Red and I have been going to the Mansion for some time now, we have made some wonderful friends. Whenever we come inside, Red seeks out Connie, one of his special friends there. Sometimes he makes his way down the long hallways and into her room – the door is almost always open. Tonight, at the party, he looked around until he found her, sitting in her chair, listening to the music and caroling.
She just lights up when she sees him, talking to him, patting him. I think these two have changed one another, and changed me also, just for watching. Connie has the bags of yarn you sent her sitting by her chair in her room, and she has lots of plans to make scarves and mittens for the staff and residents this winter.
If you wish to write to Connie or the other residents of the Mansion (your gifts just stun and amaze the staff, they say they have never seen anything like it), you can wrote her and other residents c/o The Mansion, 11 S. Union Street, Cambridge, N.Y., 12816.
Red got a private greeting from Santa and one of his elves at the Mansion Christmas Party Thursday night. When you walk into a building with Red, you are fortunate and much appreciated. I doubt Red asked for anything, maybe some more sheep out in the pasture.
Peggy was rehearsing all week, last night at the Mansion Christmas Party, she got up and sang “Silent Night,” it was a sweet and touching version. She got a lot of applause. Peggy is a bright spirit at the Mansion, she brightens up every room she enters. You can write her at The Mansion, 11 S. Union Street, Cambridge, N.Y., 12816. Connie got about a dozen new letters today, she says thank you. She is crocheting up a storm.
Red and Maria and I went to the Mansion for their annual Christmas party this evening, it is a brutally cold night, but it was especially warm inside, families came to visit, carols were sung, lots of cake and cookies and food, and Red got to see his many friends there.
You all have done so much for these people – I don’t have words for it – and you need not do any more. But I wanted to let you know that the administrator of the Mansion told me she is saving some of your many wonderful gifts for Christmas morning, so that the residents will all have something for each one them under the big Christmas tree in the main gathering room.
She said her office is stacked with cookies, yarn, mittens, books, handkerchiefs and scarves, letters and cards.
She told me it is impossible to describe how much fun and light and warmth the gifts have had for the residents, I can see it in Peggy’s face, and Mary’s and Bill’s and Connie’s and so many others. “Your people have brought so much light and laughter here.” She said some of the letters are read aloud every morning at breakfast and passed around during the day.
Many of the residents I meet carry the letters around with them. Red brings his own particular joy, smiles follow him everywhere, but you have grasped the true spirit of Christmas, the real meaning of the holiday.
It isn’t Disneyfied parties and mall sales and costumes and magazine-cover dinners, it’s the ability to step outside of ourselves and stand in the shoes of others. Most people do not have perfect lives or perfect families, and the meaning of Christmas is different for them.
Somehow, many of you grasped the reality of life in the Mansion, and it is a wonderfully run and warm place. I have no doubt this is what Jesus Christ had in mind, along with other people of faith.
Still, for all the warmth and caring, there is loneliness and loss there, lives left behind, loneliness and uncertain tomorrows.There was much happiness at the Christmas party, but also some sense of sadness and loss.
Your presents have brought a special meaning to Christmas at the Mansion, I am humbled to see it. Please feel no pressure to do more, but I hope to bring some presents to put under the Mansion Christmas tree on Christmas morning, and if you feel so inclined to send any gifts between now and Christmas, they will also be put under the tree.
I think I’ll be there Christmas morning. Thanks so much for what you have done, for once, words fail. The address is Christmas/ The Mansion, 11 S. Union Street, Cambridge, N.Y., 12816.
This is the second of the Gulley portraits I took the other night, as many people have pointed out, it has an American Gothic feel to it, and it is the first photo I have worked on in Lightroom. I like the clarity and depth of field, and I like the emotion it shows between this farm couple, who have labored side by side, day and night, day after day, for decades.
This is a powerful relationship, it transcends time and space, and I think that power is captured in these portraits. Like Kelly, this is a series for me to work on and capture.
