Life in the Ville by Jimmy Del Ponte

Before December 15th, I was checking my gift list over and over in my head and also looking at it on my phone notebook. “Did I get enough gifts for my grand daughter? Will the boys get some good stuff?” I was planning a few last minute trips to Target and the mall just to make sure everyone would be taken care of for Christmas. Having enough gifts for everyone seemed to be a crucial part of my Christmas season even though I know that it’s not about giving or receiving material things. But it actually took a few Christmas caroling visits to some of our local nursing homes and Visiting Nurses Associations to discover what was really important about the holidays.

Mayor Joe Curtatone had the idea of assembling a Christmas troupe to serenade our shut in seniors. The group consisted of an alderwoman, some city hall employees, and some members of Somerville’s Swinging Singing Seniors also known as The Moonlighters. We showed up wearing Santa hats and Rudolph noses, and festive clothes of green, red and gold. The true gold however was the gleam in the eyes of the precious seniors who enjoyed seeing their mayor and his band of merry elves singing and dancing their hearts out.

Some members of The Moonlighters are well into their 80’s themselves and for the residents to see folks that were of their own generation, singing Christmas songs for them made them perk right up. When the beautiful woman who was going to be 100 years old soon stood up and danced to Holly Jolly Christmas, it was a sight to see. Among the facilities visited were The Lowell Street VNA, the Alewife VNA, The Somerville Home and last but not least, The Little Sisters of The Poor.

The fabulous Little Sisters are a loving and nurturing order of nuns that are themselves seniors. They are taking care of a lot of our relatives, neighbors and friends and doing it with gentle, sweet understanding and patience. They greeted our jovial crew of singers with open arms. The sisters also joined us in song. As Mayor Joe joked, “We have The Andrew Sisters, The Lennon Sisters, and The Little Sisters!” They brought us up to the 2nd floor where the residents were having lunch. The smiles on the faces were warm and genuine.

A few of the volunteer singers were new at performing in this environment but they came through with flying colors. When we sang Dominick The Donkey, Moonlighter Dominic, (yes, that’s his real name!) who introduces himself as, “The handsome gentleman with the beard,” led us with the “Hee Haws.” They all got a kick out of it.

After we sang on the second floor, the sisters asked if we could go up to the third floor where some of the more frail residents were. The smiles they shared with us brought a lump to my throat. It’s amazing how Rudolph, Jingle Bells, and White Christmas can brighten people up. We even added a couple of verses of Silent Night especially for the sisters. I felt like I had finally discovered the real meaning of Christmas.

We all left there with a new outlook on what Christmas can be. We set out to simply share a small gift of Christmas music, but we were the ones who received the best gift of all.
If you are interested in joining us as we continue to visit our loving shut-in seniors year round, please contact me at jdelponte@somervillema.gov. Have a very happy, healthy and safe New Year!