A Caroling We Will Go, A Caroling…

A funny thing happened on the way to our neighbor’s house…

A couple of years ago we were caroling in our neighborhood. Let me set the scene. It is bitterly cold…freezing. We are a group of 8.

Two moms.
Two dads.
Two big kids.
Two little kids.
One of the dads is dressed as a reindeer and cannot see very well out of the mesh head.
One of the moms is hyper and excitable and Wants. To. Stop. At. Every. House.
The other mom is Me — I’m the “Let’s carol since I thought it was a good idea but now deeply regret it and why oh why is my neighbor so cheerful and enthusiastic!”
One of the little kids keeps needing to use the bathroom — we stop and carol and then he uses the bathroom. Seriously at points I wanted to ask if we could all come inside the house and watch TV since caroling in the cold is awful.
One of the big kids is wearing jeans a size too large…trips in to a ditch…gets up…her pants are around her ankles. She utters the now legendary phrase “I’ve fallen and I can’t pull my pants up as I am wearing mittens!” It was my kid…and you cannot write this stuff.
At one house the occupants greet us and then proceed to stare at us, look at their watches, rub their arms, and almost close the door on us.
One thing becomes clear, 8 people cannot sing in unison under any circumstances especially if it is cold outside. Also, the only song we know by heart is Jingle Bells…and even with this we sing off key.
Halfway through the route, our family silently agree to go back to our house. Our cheerful neighbors try unsuccessfully to persuade us to stay.
30 minutes later and 20 houses later, our neighbors show up at our door. I hand them cups of cocoa and all smile!

To help keep you in the holiday spirit and remind everyone why off-price is the better way to Christmas shop on any budget, Marshalls and T.J. Maxx have joined together for a “Carol-oke” contest. One lucky person will win a $5,000 holiday shopping spree – just for singing their favorite holiday tune!

The contest launches on Monday, November 30th on YouTube’s specially-created “Caroling Channel”, www.youtube.com/jointhecarolers. There, consumers can select from one of three carols, create their own “Carol-oke” video and upload for entry into the contest. For each off-price “Carol-oke” video that is uploaded, a charity donation will be made. Please feel free to check out the site and spread the word!

I was not compensated for this post.