Our yearly tradition of caroling is something we all look forward to — and one that we hear our neighbors do too! Comments like, “It wouldn’t be Christmas without this!” — touch us. It shows what love and joy does. It shows how in the hustle and bustle of everything Christmas, it is good to slow down and remember how important people are.
Mom figured out how many batches we’d need to make of our traditional Poppy Seed Loaves (you can find the recipe at the link), shopped for the ingredients, etc. Mary designed the card, and then we had a work party. We enjoyed having some of our friends visiting, and they added to our caroling party + voices!
I’d love to hear some of y’alls caroling experiences!
Love, Sarah
The weather was very mild. We started out in the lower 50’s!
Calia had bells on her boots, so she added quite the effect!
Caroling to GiGi!
This is our group before the younger families split and put their littles down. We missed most of Nathan and Melanie’s family as they had colds.
This is our smaller group who went to a number more places that we drove to. I asked one of the ladies to take our picture (and she’s a blog reader :)).
Then, two nights later, we decided to go back to some of our friends who hadn’t been home Sunday evening. They were so grateful we did!
“And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.” Luke 2:10
Because of numerous factors, we scheduled Sunday, the 7th, as our caroling evening. Anna Marie volunteered to bake all of the Poppy Seed Loaves that Friday. We girls had made the caroling cards earlier too.
At five o’clock Sunday evening, we loaded the van (aka the Poppy Seed Transport) and then discovered it was raining. Who wants to carol in the rain? We decided to brave it, and it added a new dimension to our caroling. The little girls certainly enjoyed their umbrellas.
Before long, the rain blew over, and the mild temperatures made it easy to have the little ones out. It seemed that almost every place we stopped people were home. Since caroling is our yearly tradition, our neighbors tell us they look forward it! Our family is expanding, so we make quite the parade. We love to bring joy to others. Maybe you could start a new tradition in your family.
Mix all ingredients for 1-2 minutes. Pour into 2 large, lightly greased loaf pans (in our case, we bought foil pans from the store and divided each batch into three loaves). Bake 1 hour at 350 degrees or until toothpick comes out clean.
Glaze 1/4 cup orange juice 3/4 cup white sugar 1/2 teaspoon vanilla 1/2 teaspoon almond flavoring 1/2 teaspoon butter flavoring
Cool cake 5 minutes. Then, pour glaze over cake. While warm, remove from pan.
First, a few pictures from our card-making time.
Now onto caroling.
This is a classic Aunt Anna photo!
For those to who care to know, the coats Melanie and Anna Marie are wearing is called a Suse’s Kinder Coat.
Our neighbor’s dog was a big hit with the girls.
Anna Marie worked so hard and made us lots of Christmas treats for an after-caroling party.
“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.” Luke 2:14
The Maxwell family and ministry blog of Titus2.com.
