I live in the Eichler neighborhood in Thousand Oaks. An eclectic bunch of mid century modern homes in northern TO with an eclectic bunch of families. This year marks the fifth year in a neighborhood tradition of a progressive caroling party.

The jist of the gig is to start at one house, warm our voices with some singing and spirits, and hit the neighborhood “fa la la la la-ing” and “decking the halls”. We end at another home, and eat, drink and be merry. I have to admit, the first couple of years we weren’t very good. At all. In fact, I think some neighbors cringed the second year when we showed up at their doors. But we sure were spirited. With the help of some talented musicians in the neighborhood, Chuck Barth and Dan Fitzgerald, we have gotten better.

Part of it was cutting the set list back from 10 songs to 3-4 songs. Another part was putting the kids up front. And this year, when a non-Eichler neighbor joined us with his violin, we were all impressed with how much better we sounded. The year a neighbor offered us traditional Swedish Glogg, we sounded really great…at least we thought so.

Now, Out Here the weather doesn’t always cooperate with the holiday mood. One year I lit a fire in the fireplace despite the 70 degree weather, and we opened up all the sliding glass doors and ended up hanging out in the atrium so we wouldn’t roast our chestnuts.

Think about starting something like this in your neighborhood. Don’t forget to include a few ringers so the rest of you don’t have to work so hard. I find it particularly satisfiying to stand next to someone with a really good voice, and ring my jingle bells proudly.

So every year the tradition continues, and the group diversifies, but the spirit remains the same, even when the weather outside is mild.