[hillarymcarter]

A Caregiver's Christmas


'Twas the night before Christmas,
When all through the house
A caregiver was scurrying,
Caring for her dear spouse;

His stockings were placed
Upon his feet with great care
In hopes he felt well enough to step
out for some fresh air

Their children were scattered,
All snug in their beds
Around this great country,
Not a care in their heads

And the caregiver who worked nights,
'Cause the funds they did tap
Had just settled down for a five minute nap

When in the next room, there arose such a clatter,
She sprang from her bed to see what did splatter.
Away past the bed sheets she had thrown in the trash,
Tore open a new set and hoped these would last.

The weight on her breast was of one who did know
That, by the luster of daybreak
Her sorrow would grow
When, what in any other year
Would be a thing quite so dear
That time when her family would visit
From far and from near

With no one to hold her, since her loved one took sick
She felt that the holidays were just a mean trick
More rapid than eagles her friends they did flee
When they could no longer travel or even take tea

No Cohens!, no Schwartzes!, no Millers!, no Dicksons
No, Olivets, no Lutids, no Donners and Micksons
For a while they gave support, for a while did they call
Now dash away! Dash away! Dash away to the mall!"

As new restaurants that before were easy to try,
When her loved one was too sick, away did they fly
So now with the holidays, the family will do
with the sleigh full of presents, and bad advice too.

And then, in a twinkling, I heard in the drive
Aunt Nancy and Chloe and all my in-laws arrive.
As I had in my hand, a bedpan disposal bound
I turned very quickly and tripped over the hound

My man was a mess from his head to his toes
And his clothes were soiled and not easy on the nose
A bundle of nerves, I shout out very loud
Words, which to this day, do not make me feel proud

He lie there so quiet, not saying a thing
When suddenly his laughter filled our home
Like a fresh breath of spring

He doubled over with glee making such a roil
That he slapped a bad knee through the all too grim soil
As his eyes twinkled through all the great mess,
This old dear for a moment,
I forgot the pain of this past year

On a normal night, the pain of his stump
Would make tighten his teeth,
But tonight, for a moment, his laughter
Caused such uncommon relief
That the joy of it encircled his head like a wreath;
As he lie on the bed he shook his round belly,
For all the world, not unlike a big bowl of jelly.

He was lying there laughing, like a jolly old elf,
And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself;
When, all of a sudden, the door burst opened wide as can be
And what did I see, the Cohens, the Swartzes
and Aunt Nancy all looking at me
With nary a word and they made up the bed
Then they all straightened up and got us both fed

They all had not known the support that I needed
But once they saw they could help,
They learned and succeeded
In sharing the heart, the soul and the care
That I always was sure was really right there

I hadn’t spoken a word of the great strain and the work
That I thought they had all turned into one major jerk
After knowing what help each could give if I did ask
I never alone had to shoulder the entire task

We had time to play and to sing and to wet a whistle
Until away they all flew like the down of a thistle
But I heard my loved ones, as they drove out of sight
"Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night!
And, we're coming back, next Friday eve
To take you for a bite."

(© Today’s Caregiver magazine and caregiver.com reprinted with permission 1-800-829-2734)


Merry Christmas to all of you caregivers out there....you all deserve sainthood!!!

[hillarymcarter]

By the way...look at my avatar....isn't it beautiful?
For Christmas, Bruce had one of his paraplegic friends, who is a photographer, to take the most beautiful pics of the dogs. I cried when I opened them! He had them all displayed on a website and he told me to pic my favorites and he would have them framed.
I also got a gorgeous diamond right hand ring!!!!

I'm going to add some of the pics of the dogs, but I don't know how to do more than one in one post...so there will be three posts!

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[hillarymcarter]

The first one was of Chloie...and this is Sophie. She is the one that marches to the beat of her own drum...well, needless to say, this is the only pic that came out out!

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[hillarymcarter]

And, this is Jake...our photographic dog!!! He could be a doggie model!

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[hillarymcarter]

Photogenic....I meant that Jake was the photogenic dog....not the photographic dog....
I'm a little tipsy from a Christmas party and I could not think of that word for the life of me!!!!!

[Upstate]

Hey Hillary,

What a gorgeous bunch of pooches!!! Thanks for showing them!! Have a wonderful (sparkling) Christmas!

[FONT=Times][COLOR=red]

[Jilly]

Hillary....your dogs are just beautiful! Bruces friend is an excellent photographer!

[Jilly]

Oops.... this is part of my last post....I pushed enter when I wasnt supposed to!
I am an artist and have painted several dog portraits, Your photos make my fingers itch to take up the paintbrush! Its a shame I havent got a photo of my latest one to show you... but its still wet! Maybe soon...

[bluebutterflyrn]

Hillary, loved the dog pictures! Thanks for sharing. Maybe if I can find the time I'll eventually post pictures of my "kids"! Jilly, I'd love to see some of your paintings. I wish I could pay you do some for me.

[Jilly]

Thanks Blue butterfly.....Im in a big art competition which starts Friday, I started a new painting yesterday, have to finish it on Thursday! Theres nothing quite leaving things to the last minute! I will put a few on here after that (I havent got the time right now) and show everyone what I do for a hobby!

[Bob Clark]

Hi Jilly,

I saw a show on TV about a woman who painted portraits of dogs. I think she did dogs exclusively.... no other pets. I believe this particular artist was the best in the field and was getting thousands per portrait. I mean like 10 to 25 thousand if I recall correctly. There was a waiting list for people wanting their dog's portrait painted. She did them from photographs. I wish I could remember her name. I think she may have painted Oprah's dog.

If you Google for dog portraits there are quite a few others in the field too.

It may be a lucrative business for you to get into. Turn your hobby into a vocation. I can only imagine how great it must be to do what you love and get paid for it. I'm so jealous of professional golfers!

People are crazy about their animals. My Mom wastes 20 out of every 25 pictures in a roll of film on her animals. We all have to pretend that we're interested in looking at them and kind of dote over each one. "Oh look, isn't this one really cute.... awwwwww.." I'm really thinking Grrrrrrr.... what a waste of good film. I mean the damn dog and cat are laying just feet from us..... we can see them in the flesh!

I'd be interested in seeing a sample of your work too.

[Jilly]

Ok...for some reason I cant put on my photo of the dog I painted! It comes out absolutely enormous! Soooo... here is another painting Ive done, this ones going in this weekends competition! I will post another one when I figure out how to resize them.

[Jilly]

And finally.....after much mucking around..... here is my painting of Jazz. It was comissioned by a friend of mine for her husband for Christmas. Unfortunately its taken ages to dry and so is now for his birthday in February! Hope you like it.

[Upstate]

Jilly your paintings are beautiful. And what a great looking pooch that Jazz is!!

[carolline]

wow...you are talented.
I like it so nice...the dog look like..fell from deep thinking and look innocent.I like the color too.

[Vicki]

Brilliant Jilly!
I love all the pics of your pets all. Meet Kiwi - a 4yo Jack Russell cross I rescued from the RSPCA in October. She's timid & wheelchair savvy.
Happy 2006!
Cheerio
Vicki

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This post has been edited by Vicki: 29 December 2005 - 03:29 AM

[Jilly]

Hi guys.... Vicki your Kiwi is sooooo cute. I love Jack Russells. Hey I love all animals.
To the Guest that asked about comissions..... Who are you? Where are you? I dont really to solicit work through this site as thats not fair to everybody, and thats not what I am on this site for, but if you are a member you could e-mail me I suppose.... I have sent a painting to Australia before!

I only paint when I can, as I work full time. I dont have a website (yet) or anything like that, I enter work in local exhibitions when I can and do the odd comission. I dont have work in galleries either as they charge huge comissions (40 to 60 percent! ) But I guess if I want to take this further I will have to one day!

Its really hard to make a decent living as an artist especially in a small place like NZ. (Maybe I should go international!!!!) It doesnt pay a weekly paycheque and I am a solo mother with two teenagers to feed and clothe and buy other essentials for like mp3 players and mascara! still every little bit helps!

Im going to teach my sci guy to paint too.
Thanks for the wonderful comments about my work. Maybe one day I will be rich and famous!!

[Chilepepper]

WOW Jilly I must say that I'm very impressed in your paintings . Unfortunately myself I can't draw with a damn. My brother on the other hand is an awesome artist. He does tattoos for a living.

[Jilly]

Hi Chillipepper...
Tatoos!!! cool!!! My other half wants a tattoo of a scorpion, Im going to draw one in pen first on his shoulder to see how he likes it! Glad you like my work.

[wheelie182]

ahh another benefit of sci, you can get painless tatoos below the level of feeling, although i dont know what would happen about spasms, if i spill hot water on my legs they jump, so i would probaly have to strap them down or somthing