So I had a really interesting experience Monday night. I think I was hallucinating. Some definitions of hallucination seem to imply it’s only visual. I disagree, and luckily have found much better definitions that cover all of the senses. Here’s one:

A hallucination, in the broadest sense, is a perception in the absence of a stimulus. In a stricter sense, hallucinations are defined as perceptions in a conscious and awake state in the absence of external stimuli which have qualities of real perception, in that they are vivid, substantial, and located in external objective space.

<snip>

Hallucinations can occur in any sensory modality — visual, auditory, olfactory, gustatory, tactile, proprioceptive, equilibrioceptive, nociceptive, thermoceptive and perception of time.

I can’t remember the last time I had a really high fever, but Monday night I broke 102. It was 102.1 actually. Made my joints cramp up, and I was getting chills. Under blankets and wearing fleece top and bottom, I was still curling my toes from being cold.

Slept on/off from about 2pm Monday until 8am Tuesday.

So Monday night, I wake up and I’m getting ready to go upstairs and get off the couch. I got myself into a state of awake, but not awake. It’s as if both my conscious and unconscious minds were acting at the same time.

I knew I was awake, but I knew that I was asleep. How strange is that? I started talking to Jean about things at work. Both incomplete and complete thoughts about projects I was working on and problems I was having. She would tell me that she didn’t work with me and had no idea what I was talking about.

Then, immediately after saying it, I realized that I was making no sense, so I would apologize to her. I went so far as to tell her that I wasn’t making sense and that my mind was all foggy like I was dreaming, but I was sitting there awake and talking to her. She chuckled to herself. This went on for several minutes.

She should have recorded me, because it didn’t stop there. We went upstairs and I continued being loopy. Today, when I brought it up with her, she told me at points in the “conversation” I would look straight at her, with open eyes, and say something. She thought I was awake, because my eyes were open and what I said sounded coherent,  but she didn’t know what I meant.

When she asked me what I meant, I would say “I have no idea”.

So I’m not sure if I was actually hallucinating that I was at work, or just somehow that my unconscious mind was wrapping into my conscious one and the crossover was complicating things. I would say it was like sleep-walking, but instead sleep-talking. But then how do I explain the fact that I was able to *know* I was being weird at the time I was doing it?

Really kinda trippy if you ask me. Took some Tylenol. The fever finally broke. Spend much of Tuesday with a negative fever (hovered around 97 for most of the day). Finally last night came back to normal.

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I have very fond memories of caroling as a child. We had these ancient hand typed cheat sheets that were packaged with our Christmas decorations. They would come out every year for general singing, but were also used as we walked around with our family and friends going door to door holding candles.

There is something magic about knocking on someone’s door, they answer not knowing who it is, and then the smile on their face as they hear the singing and call over others in the house to listen.

In college, our SCA group used to carol across the Cornell campus, singing several more period pieces (even in Latin and German)

Every year, I tell myself that I need to start doing it again. I’ve tried to push the Iron Bog caroling, but realized that I should be doing it with my family as well.

Well, this year it’s going to change. We’re going to go, and I would *love* to have your voices be heard alongside ours. Just a few hours out of your weekend to put smiles on your face and those of others.

That was part of an email I sent to friends a few weeks ago. Yesterday we were able to bring it all together. Now, my original vision of going door to door with candles was thrown for a loop with the bad weather yesterday. My rain date was also up against something else, and I *really* didn’t want to miss out on going, especially since I had several responses.

So we went with Plan B. That consisted of me tracking down a nursing home or assisted living location that would welcome us on short notice. Luckily, I found one not far from us in Deptford. I sent out an email early in the day to let folks know not to get nervous with the rain.

Overall, it went really well. We had 8 adults and 8 children, though only 2 of the kids actually joined in the singing.

Our music was holiday and seasonally inspired. Since almost half of the singers were Jewish, we want to make sure to not be overly Christian in our song choices, while at the same time including some Chanukah songs (which are really hard to find sheet music for, btw)

We wind up singing to a group of about 15-20 older women (and a few men), plus the staff. It was great to watch them sing along and smile in recognition as we worked through the songs.

It was actually more difficult to do it this way. Had we gone from house to house, we would have had breathers between songs. We could also have repeated the ones everyone knew really well, or tended to get the best reception. In this case, we just worked through the handout I’d given everyone. We sang for about 45 minutes.

Afterwards we returned to my house for cookies, hot cider, hot chocolate, and “Jewish death bread” (with clotted cream of course). Those celebrating Chanukah light their Menorah and exchanged gifts. The kids watched the classics of Rudolph and Frosty on DVD.

Thank you everyone who came and joined us. It was a wonderful evening, and hope the resident’s smiles stay with you throughout the season.

Here was our final set list of songs (* = actually sung):

The Twelve Days of Christmas *

Good King Wenceslas

Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer *

Toyland

My Favorite Things *

Jingle Bells *

Let it Snow *

Over the River *

Jingle Bell Rock *

Carol of the Bells

The Holly and the Ivy

Deck the Halls *

Frosty The Snowman *

Winter Wonderland *
O Chanukah, O Chanukah *

Dreidel, Dreidel *

Oh Christmas Tree

Here we come a-caroling

We Wish You a Merry Christmas *

The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire) *

Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

We Need a Little Christmas

Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree *

Santa Claus is Coming to Town

Up on the Housetop

The Night Before Christmas

Its beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Sleigh Ride *

Mele Kalikimaka

Hey Ho Nobody Home (shortened verses)

Boar’s Head Carol

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