Pleasant Meadow gets ready for Christmas season
Tuesday December 4, 2007 -- Deron Hamel
A family turkey dinner, Christmas light tours and traditional yuletide entertainment are some of the activities Pleasant Meadow Manor has in store for the holiday season.

On Dec. 17, the Norwood long-term care home will host its yearly Christmas dinner, complete with roast turkey, stuffing, vegetables and mincemeat pies.

Residents will be joined by family members at the dinner and everyone is looking forward to it, says life enrichment supervisor Jackie Arnott. To make the event even more special, residents were encouraged to create their own invitations to send to their families, she adds.

“The big thing that the residents are talking about is the dinner,” says Arnott, adding that some residents are looking forward to going home to visit their families over the holiday.

Residents have expressed interest in touring area houses which have fancy Christmas light displays. In past years residents have enjoyed the Christmas light tours, and some have made requests for these outings again this year, says Arnott.

Entertainment will also be a big feature at Pleasant Meadow heading up to the Christmas season. Highlights in December include a group from the Norwood Lioness Club, who will be coming to sing Christmas carols for residents, and the always popular Otonabee Fiddlers will also be making an appearance this month.

One of the unfortunate aspects of the season is that some residents no longer have families who they can enjoy the holiday with at the home. However, staff members and volunteers go out of their way to make sure no resident misses out on the spirit of the season.

“We do our best to provide exciting days for them over Christmas,” says Arnott, adding each resident gets a stocking full of gifts for the holiday.

“For those who can’t make it home we have a gift opening on Christmas Day, and we have quite a few volunteers coming in to spend some time with the residents on Christmas and Boxing Day.”