Spreading Christmas Cheer #4: Calling all carolers

Turn your home, work or church holiday event into a greater “gathering for good” through a profoundly simple but powerful act: Christmas caroling.

With many people feeling especially lonely around the holidays, as well as those who are homebound or whose holiday celebrations are being scaled back due to economic setbacks, this is a perfect time and way to spread Christmas cheer throughout the Seacoast. Plus this is something that everyone who is mobile and can fake it through a song or two can do for others, regardless of personal financial circumstances.

Imagine what could happen if hundreds of Seacoast holiday gatherings took a break between dinner and desert to stretch their legs and visit a few neighbors. Or if groups formed after church services to spend an extra half-hour taking those Christmas carols they just sung outside the walls of the church to the community around them. The Seacoast could be a place where “making spirits bright” becomes more than words in a carol.

Do I overstate the impact of something so simple? Anyone who has done much caroling will have witnessed the little miracles it produces. Two years ago, a group from our street (4 couples and 6 children, I think) met to sing to the rest of the neighborhood. I think we covered a little more than a dozen homes before cold weather sent us back for hot drinks and Christmas cookies. Although we were well received by our neighbors, one housebound couple took the time to write a letter to us and the Portsmouth Herald touting our visit as the highlight of the season for them. It took less than two minutes to make someone’s Christmas special. How much easier can it get than that?

Although caroling every couple years or so does not make me an expert, here are a few tips and lessons learned to get you going (other carolers: please comment with additional tips or success stories):

• Any size group will do. I find 6-12 people a workable size. Less than six makes it hard to mask my missed notes while huge groups create logistical challenges outside of some houses (really big groups can split up to cover more ground or consider visiting senior housing or nursing homes—we even dropped by a fire station one year).
• Keep song selection simple. At most homes, we find that singing the first verse of two carols, topped off with “We Wish You a Merry Christmas,” seems to make everybody happy. Song selection will vary depending on the number of children carolers and what songs everyone in the group knows well. Don’t have any songbooks with lyrics? Don’t worry; many online sources have free printable lyrics to public domain carols (one good source is  http://christmas-carol-words.com/). I cut and pasted a 10-song sheet of lyrics from that site: Away in a Manger*, Deck the Halls, The First Noel, Hark! The Herald Angels Sing*, Jingle Bells*, Joy to the World*, O Come All Ye Faithful, O Little Town of Bethlehem*, Silent Night, We Wish You a Merry Christmas. For those interested in regional history, songs marked with a * were written by New Englanders(see  http://www.americanmusicpreservation.com/nechristmasmusic.htm for more information).
• If you have cute children who like to sing, find a couple songs they know well and put them in the front of the group. Adults with limited singing abilities can rest easy in such groups—no one will notice anyone but the children.
• Have warm drinks and cookies ready at the end of your journey.

It really is that simple. If there are those in your gathering who might find this too religious, you could mention that caroling was originally a ring dance with or without song that was popular with both pious and revelers alike (and too wild for early Puritans). Plus, to go “wassailing” in the popular carol meant to go door-to-door to visit neighbors in search of strong drink and good food. So caroling is a traditional all can enjoy—both the participants and the recipients.

If someone needs a group to go with or needs more people to join them, feel free to use the comment section here to connect (if any group plans to carol in Kittery, let me know and we’ll try to join you).

So, this is a call to those on the Seacoast to GO & CAROL. Let me know how it goes.

–Patrick Klingaman