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What’s Christmas day in the Care industry like?

Meet Lizzy, a passionate Business Development Manager at Care Control, and ex-Deputy Manager at Spring House Residential.

Lizzy shared some heart-warming stories about her time working as a Deputy Manager at a Dementia specialist home based in Tavistock, Devon.

What is the atmosphere like on the approach to Christmas day? 

The atmosphere at Spring House was incredible. There was something about Christmas that just put an extra spring in everyone’s steps. We always made the home look festive, putting up the Christmas trees and enjoying some Christmas music. About a month before the big day the care home owner used to send a member of staff around to each resident’s rooms to take note of what they needed. This could be a night dress or a pair of slippers. Once she got the list back she would go out and buy an item for each resident so they had something to open on Christmas day. The night shift team used to make sure everything was magical for the morning when residents would come down for breakfast. We used to fold the napkins into Christmas trees and slot a little chocolate lolly into them. These always went down a treat.

How did Christmas morning go?

Christmas morning was honestly my favourite time of the day. A lot of staff would get in before their shift started, dressed in silly Christmas jumpers or funny hats. The residents loved this! Everyone would be up and ready at the breakfast tables by 9am ready to start the day of festive activities. After breakfast we would move into the lounge and serve coffee and mints. We would then hand out secret Santa gifts. At Spring House each staff member would pull out the name of a resident, this honestly was the best part of the day! Around 11am we would offer residents a sherry, this always went down a treat.

What about Christmas lunch? 

Christmas lunch was incredible. Everyone would sit at the tables, Christmas crackers at the ready. Before we started eating everyone had to put on their Christmas hat! Normally after lunch we would serve a shandy and then families would come to visit. I always loved watching the families come and see their loved ones and for those who couldn’t come to visit they would upload pictures and video’s to the Care Control family and friends app. We’d then all sit down to watch the Queen’s speech and enjoy some mince pies and tea.

How would the day come to a close? 

We would serve a buffet tea at around 6pm. We would bring the buffet to each resident, asking them what they would like for us to pop on their plate. After that people would start trailing off to bed. The day would be so jam packed with fun and festivities everyone would be wiped out by the end of the day. I honestly would say that if you had to work in any job on Christmas day working in care is truly the best.

 

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