A Heartfelt Christmas Celebration: Spreading Joy and Cheer at B.K. Kee House

December was a bit quieter than usual. The office that schedules with the hospital was closed for the whole month, which meant we could focus more on the residents who were already in-house. I wasn’t there for the first visit of the month because I was still recovering from my trip to the United States.

The patients kept busy preparing for the Christmas party. They made paper Christmas trees again, added paintings and decorations, and even made some special treats for the party on the 15th.

In between visits, we bought Christmas gifts for everyone at the house: patients, caregivers, and staff. Bill even got a little Christmas treat for the dog. I bought a bunch of Santa hats, antlers, and other fun stuff. When we arrived on the 15th, I found out that Bill had also bought a lot of hats. So we have hats for the next three years!

The Friday before the party, we had a wrapping party at my place for the gifts we had bought.

The day of the party, we were asked to arrive an hour early to set up. The residents had been practicing Christmas carols and sang them for us in Karen and English. As usual for Christmas, we played BK Kee Has Talent, where we pass a ball around a circle while music plays. When the music stops, whoever has the ball gets to choose between singing, dancing, or a language lesson. No one likes my language lessons, but we have some amazing singers and guitar players. We even played the Lionel Richie song “Stuck on You” with two guitars in perfect harmony in Karen.

After the music stopped, we passed out presents from toys to art kits to puzzles and games. We also gave a couple of discounted Karaoke machines. They were the biggest hits of the day!

And last but not least, we had lunch. It was Thai food, and many of the residents are from Burma, so they wanted to try it.

I want to thank Rotarians Bill Pierce, Andrew Boud, Colleen Boud, Gordana Nardini, Yaovapa Ratanasopa, Gordana Nardini, and David Lucero.