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Christmas in the Bingo Hall

2/9/2010

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December 25, 2009

After spending a wonderful Christmas Day with my family, I took my mom with me to Bingo at the Veterans Home – my other family. We brought a box of See’s candy to pass around, but even without it, my mom was a celebrity.

Gary had met her earlier in the week, when we’d all gone down to see Mike. "Hi, Mom!" he waved from across the room.
Ray sat and talked with her for awhile, then, as he was leaving, told someone, "I got to meet Judy!"

David, bless his heart, sat right down and talked and talked and talked. I was only listening halfway, but apparently he told her I talk to the residents "like we are normal people."

There was a smaller crowd than usual, and you couldn’t help but notice that there were a dozen or so people there who had no family members with them, or no plans for Christmas beyond Bingo.

Which made me doubly glad we had come. These were my plans for Christmas, too.
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    Author
    My name is Sandy Deneau Dunham. I'm a journalist who’s worked at The Phoenix Gazette, The (Tacoma) News Tribune,  The Seattle Times, Town Hall Seattle and Pacific Lutheran University. I'm now back at The Seattle Times, as associate editor of its gorgeously glossy Pacific NW magazine. I've been a volunteer at the Washington Soldiers Home and Colony in Orting, Washington, since January 2009, and I am still a remedial videographer.   

     

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