I an a little late writing this blog,  I just can't get in the holiday spirit.  But I went to see Bob today and played Christmas music for us on my phone, and that has helped!  I love Christmas music, both secular and sacred.  And Bob was bright and bushy tailed today.  That is the only way I can describe him!  He was laughing and talking, and though it was all gibberish, he was happy.  But when I rubbed his head, neck and shoulders, and asked him if he liked that, he grinned and said "I like" very plainly.  I half expected him to ask to ask me to rub his feet, as he always used to, but that is where I draw the line!  And he opened his mouth purposefully when I fed him, so it was a good visit.  He only lost a pound last month, so that has stabilized.  More teeth are breaking off at the gum line, and no one can figure out what that is about, except maybe his weight loss is affecting the gums as well.  

I looked back at my blog from last Christmas.   I said this last year, but I will say it again.  Christmas is not my favorite time of the year nor is it my favorite holiday.  Even if I am enjoying myself to the fullest on that day, I then think of others who are alone and lonesome on Christmas.  They may have lost all family members or they are estranged from them.  I also think of the servicemen overseas who cannot be home with family, especially if they have small children.  Whatever the circumstances, I am sad for them.  We had our Alzheimer's support group last week.  There are so many new people in the group.  I feel so bad for them dealing with everything with the holidays approaching.  And with the pandemic, a lot of the resources are gone, have closed, or won't let new people in.  I was in that circumstance 6 years ago and even without the pandemic, it was heartbreaking.  I was beginning to have to admit that things were unmanageable at home and I was going to have to admit Bob to a facility I had been looking at.  We had one last Christmas together at our daughters home in St. Louis and I lost him in the grocery store.  "How is that possible?" you ask?  Just ask someone else in these shoes!  You are looking at something on the shelf and you turn around, and they are gone--just vanished into thin air!

If any of you are new to my blog, I will spare you having to go back two years ago when I moved him from the previous facility to Hillside Village of DeSoto.  I moved him because his level of care had increased so much they could not handle him and they had hardly any staff left.  I have no doubt that God had a hand in the series of events that prompted me to move him, as he would not have survived Covid in that facility.  I lot of residents on his unit died, and he would have been one of them.  Now, 2 years later, and am really concerned about the shortage of staff everywhere.  Hillside is short like everyone else, but most of the staff is picking up extra shifts to cover, and I can't thank them enough.  Caretakers are burned out everywhere, and I can certainly see why.  I was not surprised when one of the new members in the support group shared that she had moved here from Indiana to be near family and had put her husband in a facility.  She had helped them put him to bed at 6pm, then she went home.  When she got back at noon the next day, he was still in bed, and had not been attended to.  That shortage of staff is happening in restaurants and hotels, from the cooks to the waiters and waitresses.  So please be patient and kind to everyone you meet that are doing their best in these times in which we now live.

I am sorry to be so downhearted  this month, but I like the saying I posted on Facebook today.  "This is not the year to get everything you want.  This is the year to appreciate everything you have."  I remember back to when I liked Christmas, when we were poor, both before I got married and after I got married.  The simple things meant so much.  It was a more family time, without all of todays commercialism.  Christmas advertising didn't start right after Halloween.  So today I am thankful for life.  I am thankful for health, at a time when it can be so tenuous.  So many people will be sad this Christmas because there will be an empty place at the table.  I am especially thankful for family and friends that mean so much to me.  And I am also thankful for a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.

Love to you this Christmas, 

Betty