“Joy To The World” that is what the Hammond Garden Club has tried to accomplish this Christmas season…..or at least for the community of Hammond! I’m hoping the Daily Star will be able to find extra space for pictures because we have a lot!
We began by decorating the gazebo at Cate Square Park, eight of the members of the HGC working like Santa’s elves to ready it for the night of the big parade. Yards and yards of gold and silver netting with tiny white lights strung all through the inside and gracing the railing up the stairs and encircling the gazebo, so pretty at night with the lighted ornaments in the park trees.
Next some other (and some of the same) elves went to the North Oaks Rehab Hospital and in the lobby there, hoping to cheer some of the patients and/or their relatives visiting, by the addition of a beautifully decorated, gold beribboned tree with multicolored ornaments, “O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree! Then on to the next tree at the lobby of the North Oaks Outpatient Clinic where this one was decorated and looked like gold pixie dust had been sprinkled all over it since the ornaments were golden and fit for “Good King Wenceslas”!
On now to the Cate Square Park where children from seven local schools and one home school had each decorated a tree in a theme they had chosen. I was not one of the judges but I was told the trees were done so beautifully it was hard to pick a winner, and I think they were all winners just for entering the competition, they sure did “Deck The Halls” of the Park!
And now it was time to celebrate! It was the day of the garden club Christmas Party/Meeting. There was very little meeting since the President Sue Parrill announced that all business would be dispensed with today…first we will hear about the “Twelve Days (before) Christmas” and then it is time for fun. And so, those members told of the community accomplishments that had been finished Sue then called on Linda Ryan to lead the members in a game of Bingo and Find The Word which caused lots of laughter (and cheating I’m told). I hope they remembered that “Jolly Old Saint Nicholas” was watching! I understand that Johanna Dagro won the Find the Word game and received a beautiful party hat that is “electrified on the top” and Karen Nelson won Bingo and accepted a “red hand knitted stocking” with two pieces of candy in it!
Now on to the really good part…the meal prepared by Mary Monteleon and her crew of elves that work in the kitchen and deliver all the good vittles! There was so tender Pork Loin and gravy you could cut it with your fork and Chicken Fettuccini in that silken white cream sauce, Smothered Potatoes, steamed mixed veggies, Caesar Salad, Assorted Mixed Breads and Rolls. And the piece de resistance velvety, creamy Cheese Cake topped with Strawberries, just doesn’t get any better than that…puts you “Up On The Housetop”!
All this celebrating made us so happy once again…..making us forget if just for a while the suffering that many have gone through, the damage many have had and witnessed of others. And so for a while there was lots of laughter and comradery. But we won’t forget the real reason for the season is the Birth of Christ that has carried us through the Pandemic, the devasting Ida, the loss of life and limb. Soon it will be “O Holy Night” and we pray that we will suffer no more. We hope you have the Merriest of Christmases and the Happiest and Healthiest of New Years.
The Hammond Garden Club is a proud member of the District VI, Louisiana Garden Club Federation, Inc. and the Deep South Garden Clubs, Inc. doing our best to unify and beautify our homes, gardens, our city and our nation every day to the best of our ability. God Bless the City of Hammond and God Bless America!
by Linda Broussard
She is a member of the Hammond Garden Club
We began by decorating the gazebo at Cate Square Park, eight of the members of the HGC working like Santa’s elves to ready it for the night of the big parade. Yards and yards of gold and silver netting with tiny white lights strung all through the inside and gracing the railing up the stairs and encircling the gazebo, so pretty at night with the lighted ornaments in the park trees.
Next some other (and some of the same) elves went to the North Oaks Rehab Hospital and in the lobby there, hoping to cheer some of the patients and/or their relatives visiting, by the addition of a beautifully decorated, gold beribboned tree with multicolored ornaments, “O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree! Then on to the next tree at the lobby of the North Oaks Outpatient Clinic where this one was decorated and looked like gold pixie dust had been sprinkled all over it since the ornaments were golden and fit for “Good King Wenceslas”!
On now to the Cate Square Park where children from seven local schools and one home school had each decorated a tree in a theme they had chosen. I was not one of the judges but I was told the trees were done so beautifully it was hard to pick a winner, and I think they were all winners just for entering the competition, they sure did “Deck The Halls” of the Park!
And now it was time to celebrate! It was the day of the garden club Christmas Party/Meeting. There was very little meeting since the President Sue Parrill announced that all business would be dispensed with today…first we will hear about the “Twelve Days (before) Christmas” and then it is time for fun. And so, those members told of the community accomplishments that had been finished Sue then called on Linda Ryan to lead the members in a game of Bingo and Find The Word which caused lots of laughter (and cheating I’m told). I hope they remembered that “Jolly Old Saint Nicholas” was watching! I understand that Johanna Dagro won the Find the Word game and received a beautiful party hat that is “electrified on the top” and Karen Nelson won Bingo and accepted a “red hand knitted stocking” with two pieces of candy in it!
Now on to the really good part…the meal prepared by Mary Monteleon and her crew of elves that work in the kitchen and deliver all the good vittles! There was so tender Pork Loin and gravy you could cut it with your fork and Chicken Fettuccini in that silken white cream sauce, Smothered Potatoes, steamed mixed veggies, Caesar Salad, Assorted Mixed Breads and Rolls. And the piece de resistance velvety, creamy Cheese Cake topped with Strawberries, just doesn’t get any better than that…puts you “Up On The Housetop”!
All this celebrating made us so happy once again…..making us forget if just for a while the suffering that many have gone through, the damage many have had and witnessed of others. And so for a while there was lots of laughter and comradery. But we won’t forget the real reason for the season is the Birth of Christ that has carried us through the Pandemic, the devasting Ida, the loss of life and limb. Soon it will be “O Holy Night” and we pray that we will suffer no more. We hope you have the Merriest of Christmases and the Happiest and Healthiest of New Years.
The Hammond Garden Club is a proud member of the District VI, Louisiana Garden Club Federation, Inc. and the Deep South Garden Clubs, Inc. doing our best to unify and beautify our homes, gardens, our city and our nation every day to the best of our ability. God Bless the City of Hammond and God Bless America!
by Linda Broussard
She is a member of the Hammond Garden Club