Many Christmas Gifts

Grandma had a lot of visitors over the holiday weekend. Mom and I went out on Saturday, Aunt Marilyn and Uncle Larry were out on Sunday, plus during the week and last weekend my cousins were out there to visit too.

Her roomate, Selma, passed away last week. She just couldn't pull out of that flu bug that had hit Hillcrest over a month ago. Usually she would hang in there during an illness, but not this time. She was 99 years old.

When I got there Saturday Grandma was eyeing the sack that I brought her. I decided to put her gift in a gift bag instead of wrapping a box with paper so it would be easier for her to get into. She couldn't get the card out of the envelope, so I'm glad I did the gift bag. She knew that it was a present and was anxious to get at it. I was amazed at how she reacted. She knows what a present is.

The music box that I ordered with "White Christmas" on it was all of a sudden on back order as of last Tuesday, so I won't see it until January 6. I'm sure she will enjoy it nonetheless, Christmas season or not. In the meanitime, Mom found a Hallmark card with Bing Crosby singing "It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas," when it opens. We played it for her a couple of times, and she clapped her hands after it finished.

She didn't eat a very good lunch. We found out later that the puree item was Chicken Fried Steak and Gravy, which I can see why she didn't want to eat. She also had mashed potatoes and tomato puree which weren't appetizing. I brought her a couple of chocolate chip cookies and after we took her tray away she munched on one for a good twenty minutes and drank her milk. I think she could probably just live on cookies.

Christmas Program at Hillcrest

Grandma was really ready to party the other night at the annual Hillcrest Christmas Program. She must of ate a whole bag of M & M's ( a true chocoholic) in addition to the Sherbert punch and cake. I wonder what time she really got to bed, because when we took her to her room she was not ready to go down. I asked her a couple of silly questions like "Are you still ready to party?" and she said "Yes!" and then I asked her "Are you going to get in trouble?" and she said "Yes!" and I had a feeling she knew exactly what I was saying. I even got an "I love you" before I left, which is the best Christmas present of all.

A local singer, Jack Carey (he's not in the Santa Suit however), who used to be a DJ in a former life and now does the Christian singing circuit, was there to entertain. Sure enough, when "White Christmas" came up Grandma managed to mumble "White Christmas" along with the chorus. I think she enjoyed the music, I know she enjoys music, but she didn't respond to the songs like she did last year. She knows the songs are familiar, but can't sing along like she used to. Just like she knows these people (her family) are familiar to her but she can't put her finger on it. I wonder if she ever thinks "just what are these people doing here all the time?" but I know she feels loved and that is what counts.

What's Under the Tree for Grandma

Since Grandma's joy's are limited to dinnertime and music, I'm a bit limited on what I can get her for Christmas. She goes through clothes pretty fast, so I'm going to get her a wide-necked top and a pair of elastic sweatpants that will a) be comfortable, and b) provide enough room for her to twist around it without her getting tangled up in her clothes. She likes to take her top off (or try to take her top off) for unknown reasons and she has some bad neck wounds because she would get caught up and the shirt would cut into her fragile skin. A couple of other Alzheimer's inmates like to take their tops off too, so I'm thinking this is just one of those symptomatic traits that we'll have to work around. I could care less if she took her top off, but I just don't want her to hurt herself.

My other gift is a music box that plays "White Christmas" in addition to other classic tunes like Rudolph the Red Nose reindeer, Jingle Bells, etc. Christmas tunes are about all that Grandma remembers anymore, and I hope that she will be singing along this Wednesday night when Hillcrest has their Christmas Event. One of the Quad Cities most popular singers, Jack Carey, is leading the program, and last year we couldn't keep a lid on her bellowing (nor would we want to).

She was a good singer back in the day, and on the farm would play the organ for us and we would sing along to songs. Sometimes she would let us play on the organ ourselves, and we would be pressing all of the goofy buttons like fox trot and samba trying to throw her off beat. Never happened.