Fresher Take

The Festive Season

December 20, 2021 UoL Student Life Season 3 Episode 2
Fresher Take
The Festive Season
Show Notes Transcript

Join your Fresher Take Podcast hosts, Tori & Alex to talk about what activities you can get up to this festive season and how to look after your mental health during the festive season 🎄

ALEX: Hello everybody welcome to the fresher take podcast I'm Alex.

TORI: And I'm Tori.

ALEX: And today we're going to be going into a few festive things that hopefully you'll be interested in we're going to talk about some festive things that are going on in Lincoln at the moment that you might want to go and see. We're gonna tell you about some gift giving ideas that are maybe a bit less traditional and also will be quite easy for you to do last minute if you find yourself needing gifts for people and you've left it a bit late this season and we're also going to go into some considerations of mental health at Christmas and how festivities can contribute to a better mental health but also going into how you shouldn't have to pressure yourself or force yourself to enjoy the festive season if your mental health isn't the best that it could be so we're gonna to go into that a bit today and now firstly Tori is going to go into the festive things going on in Lincoln for us.

TORI: Yeah so obviously there's a lot of stuff that goes on um around everywhere for Christmas but in Lincoln this year there is something going on at Belvoir castle, or Belvoir I can't say it - so yeah if you're able to travel, obviously not everyone's gonna have a car but I'm sure there's like buses and things that you can get, but you can head over to Belvoir Castle they're building the magic of a Regency Christmas this year and all the way up till January the 2nd and will have countless festive going on that you can go and enjoy. It's located at the Southern Gateway of Lincolnshire, you can experience their Enlightened Light Trail, visit Santa at his grotto - which obviously we all want to do - and much more things that's going on so if you want more information then head over to belvoircastle.com for all the details. 

And of course I'm sure everyone would have seen by now when you've been down the High Street uh there is Thor's tipi bar. This epically festive pop-up drive is located in Lincoln's Cornhill quarter right now and we'll be here all the way up until January the 2nd, you don't have to book all you have to do is turn up and enjoy the festive lights, drinks like mulled wine and a bailey's hot chocolate, hot apple punch and even more things that kind of have a bit of a alcohol kick in it and they've got fire pit so you can stay cozy away from the cold with all your friends because you can go there with as many people as you want and I know there's also some food available there as well I think it's like a little stall outside, but yeah it's a really really good one there I think everyone - that's like a Lincoln favorite that everyone has to go to at some point.

And then we've got things like you know all the kind of festive décor around Lincoln now if you've been walking around town on the High Street or anywhere in Lincoln really you'll probably find that there is a lot of décor up for Christmas so something that you can do with your friends and that requires no spending whatsoever is just wrapping up cozy and heading around and seeing all the Christmas stuff that's up, all the trees all the lights get some photos with everything that you can find. There's a Christmas tree down at the Brayford which I don't know I think might be for Costa I'm not sure, and there's a large bauble in the center of town but yeah see what you can find yourself and get loads of photos. They've also at Thor's tipi bar they have got Lincoln in big letters but the "I" is missing so you can actually go along and pretend to be an "I" and get a whole so you are a part of Lincoln so yeah now Alex is going to start speaking about some of the gift giving ideas that are less classic than normal.

ALEX: Yeah so the first thing I'm going to go into is just the general idea of making cards which I think is a sweet idea, I haven't personally done it this year but I have done it in the past before like for my parents and for my friends. If you want to make your cards more personal for your loved ones this year but don't want to spend loads of money on like craft things from Paperchase or things like that then you can try using Canva, and it's a site that you can use for free to make almost anything you can upload photos, insert text and you can use the university printing facilities to print everything off. Obviously the library is open 24 hours a day and at the start of every uh academic year the university gives you as a student five pounds of printing credit so you should definitely take advantage of that if you want to make some more personal cards this year that if you spend a lot of time on them can look pretty professional and pretty good and obviously you get to personalize them for your individual family members and friends.

Another gift idea that we're gonna go into a little tutorial for is making stickers, now just as a warning these will look very homemade but i have made them a number of times and they do look pretty good so I'm gonna talk to you about making some stickers and it's a very simple tutorial and it can be used all year round really all you need are scissors, clear sellotape, greaseproof paper and whatever it is you want to make into a sticker whether it be your own artwork or something you've printed off. So the first step is putting a layer of sellotape onto your greaseproof paper and do it across a large area so that you've got space to work with, then you can cut your desired sticker image to the size that you want it and place it on top of the greaseproof paper on that layer of sellotape that you have put down.
 
Then comes the difficult part uh you now have to tape your image flat onto the greaseproof paper trying not to make any wrinkles with this second layer of sellotape because what you're essentially doing is sandwiching the image together between two layers of tape and the greaseproof paper is just acting as the base for you to work on and you've got to make sure that the tape sticks the image down onto the first layer of tape so that when you're cutting it out which is the next step you can cut it out properly and make sure that you leave say a half centimetre border from the edge of your image so that when it's cut out there's a bit of border of tape around the image so that it actually does work as a sticker so yeah once it's cut out it's ready to use and all you have to do is peel the layer of greaseproof paper off the back and you can stick it wherever you want or you don't even have to use it as a sticker you could even go as far as to hole punch it and hang it on your tree as a decoration or hang it around your house as a cheap type of decoration and you can make so many of these for your friends and for your family and they can look really really nice.

TORI: Yeah they seem like it.

ALEX: Yeah they are like I've now started scrapbooking with some-

TORI: Oh that's cool.

ALEX: -in like a little notebook of mine because I just - it's very therapeutic it's also very therapeutic to do.

TORI: Yeah I feel like lots of arts and crafts can be.

ALEX: Yeah particularly for this type of year as well like it always feels like there's more craft stuff on sale.

TORI: Yeah.

ALEX: As well so you can make everything look as fancy as you want.

TORI: Yeah we um we did some Christmas bauble decorating for the society last week but you know I'm not an artist that's all I'll say.

ALEX: Neither am I, I failed my- I failed my art AS level so, you know, everyone who's listening will probably be much better than me yeah at crafts um so now we're gonna move on to talk a bit about considerations of mental health during this period and Tori is gonna start us off a little bit with that.

TORI: Yeah so as much as Christmas is something that we all look forward to it's something that's obviously celebrated globally and has done for a long time and it's obviously in your face everywhere that you go, but sometimes Christmas can also feel kind of - can make us feel like extremely lonely and difficult, and it can be a million times harder when people are nagging at you to get into the Christmas spirit and to cheer up um we can't always be in the Christmas spirit, the same as we can't always be happy all the time and sometimes a lot of people don't understand that just because it's Christmas it doesn't mean that you can just turn off your mental health.

Yeah Christmas is great it's a wonderful time of the year for celebrating and spending time with your family and eating lots of Christmas dinner for like three days in a row um but you shouldn't force yourself to join in if you're not in the right mindset or you're just not feeling up for it. Sometimes doing Christmassy things can give you a mental health a boost like the things that we've mentioned and can really benefit your mental health and help you feel more Christmassy. If you don't feel up to going out maybe you should suggest watching a Christmas film with your friends or I don't know just sitting in and eating some gingerbread cookies, is it'll make you feel a lot less lonely and you know you can still spend time with your friends but not having to like force yourself to get yourself out there.

ALEX: Yeah it is really important that point in particular of not forcing yourself to do things and to go out and do things obviously like everything that we've talked about are all just suggestions like we're not suggesting that this is the perfect guide to a perfect Christmas because the most important thing is that you find the time for your mental health during this time and do what you need to do to feel like yourself again if you feel yourself slipping and you know your family and friends will recognize that your mental health is the most important thing and will want the best for you so obviously it's hard to mitigate your own emotions because emotions can be very overwhelming but try not to let let yourself think or feel as though you're letting anyone down because that will absolutely not be the case I can say that with certainty.

Also another thing that can be quite a pressure is buying gifts for people. I know this because I've been stressed trying to figure out what to get for my parents and what to get for friends and it's been a bit stressful I'm not gonna lie, but most things can be found online so if you're stressed about you know going out and going into town thinking what shop could I go into to find things or what if in town they don't have what I feel will be perfect for getting for this person, just look online, because most things you will be able to find that you know Etsy, Amazon.

Online is a really good resource, it means you don't have to leave your house and also I've found that when I'm browsing online to get things for people I always end up coming across things that I wouldn't have thought to get because obviously you get suggestions on online sites that you can't get in stores because obviously a physical store will have a finite selection of things but online you can branch out a bit and go into different things so that can be really helpful if you're feeling stressed about gift giving and I find it can be so easy to get bogged down during Christmas due to the expectation to feel jolly and merry all the time you know every song for this festive period I feel like has the word either jolly or merry in it and when every radio station has been playing it since the end of September it can just get - it can feel like a bit of a grind, the season can feel like a bit of a grind especially because you know I feel over time - I don't know if you feel like this Tori - but like I feel like when we were like when we were like eight Christmas started at around the 5th of November but now it's like the end of September and I don't know how that's happened.

TORI: Yeah I know what you mean because like obviously when you I don't know say you work in retail or hospitality they as soon as the Christmas staffer goes up the Christmas music comes out and the Christmas décor goes up before Halloween's even been and gone so, it definitely goes on for a long time.

ALEX: Yeah and in a way that can be extremely stressful for people because then they're starting to think about Christmas from a really early point like too early and then it can be you know quite detrimental. However what you really need to keep in mind is that you should take time for yourself over this period and do what you need to do to ensure that your mental health stays as the priority because you can still enjoy Christmas and get in the Christmas spirit without compromising your mental health you know, doing very simple things that don't require too much energy or too much socialization so watching Christmas films, wearing Christmas jumpers, lighting Christmas scented candles which I find to be particularly helpful I always like try - even if I don't buy one I will sometimes like go into Home Sense or another shop and just get like a Christmas tree scented candle and just smell it because I'm just like okay this is a comforting thing and if I'm stressed like it automatically makes me feel better, but ultimately whatever you do to get into the Christmas spirit this year just make sure it isn't at the risk of your mental health and I am now going to do something very spontaneous and Tori I'm going to ask you a question.

TORI: Okay.

ALEX: I want you to tell me a Christmas tradition that you have.

TORI: So one thing for me anyway over the Christmas time I always seem to work a lot, I work in hospitality uh we tend to be open on Christmas day, although the job I'm currently and isn't, but we normally obviously work around Christmas Eve, Boxing Day, any time that they can get us in really, so whatever I do for Christmas I like to make it special because I don't get a lot of time to kind of do anything especially on top of everything else with like uni and stuff, so I - every year since I have come to Lincoln so this is my third Christmas I made it a tradition that I invite all my student friends over because I live on my own um I don't live with any other students and I haven't done since I lived in Lincoln so I invite all my friends who are students over and we all put up the tree together and it's not me being lazy it's really not it's it's me trying to help you know my friends feel kind of more at home because they don't a lot of them don't put up trees or anything so yeah they come over we put on a Christmas jumper, I make them mulled wine, I don't drink mulled wine but I make them mulled wine, I make loads of like snacks like pigs and blankets we made camembert this year I think some baguettes, stuff like that and we all put up the tree together and that's just our thing and then I think at one point I think we actually did, when we were decorating the tree we did - we put on 'Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree'. We all actually started like dancing around the Christmas tree, so yeah that that's my tradition anyway-

ALEX: Yeah, that is so wholesome.

TORI: -having all my student friends over, yeah.

ALEX: That is so wholesome I love that.

TORI: And I have my dog as well so he has his Christmas jumper on and I actually got him Santa socks so he's got little socks for all of his paws-

ALEX: That is so cute.

TORI: -but when he walks he like kicks his legs out because he just, he can't walk in them so yeah.

ALEX: What is it about animals in socks?

TORI: I know, they hate it.

ALEX: Why do they just sort of like stop working as animals and they're just like - I don't know what to do.

TORI: There's so many videos online of people that put like their dogs in like socks or little shoes and they all walk really funny - it's cute. What about you what's your tradition?

ALEX: Okay well in terms of mine I've never had a Christmas tradition at Lincoln, like I've like obviously I've been - this is my fourth year as a student now, I've never put up a Christmas tree with my roommates or anything because so like the Christmas tradition stuff comes in when I go home generally, and it's I guess it's sort of more in the decorations that we have that like we have some quite, well we have one very sentimental decoration that we have which is a little Santa thing that like you pinch his back and then his arms open then you can like you can let him go and then he'll like cling on to like a branch or something and like it was my mum's mum's but then she got it from either her mum or her grandma so it's a very very old decoration that we have and it's very sentimental and we always put it, well my mum always puts on a very particular plant in our house like next to the dining table and he's just sort of there. He's got a bit of a creepy face but it's like a cute creepy face, I guess it's like endearingly creepy, and we've got what else have we got - we've got, this one's less sentimental but I like it one of those things that you can hang up on a door it's in the shape of a Christmas tree and it holds all your Christmas cards that you get sent from people, it's got like little rings that you can like slot Christmas cards into so we hang that on our door in our living room and - oh there's another thing, my mum always gives me a Christmas card on the 1st of December, which I really like, it's just like a cute little-

TORI: Like the first of the year.

ALEX: Yeah and also, also even though I am- I am 21 years old, my mum still does buy me an advent calendar and brings it to me like in mid-November or like just before December so I have it and I'm like I know I'm an adult but I love that.

TORI: I'm 23 and my mum lives 400 miles away and she posted one down to me this year.

ALEX: Aww that's- wait which one did you get this is an important question which advent calendar did you get.

TORI: The Dairy Milk. The Dairy Milk is my favorite chocolate.

ALEX: No way.

TORI: Yeah.

ALEX: I have the dairy milk one, it's the one with the Santa on the front right?

TORI: I think so I've not opened the doors in the past few days so I actually can't remember what it looks like but yeah.

ALEX: You're behind on your advent calendar that's-

TORI: Yeah.

ALEX: That is sacrilege you have to sort that out.

TORI: I've been working, I've been working.

ALEX: Have the doors that you haven't opened, the chocolate is your dinner this evening it's very important you need to get on that.

TORI: Trust me I will.

ALEX: Now I'm gonna let Tori take the lead on this with a little just a little just a general activity-

TORI: Yeah.

ALEX: -that we would like you to take part in if you feel like it.

TORI: So obviously we have mentioned quite a few things that you can be doing in this podcast so our activity for you this month is to do one of the suggested craft gifts and if you do then please make sure that you post a photo or video of whatever it is that you've done onto social media and tag us @uolstudentlife so that we can see them and ideally make a really nice festive compilation.

ALEX: Fabulous and on that note we are finishing the podcast episode for this occasion and we would like to thank all of you for coming in and listening or indeed watching if you're watching on YouTube and we would really like to encourage you to do some of the things we've suggested, to do the activity, but also please do take into consideration your mental health this year and always make that the priority. Our next podcast will be addressing seasonal depression so we will build on what we've talked about regarding mental health in this podcast but in regards to you know more specifically seasonal depression when we come back in January. Please do follow us on social media @uolstudent life and we hope all of you have a great time over the holidays, I've been Alex.

TORI: I've been Tori.

ALEX: And thank you all so much for joining us.

TORI: Merry Christmas.

ALEX: Merry Christmas.