{"id":43234,"date":"2021-12-15T21:59:30","date_gmt":"2021-12-16T04:59:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/ute-mountain-ute-tribe-delivers-christmas-dinner-and-cheer\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T03:12:24","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T09:12:24","slug":"ute-mountain-ute-tribe-delivers-christmas-dinner-and-cheer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/ute-mountain-ute-tribe-delivers-christmas-dinner-and-cheer\/","title":{"rendered":"Ute Mountain Ute Tribe delivers Christmas dinner and cheer"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"The
The Ute Mountain Ute Tribe will host its annual Christmas dinner Wednesday, with meals available for pickup in a drive-thru at the Ute Mountain Casino. Pictured here, Josiah Lee, left, and Shannon Whiteman Sr., left, carry boxes of food to an awaiting truck.<\/span>Kala Parkinson<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

TOWAOC \u2013 Brokenness fixes you, and time doesn\u2019t stop for anyone.<\/p>\n

Those were the words declared by Ute Mountain Ute tribal council member Darwin Whiteman Jr. Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Reflection seemed inevitable as the tribe mourned the loss of an elder \u2013 a funeral proceeded on the hill and tribal operations halted.<\/p>\n

But the tribe\u2019s drive-thru Christmas dinner at the Ute Mountain Casino was a happy event.<\/p>\n

By the time the meals were being distributed, a layer of snow blanketed Towaoc and continued to fall gently as casino workers and volunteers, all smiles and swiftness, delivered a delectable dose of holiday cheer to tribal members.<\/p>\n

With 10 days to go until Christmas, Whiteman was grateful to observe themes of unity, empathy and dedication enveloping the festive spread before him.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe people are receiving what they prayed for,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Prayer was a pillar of the day\u2019s provisions \u2013 as it is in all tribe endeavors, he said.<\/p>\n

With a note of loss tinging the event, Whiteman reflected on losing his own father years ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverything in life is always OK,\u201d his father told him, dying of cancer.<\/p>\n

Whiteman didn\u2019t see it that way, until one day, after his father\u2019s death, he did.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday\u2019s a blessing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Every day is, he said.<\/p>\n

\"The
The Ute Mountain Ute tribe hosted its annual Christmas dinner Wednesday, with meals available for pickup in a drive-thru at the Ute Mountain Casino. Here, Raymond Bigman embraces the camera, pausing for a moment while preparing the projected 2,000 meals for tribal members.<\/span>Kala Parkinson<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"The
The Ute Mountain Ute tribe hosted its annual Christmas dinner Wednesday, with meals available for pickup in a drive-thru at the Ute Mountain Casino.<\/span>Kala Parkinson<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"The
The Ute Mountain Ute tribe hosted its annual Christmas dinner Wednesday, with meals available for pickup in a drive-thru at the Ute Mountain Casino.<\/span>Kala Parkinson<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

The two drive-thru lanes circling the casino were frequently full. The event provided an opportunity to reconnect with friends and relatives, as well as to meet new people, Whiteman said.<\/p>\n

Nearby, Whiteman\u2019s sentiments were playing out on the assembly line, where dozens of workers briskly prepared a projected 2,000 meals for tribal members.<\/p>\n

While in one corner of the casino ballroom Whiteman had been positively reflecting on the unexpected growth in loss, in another, laughs reverberated off of the rows of hot food waiting to be packaged.<\/p>\n

That range of emotions, and experiencing them together, is what the holidays are about, Whiteman had said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m enjoying the laughs while serving good food,\u201d said Raymond Bigman.<\/p>\n

And he was. Bigman and his friends were joking throughout the venture, swaying others nearby with their cheery dispositions and quick jokes.<\/p>\n

Joining in on the laughs was Chaz Hamlin, who said it was all about \u201cgreat company, great food, and holiday vibes.\u201d<\/p>\n

They were scooping servings of traditional holiday fixings, with mashed potatoes, corn, cranberry and turkey galore.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Despite loss, Ute Mountain Ute embodies seasonal merriment<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":43235,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[755,28,167,29,1879,547],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-43234","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-christmas","tag-headlines","tag-local-news-lead","tag-newsletter","tag-ute-mountain-casino","tag-ute-mountain-ute-indian-tribe"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43234","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43234"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43234\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":85628,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43234\/revisions\/85628"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43235"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43234"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43234"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43234"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=43234"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}