Christmas Eve

We had the usual start to the day, but I was determined to stay in bed at least until it was light seeing as it is Christmas Eve. When I got downstairs Ma had replaced her pyjama top with a t shirt which she was wearing slung around her neck, she also had on a big coat and one of H's boots. I made her some tea and straightened her up.

I decided to lay the table for tomorrow and then got on with the veg. Ma had been very restless from the get go and spent all morning trying to open the front door and changing into a selection of five or six different coats. Other things include another attempt to sit in the television, standing in the middle of places - rooms, doorways etc. and the most infuriating of all is responding to me when I'm talking to someone on the phone. I imagine it must be similar to what newsreaders and tv presenters have to deal with when they are talking to someone and getting messages from the director in their ear at the same time. Very disorienting and distracting. As I type this now we are watching carols from Kings and every time the reader pauses in his reading or the choir get to the end of a verse she's up and saying 'Right, are we going now?' Then gets really arsey when they carry on. Other conversation is making little or no sense and today she's having real difficulties finding the right words - often just making them up. Definitely makes deciphering what she's trying to say doubly difficult!

I read today about Marlene and her mother and their experiences with virgin coconut oil and how it has improved mother's cognitive abilities. I will definitely be trying this in the new year.

I've just got to sort the turkey in the morning and cook the veg. There's only going to be seven of us, so hardly anything more than a normal Sunday roast really. I must admit that the Aga comes into its own at this time of year and I'm debating between fast roast and slow roast, but think as I'm going to be up at death o'clock anyway it may as well be a slow roast.