Christmas Caroling 2008

I'll write more later about everything that happened, but this is just a quick post to show off the family again. We were missing Jon, Aaron and Wayne Isaac, but most everyone else made it and we had a grand time. You won't see me in the shot because I was conducting and the camera was to my right to get all the faces of the choir.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zt-zkZc7L9U




I like my family.

***** Added Feb. 03 *****

Forgive the lateness of this entry. I'll skip explanations and just get to it.

While out caroling this year, I realized why it is that we do it and why it is so important that we put up with the hassle. Let me explain the hassle part of it first.

My parents had 10 children. That's a brood by any measurement, and when we were younger and my parents began this tradition of caroling every year, it was a feat to get us all wrangled and transported from place to place. Since then, all but one of us has gotten married effectively doubling the choir, and of those that are married, only one is without children to date.

What was a mass of humanity has grown into a mob of strong willed adults, crying children .... well you get the picture. Each year it gets harder.

We start the night around 6pm (although every year the plan seems earlier and earlier and the actual start time gets later). Cramming around the piano in my parents 20x20 living room we have a practice of the songs that we will be singing. This lasts about 1/2 an hour then we get packed in the car and on to the first house.

We go to about 8 different houses that are miles apart, so every visit requires unpacking the children, arranging them in front of the house, repacking and driving to the next house. By the time we get to the last house around 9pm, the youngest are falling asleep in their parents arms, while the group just older is complaining of their feet hurting and hunger is setting in for all of us.

So why do we do it? That question gets asked by at least one brother or sister every year. This year it finally struck me what the answer is, while we were at our second house.

An older couple who has been on the route for as long as I can remember invited us in to their house and positively beamed as we all filed in through the front door. Shoulder to shoulder we crammed into their sitting room and belted Jingle Bells, Silent Night, Rudolph, and Carol of the Bells. When we were done, the wife was weeping. As we left, we exchanged hugs and handshakes with each of them. Then my sister said to me "See? That's why we do this every year."

We aren't doing it to show off how great our family is. It's not even so that we can feel close as a family by continuing a rooted tradition. While both of those are nice, it's become a service. Caroling is not just our tradition anymore. It's theirs. These families that we visit every year now have a tradition of inviting us into their homes. Hearing us sing is now part of their Christmas and they look forward to it. We do it because, they love it, and we get to show our love for them.