Highs and Lows

A week of highs and lows. And I know it has been the same for each of you – how could it not have been?

Monday began as we worked with our partner, Cisco to bring Santa Claus to our littlest patients at our Cohen’s Children’s Medical Center. My team and I dressed up like elves and through video conferencing technology we had Santa Claus speak to the children, ask them what they wanted for Christmas and then he told them how much he, Mrs. Claus, Rudolph and the rest of the reindeer loved them and how he would visit them on Christmas Eve. Our littlest patient was Ella, 9 months old – the nurses asked us to please bring our iPad in and have Santa speak to her as she was a very astute little girl. When Ella saw Santa on the iPad she got very animated and her arms and legs were just bouncing around – when Santa said good-bye and waved, so did Ella wave back at him.

Our oldest was 18 years old and she asked for a car for Christmas. She wasn’t the only one who asked Santa for a car we had a 15 year old who proceeded to let Santa know in no uncertain terms that she had had a very difficult year, that she had been good and wanted an Acura for Christmas – she finally backed down and stated that if she could not have the Acura she would settle for a Camry. Her mother was there taking pictures and watching her banter with Santa. Lastly, at one point we saw the Nurses crying and could not understand why – the children were enjoying themselves, they were each given a blanket as a Christmas gift, and some had spoken to Santa Claus more than once. What they told us was that some children had not spoken since they had been admitted to the hospital. This is the first time they had heard them speak and it was to tell Santa what they wanted for Christmas and that they loved him. I felt blessed to be able to participate and to bring some joy to them while they were in the hospital.

Friday between conference calls I was cooking for my nephew and his children who were coming over to see my Christmas decorations. I made pumpkin bread with a cinnamon crumb topping – Callum loves pumpkin bread although he calls it pumpkin cake; the recipe I used makes three 8 inch loaves which was wonderful. I then had to bake a yellow cake and frost it with chocolate icing otherwise I would not hear the end of it from Callum who always expects cake when he comes to my house. Dinner was salad and a Puerto Rican dish we call pastelon – it is made with ripened plantain bananas and ground meat. I gave Gerard all the leftovers and kept one of the pumpkin breads to give my boyfriend – the one thing I have never done was bake for him and I know he likes these types of breads. Saturday found me at aqua aerobics and then I was supposed to go visit my boyfriend – plans changed and he decided to come to my house instead and we would have a light dinner. What to cook – light dinner – hmm. I ended up making a stacked salad of tomatoes, goat cheese and avocado with basil vinaigrette; with that we had steamed green beans, grilled chicken with a mushroom sauce. He very much enjoyed the meal, had a piece of pumpkin bread and we shared a bottle of red wine. Those were the highs.

The low for everyone in our country was the realization that elementary children were killed in Newton, CT. They were only 6 and 7 years old and as President Obama said, “they had their whole lives ahead of them”. No time is ever good to lose your child; but, it is especially hard to lose them right before Christmas knowing that you were looking forward to seeing their expressions on Christmas morning. For all of us who have little ones in our lives, hug them a little harder, kiss them and always tell them you love them.

Children are our future – they represent the innocence that we all once possessed. Keep them close in your heart.