While shopping with my sister, I noticed she was buying a lot of Christmas cards. When I asked her what they were for, she told me she was buying them for every patient on her floor who would be in the hospital on Christmas. She shared with me a story from Christmas Eve last year. A patient was being admitted who said she spent a lot of time at the hospital on her floor. She had the idea to make and print a Christmas card for him. She said that for days after, he would call every person working into his room to sign the card for him. She said she couldn't believe the impact one small card printed on computer paper could have on a patient. She, of course, didn't know at the time, but that ended up being his last Christmas. The guy ended up passing a couple of months later. After sharing that story, my sister said she wanted to give all her patients a card this year, because she realized how big of an impact that small action could have on a day when no one wants to be in the hospital. She wanted her patients to know how much she cared about them and hoped to brighten their Christmas even a tiny bit.

Unfortunately, my sister had an even worse shift this Christmas. She told me the story a few days after Christmas of how she was giving one of their patients the card she got and signed for them. This lady was in her 90's. She and her son were almost moved to tears as they shared how much she loved Christmas cards; she had a whole box of them at home because she couldn't throw them away. Tragically, this lady would end up having an emergency just a couple of hours later. My sister told me the woman's son was so impacted by the simple Christmas card that even once they got settled in the ICU, he approached my sister and said he forgot the card and asked if she could bring it down to him. The lady ended up passing away on Christmas Day. My sister had tears in her eyes when she told me the story and shared how glad she was that she was able to make that lady happy that morning with something so simple. She is truly an amazing nurse and cares so much about her patients in every sense, physically, emotionally, and mentally.