CHRISTMAS FUN AND WELL-BEING

With Christmas fast approaching and continuing my quest to promote wellbeing, I thought it may be of interest and value to focus on tackling stress and tension associated with the Christmas and New Year festivities. I plan to explore ways and suggest ideas to minimise the mayhem which many are caught up in.

Many people regret that the true meaning of Christmas has been lost and overtaken by commercialism and the excesses of eating, drinking and expenditure. Also, of concern, there is evidence of increased strain, depression and fatigue during January, particularly when the bills need paying.

So, I've chosen to counter the problem of exhaustion, staleness and feelings of dejection, by extolling the benefits of tradition, nostalgia and fun and share some ideas for family and friends to engage with, namely quizzes, puzzles, Christmas cracker jokes and stories, to amuse, have fun, divert and help to uplift our mood sustain our wellbeing and banish the blues!

NOSTALGIA
First up, nostalgia. I once read "nostalgia is not what it used to be"!!
Recalling happy memories and reminiscing about enjoyable occasions or special events and people can be therapeutic, raise our spirits and restore our equilibrium.

What are your favourite childhood memories
associated with Christmas?

• I respectfully suggest you follow my example and make a memory list. I'd be interested to hear of yours. Mine are…
  In October, helping my Mum to prepare the Christmas cake and pudding mix by inserting the silver sixpences and threepenny bits, wrapped in greaseproof paper. The big treat though was licking the spoon at the end! Then experiencing the joy of finding the coin in my slice of cake or pudding on Christmas Day!

• Opening my Christmas stocking which always included liquorice pipes, chocolate coins wrapped in gold foil and orange and lemon slices.

• Enjoying the aroma from my grandad smoking his 'once a year' King Edward cigar as the smoke wafted throughout the parlour.

• My friend Vernon, calling at our house on Boxing Day morning asking, "Have you got 'owt' to swap?"

• As a choir boy, learning carols by heart, then visiting the home of parishioners on Christmas Eve, prior to the Midnight service.

• Playing traditional family party games, led by my Mum such as, 'Nelson's eye', 'pass the parcel', 'murder in the dark', 'who am I'? and 'forfeits'.

As an adult, I recall choosing to work every Christmas Day, in different hospitals around the North West for most of my career and always being emotionally moved by the Salvation Army Band playing carols, and staff dressing up to amuse and entertain patients and their relatives. We usually had the local mayor and mayoress visit, and often the ward consultant turned up to carve the turkey!

In 1969, as a student nurse, I was placed in the casualty department at PRI. In the afternoon I dressed up as 'Jake the Peg' with three legs and a long beard. I filled in the casualty card as follows. Occupation: Entertainment. Condition: Congenital abnormality. I sat on the front row and when the bell summoned me in for triage, the casualty officer was clearly startled and bemused, he stepped back, and when I said "Can you do 'owt' for me doctor?" He instantly recognised my voice and requested that I do the same act for his colleague on the Boxing Day shift.

All good fun designed to lift the spirits and morale, encourage team work and divert from the often unpleasant, sad and tragic events encountered in casualty.

When I occasionally reflect on these events, it brings back fond feelings and a reminder of my deep respect for brilliant and dedicated former colleagues, unforgettable patients, some with immense courage and others with a wicked sense of humour. All of these ensured I loved my work and gained enormous satisfaction when I reminisce about the happy times of personal growth, fulfilment and achievement and of making a difference to the lives of others.

By reminiscing, it can lift one's mood, enable you to feel grateful for happy experiences, distract you from concerns and perhaps make you smile.

I would love to hear about your own reflections about Christmas and perhaps I could pool them together for a future article for the interests of others.

Staying with the nostalgia theme, I recently came across a book I received from Father Christmas in 1958. It has been my favourite book of all time. The book was The Reader's Digest Junior Omnibus and contained fascinating stories and articles on a range of topics. Rereading the book has given me lots of pleasure, and material of jokes, puzzles, games and much more to amuse and entertain me. I have used some of these to inform this article. I suggest you take time to read them and then share with others.

Malcolm Rae