Caroling - Thai Style

I love caroling at Christmas time, so I jumped at the opportunity to go caroling with the church youth this past weekend. However, I had no idea what I was getting myself into! Caroling here is much different from what we typically do in the US. We began around 2:30 pm. At each house, we sang 2 or 3 songs, and then we were invited inside, where we sang several more numbers before partaking of whatever delicacies the family had prepared for us. Yes, that's right - we were expected to eat at EVERY house. I thought perhaps we'd be finished around 9:30 or 10:00. I'd heard a rumor that we'd be caroling until 2 am, but I thought, No way. That's got to be an exaggeration just calculated to get a reaction from me. Well, by 2 am, I was exhausted and so sick of food that I was sure I didn't want to see another plate of food for a week. But we weren't finished. We continued on until 4:30 in the morning!!! I'm told that this late-night caroling expedition is a yearly tradition. I felt bad to be waking people up from a sound sleep in the middle of the night, just to sing Christmas carols and eat their food, but no one seemed to mind one bit! At every house, they would give an envelope with a donation for the church youth group, and we would give them an envelope, too, along with a short Christmas blessing and a prayer. (I'm not sure what was in the envelope we gave them. Maybe a card?) Then the youth group secretary would fill out a church receipt for their donation, and give it to the family before we left.

It seemed at first that we were only visiting church members' homes, so I was surprised at one house to learn that we were in the home of a non-Adventist neighbor of one of the church members. She gave a small speech in response to our visit, and the lady beside me translated. I was so touched by her words. "I am not a Christian, but I feel that I know God through my neighbor, and I was blessed tonight by your singing. Thank you for coming." This to me was the highlight of the whole evening, and made all the fatigue worth it, every bit.