Happy Winter Solstice! I’ve always found this day to be the happiest, as the days from here on out will be getting brighter! We began our Wednesday with a beautiful Worship Service, hosted by our own Chaplin/Pastor Mary, to gather in feast of the longest night of the year. Following this, some residents gathered in the chapel for Rosary. Exercise and a “Coffee Talk” gathering took place just before lunch. After lunch we gathered with some guest volunteers in the dining room for a special Holiday BINGO event. The room was filled and all enjoyed our special volunteers, that eagerly assisted us, to make sure no one missed a number on their card. Our prize for a good BINGO was two kisses (Hershey’s) one for each cheek! After BINGO we enjoyed the Radio City Rocketettes Christmas Spectacular.  The Residents really enjoyed it! Sorry I have no photos today- we were so busy, I forgot to catch a single moment.
~Melissa

It was a great morning!  We sang several Christmas carols, including, “O Holy Night,” “Silent Night,” “Jingle Bells,” “Deck the Halls,” among others.  After singing all those wonderful carols, we all did stretches.  One resident likes to say shake, rattle, and roll while she loosens up her arms and legs.  This morning she said it was good she wasn’t rattling!  Everyone thought that was funny!  We also tossed the ball to one another while we reminisced about Christmas traditions.  Lastly, we watched a few YouTube videos.  We watched videos of babies and their first Christmas and funny children at Christmas concerts. Those made us all smile and laugh!
It was the Bloomingtones holiday performance this afternoon.  There was a wonderful choir with marvelous Christmas music!  Everyone enjoyed it very much!  After, the residents received their Christmas presents!  It was so much fun!
Have a wonderful Christmas and New Year!
~Jessica

This morning, there were devotions with Chaplain Mari and exercise.  We just used the beach ball to throw and kick to each other.  It was great how much everyone was laughing so much!  Wonderful start to a Monday!
It was Christmas bingo this afternoon!  There were so many winners!  It was a good time had by all!  Diane and Tolstoy came to visit us today!  He did many tricks, like going through his favorite tunnel, playing the piano, and doing puzzles.  The residents even fed him pumpkin cream cheese with a spoon.  He licked it clean each time! It was a great time!
This evening, several residents are going on a Christmas light tour.  We are really looking forward to that!
~Jessic

Happy Friday!  We started the morning with reading from The Christmas Vault book.  It is a great book/scapbook filled with the history of Christmas and is filled with many amazing pictures.  We learned all about St. Nicholas, Christmas trees, and carols.  It was fascinating.  At the end, the residents started reciting “Twas the Night Before Christmas” so I read the rest of it for them.  One resident knew most of it.  It was great!  After that, we had our balloon volleyball game with Christmas carols being played in the background. Lastly, we watched a YouTube video of children singing “The Twelve Days of Christmas.” One little girl kept yelling out “five golden rings!”  It was so funny and cute!  This afternoon, a few residents got their nails painted while everyone else worked on puzzles. They also watched a Christmas movie before dinner.
Have a wonderful weekend.  Stay safe in all the snow!
~Jessica

Happy Thursday!  We started the morning by watching a Christmas concert by the Annie Moses Band.  They are a very talented family that play many instruments and perform wonderful music!  Exercise was next and it sure did help us all to wake up a little more!  We listened to more great Christmas music, stetched, and tossed the ball.  We also watched an adorable children’s Christmas concert on YouTube.  Their cute dance moves were the best!
It was a great afternoon!  After lunch, many residents watched A Bing Crosby Christmas. Everyone really enjoyed it!  They had fun singing along too!  The residents enjoyed time together reminiscing and drinking hot cocoa and eating lots of cookies!  It was a nice treat…perfect for this bitter cold weather!  Lastly, this afternoon, Jennifer led us in Christmas carol bingo!  The residents knew pretty much all the songs!  It was great time!
~Jessic

The Hosanna! Preschool Christmas concert was this morning.  A big group of residents came down to listen to them.  The kids sang several songs for 15 minutes.  They were so enthusiastic and sang their hearts out!  We all thought they were so cute!  They brightened our morning!  After the concert, we played the balloon toss game for exercise today!
This afternoon, a few residents baked peppermint cookies.  It’s always fun to bake around the holiday season!  They were scrumptious!  Then we went to listen to caroling from the Oak Hill Elementary School.  It was more wonderful Christmas music!  What a great day!
~Jessica

We had a girls hockey team come in to decorate cookies with many residents.  They decorated 150 cookies together!  What a team!  It was a lot of fun and everyone enjoyed that time very much!
~Jessica

Happy Saturday!  Several residents got their nails painted this morning.  There was quite the line up of those that wanted their nails painted!  They were all so happy to get their nails done!  They looked very nice!  This afternoon, several residents came down for bingo! Almost everyone won!  We had a nice view of all the snow falling as we were playing. Everyone was commenting on how pretty it was!  It was a good time had by all!  When we were all back, they watched The Original Christmas Classics.
Have a great Saturday!
~Jessica