Giving Thanks for All We Have

The holiday season is upon us, and is in full swing. If you're feeling anything like we do, we just can't believe that we are already in the month of November, practically on our way to wrapping up the end of the year. Despite the fact that the days are shorter, and time is moving much too quickly, we do like to take this time of year to say thanks for everything that we're so incredibly blessed to have.

Juniper Village at Louisville would like to say a special thank you to our residents, they truly brighten our day each and every single day. Their wit and wisdom truly does make the work we do enjoyable. We would also like to thank our families, who allow us to care for their loved ones day in and day out, and also for being able to create relationships with them as well and work toward a unified goal of providing the best care possible (which extends beyond the work that we do here at the Village and out into the community). It is this foundation which enables us to care and give back, and for that we are exceptionally thankful.

To celebrate our thanks, we invited our residents, friends, and families to join us this past weekend for a Thanksgiving Day Feast. Our Chef, Abhaya, and his team, created a truly wonderful feast with turkey, stuffing, and all of the trimmings.  Our wonderful friends and families provided us with desserts to share with one another. It truly was a day of giving and thanks; so, thank you to everyone who helps make us what we are and supports us in our endeavors.

Chili Cook-Off

If there is one thing we love more about the cool, crisp air during Fall, it's the fact that it's time for chili! We pulled out our scarves, boots, and sweaters in preparation for our 3rd annual chili cook-off (ignore the fact that we weren't wearing scarves in the picture...they were on in spirit).

We were fortunate to have the Louisville Fire Department here to judge which chili was the best. Hats off to the Family Hospice team, who won by leaps and bounds this year for the best chili. Voting was based off of 5 criteria: smell, thickness, color, flavor and aftertaste. The next highest vote was 12 points behind the winning chili (if that tells you anything about how incredibly good it was).

Our winner received a fantastic giveaway, which included a gift card to Lulu's Barbecue in Downtown Louisville. Please make sure to join us next year for one of our favorite annual events!

Woodland Creatures Rule the Nest

If this is your first time joining us on this blog, then you don't know how exceptionally serious we are about celebrating Halloween, and not just celebrating Halloween, but celebrating it in costume. Every year we celebrate this wonderful holiday by dressing up as our favorite woodland creatures. On this special day, it would not be unusual to find gnomes running around the hallways frolicking with deer, fairies, bunnies, swans, owls, or any of our other favorite woodland friends. This year, we even had a crow and dragon roaming the halls (he was, of course, a friendly dragon).

 

After everyone is ready and in costume, we share the holiday fun with some of our favorite kids from Monarch Elementary School. This year, we gave away goodies such as bouncy balls, poppers, stickers, eraser tops, pretzels, and more to the ghosts and ghouls of the school (and other characters as well, we don't differentiate between costumes, we share with all!)

If you've never celebrated events with us, now is the time to join in on the fun. Our next big event will be November 23 at 12 Noon, and we will be celebrating Thanksgiving Day with our Residents, friends, and family. We provide the main course; we just ask that visitors bring their favorite dessert to share. It is truly a day to be grateful for everything that we have, especially the relationships that we've built in our community.

Cherish the Journey and Keep the Spirit of Family: November Events

Thanksgiving is just around the corner, and, it is indeed a perfect time to celebrate with loved ones; so it is not surprising that our Alive in All Seasons focus for the month of November is families: Cherish the Journey! Matsuo Basho wrote "every day is a journey, and the journey itself is home". These beautiful words remind us of the importance of cherishing this journey of life through celebrations that bind us together; family and friends, nurturing our spirits and fulfilling us in deep and meaningful ways.

This month as we celebrate our Alive in All Seasons theme of family: "Cherish the Journey", we will be hosting many wonderful activities and events with our focus on family! We will be working with residents, families, associates and friends to create family trees and start autobiographical journals. We will enjoy rich and meaningful activities utilizing the traditions, customs and skills of many of our family members, friends and all the significant people that have impacted our lives. We will reminisce about favorite family recipes, learn about families in different cultures, and join together in giving thanks. These activities will foster the development of deep connections with one another, thus, allowing us to cherish and celebrate each others' lives. We will enjoy the opportunity to create and relish more memories of delightful moments along this beautiful journey of life together!

We invite you to join us as we celebrate the beautiful gift of family, sharing some of your time treasured stories, traditions, customs and wisdom gathered with your loved ones on your journey together! We are filled with gratitude as we give thanks for yet another year bringing joy to the lives of all those on our path! We wish all of our families and friends a beautiful Thanksgiving holiday overflowing with rich abundance! All this month we will also be hosting several highlighted family and community events that include: our Food Drive benefiting those less fortunate through the Sister Carmen Community Center in Lafayette all month, our You're The Peanut Butter to My Jelly staff appreciation celebration featuring all things peanut butter … sandwiches, ice cream, even pie … on November 8 all day, our Grandma's Homemade Bread Day showcasing all sorts of starchy goodies … breakfast sandwiches, scones, muffins, even pie (the crust is kind of like bread) … with fantastic giveaways on November 15 from 9 am until 10:30 am, and our Thanksgiving Day Feast with turkey dinner and all the fixings complete with a sampling of desserts from our own families on November 23 from 12 pm until 1:30 pm. We encourage you to review our calendar and join us for any or all of our events as we celebrate families and Cherish the Journey!