Christmas Carol Challenge – Week 2

It was an interesting week this week with our Christmas Carol Challenge. Unfortunately the week started off with one of Matthew’s fish dying. Poor kid was very upset and said he did not feel like singing. He had just gotten his fish tank in November and was slowly adding fish to his tank. He was up to 6 and Tuesday morning when he went to feed them before school he noticed that one was on the bottom of the tank on its side, unmoving. I heard sobbing from upstairs and ran to see what was wrong. He was lying on his bed, head in his pillow crying for the little fish that had died. It was so sad.

Of course fish die, but Matthew is a really sensitive young man who gets quite upset when any animal is hurt or killed (he had a caterpillar earlier in the Fall that didn’t make it and was quite upset then as well). I assured him that we would find out what happened and get him another fish. This did little to console him but there was not much else I could do. I encouraged him to get up and get going to school but he turned to me with tears in his eyes and said “How can I go to school when my fish has died?” My heart went out to him.

Santa Claus is Coming to Town

I took him to the bus anyway encouraging him to sing Santa Claus is Coming to Town with me, hoping that would lift his spirits a little. He did not join in but that’s ok, he needed to be where he was at and I hoped that at least my singing would make him feel better. Plus I love that song and know all the words!

I’m finding it quite fun to be out in the dark early morning singing at the top of my lungs. Except for this day, Matthew has been joining me as well. The odd time we run into someone else out there who smiles and waves as we go by, but usually we are out there alone ‘dancing’ our way to the bus.

Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer

This week we sang Joy to the World, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus, and Baby it’s Cold Outside (it was a lovely duet!).

Usually I ask Matthew the day before what song he would like to sing in the morning, so if we need to learn or print off words that we can do so. Matthew did comment on the way to the bus on Thursday that it was hard to read the words in the dark! (come on Winter Solstice, then it will start to get lighter in the mornings) I laughed as I knew this was why I had suggested that we learn the words prior to the morning of. Either way it’s all good and we are enjoying ourselves, laughing and singing in the bright morning air.

It’s hard to believe that this is the last week of school before Christmas and that our challenge is almost done. I think we’ll continue our daily singing up until Christmas as we have some long car rides to fill, plus it’s fun, and I want to see how many more carols we can come up with!

Joy to the World

Christmas Carol Challenge

Last year Matthew and I decided to see if we could sing a different Christmas Carol each day on our walk to the school bus. I was finding that instead of the morning walk being a pleasant and happy time I would use it to discuss issues and then the poor kid would often get on the bus upset or mad, and I didn’t feel so good myself.

So when December came I decided to make things more fun and told Matthew that each day we would choose a Christmas carol and sing it as we walked to the bus from December first until school was out, around the 20th. The challenge was that we could not repeat the same Christmas carol.

Jingle Bells

This may seem like an easy task but once we got past Jingle Bells, Joy to the World and Santa Claus is Coming to Town we had to start racking our brains for new tunes. Either that or we had to look up the words to the carols as we could only sing the first few lines.

It is amazing how many Christmas carols there are out there and how few we actually know. So it became a study, as we would look up a Christmas carol print out and learn the words for our trip the next morning. It turned out to be a lot of fun. We were both happy and smiling by the time we got to the bus stop and it was a great way to start the day. We were feeding our spirits and playing together. It was great for our relationship and ourselves. Singing is a great way to feed your spirit and open your heart, not only at Christmas time but year round! Now we know lots of Christmas carols with all the words, some new, some old.

Santa Claus is Coming to Town

It was so fun that when I recently told Matthew that we would do it again this year, his eyes lit up and he smiled. I think this year we will make more of a plan in advance, choosing our carols earlier and learning the words if we have to (as many mornings last year we were holding song sheets in our hands and trying to sing and walk at the same time. It was also tough to read the words as this time of year in Calgary it is still dark when we head for the bus).

Some of my favorites are All I Want for Christmas Are My Two Front Teeth, I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas and Matthew’s –Do You Hear What I Hear. I am looking forward to seeing what we come up with this year and how many new carols we will learn.

I can save the “talks” for another time, a time when it is more appropriate to do so and he is not heading off somewhere after.

So here’s my challenge to you. I am inviting you to join us in our challenge. You may not have a walk to the bus each day with the kids but find a time, the same time each day, where you can sing a Christmas Carol, from December 1-24, a different one each day, and see what you can come up with. You’ll find that it is lots of fun, a great way to connect with the kids and get into the holiday spirit. You’ll also learn a lot too!

Then come back and post the songs that you sang in the comment section and share with everyone how much fun you’re having! I’m interested to hear about your experience and perhaps learn some new songs from you. I’ll post our songs as well and we’ll see how many different Christmas carols we can come up with.

Enjoy! Have fun!

I'm dreaming of a White Christmas...