Rose, I have a suggestion for you about the holidays. Many of the people in nursing homes these days are "orphans" - folks with no family or friends to visit them. In many cases, they have outlived family members and friends, and no one ever visits them. So that might be a good, productive thing to to - spend some time visiting with some old folks on the holidays. I bet the front desk, or the social workers at any hospital can tell you who is loneliest, and might want a visit.
One very beloved person I knew said once, when I visited her, "maybe I never should have had a family, so I wouldn't feel so awful when they don't visit." Her two grown kids had relocated to the West Coast, but that didn't ease her loneliness, especially at the holidays.