Chinese Nursing Home part 2 of 2

To break the ice, I asked one of the staff members if it would be alright if I had my picture taken with a few of the residents. So I squatted down between two of the residents and had Annika take my picture. I also took the opportunity to shake a few hands and wish some of our new friends a Merry Christmas. I was hoping this would help everyone –my girls included- to feel a little more comfortable. I’m afraid though that it just made them more embarrassed. I’m sure the reindeer antlers I was wearing didn’t help matters.

I resumed my position on the wall between Annika and Elise. Just in case they weren’t sure whether they were having a good time or not, I leaned over to them and said “Man, this is fantasti . . . .” I stopped mid-syllable. Gasp. When did this happen? When did I turn into my father? Always the consummate promoter. If I was expecting a toothy grin and a thumbs up from either one of them, I didn’t get it. I did get two pair of rolled eyes though.

And then all the residents who were ambulatory were in place and the caroling began. The coordinators from our church had given each of us a small English-language booklet with the lyrics and had given the residents the same little booklet but with the words in Cantonese.

Normally, out of respect to those around me in church, I sing softly. I have been told I could be the poster boy for tone-deafness. But I figured that I was in a room full of people with hearing aids who didn’t know English and who may or may not be familiar with these tunes. My girls are used to being embarrassed by me in public no matter what I do. And our friends, well they would just have to deal with it. I let ‘er rip. I was hoping the residents would appreciate quantity over quality.

After four or five carols, one of the young women from our church read the Christmas story in Cantonese. Normally, proselytizing like this would not be permitted in a government-run nursing home, but this was Christmas time and the telling of the Christmas story was not only permitted, but expected. Our friends’ young sons held up the laminated illustrations that went with the story and slowly swept them from left to right so that everyone could get a good look.

With the story finished, we fanned out and delivered to each resident gift bags that the church had provided. In Chinese culture, it is customary to not open gifts while guests are still around. Gifts are usually opened after the party is over. We broke with Chinese tradition though and sat next to each resident and opened their gift bags with them. Item by item, we showed them the little hand towels, tooth brushes, hand moisturizer, toothpaste and other various sundries we had brought them. While most of them probably didn’t speak much English, we smiled, looked them in the eye, and spoke to them as if the understood every word we said. We made sure to wish each of them “A Merry Christmas” before we moved on to the next resident.

In the back of the nursing home, I noticed that one lady who was either asleep or on strong medication or simply a little out of it, had not received a gift. I tip-toed in. Her eyes were closed and her mouth was open. I knelt down next to her bed and quietly said “Merry Christmas. We brought you a few small gifts.” I set her gift bag on her nightstand. “May God bless you.” She didn’t stir. I tried to exit as quietly as I had entered.

Back in them main room, one resident in a brown striped blouse had had a scowl on her face the whole time. Even the gift bag hadn’t helped. In fact, it seemed to be causing a conflict between her and the lady next to her. The lady in the brown striped blouse kept trying to push her gift bag onto her neighbor who didn’t want it.

We had just enough time to sing one more song. I noticed that during our closing song, Julie was smiling at and sing to the lady in the brown striped blouse. I never really thought of “Angles We Have Heard on High” as a clap-along-kind of song, but halfway through, our friend in the brown striped blouse started clapping along. Julie didn’t miss a beat. She joined right in. By the time the song was done, half the residents and even some of the staff were clapping along.

We finished by going around one last time and wishing each one of the residents a “Merry Christmas” and a “God loves you.”

And then it was 2:30 in the afternoon and it was time to go find a dim sum restaurant.
Singing Christmas carols in a Chinese nursing home was a real highlight.

In fact, it was dee-luxe.