End the Year with Cheer: Socially-distanced caroling

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) - The residents of assisted living homes across the country have had limited contact with others during the pandemic, and the residents of the homes run by Cindy and Vic’s R&R Inc. are no different. Things were especially tight as the holidays approached.

“Because the pandemic has been elevated with the numbers... we’ve decided to have the residents again, stay at the assisted living home,” said Carly Neumuth, a Residence Manager for Cindy and Vic’s.

Over Thanksgiving, residents had the option to visit their families following strict mitigation plans, but many chose not to do that. That’s why I decided to pay them a (socially distanced) visit.

With the help of my mother, we visited four different assisted living homes and led them in some caroling. “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” was easily the most popular, though “Deck the Halls” and “We Wish You a Merry Christmas” were close behind. My personal favorite was a rendition of “It’s Beginning to Look a lot like Christmas.”

Some of the residents sang along, others danced, and others still watched from the window, but everyone enjoyed the chance to see others and spread some holiday cheer.

“We had a lot of fun doing it, getting us into the Christmas spirit,” Neumuth said.

And when we were all done, it even inspired some of those residents to spread a little more cheer on their own.

“Later on, we ended up baking cookies and going to other homes and visiting our Cindy and Vic staff at their homes and delivering cookies and singing Christmas carols to them,” Neumuth said.

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