Caroling at Christmas

For as long as I can remember, my family has been singing Christmas Carols, and visiting neighbors and friends on Christmas Eve. For about the last 20 years we have done so many times with our good friends the Morins. Years ago we had lot's of little kids between us, and not much money. I remember well the years of traveling around Scholls sometimes in the back of one of our farm trucks all bundled up against the cold. This year we once again joined the Morins and visited 6 families in the area. Once again it proved to be a great source of meaning and happiness for the family. There were about 30 of us including our little ones singing "Rudolph".




We had the DeLong family Matriarch Ella Rose who is certainly spry for her advancing years. Having lost a husband, son and grandson in the last few months, she nonetheless inspired us with her cheer!



We had several opportunities to sing to complete strangers as the missionaries were good to introduce us to their friends.



Part of the reward is seeing the look on people's faces when we surprise them. Mostly smiles and sometimes even a few tears! Always we leave being the most rewarded for having done it!



Christmas carols today carry connotations of ancient traditions as old as King Wenceslas, but Christmas caroling as we know it dates back to the 19th Century and not much further. In fact, caroling itself didn't always involve Christmas, and the ancient tradition of traveling from house to house to wish neighbors good cheer didn't always involve singing.

The act of traveling to different homes comes from a different tradition altogether, albeit a similarly ancient one. In England, the word wassail — derived from the Old Norse ves heill meaning "be well, and in good health" — came to mean the wishing of good fortune on your neighbors. No one is quite sure when the custom began, but it did give us the song, "Here We Come-A-Wassailing" — sung as carolers wished good cheer to their neighbors in hopes of getting a gift in return. ("A Wassailing" also evolved into the popular "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" — its last verse, "Bring us some figgy pudding" stems from the wassailers' original intent.)

The two traditions of singing and visiting first merged in Victorian England, as church carols began to merge with Christian folk music. At that time, it was far from a Christmas tradition; festivals like May Day were deemed worthy of caroling, too, but the repertoire as well as early records of this are pretty unclear. In the 19th Century, as Christmas became more commercialized and popular, publishers began churning out anthologies of carols, many which were ancient hymns, also circulating them in broadsheets.

Many of our today's most popular carols date to this period. Christmas Carols Ancient and Modern published in London by British lawyer William B. Sandys in 1833, was the first to print "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen," "The First Noel" and "Hark! the Herald Angels Sing." "Joy to the World" first appeared in the Anglican Church hymnal Hymns Ancient and Modern in 1861. Composed by Isaac Watts, known as the "father of Englsh hymnody", the song actually wasn't written exclusively for singing at Christmastime. Charles Wesley's "Hark the Herald Angels Sing" was originally "Hark! How All The Welkin Rings!" (Welkin means sky or heaven, and came to mean making a loud sound.)

The Oxford Book of Carols, first published in 1928, was a landmark book that combined medieval carols, folk songs and Christmas songs from around the world, publishing 201 of them in a 700-page volume. An updated version, the New Oxford Book of Carols, was published in 1992.

Ok, this person is what is known as a CREDOER. That is a person who is a member of Credo, the young adult group meeting and serving together in the Beaverton Oregon West Stake. This last week Credo had the chance to visit and sing a bunch of Christmas Carol's for the residents and staff at Rosewood Retirement Center in Aloha.


Not much excitement at the beginning of our visit. Note that not a single chair is occupied. Were were in fact singing to an empty reception room.


It didn't take long though, and soon they arrived on foot, behind walkers, and in wheelchairs.


We literally were playing to a packed house! They were singing with us, and several commented on how it brought back memories of their childhood, homes and families.


I am grateful for the chance to associate with and to have shared the feeling of being with so many who have seen so much. The "spirit" of Christmas was really alive here!

A Neighborhood Walk

When we bought our lot on Rainbow Lane about 4 years ago, one of the things I thought about was how much I looked forward to walking the one and one-half mile loop. There is virtually no traffic, a ton of great birds all the time, and some of the most interesting people you will ever meet. Usually I walk with Paula. She is a "mission" walker. That is, she is on a mission, and nothing gets in the way of getting the walk done. Occasionally I go alone, and here are a few pictures I took the last couple of walks.


Yesterday I heard the chattering of this little Rufous Hummingbird (about 3 and a quarter inches). I caught her sitting up in a Doug Fir just swinging her head from side to side. She is one of the many bird species that you can see on any walk!

In a post earlier this year I talked about my friend Mike, down the road who did our backyard "buck" art. He works essentially with wood scraps and makes panels and other "marquetry" pieces. At first glance his place is a bit odd and some even say unsightly. But I have grown to love going by. His fence panels each represent a part of his life's journey, and as a very spiritual Native American, he is really fun to listen to. He loves the outdoors, and even brought some "Wild Turkey" chicks to the neighborhood a few years ago. We see the grown up Turkey's wandering around today.


The front of Mike's place. Notice the flag flying in the background.


Here are a couple of pictures of the toughest "Tom" in the neighborhood. He still is wary when I walk by, but seems to be getting used to me. One day I surprised him as I came around the corner, and he displayed as follows!


When we moved to Scholls in the mid 80's, Rainbow Lane was notorious as the slums, ghetto, other side of the tracks, etc. There is a now closed labor camp just down the street from us. There were always sirens and squad cars there which we could see from our place up on the hill to the north. I frankly was afraid to go down there much, and the reputation in the community was terrible. When I saw the ad on Craig's list back in 2005, all it said was "large lot on river". When I realized it was just down the hill on Rainbow Lane, I had mixed emotions. On the one hand it was still pretty much the slums, but on the other, it was on the river in a beautiful spot, and two minutes from the farm, where we could easily manage a construction project. Within hours, we made the decision to buy the old flooded out house, and the rest is Rainbow House history.

The road remains eclectic to say the least. Some beautiful homes have been built, but there remain some really sad properties. As I have gotten to know the owners on my daily walks however, the outer presentation of their homes certainly doesn't represent the beauty of their spirit.


Ron Latt is a good example of these "salt of the earth" neighbors. His son recently lost his job and moved onto Ron's lot in a motor home. Ron took it upon himself to acquire this home and move it onto the lot, set up on a flood proof basement for his son and grandchildren. Ron works harder than anyone I have ever seen, and although this home has looked like this for several months now as he ran out of funds, I know he will work to finish it for the family.

Another home just up the road is Bobby and Kathleen's. It sure doesn't look like much, but in fact is a really cozy "cabin" that this firefighter and his artist wife love living in among the wildlife on the river.


Just up the road from them is a home with about an acre and a half where the owner raises Llama's. Frankly I don't think the yard looks very attractive, but again I have come to really love talking to the Llama's as I go by each day. The owner here is a single guy who works hard to take care of his livestock, and you can't help but appreciate someone who gets up and does something.


We frequently run into other neighbor's when we walk. It may be Kermit, our retired friend who lives in Tigard and just comes out to "farm" his little acre on the river. He has cancer and will be in for another round of treatment next month. We really hope he makes it. Often we see one of our several neighbors with their horses out for a walk or a ride. In the next picture is the dog who often joins us at the beginning of our walk and returns home when we finish.


I even love the feeling of this last half mile as we go down to our house at the end on the right. One of the quirks about the lane is our common water system. A well under this old shed serves about 40 of us. We spend about $300k this summer upgrading the pipes, but a couple of months ago as I was filling the hot tub it was coming out brown. Turns out that the iron oxide in the walls of the well had sloughed off into the well and we had to flush it out. After a few hours we got it cleaned up, and all is well.


It is really fun to live in a neighborhood, but be in the "country" at the same time. I love the walk and almost can't wait to see what will be there next time. Earlier this week I got surprised by a huge raptor leaving a tree in front of me. I got off a few shots with the 300mm and am really excited to think that we may have a Bald Eagle nesting in the neighborhood. This is definitely a female by virtue of her size.



Contrast the nearly 3' bird with a wingspan of 81" with the tiniest bird in North America, our little Rufous Hummingbird at barely over 3". Wow!


I think I will go take a walk!