Ottawa's Byward Market, Dec 1st, 2013 -- a perfect snowy day for Christmas caroling

The Stairwell Carollers caroling in the Byward Marke

       Dec 1st, my birthday -- of course I'm caroling in the Byward Market! 

Being married to the director carries no weight in scheduling our appearances -- in fact, his birthday is Nov. 27th -- he had two dress rehearsals that day.

Pete, Holly and She-Yang, singing our hearts out!

Green room for the day

The upside is, it's very cool being with our choir on your birthday -- you get Happy Birthday sung in 15-part improvised harmony -- always great -- always different.

David, long time Stairwell Carollers tenor, lives near the Market and provided us with the perfect warm up space and "green room".

singing inside the Byward Market 

We started our singing at noon inside the Market building for about 15 minutes, then progressed outside. For new members, this was their first experience actually singing with us in a stairwell!

It was just a short walk over to our assigned spot near the free wagon rides offered by the Byward Market business association.

@ByWardMarketBIA #Ottawa #BywardMarket, Dec 1st, 2013 #Christmas #caroling http://t.co/eIiw406lrT #choir #follow :)

— Stairwell Carollers (@StairwellChoir) January 16, 2014

Byward Market free wagon rides

O Tannenbaum for the Christmas tree vendor with the Peace Tower in the distance

We sang in half-hour sets outside until 2:00pm, taking a turn around the block to warm up our feet -- singing all the way.

Hope you had a wonderful Christmas! 

 The Stairwell Carollers wish you all a festive and healthy New Year!

  Here is a playlist of The Stairwell Carollers concert videos of some of our favourite all time carols including ones sung in the Byward Market :)