It’s the most wonderful time of the year! One of those “wonderful times” is the memories you make with family and friends.

Our family has been making Christmas rounds to the shut-ins and the elderly for over 35 years now. It is one of the highlights of the season for all of us.

We always start at “Mamaw Tava’s” house, where we load up on sandwiches, chips, cookies and drinks. We pile on our coats, gloves, hats and scarves…unless it is a crazy Indiana weather Christmas where we might not even need a sweater! You just never know…

Our entire family goes, from the toddlers to my 87 year old mother-in-law! There are 20+ of us and growing, depending on who is here from out of state or who has to be somewhere else for Christmas. We are an imposing presence to say the least.

Every year we go over our list and are saddened to realize we have lost a loved one, a dear friend, co-worker or church family member. The picture below is of my MIL singing to her long-time friend and sister-in-law, Thelma, who just passed away a couple of weeks ago. We will miss her dearly next week when we go to sing. 

Then we are handed THE LIST!

My SIL Sue, who wrote a beautiful post for us here on the blog a few weeks ago, Still I Will Trust You, helps organize the list and gets us to where we are going. She makes sure that we aren’t running from the east side of town to the west and back again. We have a plan of attack!

It is mapped out according to the area; we have to save the youngest until the last, if possible, because the elderly might not be awake when we finally get finished! Some years it would take us four or five hours to finish, we would have as many as 20 names on the list!

We have watched our children grow up caroling with us. Our older ones wouldn’t miss it for the world, and the newest little ones coming along are catching the fever as well. They wear their reindeer antlers and make sure their noses are Rudolph red for the occasion.

We have some hilarious memories and some teary-eyed ones as well.

We visit nursing homes and hospitals if necessary; we go wherever our friends and family members happen to be at that special time of the year. One thing we do not want them to be is lonely.

One year, my dear brother-in-law, Danny, who is one of the kindest and most gentle souls you would ever meet, leaned over to greet a dear lady we were visiting in a nursing home. Instead of Christmas cheer, he received a sharp slap across the face!

Then there was the bitter cold winter many years ago that a couple of us “ladies” went sledding down a snowy embankment on our backside. I remember falling down the hill and hearing my SIL, Dixie, holler and both of us ending up in the cold, wet snow. Poor Dixie also nearly slid completely under her van during one caroling escapade in a Wendy’s Hamburger parking lot that was covered in ice. Her son, Nik, was working there probably 20 years ago and couldn’t go with us, so we decided to stop and sing to him at Wendy’s, it nearly cost her a few broken bones…

We have gotten lost, separated, frustrated, frozen, been told to be quiet, sing louder, sing longer, come inside, please stay outside, knocked on the wrong doors more than once, been fed homemade candy, cookies, tons of peanut butter fudge, (some of it was even delicious), been asked to make a CD, been asked NOT to make a CD, laughed, cried, and laughed some more.

Caroling has been around for centuries and even though it may not have started out as a Christian custom, I sure am glad that it has turned into a wonderful Christmas tradition that blesses so many!

We have literally created a LIFETIME of memories from this tradition. I am very grateful we have kept it going and pray that when our generation is gone that our “kids” will continue to make memories with their upcoming generation, celebrating Jesus and bringing joy to those who cannot get out or go be in the house of God at Christmas.

I’ve included a couple of our caroling videos from Christmases past for your entertainment enjoyment! (insert smile here). Unfortunately you must endure the antics of My Three Sons as well. I could not copy the better videos from my facebook page for some reason (insert frown).

What are some of your family Christmas traditions? I would love to hear them!

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