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'Caroling, caroling through the snow ...'

My first memory of caroling, vivid memory, was at the Cole's house.  We had cooked all day long special Christmas treats and had decorated homemade cards to take to the homes of our friends.  We got all bundled up and piled in the van, Buba couldn't have been more the four at the time ~ we had brave parents!  We drove from house to house, having conquered the neighborhood first and now off to ward members homes.  Please understand, our congregation met forty minutes away from our home, some of the members of said congregation lived fifty minutes away, and we had twelve plates of goodies to deliver ~ yes our parents were brave and we were in for a long night.  We sang in the car and played games as we made our way from house to house.  One of the last homes on the list for the particular evening was the home of the Cole Family, Bitzy's best friend Ali and her sister and parents.  As we pulled up the house was aglow with lights both outside and in.  Bitz carried the goodies but as we shut the car doors and started singing the lights in the house started to go off, then the lights outside.  We heard, "Quick, get down, carolers!"  Each of us looked to Pops for direction, this was not what we were used to ~ the Brelillatts and the Jacksons had just ooed and awwed over how adorable we were and how great we sounded!  Was this rejection?  Pops just sang louder and we followed his lead, he rang the bell.  We sang and sang, to this seven year old it seemed like an eternity.

But then, from somewhere close to the ground we heard, "Oh, its just the Frenchs!"  Within ten seconds all of the lights, both outside and in, had been turned back on and the family greeted us at the door with smiles and welcomed us in for a visit.  I did not entirely understand why anyone wouldn't want carolers at their door until I was older and realized the hospitality and such that normally followed the sung notes on the door-step.  And if you don't like the particular family or group ... well, tough cookies, you should have turned out the lights and hid! 

To the Coles and the other homes visited by the young French Family: Thanks for always letting us in, telling us how great we were, filling our cold bodies with warm coco, and asking for an encore of a {fun one} not the boring ones Mom loved so much.  And in particular, for turning the lights back on!!

Merry Christmas to the Caroling houses of my past!!