Christmas Eve Doorstep Carols

A few months ago a couple of neighbours had seen some Facebook groups circulating with the idea of a Christmas Eve doorstep jingle and suggested to me that we take part too. I think it kind of came from the idea of everyone coming out to do the doorstep clap for the NHS which happened earlier this year.  The idea that the community can come together and be together but be apart at the same time.  The request was that bells were to be rung for 2 minutes at 6pm and a radio station was advertised that could be played with some Christmas music.

I took inspiration from this and decided to organise my own little Christmas Carol service for my street. I have a tendency to get obsessed with planning events and I spent an age and a half deciding on the best carols to sing. I did not realise that there are so many versions of Christmas songs and apparently some lyrics seem to be hidden – even from the internet.

Finally I picked the the Frank Sinatra version of Silent Night, the Choir of King’s College singing Once In Royal David’s City and then Hark! The Herald Angels Sing and to ease the evening off, The Twelve Days of Christmas sung by The Spinners and finally The Weavers’ with We Wish You A Merry Christmas.

I advertised the event numerous times on our local Facebook page and then put a hymn sheet into each of the houses in the surrounding area. Stated to the start at 5.45pm, I had everything by the door ready to set up but I forgot to warm my mulled wine. I did this whilst getting the final few bits together and somehow in the rushing around managed to run late. Quite how, considering it was right outside my doorstep I do not know.

Christmas Eve Doorstep Carols

 

I think the fact I was running late and a bit flustered plus having drank quite a bit of the mulled wine before it was heated meant that the start of the ‘service’ was not so smooth. As time passed as the wine took hold it became more ‘troublesome’. But it was hilarious. I was using my phone to play the songs and whilst a tune was playing I was preparing the next song to play between the carols. Essentially I was a mobile disk jockey which would have been right up my street under usual circumstances.  I thought the alcohol had hit me but then I realised it was actually the bitter cold that was freezing the end of my fingers and kept causing me to slip.  I could not feel the phone screen in the correct way and rather than sliding I ended up was pressing.  We were half-way through ‘Hark! The Herald’s Angels sing’ and then ‘Stop the Cavalry’ boomed out. I can’t quite  blame the cold though on the fact that to restart I played the wrong song. It must have been the wine!

Regardless, the evening was funny and it got my perfectly in the mood for Christmas.  The bells chimed at 6pm for one minute and carols were sung and music played inbetween.   I really hope it got the others in the Christmas spirit too.  At its peak there were 35 people.  With the lockdown not too long before and restrictions to some degree or another almost the entire year that preceded it, I just didn’t feel ‘Christmasy’. Singing some carols and listening to Christmas music with neighbours, at a great social distance, was a perfect way to start the festivities.

 

I particularly liked the lyrics in the final song,

‘Once in a year, it is not thought amiss

To visit our neighbours and sing out like this’

I may make this a tradition?

Speak soon,

Samuel

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