The Changeable Table: Simple (and appreciated) gift for your elderly friends.

This post is short on 'cutesy' and more on the practical side - with few step-by-step instructions and photos. Yet, I'm hoping it will bring to mind a few ideas for bringing some healthy cheer to someone who needs a little lift this holiday season.

In my church I serve in my Stake Relief Society organization. This time of year there are many opportunities to serve others, give gifts, and try to personally contact those who might be especially lonely this Christmas.

In our Stake, there is a special group of women residing in a care center for the elderly. Most of these women are in ill health and have no family. Their Branch Relief Society presidency spends almost every single evening at the care center - checking on them, cheering them, and uplifting them. These women give such unselfish service - and yet, they have their own families to care for too. The past few years, each ward Relief Society presidency in our stake takes a turn providing a fun evening with these sweet elderly women. We decided we needed to spend an evening with them as well.

But what to bring that would be appropriate? The typical holiday sweets are just too rich for people this age - and so we brought fruit. Fruit baskets are the norm - but we thought that would be too inconvenient for them to eat without a lot of assistance. Instead of bringing a fruit tray, I decided to prep the fruit and then portion it into individual disposable containers so they could take it back to their rooms that evening. I also included a small plastic fork and a napkin. They were really pleased, and most of them polished theirs off completely before they went back to their rooms that night.

You might enjoy these simple tutorials on how to prep fruit to make it look extra-appetizing... (And you are right, fruit is really not economical this time of year - but if you had a choice, which would you take - cookies/candy/fruitcake - or THIS...)