The Magic of Christmas by Amy Newmark

Author:Amy Newmark
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Chicken Soup for the Soul
Published: 2022-10-11T00:00:00+00:00

New Is Nice

Without a sense of caring, there can be no sense of community.

~Anthony J. D’Angelo

The day before Christmas, my wife Ellie and I brought our Christmas gifts to the residents whom we regularly called upon at the Glendale Nursing Home. We had been doing volunteer hospice work for over fifteen years. We had a list of residents provided by hospice, and we called upon them once or twice a week. We sat and visited with them, and brought cookies and small personal items.

At Christmastime, we took gaily wrapped gifts of lap robes, slippers, shawls and sweaters. Our last visit on this day was with Margaret and Florence, two elderly ladies who resided in the same room.

When we entered the room, we overheard Florence and Margaret talking about going to the resident Christmas party, which was scheduled that afternoon.

“Ray, I like your Christmas sweater and Ellie’s, too,” Florence said.

“You look all ready for this afternoon’s Christmas party,” Margaret added.

“Yes, and we can take you down to the party if you wish,” I said to the two ladies, who transported in wheelchairs.

“That would be nice. And maybe you could take Alice, too,” Margaret replied, pointing to the frail, little lady who was lying in the third bed. “She just came here a couple of days ago.”

“I heard the nurse say that she had been living alone somewhere nearby and had come here after a short stay in the hospital,” Florence added.

We walked over to the bed, and I introduced myself and Ellie to Alice.

As Alice sat up wearily in the bed, the facility’s activity director announced over the speaker system that the Christmas party would be delayed for about an hour. She added, with a twinkle in her voice, “Santa just called. It seems that he is having trouble with his reindeer this afternoon.”

We laughed at this comment, and I asked, “Would you like us to take you to the Christmas party, Alice?”

Alice glanced up sadly at my wife. Her voice filled with regret as she whispered, “I can’t go with you. My pants fall down whenever I walk anywhere.”

I suddenly realized that Alice did not have a wheelchair by her bed and apparently was able to walk with some help.

Ellie walked to the nearby closets and asked which one was Alice’s. She opened it, looked inside and removed several of the hangers that had slacks and tops neatly hanging from them.

“These slacks look much too large for you,” Ellie remarked.

Alice nodded. “Yes. I’ve been sick and lost a lot of weight. And those are all the clothes that I have now. I used to work as a buyer at Macy’s in New York. I had a lot of nice clothes then.” Her eyes filled with tears as this memory seemed to overwhelm her.

I walked over and whispered to Ellie, “You know, we have some time before the Christmas party starts. Let’s head over to Walmart and see if we can find something for Alice that will fit.”

At that moment, a uniformed woman walked into the room and approached us.

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