What now seems like a lifetime ago, one of my best Christmas Eves ever was spent freezing half to death with great friends. As new empty nesters, Christmas had lost some of its magic so I did what I always do — punt. If you lack spontaneity or whims of late, perhaps this will inspire you.

With the help of a couple other empty nesters, we met at my home just before midnight on Christmas Eve for a surprise caroling party despite the near zero temperature. And boy did we surprise a few. It may have been more fun because we left our Scrooges at home.

We embarked on the mapped-out trek going from house after house where most were obviously in La-La Land. We sang loudly in the bitter Michigan cold. Strains of “Joy to the World” and “The First Noel” disrupted the silence and serenity of that holy night. We sounded horrible as at least one of us couldn’t sing a lick and the other two really needed an accompaniment to create a decent tone — but we were sincere.

At each stop to our delight several joined in and came with us. We added a couple of men’s voices to our growing crew and continued on course. They probably felt it a duty to help improve our woeful vocals or maybe drown us out.

The sheer surprise and delight on the sleepy faces was priceless. The Lord has counseled us, “To make a joyful sound.” He never said we had to be in tune or sync. Our joy was exuberant and literally filled us with rapture in a measure of the same excitement we revisited as children long ago.

The most unforgettable family we visited was a couple with six kids. Always effervescent and bubbly, Cheryl came to the door smiling from ear to ear. We encouraged her to join and bring her hubby with his solid baritone voice along.

She insisted that she couldn’t. The children were all asleep. Dad came to the door in his robe, slippers and a scowl on his face saying, “Quiet down before you wake my kids!”

Unable to resist I broke into uncontrollable laughter. When finally between gasps and chortles I was able to speak, I pointed at him and asked, “Do you sleep in your glasses?”

I’m not entirely sure why I found that funny, but it certainly struck me as so. Everyone, except him, laughed too. He merely adjusted the glasses on the bridge of his nose with one finger, turned (sort of in a huff) and left us standing there in stunned giggles. His wife joined in our amusement but finally said, “I’m so sorry, but I had better stay here.”

We were about 15 in number now. Literally chilled to the bone we headed back to our home where hot chocolate and cookies awaited us. Even my Scrooge was a good sport as we laughed, chuckled and related our experiences once more.

Later, I apologized to that man. He accepted graciously and told me if he had it to do over again, he would have joined our throng. I was content with that response but did ask if he really did sleep in his glasses; though receiving no reply I did detect a slight smirk.

The whole point is that no matter our age, we can still create fun and memories anytime of the year. If allowed to, it would be a simple thing to slip with ease into depression and gloom thinking of all the things I’ve gone through and experienced that will be no more; however, there is a better way.

The first time I flew in an airplane, hubby and I returned to Detroit from Miami. Nearing our destination, we were notified that due to such foggy conditions we could not land. We circled the area for a good while before being rerouted to the Cincinnati Airport (which is actually in Covington, Ky., south of the Ohio River).

We landed and waited eternally (so it seemed) on the tarmac for the all clear to go ahead. When we took to the air once again I commented on something I had noticed earlier. Despite the fact that the weather on the ground was dreadful, all I could see from the airplane window was billowing white clouds beneath us, deep blue sky above us and the brightest sunshine imaginable; hence my commonly used phrase that the sun is always shining. Also the Son is always shining.

Both statements are as true today as ever so regardless of what silly, memorable thing you do during this month to celebrate Christmas, make sure you shout for joy as you do it, especially this year — even caroling after midnight.

“One is a whole number. You don’t need a constant companion or audience to be who you truly are.”