Earlier this year, Frankie, alongside her mum Nicola, appeared on ITV’s This Morning and in September spoke at the Patient Forum during the International Coeliac Disease Symposium in Sheffield. There she shared her journey with coeliac disease and discussed what it’s like to live gluten free at a young age. Frankie’s bravery and confidence in sharing her experience have made her a role model for many children and families affected by coeliac disease. 

As Christmas approaches, we asked Frankie and her mum, Nicola to share how Frankie’s gluten free festive celebrations look and what makes their Christmas moments so special. 

Q. Nicola, what does Christmas look like for you – are there any traditions you have as a family? 

Frankie and her sister, Maddie, love opening their Advent Calendar to kick off the Christmas season, and we have been to see the pantomime at our local theatre.  Frankie is a huge theatre fan. We decorate the tree together, with Christmas songs blasting out, singing along loudly. Writing letters to Santa is very important, after which we watch a Christmas movie and have a gluten free snack night. We try and do a Christmas Santa train experience each year, and they always have a special gluten free cookie available on the train for us! This year Frankie would like to try ice-skating.   

On Christmas Eve, we track Santa delivering his presents, and leave him some gluten free cookies and milk, he loves them! We usually go to church on Christmas morning after a gluten free pancakes and bacon breakfast, and Frankie takes part in the nativity, before having a huge Christmas lunch and playing family games. 

Q. How do you adapt traditional Christmas meals to be gluten free? 

For our Christmas dinner we always have gluten free Yorkshire puddings – controversial! We use Becky Excell’s gluten free recipe and to avoid cross-contamination we only make gluten free ones - everyone in the house loves! We buy specially labelled gluten free pigs in blankets because Frankie loves those. Stuffing can be a source of hidden gluten, but Frankie thinks stuffing is ‘disgusting’ anyway! Finally, we make traditional Caribbean rum cake with a gluten free twist for everyone to keep Frankie safe. This is Frankie’s favourite food of the whole season. 

Q. Is there a special activity, tradition, or moment that Frankie looks forward to the most? 

Her favourite part of Christmas is seeing what our naughty Elf on the Shelf has been up to every morning when she wakes up! Our elf seems to like gluten free snacks best of all and he often steals treats from Frankie’s special gluten free snack cupboard! Frankie loves the Christmas Eve box because it is full of family party games. Her favourite game is the Christmas scavenger hunt where you have to run around the house solving clues to find the final prize! 

Q. Have you encountered any challenges during Christmas celebrations due to Frankie’s coeliac disease diagnosis? How do you manage them? 

One of the biggest challenges is making a gingerbread house. Gluten free gingerbread can be quite crumbly and makes it a little harder. Finding gluten free advent calendars takes a little time too, as so many companies forget that children can be gluten free so our tip is to get a non-food Advent calendar to be safe. Frankie makes a list of all the things she would like to do over the Christmas season, which we use to plan ahead.  Most Christmas markets are sadly not places where gluten free food is easy to find or trust. So, we give those a miss. 

Our tip is to always keep a box of mini GF mince pies (or fudge) to hand and take a couple in a food bag while you’re out and about for unexpected situations where food is being handed out. 

Q. How does Frankie’s coeliac disease diagnosis influence the way your family celebrates Christmas? 

We all eat a gluten free Christmas lunch, and honestly, we can’t tell the difference! It requires more planning, and family members have to stock up on gluten free festive favourites such as gravy stock, mince pies and chocolate. Frankie will be sending Coeliac UK Christmas cards to her friends this year to raise awareness of coeliac disease. It can be hard to manage all of the food being handed out in shopping centres, parties and festive activities, so we try to take snacks everywhere and plan ahead. 

Q. Frankie had an eventful year, including her appearance on This Morning and her role at the International Coeliac Disease Symposium.  How did Frankie feel about sharing her journey in such public forums? 

Frankie loves to share her journey, but her ultimate motivation is that there will one day be a cure for coeliac disease. She would like other children to know that living a gluten free lifestyle can be fun, because you get your own snack cupboard! She is grateful for the opportunities to share her story, in the hope that other children can get faster diagnoses and support to live a gluten free lifestyle. 

The experiences over this year have made Frankie feel the support and warmth of the gluten free community, and we are grateful as a family to be a part of it. 

Q. What would you recommend to parents trying to make the festive season special for their children living gluten free? 

Plan, plan, plan. Many supermarkets have now increased their range of ready to go gluten free festive snacks, so take these on the go with you for those situations that arise when food is being shared. Call the restaurants ahead and explain your needs. Let family members know that choosing gluten free restaurants makes life much easier for you. Don’t let the worry of cross- contamination spoil your fun – take cling film, gloves and paper plates when visiting to manage the risk and reduce any worries about food mixing. 

Q. What has been Frankie’s favourite #GlutenFreeChristmasMoment so far since her diagnosis? 

Frankie couldn’t believe her eyes when one year we realised that Santa had eaten the gluten free cookies, he only left crumbs! That was exciting, because it shows that even Santa thinks gluten free food is the best food! The reindeer stuck with carrots though. 
 
Thank you to Frankie and Nicola for sharing your experiences. 

Watch Frankie’s diagnosis story here.