Assisted Living Christmas

The reports are not yet compiled for the holiday sales figures, but I’m guessing they’ll be awful. Snow and bad weather has kept many, many people out of the stores; hopefully safe and warm at home.

It’s been nice at our home to focus more on family and friends than on the great consumer adventure – what to buy for our loved ones who, truth be known, have everything they need and most of what they want. What they really need we can’t get them at the mall anyway – a happy relationship for one; a solid job for another; a secure home for yet another.

The business of caring for our country’s most frail, elderly adults continues day after day, even through the holidays. Yet we experience financial challenges and census drops that feel like a fall from a cliff. We know our staff are suffering, and we’re about to cut their hours.

It’s a difficult time for many businesses and individuals today. It can feel so overwhelming that we may feel hopeless; helpless.

And yet at the holidays our thoughts are turned to a bigger screen than the one our own difficulties are played out upon. Themes of peace, joy and love; memories and tradition nudge us out of our own inward focus.

So we turn off CNN and tune into the Yule logs with their flickering image of a warm, cozy fireplace. We put on old melodies we can sing along to (if the kids are out of the room). We wrap the simple gifts that represent our heart’s longing for the true happiness of those we love.

And we take just a minute to say to friends and strangers alike, “Merry Christmas! Have a wonderful New Year.”