Frosty the Snowman - it's the 2025 Christmas thread!

mandco

@spendless great news that they have sorted out interim care & a plan for proper assessment for your nan must be a big relief for your mum & dad especially with everything else they are currently dealing with health wise. Frustrating your dads tests didn’t actually get him any answers and he has to wait another month but hopefully less stress about nan will help with his recovery.
How’s dd doing? did things get sorted re her phone & card 

@princesskitty29 glad your break went well Halloween in your estate sounds amazing the kids must love it  sorry to hear ds2 got sick though so many bugs doing the rounds very lucky no one else came down with it.
Schools are a lot flexible now re part time attendance when I was having issues with taz it was simply full time school or homeschool so we ended up homeschooling and despite the initial challenges it was the right thing for him under the circumstances though If flexi schooling had been an option I do think I’d have tried that. I had a lot of reservations at first and it took a while to find the right methods - we do a lot of child led hands on Learning educational trips/days out & online activities rather than school style sat at desk type sessions. There are still some hard days it’s a lot of responsibility and I still question if I’m doing enough but overall it’s been worth it and he’s so much happier. The hardest thing for me is never having a break - sometimes I do miss those few hours of peace you get when they are at school. 
You are right there’s isn’t a one size fits all answer it’s more learning their main triggers & responses and figuring out what helps it’s a process and evolves with time but it does get easier - look at the progress you’ve already made 

the firewalk was so much fun I loved it and even did it a 2nd time I’d definitely do it again if I had the chance.

Spendless

Things are moving along re Nan. She now has a social worker, which is a relief is there is now a 'go to' . Mum was asked to fetch in incontinence pads, but as far as we knew she wasn't incontinent prior to recent  hospitalisation so that situation is being assessed to see if it is just stress related from recent events or a new development. Family have been to visit and reported she's ok. Mum has been told that Nan will be in 4-6 weeks. This takes us into Dec, so my own belief is in order to set things up for longer term plans whatever they are it's more likely to be early December when she's moved on. 

DD - first we sent cash via Western Union but the shop wouldn't accept her UK (provisional) driving licence as iD despite a sign outside saying they would and WU intself confirming it was acceptable ID! Mr S pleaded with the store staff on the phone  to help as she was stuck in a foreign country with no access to money. One gave her (equiv) £15. From that she could buy and put money on a travel card and then Mr S ordered her another phone (android) and Google pay works on that (don't ask me about technology!). In the meantime she's cancelled and ordered another bank card.

Mr S and  relative spent yesterday getting out our old bedroom carpet in anticipation of painter coming tomorrow. We also need to sort out a plumber for a new radiator put on (ours was the only radiator still left from when we bought the house 24 years ago- every other has been replaced!). We do have a few other odd plumbing jobs to make someone coming out worthwhile. Then we will need to order a new carpet   and can then move back in to our room! My time was far more pleasant after my workshift  as I met eldest and we first went and got korean food and then spent the rest of the time in a pub working thru their drinks offers before DH gave us both a lift home. 

Still stuck in a bit of limbo re Xmas presents. Keep having people coming in where I work talking about how they are on a Xmas shopping trip and am left thinking yes, I should be doing this by now. Decided there's no point buying Dad's flat cap until we've done our mini break as the place has a lot of nice independant (some  expensive!) shops there  and a Xmas market on, so I think I should see what's there before making final decision about it.