I picked my sister Vicky up at her house, and we went to celebrate Christmas with our older sister Zella who is in a group home. We giggled and colored in adult coloring books as if we were six or seven playing paper dolls in our childhood bedrooms.

Zella loves jewelry, so I brought her a variety of four long necklaces she could slip over her head. As she opened each one, she oohed and aahed and, while fighting with her oxygen tubes, put each one around her neck.

Vicky brought her a baby doll. It was about 16 inches long, had a rubber head, hands, and feet, and could suck its thumb. We decided it was a girl. Vicky also brought a variety of colorful doll clothes and a baby blanket.

Zella is 81 years young, and she liked the necklaces, but she LOVED the doll. She never had kids of her own, so maybe that’s why she was so enamored, I don’t know, but she held it and talked to it with a soft loving voice as if it was a real live baby. We laughed about her finally getting to be a mama. Yes, we were silly.

Another lady in the home, Claire, who was 98, walked over to see the baby, and she loved it too. She asked if she could hold it. Then, one of the employees went into a room and came out with another woman’s babydoll, and they compared the babies. They decided Zella’s was cutest. They were all admiring and cooing over the two stuffed dolls.

The whole scene was adorable, and I was surprised at the women’s reaction. I wondered if all women in care facilities would enjoy having a doll to hold and dress. We give babies to young children, and as we age, we revert to childhood, so why don’t we take baby dolls to more senior women unable to remain in their homes? Maybe it would make them happy to have something to care for, talk to, hold and hug.

Christmas is three days away, and paper, bows, and boxes will fill living room floors—for some. Others, not so young or fortunate, could be alone, lonely, and feeling sad. For those, Christmas holds no resemblance to those past holiday memories when they were shopping, cooking, cleaning, entertaining, and enjoying festivities. The day could be emotionally painful.

If we do something for the mental wellness of others, voilà, it helps ours too. It’s like magic and doesn’t take a lot of effort—just compassion, an idea, and a little time.

You and I might also need to move from our homes someday. Whether we give a baby doll or John Deere tractor, maybe we can add joy to someone who has left their youth but still holds childhood wonder.

We have time–three days.

Oh, by the way, MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Until the next time: Live while you live.

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