Christmas Caroling

Frankie's Girl Scout troop volunteered to do a little Christmas caroling this week at the Senior Care Center in Fort Collins. It was an adorable scene of controlled chaos, as the girls tried to remember their words and stand still in front of the residents, most of which looked as if they were for the most part completely oblivious to the girls' presence. Still, it was a nice gesture. And Frankie seemed to genuinely enjoy hamming it up in front of the audience.

It was funny, being on the "mom" side of the equation. The last time I was around any sort of caroling, I was doing it myself as a high school student. I have a really vivid memory of going to a nursing home with my high school choir, ready to perform a host of feel-good Christmas songs. We were scheduled to perform during dinner, and headed up to the front of the room confident we were going to blow everyone in the room away with the raw force of our collective talent. It was quite an eye-opener, then, when we got into our first song and realized that most of the residents seemed genuinely annoyed by our youthful good cheer, and wished they could just enjoy their soup in peace.

One specific gentleman in the front row seemed to take particular offence to our presence. He started to fixate on Tom, one of the members of our group. He gave Tom the stink eye through the first few songs, mumbling angrily under his breath. Then, midway through "Jingle Bell Rock," the man stood up, robe flapping behind him, and lunged at Tom. He waved his fists wildly, screaming "TING-A-LING-A-LING...GONNA PUNCH YOU IN THE HEAD!!!!!"

Our choir director, Mr. Butt (Bernie Butt. Seriously), stood by, frozen in horror, as the man was wrestled away by an orderly. Mercifully, Bernie decided to cut the concert short that year.

Result: The entire group of us spent the next three years randomly screaming, "TING-A-LING-A-LING...GONNA PUNCH YOU IN THE HEAD!!!!!" at each other, and collapsing in fits of laughter.

So... Nothing like that happened at Frankie's concert, thankfully. The only bump in the road was when Frankie decided to spend a full minute fishing a wedgie out of her pants in the middle of  The Twelve Days of Christmas." Still, the entire time the show was happening, all I could hear in my head was echoes of... "TING-A-LING-A-LING!!!"

Ah, sweet Christmas memories.