Caroling: Not Ready for Prime Time!

From Mary Ellen Broderick:

Last night was the DeanCorps or DFACorps caroling event. What fun we had! It was a small group, but the voices were huge -- even if our singing wasn't exactly ready for prime time! Two sets of jingle bells for accompaniment helped. One of our group members brought a whole family of beautiful people from Guadalajara, Mexico. They were our Hispanic singing contingent, and shared some wonderful traditional Mexican carols, some of them playful and funny.

Nance Crowe deserves a big thanks for organizing this event. We really had fun, and spread some loving cheer to those less fortunate. We started at the Albuquerque Rescue Mission, where the homeless were just finishing their dinner and getting ready to load into school buses to take them to a shelter across town. The homeless men and women smiled big and sang along! We gave out Hershey kisses, which were devoured and sometimes stashed away for later.

Next we went to the Dismas House. Here were folks just out of jail and living in a halfway house. Again the carols lifted the spirits! Hershey kisses passed around. Noel ... Oh Come All Ye Faithful ... Silent Night ... and of course We Wish You a Merry Christmas! Our next and last stop of cheer was Barrett House, for battered women and children. Standing next to their very pretty Christmas tree, the singers sang all the usuals, the kids loved it and one ended up wearing one of the caroler’s Santa hats for keeps.

What fun. What simple good fun. To bring joy to these people, to reach out and touch their lives -- it was such a wonderful experience and brought joy in return to us. After the singing was complete, we went over to Nance Crowe’s house and ate the best posole I have ever had, with tamales and chili rellenos and all the fixings.

I could not help but keep thinking about the wide variety of folks we had seen tonite, all wanting to sing and have some candy. What I saw were many sweet, sweet souls just down on their luck, or who took a wrong turn, or who had been born into bad situations, or were mentally ill, or who had served their country and been changed forever. The common thing was that they all seemed to be poor, tired and hungry.   

At the end of the night, all I could think was how lucky and fortunate I am. Plenty of clothes, shelter and a warm bed every nite, plenty of food -- maybe more than all the people I saw tonite have altogether as belongings.

I am blessed and I am a liberal. I wish I could do more. New Year's resolution for 2005 is that I AM going to do more for the less fortunate.

It very well may be me one day.