Three Golden Rings

December 1st is just around the snow bank, which means Christmas is on everyone’s mind and the 12 Days of Christmas song is on my mind. Did the partridge eat the pears in the tree? Did the geese poop everywhere? Did the eleven pipers piping give them a headache? Was this individual really their true love or did they get them all of these gifts because they were feeling guilty over something?

Gifts have become a large part of the North American Christmas tradition. The tricky part is finding a gift that someone needs and doesn’t just want. Who needs anything anymore when there is Amazon Prime to fulfill your needs?

I try to provide my family with a broad Christmas wish list because the surprise is simply the best part.  I like to think that I’m a pretty easy person to buy for, but what I do ask is to leave the turtle doves at home – unless they are filled with chocolate.

Clothes are rarely something that I ask for, but after today, I think I may need a new sweater…

In Behind Closed Curtains, a metal wand didn’t cooperate. Today, a metal ring didn’t. 

The charting room at work is filled with shelves of binders, rolling office chairs and clusters of people – my kind of obstacle course.  

There are individual binders for each resident and care plan binders filled with multiple residents’ information. You’re probably asking yourself, shouldn’t this all be electronic? That would be a Christmas miracle. 

These care plan binders are ridiculously large and in charge. Each binder includes approximately 15 residents and each resident could have up to 5 care plans included in his/her section. I imagine they’re about as heavy as the cows that the maids were milking.

The other morning when I clasped the binder together, I hadn’t realized that my sweater was caught in the top ring of the binder before I begun to walk away. I did however realize this once the binder was on the floor with hundreds of papers spread across the floor. 

There were bystanders who gasped, giggled and even whispered “oh my God.” (This new group of staff members will get used to me eventually). 

For the remainder of the morning, I put my administration skills to the test and begun sorting the binder. 

Perhaps if the binders would have had 5 golden rings instead of 3, it would have stayed intact and maybe my true love can buy me a new sweater.