Courtesy of Orchard Glenn Retirement Community - Resident Mary Moscato decorates her door as Orchard Glenn Retirement Community celebrates Christmas.
Bing Crosby sang “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” from the point of view of a solider promising to return to his family during World War II. Many of those who first heard the song in 1943 are now living in a home away from home. For many seniors, retirement communities are a convenience or a necessity. It’s reassuring to know that holiday warmth can be found inside these residences when it is cold outside.
Christmas lights and a roaring fire, with or without roasting chestnuts, are visible throughout the month of December at Orchard Glen Retirement Community in Orchard Park. A grand illumination ceremony kicks off the holiday festivities on Dec. 1. No less than seven Christmas trees, decorated by the residents and staff, fill the main building. Residents decorate the doors of the 100 apartments and cottages that make up the estate.
Throughout December the 105 residents receive visits from many youth groups such as local Brownie and Daisy troops that come to sing Christmas carols with them. Craft sessions are held with instructions on how to make gingerbread houses and ornaments. A secret Santa gift exchange is planned and a cookie exchange is a definite probability.
“It seems to me that since I came here, we celebrate all the time,” said Clarabel Milks, a resident ambassador for Orchard Glen. “What is so nice here is we get a lot of participation. We fill the library whenever there is something going on. We overflow out into the hallway.”
Some residents spend the holidays with their families. For those who don’t, a special dinner is held on Dec. 25, and is open to guests.
“We encourage our residents to bring their families for meals especially around the holidays,” said Julie Sentiff, community relations director for Orchard Glen.
Retired diocesan priest Father Philip Brady, who resides at Orchard Glen, will celebrate a Christmas Mass for his fellow residents.
Milks moved into the community a year and a half ago, after taking a bad fall the previous winter. She spent her first Christmas there last year and had a wonderful time.
“If you’re here, there are people who are here because they don’t even have family any more,” Milks said. “We make a point of gathering upstairs and getting together. Last year they had this big tray of cookies and hot chocolate. Orchard Glen never leaves us stranded without food, and also people to be with.”
Milks had been living at Stonegate Condominiums in East Aurora after her husband died. Two years ago she had a bad fall on the way to her car.
“I was kicking the snow away and I fell back, broke my hip and fractured my leg right to my groin and down my leg,” she said. “I could literally not move.”
A neighbor took her to the hospital and she was told she would need assistance to get around. Determined to be walker free, Clarabell performs physical therapy exercises every day in her room and walks three to four miles around the Orchard Glen compound each day with a cane.
“I maintain that because this place, with what they had to offer me, the people and this private place to walk, I am where I am today,” she said. “It was the atmosphere here that made me feel well.”
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