This week Hill house residents were transported to a winter wonderland as our home was decorated in snowflakes and snow ready for the big Christmas lunch. Embracing the run up to Christmas saw residents making chocolate yule logs, folding festive shaped origami napkins and singing along to Christmas carols.
Monday morning, a great game of floor bowls was played in our lounge. Bowls is a great way to get your heart pumping and your arms and legs in motion in a focused, low-impact, challenging manner.
Our garden view lounge engaged in a morning of Christmas carols, dancing and sensory games.
That afternoon we crafted stunning paper origami trees and decorated them with snow flake. These trees will take centre stage at our Christmas lunch.
We add to our scrapbooks weekly adding fun memories from the week before, writing down little notes and recalling how the activities made us feel. Others spent the afternoon playing ball games and engaged in exercise games like balloon bounce.
Tuesday morning, we took part in a morning of exercising and games, starting with chair-based stretches followed by a fab game of balloon bounce. The movements as part of chair-based exercises increase blood flow and keep joints active and lubricated and they also strengthen muscles across the body.
Santa needed a new sleight his year so we set about painting and redecorating his sleigh, using bright red paint and trimming it with gold, our garden view lounge spent the morning engaged in this crafting activity.
That afternoon we all helped out getting the final things ready for our Winter wonderland Christmas lunch. We learnt how to fold festive shaped napkins. We had the choice between two designs, the holly leaf and Christmas tree before folding over 50 napkins. Others cut out paper snowflakes and made personalised table mats. Elsewhere we watched Christmas movies and tucked into mince pies and sipped on mulled wine.
These activities are part of our internal community group, where we play lead roles in the big events planned in our home. From choosing napkin shapes, the themes and helping out, like we would have in the past in the wider community. We are always made to feel these are our events in our home and we gain great satisfaction from helping organise them.
Hill House on Wednesday was transformed into a magical Winter Wonderland as we hosted our Christmas lunch for residents. Our amazing team pulled out all the stops with a sensational festive feast of turkey and all the trimmings.
“I first walked in and wow I was blown away, it looked magical’
Residents sat at tables dressed with their stunning handmade centre pieces and personalised table mats.
They chatted with friends, pulling crackers and telling cheesy Christmas jokes to one another, everyone had a smile from ear to ear all afternoon.
No Christmas lunch would be complete without a visit from Father Christmas.
Hill House residents were overjoyed to welcome Father Christmas in, the perfect middle to such a special afternoon
If you thought all our festive fun was done, we had one last surprise up our sleeve.
Hill Houses festive winter wonderland celebrations concluded with a fantastic singalong with our star Louis on piano.
Thursday morning, we had a small flower arranging club as most of choose a relaxing morning of reading our daily newspapers after the excitement of yesterdays winter wonderland lunch. We all worked super hard and created stunning floral arrangements.
In our garden view lounge, we continued to cut out our scrapbook photos and arrange them into an order before gluing them in.
Thursday afternoon we took walks around the garden taking in the winter florals.
We started our flower arranging club in our garden view lounges in the afternoon, while listening to Christmas music and singing along.
Elsewhere we part took in brain training game, like Christmas themed hangman and Christmas word finder games on the giant white board.
Brain games can be interesting and engaging for any adult and provide a wealth of benefits for seniors, including improvement in memory, management of daily living skills and mental health. Just as exercise can help slow the physical effects of aging, the brain also benefits from stimulation.
Friday morning our arts and craft group made 3D stars to decorate the lounge on garden view, cutting sticking and shaping brought lots of laughter as some stars didn’t keep their shapes as well.
That afternoon we iced and decorated festive yule logs. This sparked many reminiscing conversations of festive foods we only make and cook around Christmas.
Therapeutic water painting is proven to provide a higher sense of well-being, and connect with memories we may otherwise have forgotten. These water colour pads are perfect for this once the image starts to reveal we spend time chatting about what it reminds us of and often sparks longs conversations.
Saturday morning, we engaged in a game of skittles. Did you know the early game of skittles was man-sized: a tall pole with a ball swung from a rope to knock down the pin.
Others spent time on the magic Omi table with splat games and swiping games.
We took part in group quizzes and braining training and we learnt that “Silent Night” has been recorded 137,315. Making it the most recorded song ever, which sparked an impromptu singalong.
Sunday was a day of relaxation with doll therapy, jigsaw puzzles and ball games. Others took time to watch the weekly church services on the TV and reflect at this special time of year as we lead up Christmas.
