Generations connect with Christmas giving

A feeling of Christmas came to La Posada on Friday when the Jackson sisters of Amado — Mary 5, Laura, 9, and Sarah, 11 — sang Christmas carols to residents in La Vista’s dining room.

Under the direction of Mary Lou Prince, who is choir director at the Unitarian Universalist Church, the sisters brought an old-fashioned pleasure to seniors two, three and four generations older and sang “On This Day Everywhere,” “Deck the Halls,” “Silent Night,” “Sing We Now of Christmas” and “Jingle Bells.”

They were invited by Bill and Marjory Tyndall, who attend the same church and live at La Posada.

Prince said the Jackson sisters are the start of what she is calling the Santa Rita Junior Choir.

“The Jacksons are the only family with children at Unitarian Universalist Church. The idea for the junior chorus came about when Laura asked if there was a minimum age for being in the choir. I would love to see it grow to 10 or 15 children; they don’t have to live in Green Valley,” Prince said.

Last week, she took the caroling sisters around to six homes and was very moved when one couple said they hadn’t heard children sing in person in decades.

Jean Spinka, who lives in Green Valley, said she was so surprised when the doorbell rang and there was Lu Prince with the Jackson sisters.

“Yuletide was in Green Valley… it was so rewarding for both the givers and the receivers,” she said, adding that Prince writes special music for the choir and her friend Patty Willis writes the lyrics. “It’s some of the most beautiful music I’ve ever heard,” Spinka said.

On Christmas Eve, Prince and the Jackson sisters will entertain at Canoa Hills Center at 6 p.m.

Anyone interested in enrolling a child in the Santa Rita Junior Choir may contact Prince at 398-9191.

Senior crochets for kids

In a related and serendipitous gesture of holiday spirit Jeslyn Carlson, who moved to La Posada just a week ago, donated more than 30 dolls and stuffed animals that she had crocheted clothes for.

For the past six months, Carlson has been crocheting dresses, hats, booties and whole outfits for dolls and stuffed animals that she buys inexpensively through the Salvation Army and the White Elephant.

“It only takes a couple of days to make an outfit because once I start, I can’t leave it alone,” Carlson said.

This week, she delivered her collection to La Posada’s resident counselor Moreau Durkin, who arranged for her husband Marty and son Bryan to deliver three cartons of dressed dolls and stuffed animals to Tucson Medical Center’s children’s ward.

“The staff was all in tears… it was such a needed and appreciated donation,” Durkin said. “The animals were loaded into a giant red wagon and the staff said there are enough so that each child will receive one on their pillow Christmas morning.”

Carlson didn’t know who the recipients of her donated dolls would be until Durkin called and told her. She’s been crocheting since was in the ninth grade, where she was taught by her teacher Mrs. Riley in Berkeley, Calif.

While living in Fresno, Carlson wrote short stories for the Fresno Bee, a daily newspaper, for three years.

Told about the Jackson sisters singing carols to seniors in the dining room and her making clothes for stuffed animals to cheer sick children, she said, “The gap is not there.”

Ellen Sussman is a freelance writer in Green Valley. Contact her at ellen2414@cox.net.