Christmas Crackers: Five Festive Stories Yule Love

Step into Christmas with these heart-warming tales from the HPR elves

SUDDENLY it’s that time of year again – the doors left on your advent calendar are into single figures, every second TV advert includes an acoustic Elton John cover and there’s a nation-wide shortage of Baileys. It’s Christmas.

To celebrate the season, we’re taking a look back at some of the great festive stories we’ve shared over the years. From Brussels sprouts to knitting stars, these stories are sure to warm your hearts and inspire even the biggest Scrooges out there to get into the Christmas spirit.

Children’s Fight Against Brussels Sprouts is Finally Over

From tea infused with the flavour of pigs in blanket to turkey-flavoured gin, the run-up to Christmas is a time where weird and wonderful food and drink combinations fill social media newsfeeds, line supermarket shelves and become the perfect novelty secret Santa present for the person in the office you’ve never actually spoken to.
Back in 2015, we shared the news of Perth Winter Festival’s contribution to the whacky world of Christmas concoctions – chocolate coated Brussels sprouts. Before you turn your nose up, the festival partnered with luxury organic chocolatier, Decadently Eve, and the result was surprisingly… delicious.
Covered in a thin layer of dark chocolate, the sprouts were sampled by adventurous visitors to the City of Perth’s Chocolate Festival, part of the annual Winter Festival, and earned front page coverage as well as featuring in The Daily Star and The Daily Record online.
We knew people would have to see this to believe it. Take a look at the image gallery we put together and see how Perth Winter Festival transformed the sprouts from a guaranteed Boxing Day leftover to the perfect sweet treat.
Coating all your veg in chocolate might just be the perfect solution for fussy eaters on Christmas day!

Popularity Sprouts for New Ice Cream Figure

Our love of sprouts doesn’t stop there. Just this month we revealed the latest festive flavour available at Mackie’s of Scotland’s – a minted Brussel sprout creation topped with a frozen sprout garnish.
The story hit the headlines and we managed to secure coverage in top UK papers including The Scottish Sun, The Daily Record and The Mirror, as well as featuring on a primetime Canadian news network.
Love or loathe the leafy green vegetables, stories of wacky food combinations are a sure way to generate a media storm.

Christmas Angel Lights up City Store

Another story from this year’s Christmas is little Bella Rennie, who had the honours of lighting up Jenners’ 40 foot tree in front of a crowd of shoppers.
Seven-year-old Bella has spent the last five years being treated at the Royal Hospital for Sick Children after being diagnosed with brain and spinal tumours when she was just two years old.
The opportunity to turn on the lights was donated to an Edinburgh Children’s Hospital Charity (ECHC) auction by the department store, before kindly being donated back to the charity by the generous winners.
Bella marked the arrival of Christmas in Edinburgh by turning on the 40,000 lights in the department store – whose opulent decorations are considered one of Edinburgh’s best loved festive traditions.
This year saw ECHC launch their living doors advent calendar campaign, with something special behind each door to ensure children don’t miss out on the magical time of year.

Day Care Centre’s Biggest Christmas Yet

We’ve been sharing the news of care clients for years and so it seems only right to share a couple of festive stories from our client, Bield.
First up is a story from last year’s heart-warming Christmas celebrations at Oakburn Park Day Care in Milngavie.
The day care, run by leading housing provider Bield, held a special dinner party to ensure people with dementia didn’t miss out on the festivities.
Creating their very own restaurant, ‘Wee Betty’s Bistro’, the day care designed the event specifically for people living with a form of memory impairment, allowing them to enjoy the festivities alongside their families with help on hand should they need it.
The meal was a sell-out success and more places were added in response to the demand to make sure everyone had a seat at the table.

Christmas Toys ‘Knit’ a Problem for Seasoned Stitcher

Irene Bishop, a tenant at Bield’s Whitehill Lodge in Dalkeith, hit the headlines earlier this month when we shared the news of how she had used her knitting hobby to help people across Midlothian this Christmas.
Irene, who has knitted every day for 30 years, created 15 intricately designed teddies to be donated to organisations and charities such as the Children 1^st campaign and the RSPCA.
The news of Irene and her festive spirit caught the attention of both regional and specialist press, as well as generating wide spread social media coverage.
We went along and interviewed Irene at the housing development where she lives and chatted to her about her worthwhile hobby. The video, filmed by our own videographer, has been used online by Edinburgh Evening News as well as being shared across social media.
Throughout the year we’re always spreading the news of staff and tenants at Bield developments going that extra mile – from charity abseils to 100^th birthdays, there’s a story to warm every heart.

Secret Santa Exchanges Gifts for Charity

One final story is from the archive but one we still think is worth shouting about.
We told of how Edinburgh-based search marketing firm, QueryClick, decided to bin off secret Santa in favour of a more charitable alternative. Instead, they joined forces with Shelter Scotland and donated the money they would’ve spent to those waking up homeless at Christmas time.
Opting to forge the tradition of exchanging mugs and bath sets, QueryClick set up a JustGiving page where others could donate towards the worthy cause.
You might be tempted to start winding down in the run up to Christmas and we get it – you’ve worked hard all year and now it’s time to sit down and relax.