Children Brighten Nursing Home with Handmade Paper Christmas Tree
Mary Ann TaylorIn her lovely British accent, Betsy Collington often asks her visitors, “How are you keeping?” People smile and know she’s just wondering how they are. She is originally from the little town of Ipswich in the southeastern county of Suffolk. When the United States had a severe nurse shortage in the 1960s, she and her husband Jim, both of them nurses, came to the Dallas area with their two little girls, Katherine and Hannah. Mobility is now difficult for her, so Betsy lives in a nursing home in Cedar Hill, Texas.
When children in the area from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints learned she didn’t have room for a tree, they drew and colored over 45 ornaments for a paper one that could hang on a wall. Jessamin Jensen, herself a professional artist, leads the children’s group. Betsy is a member of the congregation but has not been able to attend for many years. Jessamin designed a large paper tree for the ornaments. “It was our pleasure to make it,” she said during a visit to Betsy, who added, “Thank you all so much. Such a delight to have you come!” A fun rendition of “Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer” ended the visit.
Another group came as the Jensens were leaving. Jhonniece Meeks, a communications specialist in the College of Education at the University of Texas at Arlington, presented Betsy with several small gifts for the holiday. [Meeks] explained that a member of the College’s staff comes to see a relative at the facility, and they wanted to visit others for Christmas this year.
More was to come for Betsy. The facility gathered residents in the dining room for gifts and a musical program. The crowd enjoyed the singing and applauded enthusiastically.
Those colored ornaments have no need of an outside power source to brighten a day when their lights come from so many little hearts. The children shared their inner lights joyfully.
When Charles Dickens ended his novel A Christmas Carol, he wrote that Ebenezer Scrooge “knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge.” We hope that Betsy Collington continues to keep it as well.
Mary Ann Taylor is communications director for the Dallas Texas Stake of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints living in Duncanville.
