Christmas in the nursing homes

Time passes so fast! It’s holiday season again. I was in America last Christmas and I can’t forget it.
I go to a Taiwanese church after coming to Austin. I serve there as a choir member. Christmas is a big day for Christians; therefore, we played a cantata on the Sunday worship. Since we had made a lot of effort practicing, we decided to select some of the songs and play with our children choir in two nursing homes nearby on the afternoon of Christmas Eve. When we arrived at those homes, because we volunteered, I feel that nobody cared about what we were doing. After starting to sing, people started to stop their feet. The most miracle thing is that I saw some of the elders crying after we finished our performance. Actually, we are not professional singers who can sing very well. I guess the reason why they cried is that the children in our church reminded them about their families. In addition, the only visitors they have are not their families but strangers like us. I knew that lots of Americans will spend their holidays with the families, but I was surprised that there were so many people staying in the nursing home on Christmas Eve.
In Taiwan, the most important holiday is Chinese New Year. In New Year’s Eve, my parents and I will go back to my grandparents’ home and eat hot-pot or dumping every year. When singing over the nursing home, I recalled my grandfather. Two years ago, he got an accident and has to stay in nursing home. At that time, my husband got the admission from UT and decided to come to American for at least five years. Consequently, we know that we might not have much time gathering together. We took my grandfather out of nursing home and stayed at home for two days celebrating Chinese New Year. I can never forget the scene that my grandfather held my hand and said “take care of yourself” with his eyes filled with tears when we were leaving. I hope that I can spend more time with him but I can’t. Chinese New Year is in the middle of a semester in America; as a result, it’s impossible to visit him during Chinese New Year. Fortunately, he is better and better after that and can stay at home now. For the coming Christmas, I think that we will do the same thing. I am very happy doing this because it seems like that they are my grandparents. Since I am not going back to Taiwan this winter, this is the only thing I can do. At the same time, I hope that my grandparent can feel my love in Taiwan.