeer Oysters appear to be off the Christmas breakfast menu. It'll have to be Crunchy Nut Cornflakes with Bailey's again.Ok so I gave in
Ok so I gave in - @Andrew_McP please don't press that red button and cancel Christmas.
View attachment 61767
I may even put some twinkly lights on it as we get nearer Christmas
Lidl Deluxe Range very goodSadly Aldi near me have already sold out off sloe gin (this year with elderberries ) one of my winter/Xmas favourites. I'll try and different Aldi. I didn't like Aldi's fake Bailey's.
Currently sat in a brewers fayre with quite a bit of Xmas decs up. Too early for me.
When I first looked at your picture though I wasn't looking at the tree, I was distracted by 'our' clock. Mum never got any benefit from the dementia clock, she was past making sense of the time when I bought it. But now every day's pretty much the same, I appreciate it reminding me what day it is.
This is why I used to be anti-Christmas. So many expectations; so many things we 'have to do'; so many people to please... mainly my corporate overlords who decreed that Thou Shalt Be Knackered All December, then cast aside like unwanted brussel sprouts.Christmas puts so much pressure on us.
This is why I used to be anti-Christmas. So many expectations; so many things we 'have to do'; so many people to please... mainly my corporate overlords who decreed that Thou Shalt Be Knackered All December, then cast aside like unwanted brussel sprouts.
But dementia puts everything into life into perspective. None of it matters. And once you accept that none of it matters you can do whatever you like without worrying. There is no recipe for the perfect Christmas, but there are infinite ways to have a bad one.
After six pretty sleep deprived months in which I've had to accept that my mother's taken a big step down the dementia decay ladder, I'm choosing to put out the lights, put up some decorations, plan a great meal for me that Mum may, or may not eat much of, and to stick my tongue out to the dark and the misery that's lurks in it.
I will no doubt get a frostbitten tongue.
Here's a blurry bit of last Christmas to remind me why I'm bothering...
Selfishly, I’m determined that this year I WILL enjoy Christmas. The last few years I’ve run myself ragged trying to either appease Mother and MIL or try to ensure that they’re having a good time - at the detriment of my own, my husband’s and my adult children’s enjoyment. I’ve been so grumpy and fed up in the past with the ‘grannies’ that the rest of the family have all suffered.
Last Christmas Eve, the four of us drove two hours up to my mother’s with MIL in the car - who moaned all the way - to ensure my mother didn’t miss out. I took a turkey crown and all the trimmings with me and cooked the whole roast from scratch at mother’s. MIL grizzled because she didn’t want to wait for her lunch and kept asking how much longer it was going to take as she was hungry! My mother announced that she didn’t want anything to eat as she wasn’t hungry and I burst into tears because I’d made all the effort to ensure the both of them had some sort of festivity and clearly, I needn’t have bothered.
This year they’re both in the same CH. We’ll visit in the morning and once we’ve done that, the four of us plus other halves will relax, play silly games, drink as much as we want to (because for once, no one needs to drive them home) watch whatever we want and be totally indulgent. The stress of catering for and entertaining the pair of them over many years - even before dementia - is over and I’m determined I shall make the most of it.
I am enjoying this thread
Mum's funeral was last week so I am very much in headless chicken mode, though no longer running, more stumbling round in circles....
I learned a few years ago that Christmas doesn't happen unless you make it happen. Me and the BF decided to have a very quiet Christmas, just a basic nice meal and forget the rest. It was rubbish! Since then, I've made sure to do some of the daft stuff, so we always have crackers (the cheaper the better!) and a festive tablecloth, twinkly lights and a couple of very dodgy looking trees we took pity on and rescued from the charity shop. I added a Santa toilet seat cover last year - really cheap and as tacky as could be, but people loved it!
Present buying has become a bit miserable. BF always says (generously) 'you can have whatever you want', but that's no good! What I really want is a small (well, small-ish... or medium-large) pile of beautifully wrapped lovely surprises, but meh! - that's never gonna happen! Instead, I buy sh... erm... rubbish bits and bobs for my kids. For those who like a bit of online consuming, I can thoroughly recommend the Chinese 'pound shops' on eBay. They sell all sorts of stocking filler type things that you just have to have... For very little money you can buy a load of cr... erm...lovely things (including lots of sparkly Christmas stuff) - something for everyone. I found that the opening of lots of fun little gifts really brightened things up. I kept throwing more at people throughout the day
(If you need details of how to find these shops, PM me. But you need to get a move on time-wise...)
So this year will be much the same and I find I am actually looking forward to it. The last few years I've had that 'can't really relax/get drunk, etc' thing in case the phone rings and I have to become Responsible Daughter again. This year, instead of 'Bah! Humbug' I'm going to go for 'Yeah! Tipsy Sparkling Humbug'!