Writer Chick With A Ukulele: The Amazing Ukulele Christmas Day Adventure!

Rebecca and me on ukes and some other merry folk at the VA Hospital, Christmas Day!

I almost didn’t wake up on time to get to the VA Hospital Christmas morning. The alarm had been set for 7:00 a.m. but of course I turned it off and went back to sleep! Luckily, Albert called me sounding all bright and cheerful like he always does – hey, is the address to this place 3801 Miranda Avenue? Huh? Ohhh, I don’t know – let me check. You didn’t just wake up did you? Why yes, as a matter of fact – oh no! What time is it? So I felt like that Run Run Rudolph song dashing around, quickly getting dressed and making sure I have what I need – ukulele. Check. Songbooks, check. Scarf and Santa hat. Check. Then I at least got to see Baby J open up a couple of his gifts before dashing out the door and driving like a maniac to the VA Hospital. The GPS didn’t like the address – but thankfully I figured out where the place was on my own, and hardly anyone is on the road on Christmas morning – I mean, it is DESERTED!

But what a huge difference when I finally arrived to the VA Hospital and parked in the front which I wasn’t supposed to do – me and a few others had to hike through the entire hospital to get to the auditorium where almost 200 people had gathered to sing Christmas songs in the wards for the Vets and some of their families! WOW! It was hectic and crazy in there – a few people with instruments including a whole gang of my ukulele playing friends –150 festive singers, 13 ukulele players, a handful of guitar players, at least three fiddle players, one dulcimer, one amazing trumpet player (really she was awesome!), one snare drum and a partridge in a pear tree! I found Albert, June and her husband, Rebecca, Mark, John, Vickie Sugako and Hofer who came with Rebecca and Mark – and Linda Grace and other people I recognized as well. We practiced some songs in the auditorium including Silent Night which Linda belted out and I sang harmony… I was the chick with the Santa hat and tie-dye shirt – no time for me to search for anything that looked holiday-festive – but I figured the Santa hat was enough. :) June had put together special songbooks for the ukulele players and we had to abandon all those cool intros because there were way too many people to try to pull that off – we were lucky to just start playing when the song began!

Gail Grant, our fearless leader, next to Albert and I see Sugako behind me and there's June and Mickey too!

It was chaotic and insane as we tromped through the wards of the hospital – me with my music stand which thankfully Rebecca’s friend Hofer had fixed – and songbook. No time to memorize those songs and who can remember all the verses to those traditional Christmas songs anyway? The only songs I knew by heart on ukulele were Jingle Bells and Feliz Navidad oh yeah and of course This Land Is Your Land, which we played many times throughout the day. The ukuleles really shined when we played This Land Is Your Land, Here Comes Santa Claus and Feliz Navidad! It didn’t matter whether we were together or not or that the ukulele players sometimes got separated – or that sometimes people on one end of the hallway started the song before people on the other end – countless volunteers coming through with lit-up shopping carts filled with gifts for all the vets in the hospital – the nursing staff who sang along with us and danced to some of the songs, the elderly woman patient who sat next to me in a wheelchair and sang along. And, there is no way that I will ever forget entering some of the rooms where the patients were – the ones who wanted us to – and singing.

One younger VA patient couldn’t speak because of major surgery to neck and face – but he wanted us in there to sing and he had a clipboard he could write with. So a group of us went in while a larger group stood outside. He didn’t have any special requests, so I’d call out songs to the main group outside the room, looking over to him to see if he approved. He’d nod or shake his head – Okay, he wants Jingle Bells! I shouted and whole group sang Jingle Bells. This happened for several songs. Nope, he doesn’t want Drummer Boy, not this time – let’s do Santa Claus is coming to town or Silver Bells. Another patient wanted us to sing and play White Christmas and was very excited about three of us in his room who strummed ukuleles! I even got to go into the “quiet area” where only 15 people were allowed… wondering how we could possibly be that quiet…but it worked out beautifully.

John and one of the awesome volunteers! Thank heavens for him...and for all the volunteers!

I will never forget the experience – was it chaotic and insane? Oh yeah! And of course wonderfully unorganized in spite of everyone’s efforts. But you can bet I will be there again next Christmas. I wouldn’t miss it for the world. And they also sing three other times throughout the year. Sometimes I think that’s when the patients would love it even more – when people come in and sing for them just because.

And hanging with all my wonderful friends really made it a perfect Christmas Day. It was a wonderful day that lasted until 2:00pm in the afternoon. Yes, we walked at least two miles and then I lost my car in the VA Hospital Parking lot – it took me riding around with my friend Albert over 30 minutes to find it – seriously! I was in such a rush I had no idea where I’d parked. Thank heavens my car really had not been stolen as I suspected. Then, me, Albert and Lori went to the “Passage to India” restaurant in Mountain View – a favorite of hers – and had a wonderful buffet Indian food late lunch for Christmas! It was different than past years…but I got to hang with Baby J on Christmas Eve and Christmas night and read this book I got him called “Christmas in California” which he really dug – and he was excited that Santa had arrived and I remembered that this is a magical time for him… We sang some Christmas songs together. Next year he’ll be ready for the VA Hospital sing-along for sure! I’ll see the rest of my family this weekend and when my Dad called me to wish me a merry Christmas, he sounded like “Dad” again which made me very happy, and I realized our family is precious…but we don’t have to wait til the holidays to see them or for those precious moments in time…

I did miss being surrounded by my wonderfully crazy family!!