We noticed there is a Nursing home near the scout hut that typically has an empty parking lot, even on holidays.  So second class scout Andrew, from troop 628, set a plan in motion to gather some boys and their parents to visit and entertain the residents.  They also helped them make and write out Christmas cards that they could send to their loved ones.  We invited the cub scout pack 499 to participate in this service project with us.  We arrived dressed in our class A’s and Christmas cheer, and we also selected a few Christmas carols and sang for them to kick off our visit.  The residents enjoyed a night of activities and attention from our scouts and parents.  We lead them, one on one, in an art craft project of making their own Christmas cards.  They had the choice between two different cards to make that our scouts preplanned, one of the three wise men and the other of Santa's face.  Most of the residents opted to make both.  The boys worked with the residents to craft their cards with patience and smiles.  They also helped most of the residents write out the inside of the cards and address them.  The boys got to visit with the ladies and bond with them throughout the art project and into refreshments.  The facility staff baked the boys cupcakes and cookies.  So we all sat around their kitchen tables and enjoyed refreshments with them.  The scouts served the ladies their lemonade.  At the end of the night the scouts gave hugs and goodbyes to their card buddies and were ready to plan more service project there.  We felt this was a good project to help include those who are often overlooked in our nursing homes in the Christmas season.  It is always good when we can open up opportunities for kids and our elders to come together and learn from each other.  We built bridges that spanned the generation gap with ease.  Many of the residents are homebound or bed bound and cannot run to the store to pick up Christmas cards and have difficulty writing them out.  The boys later recounted how the ladies seemed so glad to see them.