“Thanks for coming,” Madeline told Maria and I when we came for our Christmas ceremony,  “most people don’t want to come anywhere near here.” I thanked her and confessed that I was once one of those people, I didn’t know how much love and feeling there was inside those walls and doors.

Maria and I and Zinnia went to the Mansion at 2 p.m., I had volunteered to conduct a Christmas service – silent prayer, poetry, and discussion – for the residents whose families couldn’t take them home for the holiday or who had no place to go.

The Mansion aides helped me to set it up.

We had about eight people attend. On Christmas, most of the residents go out to their families. Some just stay in their rooms.

We had the ceremony in the Great Room. There was lots of light and space.

We had two minutes of silent prayer – people could speak to their own God about Christmas or to themselves – Maria and I took turns reading some Christmas poems – and other poetry most from Robert Frost –  and then I opened the service up to individual discussion.

I think it is so important to hear the residents speak in their own words about their lives.

I asked everyone what Christmas meant to them.

There were some powerful answers. Madeline remember the poverty of her family on Christmas days, Georgianna said the loved Christmas because it was the birthday of Jesus, Nancy said it was a day of joy, Georgianna said the message of Christmas was giving.

Peggie said she liked Christmas because she got presents (she thought I was coming to bring presents, which was, I suspect, one reason she came. I thanked her for her honesty. Peggie is focused.)

I was touched by Madeline’s idea, which was that on Christmas and New Years, she wished for a year as good and valuable as the previous year. “Every year,” she said, “I give thanks for having survived, and for being around people who love me and care for me.”

I said I had learned that Christmas was about giving.

It was a beautiful experience for me, I  think it had great meaning for the residents who came. I could see how much it mattered that Maria and I were there. They are always surprised that I still show up.

I think the biggest gift I can bring these people is to show up, it seems to mean the world to them that somebody would come by regularly to see them and help them.

Maria has a very active and deep connection with many of the residents, I can see they especially like talking to another woman, which they find more easier than talking with a man. Many of them sit with her and have private conversations I don’t think they would have with me.

We brought a box of cookies, we had enough for everyone.

I explained that this was a great gift for me, I hope to make this an annual tradition, perhaps expanding it to some other holidays as well. I often think of the residents left behind on holidays.

Maria and I had a beautiful Christmas. We loved our visit to our favorite Vermont Inn, where we spent our honeymoon. We think this should be a regular Christmas Eve tradition, the inn’s prices are very low on Christmas Eve, the skiing mobs don’t come until next week.

I told the innkeeper it felt like a Robert Frost Vermont Christmas. Daniel Webster, Ulysses S. Grant, and Nathaniel Hawthorne stayed at the inn, so did Ralph Waldo Emerson.

We stayed in the “Paul Newman” room, his favorite. The room has a giant bathtub, Maria lured me into her bubble bath there was room for at least the two of us.

We got back in time to go to the Mansion with Zinnia. I loved conducting this service, somewhere in there is the spirit of a strange and long gone pastor.