Is Caroling For the Birds?

Fa la la la la...or should I say fa la la la lark? Actually I believe it was a chickadee...but I'm getting ahead of myself here.

Sunday evening Vivian and I went caroling with some people from our church. We've done it the past couple of years and it is a blast. Plus I have to say, it's incredibly touching to see just how powerful those songs can be to a person. I've seen many a tear and received warm hugs from people that just appreciate the simple beauty of a Christmas carol--it's pretty sweet. (I can't say I've ever experienced that from a rockin' metal song. maybe just a tear elicited from a smashed ear drum.) Sharing that with my daughter, of course, is priceless. So when we went into this woman's home instead of standing outside because the poor woman is dying from cancer and was too weak to stand and watch, I felt especially glad to be doing what I was doing. It was all very touching and sweet until we opened the door on our way out and a bird flew into the house. What started out as a peaceful lovely visit soon became a near-impossible attempt at bird-catching. The tallest of us at first tried fruitlessly to guide it over to the doorway by waving magazines at it. No dice. It just flew from corner to corner of the ceiling. Finally Nancy came up with the great idea of trapping it under a colander and then sliding a plate under it to keep it in there. (it's lucky we had those tall guys!) 20 minutes later, the bird was out. So much for Silent Night. I mentioned that maybe the bird liked our singing so much it decided to come in. Tim said maybe it was because our singing is for the birds. I don't know, but I'm sure it's the most drama Christmas caroling has seen in a while.