The Sprit of Giving

I know it is always better to give than to receive but it really hit home with"my people". The residents in my home were not called residents when I started this . They were and always will be "my people". This was my family and I treated them like family. We laughed together and of course there were times when we cried together.

When holidays came it was very hard on the ones who did not have any relatives or friends calling on them or sending cards. You cannot imagine, dear reader, how important those cards were to them. It meant someone cared where they were and missed them. To not receive a card would be very hard, but I had an answer for that. The Department of Adult Services in my area always came through if I called with a problem. Someone would come calling on my people and they always brought more gifts than we needed. Of course Sister Lauren from Catholic Family Services would drop by with more gifts. Than came the other churches and there would be so much for these beautiful people. The churches also sent the Youth Choir to sing and I always cried at the beauty of this. They would take "requests" from the folks and it was just unbelievably beautiful. There were times when someone would get depressed and I had a great answer for them. I would tell them if they wanted to cry we would all get together next Tuesday at the table with a box of Kleenex and just cry. I said I didn't have time today because I would have red eyes to match my hair and that wasn't good. It always seemed to work.

There was one person who came to visit her father-in-law and she brought two children with her. I said ti the children " I bet your waiting for Santa to come" and the lady got so mad!!!! She informed me that she never lied to her children and they knew better than to believe in such stupidity!!. I was really shocked but said I was sorry but we believed in Santa and that was the end of the conversation. After she left her father-in-law said he was sorry she was rude but that he hoped Santa would find him!!. I gave him a big hug and said I was sure he would and of course he did.!!!

One of the things my people enjoyed a lot was decorating. Some would hang things and others supervised. When it came to the tree they all managed to help in one way or another. One year we had decorated the tree and it was so beautiful with all the trim and lights. One lady, who used a walker, was walking past the tree on her way to the dinner table, lost her balance and fell on the tree!! I must tell you, dear reader, that I laughed so hard----she was not hurt --but if you can imagine this lady who was 5'7" weighed about 200 , on the floor with part of the tree, with the lights still on, on her you would laugh also.

On Christmas morning ,while having breakfast, it was always mentioned who heard the noises on the roof last night, or who was peeking!! These people were just like kids and I loved all of it.

I do hope someone enjoys this because it is so nice to share my memories of all the years gone by-------

Love, Red