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Go Caroling Day 2025
In keeping with the season, today is Go Caroling Day. So, gather some nets πΈοΈ and get your tranquilizer dart π« guns because we’re determined to catch somebody named π±π»ββοΈ Carol… Right? π€
πΌ Christmas Songs πΆ
Iβm a very festive person and I love the holidays. Iβve sung Christmas songs since I was a little girl. I used to go Christmas caroling. ~Mariah Carey
Wait, what? Mariah Carey sings a ChristmasΒ song?
Boy, I wish somebody would have told me…
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Yeah, yeah, yeah. Of course, she sings a Christmas song.
Everybody does. Don’t they?
I know I do.
At church, in the car, at home…
Maybe even in my sleep. You’d have to check with Kelly on that.
But there’s more to caroling than simply singing Christmas songs.
You have to go outside. π₯Ί Guess that counts me out…
πΌ Who Is This Carol Person Anyway? π΅
πThe History of Carolingπ
Oh, so Carol is going around from door to door singing Christmas songs.
That’s awfully kind of her (as long as she’s got a nice singing voice, that is).
It seems it’s some kind of tradition. She’s historically observant, our Carol.
What the heck is Wassail?
Spiked applesauce with soggy toast in it…
As long as Carol is better at singing than she is at mixing a cocktail, we ought to come out of this all right.
ANΓNA – The Wexford Carol (solo Aisling McGlynn)
So, Carol is not only historically observant and has questionable taste in cocktails, but she’s faith forward. I can get behind that.
It seems that there’s more to Christmas than silver bells, magic reindeer and little fat guys delivering wrapped presents.
I appreciate that Carol pointed this out for us.
It makes it easier to overlook that spiked applesauce and toast debacle…
Pentatonix – Carol of the Bells (Official Video)
Carol demonstrates a fine appreciation for a cappella music.
Historically observant and cultured, our Carol. We need to stick with her, it seems.
Interesting thing about that Carol of the Bells (Dear God, now she’s π running π around π ringing π bells? I blame it on the odd cocktail she brought.) is that it’s based on a Ukranian tune called Shchedryk that has nothing to do with Christmas at all.
Both versions are quite compelling, so ring your bells however you choose.
Carry on Carol, you haven’t led us far wrong yet.
ANΓNA : The Coventry Carol (arr. Michael McGlynn)
You know? You don’t get a lot of Christmas songs that bring up Herod massacring kids anymore.
The most tragic thing we associate with Christmas these days is when Frosty βοΈ melts or when you have to put the decorations ππ¦ away and embrace the cold π₯Ά humorless suck βοΈπ§βοΈ of mundane, post-holiday βοΈ Winter βοΈ.
So thank you, Carol, for keeping us grounded in all the elements of faith π associated with the season as you wander around singing holiday tunes with your strange applesauce and toast cocktail. πΉ I suppose you need to keep warm somehow…
πΌ Contagious π·
There is nothing in the world so irresistibly contagious as laughter and good humor. ~Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol
Yes, I know caroling is a verb. I mean, have you met Carol?
If anybody is a verb, it’s Carol. The woman can’t sit down.
As grim as old-time Christmas was, we’re on the other side of the big paradigm shift.
What are you on about now, Rob?
Back in the day, βοΈ Winter βοΈwas something that you did your best to survive.
There was a lot of cultural baggage involved with trying not to freeze to death, run out of preserved foodstuffs or being carried away by the likes of Krampus or Frau Perchta.
But the dime flipped in the late 19th Century when Christmas went commercial.
Cards, gifts, trees, comical Dutch burghers transformed into whimsical holiday elves and suddenly we’re back on the hopeful spectrum of the season.
Christmastime is supposed to be a season of hope. Well, technically, Advent is a season of hope, and Christmas is the fulfillment of that hope.
But there’s nothing like industrialization, commercialization, nearly instant wish fulfillment and ready supplies of heating methods to make it more about tinsel and togetherness.
People decry the difference, but I don’t.
I believe there’s plenty of room in our lives for both.
We express our gratitude to God for providing eternal life at the same time that we thank him for making this one relatively comfortable.
That hasn’t been the pattern of world history until recently.
Comfort can lead to complacency, true, but it can also lead to great acts of philanthropy.
It’s hard to give charitably when you’ve got just above nothing.
On the other hand, when the various tiers of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs are met and exceeded, you find people giving more freely of themselves.
It’s like they say on airplane rides, put your mask on before helping others with theirs.
You’re not going to be helpful if you’ve passed out for lack of oxygen.
Likewise with wealth and comfort.
When you are desperately in need, you’re in no position to help others.
When you’re fat, dumb and happy, you might overlook your more charitable impulses.
Ebeneezer Scrooge wasn’t fat, nor was he dumb. Clearly, wasn’t happy, either.
This rolls back to what I mentioned about Maslow’s Hierarchy.
Mr. Scrooge didn’t have his higher-tier needs met.
He had been so fixated on becoming wealthy and staying that way, that he let his need for companionship and generosity wither and nearly atrophy.
Fortunately, he had the seemingly unwanted but steadfast love of his nephew.
He also had the earnest appreciation of his long-suffering clerk.
With these two unappreciated treasures, Scrooge was barely hanging on as a functional human being.
He was, like too many of us, a human doing rather than a human being.
Despite the love and gratitute of his nephew and clerk, he continued to fixate on the bottom line.
Fortunately, the one person he would regard as an authority came back from the other side of the veil to impart a bit of wisdom.
Love, gratitude and friendship are treasures that don’t appear to measure up like stacks of coins, but Scrooge had just enough.
Thanks to his late friend’s benevolence, Scrooge underwent a crash course in how to stop being a blind fool and appreciate what he had.
This is a classic Christmas tale from the absolute master that was Charles Dickens.
A Christmas Carol by Patrick Stewart
It was Dickens’ serialized publication of A Christmas Carol (Boy, there she is again, sticking her nose into everything.) that inspired me to write my Holiday Season Serial Romances.
I think I’m doing alright so far.
I’m a bit disheartened at the dearth of feedback, but I’m still grateful that I have the means to produce these year upon year.
I hope you enjoy reading them as much as I enjoy writing them.
Now take Carol and her questionable cocktail somewhere else to continue singing while I finish up π‘ππ Goodness & Lights πππ‘.
It’s not quite done, but it’s heading in for a landing soon.
That’s all for today. See you back on Wednesday for π₯π» eggnog π»π₯…