Out into the snow...

...for more carol-singing. A local parish gave wonderful support when I asked if people would like to come and sing carols at a local home for elderly people, and then go house-to-house in some nearby roads. I wasn't sure how many people from the parish would come - but a wonderful crowd arrived, mostly young, and the singing was magnificent! It was a joy to see all these cheerful faces in the lamplight as we stood in the extraordinary beauty of a snowy street and sang "O come, O come Emmanuel..." and "O Little Town of Bethlehem" and "Good king wenceslas" with snowflakes softly landing on collars and hats and mittened hands...

It all goes to show that an ordinary traditional Catholic parish - this one is a big Jesuit parish in a London suburb - has wonderful people in it! And there is more...as we sang outside one big mansion-block of flats, a lady came hurrying out to invite us all in for wine and mince-pies. Turned out to be a stalwart of the parish, and had read about us in the newsletter and was so glad that we had come into her road - we had wine, and pies, and talk, and much convivilaity, and we sang "Silent Night" and were warmed and cheered...we went out again into the snow and sang to more houses and had a well-filled jar of donations when we finally called things to a close...