Christmas Performance at Soriano's Retirement Home

On Christmas Day, we performed at the local elderly care home, up the street from our house. It’s our third year doing it at Christmas; the first year we played there just one month after moving here; and last year, we had to do it via video because of Covid restrictions. The home is called Residenza San Giorgio, named for the same rione (neighborhood) that we live in.

This year we’re back in person. It’s important to us to try to be a part of our community, something that is kind of hard to do when we are not fully fluent. (Not to mention the difficulties of “communing” during a global pandemic!) Luckily the gift of music transcends language barriers - at least we hope they think this way when we play them a bluesy version of Silent Night that Matt arranged…

We’ve played there a couple of other times in other parts of the year, too. But it’s important to us to come up here on Christmas Day in particular, because we know this is a tough day for many, especially those who may not be able to spend it with their family. Our family is just three cats, and they have no idea what day it is! So it’s all the same to us.

At the very end of the concert, as we were waving goodbye, one woman beckoned me over. “Please let me give you a little kiss”, she said, and even though we’re not supposed to touch, I could not refuse her. I had a mask on and I just got boosted, and I just couldn’t say no, so I got a little cheek kiss and it made my day.

Happy New Year, Everyone!