Holiday letters are often a tradition to many at Mt. San Antonio Gardens. These letters can be a sentimental, personal touch greeting friends, family, and loved ones. This year, we are delighted to share some excerpts from Melanie and Harold’s holiday greetings. As residents who moved in over a year ago, their holiday letter shares deep resident insights and how they live daily at the Gardens

Dear Friends and Family,

As we step into 2026, we find ourselves reflecting on the remarkable year of 2025—marking eighteen months into our residence here and life in Claremont. Since moving from our apartment in Los Angeles to Mt. San Antonio Gardens in June 2024, the transition has proven to be far more transformative than we could have anticipated. It is with genuine joy and gratitude that we share our experiences and invite you to understand how this move has redefined what it means to live fully in our eighties.

The paradox of our new life at the Gardens strikes us most profoundly: we have discovered that we are simultaneously more independent and more interdependent than we have ever been. The freedoms that come from relinquishing certain daily burdens—the preparation of meals, the search for medical care, the endless maintenance that a traditional household demands—have opened unexpected avenues for growth and engagement. A resident physician and a welcoming dining room have liberated us from these responsibilities, allowing us to redirect our energy toward what truly nourishes our spirits and minds.

Here at the Gardens, we have established rhythms that bring us profound satisfaction. On Sunday afternoons from September through June, we make the brief drive to Disney Hall to experience concerts by the Los Angeles Philharmonic—an extraordinary gift that sits just a short 45 minutes from our residence. During the week, we audit classes at Pomona College, itself only a five-minute drive away. This past year, we enrolled in two courses that captivated us entirely: Asian Traditions, which traced the histories of China, Korea, and Japan from 700 BCE to 1600 C E, and Latin and Chicano History in the Americas, spanning from Columbus’s explorations to the Vietnam War. Both were masterfully taught, and perhaps most wonderfully, our exposure to college students has deepened our appreciation for their intellectual engagement and the genuine concerns that animate their generation.

Our cottage opens onto a rose garden that demands and rewards our care, and an orchid tree that teaches us the rhythm of tending growing things. Melanie’s daily walks through the thirty acres of the Gardens have become a meditation in themselves. She moves through the grounds several times each day, collecting leaves, observing the squirrels, appreciating the azure skies and crystalline light of Southern California. We are blessed with sufficient rain to keep the lawns verdant and the air crisp; the number of days graced with clear skies, brilliant blue and free from clouds and oppressive humidity, seems improbably generous.

Friendship has flourished here in ways that surprise us. We have cultivated genuine connections with many residents, and several friendships have deepened into relationships of real substance. Among our closest companions are Abe and Julia, who share our fascination with China and music. Most evenings find us dining with friends sometimes at modest local Chinese or Japanese restaurants (where a fine meal for two costs less than sixty dollars) –_or in The Gardens’ dining room.  We eat at our cottage for breakfasts where we read paper copies of the NY Times, the WSJ and the LA Times featuring baked goods from our local bakery, Crème, which rivals anything we discovered on the Rue du Bac in Paris.

I have found particular joy in delivering lectures to our community on Impressionism and the ways painters like Monet and Caillebotte depicted the Paris that Baron Haussmann transformed in the 1860s—and equally important, what they chose not to paint, but what Émile Zola captured in novels such as L’Assommoir. These lectures have become interactive dialogues with residents, enriching our shared understanding and deepening our connections.

As we look toward 2026, we do so with a profound sense of gratitude and possibility. We understand that growth in one’s eighties looks different than it did in our thirties or fifties—it is quieter, perhaps, and more inward-turning—but it is no less real or significant. We have discovered that joy can be found in the simplest gestures: a well-prepared meal shared with friends, the sight of a blue sky, a brilliant lecture, the presence of those we love, and the freedom to pursue understanding without the weight of excessive responsibility.

We invite you to share with us how you are managing and growing as the minutes, hours, and days unfold in your own lives. We wish you the health, wisdom, and openness to find meaning and joy in whatever 2026 brings. The Gardens have taught us that life’s value is not measured by the magnitude of our activities or the extent of our possessions, but by the quality of our presence, the depth of our connections, and the willingness to embrace transformation whenever it presents itself.

With deep affection and warm wishes for the year ahead,

MELANIE AND HAROLD
Mount San Antonio Gardens
Claremont, California

Harold and Melanie in front of their rose garden.