By today’s standards, we didn’t have much.  In fact we were dirt poor, but we really didn’t know it.  Everybody else in the neighborhood was, too.

Back in the early sixties my sister and I were grubby little kids who pretty much had the run of the city, day and night, and nobody worried about us.  We got into the occasional scrape, but it was part of growing up.  We didn’t see our single mom that much, and she was never going to win the “mother of the year award”.  But one thing she did share with us was her love of music, and at a tender age my sister and I were knocking out harmonies to everything from Broadway standards to the Beatles.

One winter day a new family moved in across the street, with two brothers our same ages, and we soon learned that they, too, were singers.  And the older brother had an idea:  let’s go door to door and sing Christmas carols!  We all learned carols in school back then, before teachers were forbidden to mention Jesus Christ.

So off we went, down the dark, icy street knocking on doors.  When one opened, there we were: four runny-nosed, shabby little kids belting out “We Wish You a Merry Christmas” and “Silent Night” in four-part harmony.  It must have been quite a sight, because dads ran to bring their wives and kids to the door, Grandmas cried and brought cookies and hot chocolate, and the occasional Grandpa would reach into his wallet for a couple of bucks!

It was the best Christmas gig ever.

 

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving – and Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from Caution! Blind Driver

Tom, Jenny and Jeff
the Balek family
Caution! Blind Driver