carols, cookies, cards, and the cold shoulder

Our middle school students bundled up tonight to spread some Christmas cheer in one of the neighborhoods our church has adopted.  We’ve been part of the neighborhood for about 8 years now, if my memory serves me correctly.  We planned to spend about an hour singing, taking homemade cookies and WalMart gift cards to the people who live there.  It’s become a tradition, and we’ve had a blast doing this for the past 5 or 6 years.

But tonight was a little different.

It was a little rainy, but not as cold as it’s been over the past few days.  We had 2 pretty big groups walking through the neighborhood.

I was surprised at how many homes had lights on, tvs blaring, and no one opened the door to our knock.  One home turned out their exterior lights as we began to sing outside.  One guy even opened his door to see what was going on, then retreated within and didn’t let us serenade him.

Was our singing that bad?  Did we deliver a batch of bad cookies last year?  Was he hoping for sugar cookies but got raisin-filled instead?

I have to brag on our group of choraliers, however.  A little rain, a little rejection, a lot of walking…no bad attitudes, no bah-humbugs, no droopy faces.

I feel a little disappointed for our teenagers, who came out expecting to be met with some holiday cheer in kind.  But mostly I feel sad for the folks who were home, but missed a blessing.