Halcyon House news

We kicked off the Christmas holiday at Halcyon House with special music from 'Just Us Girls,” with Doug McBride playing the piano. This 10-strong group of women (including our own Halcyon employee Robin Ernest) entertained us with their toe-tapping Christmas music. The group has been singing for the past 14 years under the direction of Beth McBride. We are so glad they stopped by!

At trivia we had a 'Let It Snow” program”; and believe it or not, it actually started to snow during this frosty program. We made hand-cut snowflakes, which brought out the artistic side in everyone. We had a hot cup of cocoa and a Christmas tree brownie to wrap up the program. A word search puzzle, a humorous weather story, and some snowflake trivia were also a part of the program. Wilson Bentley wanted everyone to know how unique snowflakes were. He collected 5,000 snowflakes and found that no two were identical. We discussed folklore predicting 'we will have a cold winter if” woolly worms have heavy coats and a wide black band, or squirrels build their nests low in trees and gather nuts early.

On Thursday, our residents got to try their hand at making gingerbread houses. Kathy Tandy, of Oxford, conducted a Gingerbread House Creation Class. She demonstrated how to decorate the houses and what kinds of candies to use. She also showed a finished gingerbread house to the residents. Our residents enjoyed themselves with this activity, and some were able to show off their creative side. The houses are on display in the Sagewood household.

Don Kline presented a program on Christmas nostalgia, on Dec. 13. He displayed decorations and items belonging to him and his wife, Marge.

One was a feather tree, originating in Germany. It was a pole with branches covered with the quills from feathers, wired to look like evergreen branches. Feather trees, intended as an alternative to cutting down live pine trees, were at least among the first artificial Christmas trees

Don showed ornaments in their original boxes, several of them by the Shiny Brite company. One had a price tag offering ornaments for 10 cents each, or three for 25 cents. There were large colored light bulbs, some wired for outdoor use and others only for indoors. One container illustrated decorating ideas. Bubble lights and sleigh bells were also displayed.

Examples of toys given as gifts included a small rocking horse; a toy tractor with driver, which Marge had taken good care of as a child; boxes and tins of crayons, including one kind with a flat side so they couldn't roll; and a variety of board games.

A highlight was the tinsel tree, with 101 identical branches. The holes in the trunk had been drilled so that when assembled the branches would form the shape of a natural tree. It stood on a rotating musical stand, and a light behind a moving color wheel made the tree shimmer in changing colors. The Klines had bought the tree for very little at an auction after tinsel trees faded in popularity, but now it would be worth several hundred dollars.

The enthusiastic audience was grateful to Don and Marge for sharing their collection.