Everyone has funny and heart-warming christmas stories: cherished memories, unexpected events, special gifts...
To find out more about our staff, we asked our team at Vista what funny and heart-warming stories they have to share.
Here’s what they said.
Telma Bernardes, Clinical Coordinator
“One year, on Christmas eve, my mother and aunt were preparing a Portuguese traditional dish made with cod. While preparing their recipe, and leaving the cod unattended, my aunt’s cat stole the fish and ran away. Needless to say, that Christmas eve, my family didn’t have the fish dish!”
Chris Hitchens, Client Relationship Manager
“Dinner was being prepared for twenty of us and the sink in the kitchen suddenly got clogged. My Grandpa put the hose down the sink but didn’t tell anyone that he was going outside to turn the hose on. The hose rapidly snaked around the room spraying water all over the prepared food! It was a disaster!”
Hadrian Collier, Marketing and Brand Lead
“We went to buy our Christmas Turkey from M&S on the 22nd December. We got our turkey - perfect size, shape and weight (these things are important), bought it and took it home. We had totally forgotten that we had changed our oven since last year so when we tried it in the oven the turkey wouldn't fit! We went back to M&S to change it and good old M&S said that we could exchange it for another turkey if we double bagged it. We put it in a trolley and joined in with the mid-morning scrum of trying to find the perfect turkey. After what felt like an hour of battling, we came up for air with a slightly smaller turkey. We went back to our trolley and our original double bagged turkey was missing! We went to security and explained what had happened and one of the security guards asked us if it could have run off on its own? After checking the CCTV, we saw that a very unscrupulous Cheshire housewife had snaffled our turkey and made off with it in her trolley. Moral of the story: Always keep hold of your double bagged items when returning them to a store for an exchange...”
Rachel Borg, Patient Care Advisor
“We fostered a rescue dog five years ago in France just before Christmas, he had spent his whole life chained up outside an old house. He spent three months with us before finally finding an adoption family and on Christmas day we gave him a Christmas dinner all to himself. He was finally the happiest dog alive!”
Adam Wallwork, Director of Private Patients and Referral Management
“In the year coming up to my 13th Birthday I had constantly asked for a certain new mountain bike even though I never really believed I would get one. I couldn’t believe it when I got one for my Birthday / Christmas present! (Being a December baby meant getting used to merged gifts but never like this). On Boxing Day I used it to complete my paper round, however, when I came out of the shop with my paper bag there was no bike there – it had been stolen on day 1. At 13, I was heartbroken. I ran all the way home in tears, devastated. When I got home I told my family what happened. My Uncle Trevor said ‘I need to pop out, I’ll be back later’. Around an hour later he came back to the house and asked me to follow him outside and took me to his van. He asked me to open it and there it was – he’d got my bike back and I was elated. It was the best, the worst and then the best Christmas I had ever had! I never did ask Uncle Trev how he did that, I just know he was my hero!”
Business Development Executive
“The best Christmas present I received when I was young were a pair of blue and yellow roller boots. I wore them constantly my wheels turned square! I even wore them whilst taking my dog for a walk when raining (umbrella in one hand, lead in the other). My neighbours called me Mary Poppins!”
Amy Clegg, Patient Care Advisor
Every year on Christmas Eve, my mother (aged 52) still leaves out a plate of cookies and milk on the table for Father Christmas. I am her youngest child at 24 and she still feels that it is required!
Danielle Taylor, Patient Care Advisor
My most special memories at Christmas time are seeing my Daughters face when she opens her presents and spending quality time with my family, we all get together for a Big Festive Dinner.
Vista Health provide a wide range of private healthcare services throughout the UK.