Wishing you a caring Christmas and New Year
Christmas can be joyous and wonderful, full of family, fun, laughter, and general over-eating, family time. But it can be lonely. The portal of Christmas is always happy families, people around large tables, children crammed onto sofas together. But what if you don’t have that? What if you are alone? Your family has grown and moved away, moved abroad, your health not what it was, your days long, and empty, filled only with the memories of Christmas past?
Phil Ashwell, director at Ashwell Home Care Services says, “Christmas can be a challenging time for those who are alone, but our care companions always strive to make the day a little special for our clients. We always leave enough room in their schedules for a cup of tea and a chat, so on Christmas day, they can eat a mince pie, pull a cracker, wear a hat, and enjoy a terrible joke! All our staff will always go out of their way to make sure that anyone alone on Christmas Day doesn’t feel lonely.”
All across the country offices, factories, schools, shops, and businesses close their doors on Christmas Eve and head home to their families. But caring doesn’t stop. All caring industries from the emergency services to the health and social care industry remain open. Many people spend their Christmas Day caring for others, for those that need our help. Our care companions are no different. Phil says, “In some companies, everyone wants Christmas Day off, but at Ashwell Home Care Services our care companions are always happy to work on Christmas Day because they know the difference that they are making.”
It can be easy to be sucked into the commercialism of Christmas, to succumb to the frenzy of consumption. It can be easy to forget about the important things in the world. Last Christmas, subjected as we were to restrictions, the gift most of us wanted was to see our families. Let us hope that we haven’t forgotten that wish in the Christmas hype this year. Let us hope that we have remembered that our presence is more important than our presents. When our care companions visit a client, it is their presence that is so important, it is that time with another human, that interaction, that love that makes the difference. The tasks they carry out, the medicines given, the meals cooked, the food bought, are all incredibly important but it is also the comfort of another person. It is two mugs by the kettle instead of one. It is the murmur of conversation rather than the deathly silence of the endless ticking clock. Giving isn’t just a physical action, giving comes in many forms. A care companion is giving all the time, the gift of compassion, the gift of affection, the gift of comfort. We bring reassurance, kindness, and care. And after all, isn’t that the true meaning of Christmas?