College caroling

I got a text from B yesterday morning to call this number. I tried twice, but the wait was 15 minutes so I didn't stay on hold. When Andy got home tonight, we called again. It took only five minutes to get a real-life college kid on the phone. Interestingly, it was one of B's friends who answered the phone and when Andy gave his first name and town, the friend asked him if he knew B. That's my son, he said. So B got on the phone and talked to us awhile. We asked him to sing "O Little Town of Bethlehem" and he said he didn't know it. (Major church fail, there). So we went with "Jingle Bells." He called a couple of girls over and they sang to us.

Here's Andy and L listening to B and his friends sing. He claims he's studying between songs. Let's hope so.

According to U of I, "The holiday season is once again upon us and along with it an Illinois tradition returns. From December 14 until December 21, thousands of callers from around the world will dial into Snyder Hall 24 hours a day to be serenaded with yuletide tunes. Betty Gordon is commonly credited with conceiving of the Dial-a-Carol idea around 1960 when she was working as a clerk in Snyder Hall. 'The story goes that she was speaking with a friend on the phone and her friend mentioned she could hear Betty’s radio playing while they were talking. Betty was inspired and thought it would be a neat idea to play carols on the phone to friends. She started Dial-a-Carol with the help of Snyder Hall residents and the rest is history,' said Snyder Hall RA George Carrera in 2008."