I was requested to blog bout our Touch Christmas Celebration which was held yesterday..it's my first time posting an entry on this blog so pardon me if it's not interestingly-written! =p

yesterday, we had our Touch Christmas Celebration with the elderly at the void deck of Block 61 (did I get the blk no right?). other than having the elderly whom we usually visit with us, we also had some other elderly joining our celebration. we started off with a few games and first up was the elderly's common and favorite game - Bingo! we played two rounds of Bingo and all the time, I was standing behind Gam Por and a Mandarin-speaking elderly whom I don't know but she was quite enthusiastic about the game as she kept asking me if she ticked off the correct number after every number was read out.

playing "Bingo"

The next game involved throwing of cards on this sheet of cardboard and required the elderly to be split into 2 groups. So it was like a challenge between both groups to see how well the elderly can aim their cards on the cardboard sheet. Think the elderly kinda enjoyed this game as well as they were enthsiastically participating in it. As I was still standing behind Gam Por, I heard her telling the elderly beside her that that all 5 cards which she threw did not land on the cardboard sheet haha.

the elderly trying hard to aim at the cardboard sheet

volunteers doing the count to determine the winning group

The final game required the elderly and volunteers to help dress up an elderly into a Santa Claus. wah didn't know the elderly were so sporting..we didn't have to say much and one elderly from each group volunteered themselves. One of them was this very "on" auntie who always seems to appear whenever we have such programmes held for our elderly..think she's a friend of Gam Por as she came over to Gam Por's place during one of the visit. Anyway, the other elderly from the other group was Mr. Paolo (I hope I didn't get his name wrong?). within 5 mins, we had both elderly dressed up..though frankly they dun look like Santa Claus at all! oops haha.. Many of us cldnt help laughing when we saw Mr. Paolo standing very still coz he didnt dare to move as the cup we had placed on his head kept falling off haha. anyway we asked both elderly to dance Macarena and got Lixian to demo to them. And both elderly were very sporting, they followed Lixian's actions and danced to the music..cld see that they were enjoying themselves and so were the other elderly who were very entertained by them.

the very "on" auntie posing for e pic!

Mr Paolo looks like he's very pleased with his "costume" haha

after the games, we had a sing along session whereby we sang some Hokkien, Canto & Chinese songs. guess the most popular song among the elderly is "Ai Pia Jiah Eh Hia" coz that's when we hear some of them singing along, especially one of this auntie who stood up immediately and joined us by standing in the front when the song started. when we finished, it was refreshments time so we served the elderly the food some of us had prepared. finally we ended the celebration with another round of "Ai Pia Jiah Eh Hia" & also a christmas song. guess singing the christmas song was the most "Christmas-y" part of the Xmas celebration le haha.

e potluck food prepared by us

serving the elderly who seemed quite hungry haha

sing along session!

well i've got to admit my boring post does not bring justice to the great time we had during the celebration..but those volunteers who had been part of the celebration dat day will know that it was indeed enjoyable and definitely heartwarming to see that the elderly really enjoyed themselves and were thankful to us for planning this for them as many came to shake our hands at the end of the celebration =)

alright dat's all for my post! anyone else who care to share your thoughts on the celebration as well pls do so!!

Clarice =)

This was my 3rd visit to CSC Touch Seniors and actually I was prepared for some painting work..equipped with newspapers to make paper hats when I was informed that it was Christmas celebrations instead ...oh wells..( hint: pls add me into yahoo grps)

So the Christmas celebration started with the Bingo game and though the elderly has played this game several times..they are still ever excited about it. Haha..the aunty who won during the previous maf celebration won again for the 1st round of Bingo. She really is one lucky aunty.

The next game was a versus game whereby 2 grps of elderly threw paper sheets onto a cardboard sheet and the grp with the most paper sheets wins. In the first round, the elderly was so enthusiastic about the game..they just threw all the paper sheets they had haha =P. In the end, one group won by a close margin of 1. Woah.

The final game was dressing up an elderly to become Santa Claus. Wah..they were very sporting and creative as well..yah i agree with clarice..they don't look like Santa Claus..perharps a disco version bah...Poor Mr Paolo has to stand very still in a vie to balance the cup on his head which still drops at the end of the game anyway. When I watched him, I realized that as volunteers, we so often think that we are the ones who bring joy and laughter to our beneficiaries..but in fact the joy and laughter that they bring to us can be more than we can ever give. I think the mutual desire of bringing joy to one another makes this volunteer-beneficiary relationship sweet.

As usual, we got lixian to demo Macarena...in which the two elderly tried to follow. ( Mr Paolo having a difficult time here ) and we end off with sing-a-long session and pot luck. Though the christmas celebration is not very "christmas-y"...the warmth there is like that of Christmas...

Merry Christmas to all.....signing off Elicia