Last night I was over at Jen's house with Autumn. Jen was telling me that her daughter Chloe wants to go Christmas Caroling in the worst way. I asked her if she was going to take her. She laughed and said "Uh no...how embarrassing." I thought about it and unless you have a really organized group, it actually can be a bit nerve racking. You are interrupting people's evening, so if they are going to get up and let half of their heat out....it had better be good. It had better be entertaining. It had better be BROADWAY. I thought of the American Idol auditions, and really... a bad performance can be just as amusing as a good one. Maybe we could just sing off key and make fools of ourselves. That would be worth it for anyone. I could not convince them. Autumn and Chloe decided they were NOT going to wait for us to make it happen for them. They were going out into the neighborhood and they were going to sing for whoever would listen. We just stayed on the couch. I thought I should follow, but Jen and Brian didn't seem worried so I stayed put. It was freezing out there.
They came back after a few minutes and reported that at the first house the person answered the door and laughed the whole way through Jingle Bells. The second house they went to TWICE, but they were happy because two different people answered. The third house they got the door slammed on them because they got the giggles and just held onto each other and laughed through the song.
After they left we cracked up. I suggested we arrange a caroling night for them. Brian said, "Ok Mikki, when should we drop her off with you?" Ummmmm....that isn't what I had in mind. The door bell rang....Nobody got up. "Aren't you going to answer the door?" I asked. Jen reminded me it was only the "Carolers". "Well aren't we going to listen?!" Still nobody moved. "FINE, I will get it..."
I turned on the porch light, opened the door, and watched the two most silly, giggling girls sing Jingle Bells to me. I don't think I even heard one word correctly. I couldn't stop laughing as they hung onto each other, gasping for air at the end of We Wish You A Merry Christmas. I made them sing again so I could take a picture. They asked for hot cocoa because it was about 15 degrees out. I would love to tell you we made them some.....but we didn't. It was late and we had to go. I know....so mean.
I do think I will try to take them out with a group. I just don't want to be responsible for the happiness of random listeners, so if any of you local people are going out....can we come along?
We were thinking of going - only we thought we'd be prepared with rewards for the listeners. Kind of a "reverse trick-or-treat". The idea is to bring lots of candy canes, all flavors. We plan to knock on the doors of the people in our neighborhood with decorated houses (after all, they MUST be in the Christmasy mood if they decorated). Then we are going to thank them for their decorations, ask how many people they have in the family and pass out the candy, and then sing one carol. That's the plan - not sure when it will happen. Also, real bells make a nice addition and can cover up poor singing.
ReplyDeleteOooooh, real bells. THAT is a good idea....
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