Here We Come A-wassailing

I just learned that "Here we come a - wassailing" means singing carols door to door wishing good health! Well, that is exactly what we do with our annual carolling tradition. This has become one tradition we all look forward to and need to feel the true spirit of Christmas. We may not always fill the halls and rooms with sweet melodies but we definitely fill the halls and rooms! We were once again joined by the Cottles, the Parkers, and the Dustins (even grandma and grandpa Feldman!). We missed having the other Rushings with us this year while they are away in D.C. for a few years.

Loved this sign hanging outside one of the rooms!

Too bad Scott didn't see it until AFTER we had sung to her! Maybe those were not tears of comfort and joy after all?

This is terrible but I had to put in this photo. Sometimes we come across a room that isn't very, how shall I say, aromatically pleasing? I was very proud of Karsyn though. I don't know how she did it since she sings through her nose, but somehow she kept right on singing!

But those moments are few and far, the real moments that matter are those HUGS!

This was one of my favorite moments of the night. This gentleman was up reading when we entered the room. He was reading from the "Children of the Promise" series and also had his Ensign magazine on the desk. We asked him if we might sing him a Christmas song and he said that would be fine if we allowed him to sing us one in return...in French!

We sang him Silent Night and then he sang Jingle Bells to us in French. He got quite emotional through the whole song. After talking with him, we discovered he had served a mission in France as a young boy and then served 5 more French-speaking missions with his wife. Once again, he was overcome with emotion when he spoke of his wife. We are guessing he had just recently lost his missionary and eternal companion. Those are moments that make it all worthwhile.

We had treats and hot cocoa at our house afterwards along with another muscial surprise! Jim Cottle made these chimes and organized the kids all together to give us one great finale to the night! We are so grateful to our family and friends here that help make this a special part of our Christmas holidays!