Holiday cheer

I have wanted to do something special for the residents for Christmas. But it is difficult to do something that everyone can enjoy. Yesterday, while I was out getting lights for my wreath and doing some Christmas shopping, I decided I wanted to add some decorations to the facility Christmas trees. One tree was put up a few days after Thanksgiving. Since then, a female resident with dementia has removed a few ornaments.

Donna, who is my driver, and I spent time looking in a dollar store where I bought plastic ornaments and gold and white tinsel for the facility trees in the front lobby and the dining room.

When we got to the dining room there were several men there. One had his laptop and offered to play Christmas music. With Donna's help, my roommate put hangers on the ornaments and they were hung while we sang Christmas songs. One of the men hung an ornament and there were smiles all around.

While Donna and a friend worked on my wreath, we shared iced tea with my roommate. I used that wreath last year, but this year the lights went kaput. We rearranged and added extra decorations to the wreath and hung it up last Thursday night. The LED lights shine brightly adding holiday cheer to the room.

Earlier that evening I gave my roommate hangers for her closet. When she became frustrated, Donna showed her how to hang her clothing on them. Then my roommate hung most of her clothing herself. We were pleased she was able to do that on her own.

When we were finished with the wreath, my roommate gave Donna a great big hug and thanked her for everything.

It felt good being able to help do something for others.