An Extra Special Candlelight Christmas Eve

--by Joy4All, posted Apr 21, 2011

I am a geriatric care manager and many of my clients families live out of state.

This year, a sweet old lady that I care for, Alice, had gone through a particularly rough time. She had been in the hospital twice and then to a rehab nursing facility. In November I was finally able to get her back to her "home" in to an 'assisted living facility'.

Alice has dementia and thought her daughter was coming to visit on Christmas day and that they were going to have the whole family together like the old days. When she finally realized that was not going to happen she was so sad and tearful. Knowing that her daughter was coming after Christmas was not enough to cheer her. I hated the idea of her being alone on the holiday!

On Christmas Eve, I surprised her by asking if she would like to go to a candlelight service at church that night.

Instead of taking her to my church, I took her to her old neighborhood church where all her friends were. We got there early and I got us a seat where her friends could see her as they came in. God and his angels had a hand in the plan and it worked out perfectly. All of her friends seemed to be there and rushed over to greet her and sit with her.

The candlelight service was a beautiful, tearful affair and Alice got lots of hugs and love.

The truth of the story is that I am the one who got the best gift; the smile on Alice's face and the feeling that I made a difference.

4156 Reads

Posted by Joy4All
Apr 21, 2011
Comments (15)

Readers Comments

trueblue wrote: how thoughtful of you...you made her smile...big cheesy smiles i bet...your an earth angel... :)

unknown wrote: You had been extremely thoughtful to see Alice get her true joy with the people she knew ... Thanks for being so kind and thoughtful to her ... God bless you, Joy4all :)

MakeSomeoneSmile wrote: What a wonderful thing for you today. Bless you for your kind heart and bringing smiles to her face! :)

peanut wrote: This is a beautiful story,you are a kind person & thoughtful to make someone happy.

pauliej wrote:
Your story brought happy/sad tears to my eyes. Bless you for your kindness to a senior.

Joy wrote: Thank you for sharing. What a beautiful experience.

luv4all wrote: How thotful! Luv everything abt this story, inspiration communicated in a sweet, sutle way through small acts of big love :)

Judy wrote: What a lovely story. Thank you so much for sharing it!

Ollie wrote: You were such a blessing to her , god uses us to be a comfort to each other , thank you for being open to receiving. The joy is that it blesses us also. Peace , love and joy.

Woodrose wrote: Thank you for sharing this beautiful story of love and joy :) x

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