Grandmother crochets adorable festive hats for babies spending Christmas in NICU
A grandmother crocheted adorable festive hats for tiny babies spending Christmas in NICU.
The babies at the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at Cleveland Clinic Children’s Hospital were treated to the handmade gift on December 13, 2024.
The woman is the grandma of one of the clinic’s graduates – and knows the challenges of having a baby in NICU.
She crocheted festive themed hats and the babies were even visited by Santa for their pyjama party.
Therese Razzante, NICU family support specialist at Cleveland Clinic Children’s, said: “Traditions like these create precious memories and remind families they’re surrounded by a team that cares deeply for them and their little ones.
“It’s truly heart-warming to see the smiles on parents’ faces as we celebrate with them.”
The parents and caregivers helped the little ones get into their festive pyjamas and hats.
‘Santa Jim’, who is also a respiratory therapist at Cleveland Clinic Children’s made his annual visit to the NICU, spreading warmth and cheer —a tradition he has upheld for more than a decade.
The clinic said their annual traditions are one of the ways the team tries to normalise the NICU environment.
Britain’s most festive man – decorates home with 10,000 decorations
Meet Britain’s most festive man, who decorates his home with 10,000 decorations – which take two WEEKS to put up and take down.
Geoff Stonebanks, 71, spends a week every Christmas adorning his home in Seaford, East Sussex with 40 crates worth of decorations.
He then has to devote another seven days in the first week of January to taking it all down and storing it away – ready for next December.
Geoff estimates that he owns around 2,500 individual baubles – but has lost count of the number of other festive trinkets he keeps under his roof.
His collection was previously estimated at around 10,000.
Geoff’s haul has been amassed over several decades and includes decorations he has bought on various holidays as well as ones handed down through his family.
Some of his decorations date back to the 1930s and one of his trees was bought from the beloved but now defunct high street store Woolworths.
In past Decembers, he has had no less than 40 trees in his home – varying in size from seven feet to 18 inches. He has seven this year.
Geoff has been obsessed with Christmas ever since he was a child and was tasked with decorating his parents’ pub for the festive season.
When he left home, he started gathering his own decorations – and when his parents retired he inherited the ones they had gathered over the years.
His collection has only grown since then.
Geoff said: “My parents used to open the pub every Christmas Day so people who were on their own had somewhere to go.
“So decorating was always a big thing.
“As a child, I got involved and started helping out. And then my mum eventually realised she could just leave me to do it myself.”
For Geoff, what is most special about his collection is the memories each piece holds.
He said: “Christmas is about people and memories. And each year, when I get the decorations out to sort through and decide where I’m putting them, I remember where I got each piece.
“Some have been given to me by people who are special to me, others I bought on a holiday I enjoyed.
“So all those memories come flooding back each year.”
Although Geoff’s home is prepared for a mass celebration, he will be enjoying a quiet Christmas this year with his 97-year-old mother, his partner Mark, and their rescue dog Chester.
On New Year’s Eve, he will start the week-long process of taking the decorations down.
Geoff said: “I love Christmas and I have all the decorations up by December 1, but even I must admit I get tired of them by the end of the month.
“So I’ll start taking them down – which takes a week – and then pack them away ready for next year.”
You can find out more about Geoff’s Christmas obsession on his website: http://www.geoffschristmas.co.uk/
Care home residents’ signs offer advice to youngsters including ‘play golf’
Care home residents have held up signs offering advice to younger generations including “keep smiling”, “love your family” – and “play golf”.
Staff at Belleaire House asked residents to reflect on their life experiences – and asked what advice they would give to young people today.
They wrote their answers on a whiteboard and ranged from starting a family to travelling and living life to the fullest.
Some residents, like 90-year-old Esther, advised young people to focus on their career and “pick a job you’re interested in’.
Joyce, 90, recommended they “stick in with education.”
Others at the care home in Greenock, Scotland focused on family life, with Morag, 86, advising to “settle down with family”.
Isabel, 78, explained young people should “appreciate life;” Margaret, 80, suggested they “go travelling the world;” and 90-year-old Ernie said “live life to your fullest.”
While there were many messages to be kind, be good to people and live an honest life, Bill, 84, believed the secret to happiness was to ‘play golf’.
Amongst a list of excellent advice Terry, 69, encapsulated it by stating “you can be all and everything you want to be,” while 88-year-old Alice and 78-year-old Lena provided a simple tip everyone can start immediately – smile more.
Tracy Docherty, general manager at Belleaire House said: “This was such a great activity to undertake as we approach the end of the year, and it generated a fun and lively discussion amongst both residents and colleagues.
“Our residents have a wealth of knowledge and life experience between them, and it was fantastic to see them recognise that – with one of our residents proudly announcing that they were ‘living history’.
“Their words of wisdom are very much appreciated – though some of them were too ‘risqué’ to capture, which gave us all a giggle!
“I know I’ll be keeping their words in mind as we move into 2025.”
Artist creates world’s smallest Santa Claus – the size of a grain of sugar
A micro-artist has a Santa Claus sculpture which is the size of a grain of SUGAR – and fits in the eye of a needle.
David A. Lindon, 56, spent six weeks creating the world’s smallest Santa Claus.
The microscopic festive creation is so small at just 1mm tall that it fits inside the eye of a needle, and is the same size as a single grain of sugar.
The tiny Santa Claus is even accompanied by an even tinier cat and dog by his side.
He said in order to create such impressive details on such a small scale, he works at night to avoid distractions.
David, from Bournemouth, Dorset, is known for his microscopic creations – having previously created microscopic tiny and Van Gogh artworks, and even a microscopic model of Stonehenge on a pin head.
David said he’s so happy with how his tiny Santa turned out that he’ll make a new festive-themed miniature sculpture every year.
He said: “Just how Santa manages to get down the chimneys undetected in the middle of the night?
“Perhaps we are a little nearer the answer with my magical microscopic creation.
“It’s the same size as a grain of sugar and begs the question; how many of these can you get inside a Christmas cracker!”
‘Britain’s Naughtiest Dog’ has found a destructive rival – his great-nephew
The owner of ‘Britain’s Naughtiest Dog’ says another hound has taken the crown – his own great-nephew.
Boxer Cooper, nine, was once so destructive he caused owner Jill Kirkham, 58, £8.7k worth of damage to her home – trashing sofas, dining room tables and doors.
But he’s “mellowed out” in his old age…..paving the way for his great-nephew, boxer Harry, four.
Harry was born deaf, so Jill has been left to train him using hand signals.
But he takes after his older relative – and despite having an irresistible “puppy face and wagging tail” he’s destroyed endless amounts of furniture.
Harry has already broken a kettle, chewed three holes in walls, ripped up her laminate flooring and dragged an entire pot of stew into bed with him.
Jill estimates he’s done £2k’s worth of damage already – and shows no sign of stopping.
Jill, a cleaning supervisor from Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, said: “Harry is very destructive – it must be something in his genes.
“He’s not far off from taking Cooper’s crown as ‘Britain’s Naughtiest Dog.’
“I’d say he’s caused about £2k worth in damage – I haven’t started paying for things to be replaced yet.
“I need him to get out of his chewing phase!”
After looking after Cooper for five years, Jill decided to adopt Harry in January 2021.
Her friend’s hound had given birth to a litter – and couldn’t keep Harry, because she already has seven Boxers.
He was the only deaf puppy in the pack, so Jill volunteered to give him a good home.
“My friend was looking after her poorly mum at the time,” she said.
“She would’ve kept Harry otherwise – but I took him home.”
Harry was 10 weeks old when Jill adopted him – but by four months old, he was already starting to trash the furniture.
The tall canine stretched himself onto the kitchen counter, and destroyed Jill’s kettle and toaster.
He loves to jump on his hind legs and reach for household items – often breaking them in the process.
“For my own sanity, I’m refusing to deal with replacing the furniture until he’s older,” she added.
“It was like, ‘here we go again.’
“At least it wasn’t my sofas, though – that’s the main difference between him and Cooper, he leaves my sofas alone.”
Cooper destroyed eight sofas as a younger dog, which Jill had to fork out £5.6k to replace.
But in his short life, Harry has attempted to top that – ripping up parts of Jill’s laminate flooring and dragging it out of the dining room, as well as chewing three holes in the wall.
Jill says the most disastrous incident was when she “mistakenly” left a giant pot of uncooked stew on the stove.
She said: “Harry has stolen numerous things from the worktops.
“I once left a massive pan of stew on there, ready to be cooked.
“I came back to it, and found the entire thing in Harry’s bed – it’d been eaten!”
Cooper is now almost 10 years old, and in his old age, has retired from causing chaos.
Jill said the hound likes to humour his great-nephew for a while, as Harry runs rings around him.
But ultimately, he can no longer keep up with Harry’s antics.
“Cooper’s nine-and-a-half, now,” Jill added.
“He’s absolutely fine – but he wants a peaceful life.
“It’s not really possible, with Harry around.
“He humours his great-nephew for a bit, whenever he wants to play, but he gets tired very easily.”
Adorable dog with wonky face compared to Picasso masterpiece
Meet the adorable dog with a wonky face who is compared to a Picasso masterpiece and has celebrity fans including Amanda Seyfried.
Amanda Richter, 34, fell in love with stray Brodie, five, when she saw him on a rescue page.
The German Shepard, Mastiff, Pitbull terrier and Rottweiler mix was bitten by his mum as a pup – leaving him with a wonky face and partially blind in one eye.
But Amanda thought he was “perfect” and loves that he looks a bit like “a Picasso masterpiece”.
Amanda, a photographer, from Lake Cowichan, British Columbia, Canada, said: “He’s a spunky little guy. He makes me laugh.
“He’s a bundle of energy and care-free.
“I get the comment a lot that he looks a lot like a cartoon dog that we used to draw as a kid.
“He’s not perfect but he is still loved.
“It’s not about what’s on the outside. That dog has the biggest heart.
“He’s perfect to me.”
Amanda knew she had to get Brodie as soon as she saw a post on him by Old MacDonald Kennels in Alberta, Canada.
Brodie’s jaw is partially fused shut but it doesn’t impact him.
Amanda said: “He has no clue that he is different.
“He’s full of life.
“He wants to play all the time.
“He’s very smart too.”
Amanda started sharing Brodie online @bestboybrodie and one of her followers sent her a rescue dog with an uncanny resemblance to him.
She said: “The are soulmates.”
Three-year-old Raven, a Husky and German Shepard mix, came to join the family in February 2022 after being rescued from Fuzzy Texan Animal Rescue.
Amanda said: “Brodie was terrified of Raven at first.
“Raven was from an abusive home.
“She was petrified when I got her.
“Eventually they warmed up to each other.
“Now they are inseparable.
“They play together. It’s such a brother sister relationship.”
Brodie also has some celebrity followers including Amanda Seyfried, Leona Lewis and Donald Trump’s daughter-in-law, Lara Trump.
Amanda said: “I think it’s hilarious.”
She hopes sharing Brodie sends a message and encourages others to rescue dogs that are not ‘perfect’.
She said: “Being not perfect is OK.
“I hope people will go and rescue dogs that are not perfect.”
Britain’s oldest Christmas tree which survived Blitz put up for 104th year
Britain’s oldest Christmas tree has been put up for the 104th year in a row.
Kay Ashton, 70, says the tree can only go up for two or three days a year as it is getting ‘increasingly more fragile’.
Purchased from Woolworths for sixpence by Kay’s grandmother Elizabeth Naylor in 1920, the artificial tree, thought to be Britain’s oldest, stands at less than two-feet tall.
The tree survived Hitler’s bombs in the Blitz during the Second World War and eight house moves to stay in the family for three generations.
The grandmother-of-three, from Sheffield, South Yorks., said: “It’s still fighting for its life.
“It only goes up for maybe two or three days now, because it’s getting increasingly more fragile, it falls over quite frequently.”
Kay, who retired from working for BT four years ago, says she thinks the damaged tree is beyond repair, but that its flaws are part of its charm.
She added: “To be honest, I don’t want it to be overdone, it’s part of it now.
“It’s got Blitz damage, it’s got other damage.
“It could do with a bit of a facelift, but nothing too much.”
The tree, which stands at 18 inches (45 cm), has survived four monarchs and 23 prime ministers.
It was damaged during a Blitz of Sheffield’s steelworks in December 1940 when the city was bombarded by the Luftwaffe for four days, killing almost 700 people and damaging 82,000 houses out of 150,000.
Kay said the impact of the bomb blast launched the plucky decoration from the kitchen to the living room and sticky tape was used to repair it.
Despite its small stature, the tree still brings laughter to the whole of Kay’s family.
Kay said: “It’s a standing joke and has been for year, it’s just a case of ‘when is the twig going up?’”
Over 150 dog owners dress pups up as Nativity characters in adorable display
Over 175 dogs across Britain have been dressed up as Nativity characters for a festive Instagram display.
After more than 60 dogs took part in the festive stunt last year, the team doubled their efforts again this year.
The Nativity display, which owners are posting throughout the course of today, is in aid of a disabled animal rescue charity.
The group of dog owners banded together on Instagram to divvy up the main characters – including Jesus, Mary, Joseph and the Angel.
More are joining on the day too – to create a wave of Christmassy pooch pics to “bring a smile to people’s faces”.
The original Nativity idea came from Hannah James, 31, from Cardiff, back in 2022 with just a handful of dogs taking part after the owners met online.
Hannah, who has seen the event snowball since then, said: “People have been so excited to take part, and have been planning their outfits.
“It’s just something fun and wholesome, you see so many bad things on social media but this is just cute dogs celebrating Christmas.
“My dog, Alffi, couldn’t care less – I’ve dressed him up as a reindeer, and he just sits there in his outfit until I let him go!
“If it can raise some money for a good charity and bring a smile to a few people’s faces, why not?”
Characters were allocated to each of the original 150 dog owners involved in the plan on Instagram.
They all went away and bought, sourced or made their costumes before the big reveal today (Mon).
Jesus is played by Milo the dog, owned by Erin, from Ayreshire.
Mary is played by Biscuit the dog, whose owner is Natasha, from Aylesbury.
Joseph is played by a different Milo, whose owner is Ruby, from Brighton.
The stunt is in aid of Broken Biscuits, the UK’s leading disabled animal advocacy charity, which is based in Lincolnshire.
Fundraiser: https://www.gofundme.com/f/the-nativity-pups
Mum’s mega babies – in 99th percentile and born too big for baby clothes
A mum has told how she only has mega babies – one in the 99th percentile and the other who wore clothes for 12-month-old tots from day one.
Brittany Opetaia-Halls, 29, welcomed her first child via c-section, Malayisa-Maree, in August 2020 – weighing 9lbs 4oz.
Four years later, she gave birth naturally to another little girl, Milana-Mae, who
tipped the scales at 9lbs 2oz, in a 24 hour labour.
Malayisa-Maree, now four, wears clothes that should fit an eight-year-old.
And after just six months Milana-Mae, born in June 2024, is a whopping 22lbs 9oz – more than 5lbs heavier than the average tot her age.
This puts Milana-Mae in the 99th percentile – which means a baby is heavier than 99 per cent of tots of the same age and sex.
Strangers ask “what are you feeding them?”.
She was wearing clothes labelled 12 months when she was a newborn.
Brittany, who works in marketing and social media, from Brisbane, Australia, said: “I think I just knew they’d both be big.
“I was showing pretty quickly with both of them.
“My husband is very tall so in my head, I went ‘oh no!’.
“Even when the midwives were scanning me they just didn’t know if it was fluid but I knew in my head it was the baby.
“People on TikTok comments always said I was about to pop and I’d be way out.
“The views about my bump went so high and everyone was so shocked.
“When I take both of them out it’s always like ‘what are you feeding them?’.”
After 20 weeks of pregnancy with Malayisa-Maree, Brittany’s bump was already measuring over the average for that stage.
Brittany – who is married to Rajan, 31, who is 6ft 2in – said: “The midwives would put me on scans every few weeks and she was sitting on that high 98th percentile.
“Around 36 weeks they told us she was already hitting that 99th percentile size so they gave me a few options for birth – I was measuring quite big.
“I decided to have a caesarian and when I had her she actually got stuck coming out of the incision with her shoulder.
“When she did come out they rushed her off as I was losing a lot of blood.
“She ended up in NICU for three days and after the second day, I was able to see and hold her.
“I felt horrible that my huge baby was in this room of premature babies.”
With Milana-Mae, Brittany was keen to have a natural birth.
She said: “We were monitoring throughout and I had a little bit of guilt for not having Malayisa-Maree naturally.
“I knew Milana-Mae would be big regardless and she was hitting the 88th percentile whilst she was inside of me.
“I went to 41+1 weeks with her and I was meant to be induced with her but luckily I went into labour without being induced and I really wanted to deliver her naturally – I was told it was safe.
“I was in 24 hours of labour and pushed for 45 minutes because she actually got stuck coming out.
“I think I was just in the moment of being glad I got to do it though.
“She was a little smaller than Malayisa-Maree but gradually after birth that’s when she grew into the 99th percentile.”
Now, both Brittany’s children are wearing clothes well above their age.
She said: “Milana-Mae has just had her six-month weigh-in and she was 10.8kg at six months – the average is 7.4kg.
“She’s practically the size of a 12 month baby.
“Milana-Mae is wearing one and two size clothing and she’s only six months.
“Malayisa-Maree is four at the moment and she’s wearing aged eight clothes.
“It felt like I’d be rotating clothes every few months.
“Something would fit one week and not the next.
“I think from when Malayisa-Maree was one-and-a-half I started to buy really big to ensure that it wouldn’t be too small within a few weeks.
“It’s slowed down a little now but we’ve saved all of Malayisa-Maree’s clothes so we haven’t had to buy Milana-Mae but it does feel like I’m rotating hers a lot quicker than Malayisa.”
“We moved to Disney – we will be spending Christmas Day in the resort”
A couple who moved their entire life to Florida to go to Disney World every day say they’ll spend Christmas Day at the resort.
Disney-obsessed Jessica Pruitt, 42, moved 560 miles from Charlotte, North Carolina, to Davenport, Florida, after her husband, Wes, 56, took her to the park for the first time aged 35.
The couple moved their entire life across country in July 2022 – to go to the parks every day.
Jessica has grown up loving Disney and will visit the parks first thing in the morning or in the evening.
When their three children were younger, the family would often holiday at Disney World twice a year one with the children and one in December for Wes’ birthday.
This year the couple plan to visit the park on Christmas Day on their own – instead of spending the day with their adult children – and will be taking part in a Christmas tree hunt throughout the resort.
Jessica, a content creator, said: “Christmas was already my favourite time of year – as a kid it was a time when all the stars aligned in my family.
“Disney makes it so special with all the different decorations.
“For us, Disney is open 365 days a year, we’re going to visit the park on Christmas Day.
“You only get to go to Disney on Christmas Day once a year.”
Jessica and Wes, a mortgage broker, spend $1,400 each on a top-tier annual season pass – which they pay monthly to split up the cost.
They go to the park every day and have already started celebrating Christmas at the park with Mickey Mouse – by attending a parade and fireworks display.
Jessica said: “Christmas starts early here at Disney.
“The first party happened here on November 11th – they do special ticketed events called Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party.
“They have a special parade, fireworks and it is just so magical.
“You get to see Cinderella’s carriage, Mickey in his holiday outfit.
“It is something you can only see once a year which makes it so much more magical.”
Jessica says each park is decorated differently and they love nothing more than checking out all the decorations.
They also take part in a Christmas tree stroll through the park.
Jessica said: “Each park is decorated differently for Christmas time.
“One of our favourite locations is Jock Lindsey’s Hangar Bar.
“They have special foods and cocktails – they have hot chocolates, pigs in blankets and turkey croquettes.
“We are going to all the resorts, we like to see all the different Christmas decorations.”
Jessica and Wes have already seen their children for the holidays and are planning to spend Christmas Day at Disney World.
Jessica said: “We are going to all the resorts.
“They also do a Christmas tree stroll to check out all the unique trees.
“Hollywood Studios is my favourite park to visit at this time of year.
“They decorate it with retro decorations – it reminds me of being a kid.
“When January comes around it is a little sad, it feels like something is missing from the park.”
