Once upon a time (33 years ago), in a city far, far away (Montery, California), a certain soldier who is now a college professor joined with a few other soldiers to sing Christmas carols at the Fort Ord base hospital. When we arrived, we were directed to the psychiatric ward as that was where the most patients could be found to enjoy our gleeful singing. I remember feeling very cautious since I had never been to the floor in a hospital that doesn’t typically even have a number in the elevator. The most vivid memory I have is of one patient, perfectly harmless, who followed us from room to room requesting his favorite Christmas carol, “God Bless America.” We must have belted out his “carol” ten times that evening.
A year or so earlier than this experience, a couple of my two favorite TV characters from the period, Laverne and Shirley, had a similar Christmas visit to a psychiatric ward. I didn’t see the episode until much later, probably on Nickelodean, and it gave me quite a chuckle, mostly because of its similarity to my own experience. On its own, however, Laverne and Shirley’s second season “Oh Hear the Angels’ Voices” is a delightful Christmas episode. The two wacky friends try to do something good, it backfires on them (Shirley’s parents had used the threat of a mental hospital as a discipline tactic when she was a child), and as is often the case in a Christmas show, the episode ends on a fuzzy note with viewers knowing that we should all do something equally giving at Christmas.
I think since I have already caroled at a psychiatric ward, I’ll try a different charitable activity this Christmas ….
One more episode on the Christmas list. Anyone want to take a guess which it will be?
A year or so earlier than this experience, a couple of my two favorite TV characters from the period, Laverne and Shirley, had a similar Christmas visit to a psychiatric ward. I didn’t see the episode until much later, probably on Nickelodean, and it gave me quite a chuckle, mostly because of its similarity to my own experience. On its own, however, Laverne and Shirley’s second season “Oh Hear the Angels’ Voices” is a delightful Christmas episode. The two wacky friends try to do something good, it backfires on them (Shirley’s parents had used the threat of a mental hospital as a discipline tactic when she was a child), and as is often the case in a Christmas show, the episode ends on a fuzzy note with viewers knowing that we should all do something equally giving at Christmas.
I think since I have already caroled at a psychiatric ward, I’ll try a different charitable activity this Christmas ….
One more episode on the Christmas list. Anyone want to take a guess which it will be?
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