Mansfield Care Homes prepare for a sparkly Christmas

Christmas is almost here, and Mansfield Care residents and staff have been celebrating with festive crafts, treats and personalised advent calendars to mark the Christmas countdown.

Belleville Lodge residents in Edinburgh have enjoyed helping to put up the decorations, and especially decorating the Christmas trees. St John’s staff and residents in Melrose meanwhile have been busy making Christmas wreaths from paper plates and scraps of Christmas fabric, clove oranges and painting snowmen, as well as making stars for residents to display in their rooms. Wellness Coordinator Denise says, “the clove oranges have become a tradition at St John’s, and our residents love the smell. While making the decorations, we also spotted a squirrel visitor in the garden, who was enjoying the new treats put in our bird feeder by our volunteer gardener.”

Happily, connections with partner schools haven’t been forgotten during the pandemic, even though in a modified form. Residents at St John’s have really enjoyed receiving personal cards from Melrose Primary School and St. Mary’s, and displaying them in their rooms. Earlston High School ambassadors Rebecca and Eloise have also cheered up St John’s residents with a lovely goodie bag with letters, cards, gingerbread men, chocolates and the Earlston High School DVD. The pupils belong to the school’s S5 Ambassadors and have recent achieved their bronze Duke of Edinburgh Awards.

Advent calendars have been a theme at several Mansfield care homes, with wellness coordinators inspired to use them in different creative ways. Melrose residents started the month with an advent calendar ‘treat’ day, with days on the calendar corresponding to a resident’s room number. On their special day, each resident was given a treat of their choice, ranging from a nice fancy tea on a tray, to video calls, gifts and photographs from their relatives.

Galahill residents also enjoyed a personalised advent calendar of treats, with each calendar day revealing photos, letters and small gifts. Wellness Coordinator Tracy says each advent calendar was organised in collaboration with friends and relatives to reflect the residents’ likes, with daily surprises including bars of soap, hand massage, photos, and letters from St Peter’s Primary School.

All the homes have been busy with Christmas decorations, music and singalongs, keeping everyone’s spirits up.

Many thanks to the Mansfield Care residents and staff for the lovely photos.