On a dark and rainy October night, voices warmly rehearsing Christmas carols from inside a home on Emerald Street in Eugene let you know you’re in the right place. Those voices belong to The Mistletones, a Eugene-based four-part a capella Christmas carol group preparing for its second holiday season door-to-door caroling, busking around town and gigging at holiday events.

The holidays are a time for gifting-giving, whether store-bought or handmade, but hiring experienced musicians, such as The Mistletones, is another less consumerist option to spread the holiday spirit. Alternatively, you could consider organizing a DIY caroling group of your own or just add a sing-along caroling component to your Christmas party.

The Mistletones are Ali and David Heyer, Kevin Davison, and Carrie Bodwell, friends and musicians who toyed with the idea of singing Christmas carols together before formalizing the group last year. 

In 2024, they performed at the 5th Street Public Market, at memory care hospice facilities and at people’s homes, whether they knocked on doors or were invited.

From their practice space on Emerald Street, David Heyer says the original vision was classic Dickens-style caroling, with traditional arrangements from the 18th and 19th centuries. The group also performs dressed in Victorian outfits.

Lately, though, he says they’ve added original arrangements of contemporary classics like “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” and other familiar tunes from the 1940s and ’50s.

Beyond The Mistletones, Patrica Marshall and Silas McCoy have organized door-to-door Christmas caroling and Christmas sing-alongs as a way to celebrate the season, no experience necessary.

“Caroling is a great excuse to gather with friends of all ages and spread mirth and cheer,” McCoy says. “Coming out of the pandemic, it was also a great way to safely gather.” In the past, he’s asked participants to donate food to a food pantry, and then the singers go there first. “We then progress through the neighborhood jingling some of the way,” McCoy says.

Similarly, Marshall has thrown a large Christmas carol singing party each year since the ’90s, complete with musical accompaniment, featuring guitar, piano, accordions and banjos.

“I’ve had people tell me it’s their favorite event of the year,” Marshall says. There aren’t a lot of opportunities for group singing for non-musicians, she adds, “but there is something magical in singing together. It’s low risk, no expectations and sometimes transcendent, all at the same time.” Meanwhile, most carols are familiar to many, she says, creating a low entry bar.

But if you do choose to carol at strangers’ houses, it’s best to be courteous — not everyone celebrates Christmas, or loves having strangers sing at them unexpectedly. The Mistletones recommend approaching houses that are fully decorated for the season. 

“If you see a house and there’s a huge Christmas tree in the window and there’s lights everywhere,” David Heyer says, chances are the occupants will be welcoming. In those cases, he says, “people have always been really nice.” 

On that note, McCoy adds that when he carols, “We do try and be courteous of the closeness to homes, so usually we’ll end up on safe street corners, or spacious spots on the block.”

Marshall says, “I’m not sure that even people who love carols love having carolers at their door — it’s awkward to stand with the door open listening to amateur musicians. It’s far more fun to join in, and I think that’s the gift we can offer: a chance to come together with no expectations for perfection. You can laugh at the bad ones and feel some awe when one comes out well,” she says. 

In The Mistletones’ experience, perhaps the best example of how caroling can sometimes be a gift is the memory care hospice performances, as the patients sang along. Christmas carols, David Heyer says, “tap into a part of the brain that’s just totally unfazed by dementia or Alzheimer’s” 

“It’s very rewarding,” Mistletones singer Ali Heyer adds, “going into that world and giving them music and seeing how happy they are. It’s such an event.”

But caroling is a gift not just for the audience: Singing carols, David Heyer says, whether in a formal setting or at a party, “makes it easy to forget all of that because you’re focusing on this carol right now that we’re singing. It is a good escape, entering this carol, the lyrics, and the harmony and focusing on that.”

To book The Mistletones for your Christmas gathering, email MistletonesEugene@gmail.com.