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Merry Christmas Tips for Boomers and Seniors Traveling

Merry Christmas to Sandwich Generation Boomers and Seniors everywhere! Are you staying home for Christmas or traveling to visit others? I often visited an elderly loved one for Thanksgiving or Christmas over the years. Due to their personal circumstances, we always went out to eat. For Thanksgiving, it was usually not too hard to find an open restaurant but Christmas was REALLY tough. In case any of you are traveling to see family this Christmas and need a place to eat at, here are some national chains (most, if not all, of which are popular with fellow boomers and seniors) that are probably open. BUT do be sure to call the restaurant you plan to eat at to confirm they are for sure open. Sometimes a chain can be open overall but an individual restaurant (often franchisees) will decide to be closed:

• Sizzler – Many of their locations will be open on Christmas Day
• Participating HomeTown Buffets are open Christmas Eve and Christmas Day
• Golden Corral – Some locations will be open on Christmas Day
• Cracker Barrel, a special favorite with Boomers and Seniors everywhere, is open Christmas Eve from 6am – 2pm
• Some Claim Jumpers will be open Christmas Day
• Many, if not all, Dennys will be open Christmas Day

For those who live near big cities, it could be worth checking with some of the high-end restaurants as they may have some that are open for Christmas Day. For example, Roseville CA has Ruth’s Chris Steak House which is open 12-8pm on Christmas Day. BUT you really need to make reservations early. Our Ruth’s Chris Steak House is already booked up for Christmas. However, depending on the location, you may well find other restaurants that are still available.

One other tip – if we could get there early enough Christmas Eve, we would make hotel reservations where we could have a suite, like Residence Inn, complete with a living room in addition to the bedrooms. Generally, those also have  refrigerators and microwaves. We then bought dinner to go from Marie Callendars, Boston Market, or someplace else that was open on Christmas Eve (though be careful – they often close early) and put them in our hotel refrigerator. On Christmas Day, our loved one enjoyed coming to Christmas dinner at our hotel room and thanks to the miracles of microwaves, it was quite tasty. 🙂

Fun and Fairly Easy Christmas Break Grandkid Ideas

I got to enjoy another early Christmas treat with a different group of grandkids and we had a fun time with some new and old Christmas Crafts. Thanks to a special 40% off everything sale at Michaels I was able to get each one of them a cool faux Christmas Gingerbread House project.  (Michaels and Hobby Lobby are GRAND gifts for grandparents, that’s for sure, with so many great coupons!) That project had a mixed result.  I tried hard to match the ones that looked more complicated with the older grandkids and the easier ones with the younger. Unfortunately, a couple that looked easy turned out to be so tough I couldn’t even get them to work. I think that sometimes the way they are cut doesn’t go quite right. It’s not the end of the world, of course, except to the 1-2 grandkids whose projects didn’t work as well as their brothers and sisters.

For those houses, we first had to talk about and pray about the situation a bit. It was a great opportunity to re-discuss “rejoice always, pray without ceasing, and in EVERYTHING give thanks – even recalcitrant projects.” Then we decided to “think outside the box” and just make fun projects without trying to follow the directions. Between all that, the sad mood turned upside down and the project ideas that ensued were adorable.

On another day, we had fun turning popsicle sticks into adorable Nativity scenes, thanks to the directions and photo I found on Pinterest. That project, along with many others, is at my Pinterest board, Grand for Kids & Grandkids. We used a hot glue gun for that project and it worked really well. Thanks to all my cautions, only one finger burned. And yes, sadly, that finger was MINE! No matter how careful you are, it can be easy to get a burn but I was glad it wasn’t any of the grandkids! And THAT is why I rarely use hot glue guns. 🙂

Christmas Joys For Boomers and Seniors, Caregivers and Grandparents

Last Sunday In Advent: Devotions for Boomers and Seniors

A lovely Christmas carol by Michael W. Smith – Christ the Messiah. So lovely! I really appreciate his ministry and his beautiful music that is often complete with orchestra! A sweet joy!

Continuing on in the book of John, here’s Pastor Guzik with John 6:1-13 – Opposed by the Impossible

Have a Joy-Filled Christmas Week
 

I pray that your week is calm and peaceful even in the midst of caregiving needs and outside responsibilities, and that your Christmas is blessed and beautiful.  🙂 Merry Christmas to all of us in AND out of the Sandwich Generation – multigenerational caregivers, grandparents, boomers and seniors!

Kaye