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From the latest community news to our recent blog posts, we’ll keep you up to date on all the happenings at our active retirement community and more.

The Informer Newsletter
March 19, 2021
Cedarfield Mentors Program

Throughout Pandemic, Cedarfield Mentors Program Connects With Local Elementary Students Through “Virtual Storytime” Sessions Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, several residents at Cedarfield, a premier senior living retirement community in Henrico County, have embraced technology to both connect with the outside world and combine their love of books and volunteering. Since November 2020, the Cedarfield Mentors …

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December 25, 2020
A Memory That Always Brings a Smile

In the mid 70’s Louisa and I lived in Northern Virginia with our three wonderful youngsters: Josh, Jonathan, and Mollie. At the time, the boys were ages five and three. As Christmas approached, our neighbors had told us that the “real” Santa greeted children at a local plant nursery, but that we must be prepared …

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December 24, 2020
Advent reflection – 2020

The Advent our grandson was four years old, he was with his family for the weekly Sunday Mass. They were sitting in the balcony and Jack was quietly coloring when the priest said, “Christ has died, Christ has risen, Christ will come again!” At which point Jack stopped with poised crayon, and observed loudly, “WHAT? …

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December 23, 2020
25 Stories to Christmas

As December approached in the year when I was expecting my third child, I decided I wanted to tell the Christmas story to our two children, five-year-old Barbie and six-year-old Carl, in a way they would find meaningful. Wouldn’t it be fun, I thought, to tell it in a series of installments, one each day …

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December 22, 2020
Wartime Christmases

Preparations for Christmas in World War II England generated much excitement in my home. My mother, sister, and I made decorations out of cotton wool, sticky colored paper squares, beads, and greenery. We cut the paper squares into strips to make paper chains that, with my father’s help, we strung diagonally across the living and …

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December 21, 2020
Christmas 1968 – Another Period of Time with Unrest and a Pandemic

My husband and our four children (three sons age eight, ten and twelve, plus a little girl, age three) and I had moved into our new home in Miami. I was prepared to make this Christmas a very special one. 1968 had been a very sad year: the war in Viet Nam was escalating, Robert …

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December 20, 2020
A Bedtime Call from Santa

My older brother’s birthday is December 3rd. After his birthday we just knew that Christmas was soon to come. My dad was a baker, so he had to go to work at night during the holidays to get orders filled. We were left at home with our mom, who would be busy with laundry and …

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December 19, 2020
An Impromptu Musical Moment

This story is about my daughter, Bonnie Meyer, who happens to be musically inclined. When she was 17 years old, she was singing in the church choir and was called to do a special solo with her guitar. Right before the service started that evening, the minister had requested that she do the first verse …

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December 18, 2020
A Wooden Christmas Tree

In December of 1952, I was in the Army stationed at Clark Air Force Base, which was located on the island of Luzon in the Philippines. All my fellow soldiers in our Quonset hut agreed that we should celebrate Christmas by having our own Christmas tree. We soon realized that what we think of as …

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December 17, 2020
Remembering Special Christmas Gifts

I have such fond memories of special Christmas gifts received over the years . . . When I was about four years old, I received a beautiful sturdily built doll about two feet tall. She was dressed in a lovely pink dress with a ruffled collar, pantaloons, and a hat decked out with a dainty …

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December 16, 2020
Our Special Christmas Tree

My father wanted to be an architect, but he had to drop out of college to help take care of his sick mother. He ended up running the family hardware store instead. My parents were married during the Depression, and I remember them collecting ideas for their “Dream House” for years as I was growing …

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December 15, 2020
Heaven Can Wait

Christmas evokes special, lifelong memories for me of my mom simply because it was her very favorite time of the year. We all called her Mimi, the name my son had given her. She could not wait to put up the holiday trees, decorated so beautifully—usually three plus one “Charlie Brown” tree outside on the …

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April 24, 2017
Introducing our new Executive Director

Upon the announcement of Nancy Brechtelsbauer’s retirement in December of 2016, the search for a new Cedarfield executive director was launched. After several months of searching, Virginia United Methodist Homes, Inc. is pleased to announce the appointment of Michael Shaw to the position starting April 2017. Shaw brings seventeen years of senior living experience to …

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May 27, 2016
Twenty Events To Celebrate Twenty Years

04/marked the beginning of a series of 20 events and activities in 20 weeks, which will conclude with a final big bash, Cheers to 20 Years, planned for August. See what has been going on at Cedarfield as we count down the 20 weeks!

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December 3, 2015
Giving Back to the Community

Driven 2 Destiny Outreach Center is a non-profit providing outreach and resources to people and families experiencing temporary set-backs due to unemployment, illness or other life-changing events. The center provides vocational training, parenting classes and more. They also offer Christmas Camps that give children a safe place to spend the day when school is closed …

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October 14, 2014
Cedarfield Special Care Center

Caring for a loved one with an advanced dementia disease (such as Alzheimer’s) can be overwhelming to families and friends. Statistically, a person with Alzheimer’s disease will live an average of eight years and as many as 20 or more years from the onset of symptoms. Eventually, 24-hour personal care may be required, whether in …

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December 7, 2020
Tall Santa

I remember when I was growing up that our family had a wonderful tradition of gathering at midnight on Christmas Eve to receive presents from Santa. My father was one of five boys, and they were all very tall. We had a large extended family and valued gathering together, especially during the holidays. Each year, …

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December 6, 2020
Christmas at Merchants Hope

The Merchants Hope Episcopal Church in Prince George is very dear to my family. My grandparents were married there, as were some of my aunts and uncles. There is a long-standing tradition for the children to have a breakfast with Santa during the first week of December. After the breakfast, there is a table with …

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December 5, 2020
Maggie

Santa does NOT bring live animals on his sleigh!” I said. “But, MOOOOOOM, all I want for Christmas is a dog! A black dog, like Buck!” my seven-year old son, Phillip, said. “Buck” was his aunt’s black lab and the only dog that he was not afraid of. Phillip did not just “say” he was …

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December 4, 2020
Christmas 2020-2021

I am standing here at the entrance to the Fellowship Hall on July 27, 2020. I have volunteered to be the “sanitizer” — squirting gooey stuff into the hands of all who come to join “Christmas in July” and spend time social distancing with our masks on. We are here to share our stories of …

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December 3, 2020
A Tale of Three Christmases

One summer a friend and I sat eating lunch at a drugstore in Kittanning, Pennsylvania, when I looked across the street and saw a handsome young man who resembled a tall, very thin young man — a friend from high school. We finished our lunches quickly to walk past him, and later that day he …

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December 2, 2020
A Night to Remember

As I was remembering my Christmases while growing up, one especially stood out. Christmases were always a fond time with family, friends, church services, good food, decorations, fellowship, and, of course, presents. Unlike today, the tree was not put up until the last week before Christmas. We lived in Warrenton, Virginia, and the Christmas Eve …

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December 1, 2020
My Christmas Story Only a Cedarfield Resident Would Appreciate

Last Christmas I arose at 5 a.m., to be ready to see my grandchildren descend the stairs of their home at 6 o’clock to view what Santa had left them under their decorated tree. I truly enjoyed watching each of my four grandchildren in Richmond (Frannie, Vinnie, Rocco and Lucia) open their presents and show …

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October 9, 2020
From the Desk of Michael Shaw, Executive Director

NEXT YEAR — On September 3, 2021, Richmond, VA Life Plan Community, Cedarfield, will be 25 years young. So in grand Cedarfield fashion, we are planning a year-long celebration with monthly events from now until then. On October 19, 2020, we will kick off this year-long celebration with a socially distant Fall Festival. Anniversaries are …

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December 29, 2019
The Legend of the Poinsettia

In Cedarfield tradition, the Pastoral Care Team created this compilation of holiday memoirs by team members and residents. We will share one a day through the holidays. Happy Holidays to you and yours! www.whychristmas.com There is an old Mexican legend about how poinsettias and Christmas come together, it goes like this: There was once a …

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December 28, 2019
Walking in my Mother’s Shoes

In Cedarfield tradition, the Pastoral Care Team created this compilation of holiday memoirs by team members and residents. We will share one a day through the holidays. Happy Holidays to you and yours! Beth Burrell, Team Member Christmas for my family was filled with excitement, wonder, and faith. My mother’s walk took many journeys, and …

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December 27, 2019
Little Lights

In Cedarfield tradition, the Pastoral Care Team created this compilation of holiday memoirs by team members and residents. We will share one a day through the holidays. Happy Holidays to you and yours! Florence Brooks, Team Member When I was in the 5th grade, my mother and my brother and I went to live in …

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December 26, 2019
The Slide Surprise

In Cedarfield tradition, the Pastoral Care Team created this compilation of holiday memoirs by team members and residents. We will share one a day through the holidays. Happy Holidays to you and yours! Eldon Rucker, Resident When I was about 7 years old, my parents asked what I wanted for Christmas. I thought a bit …

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