Children sing, are you listening?

Norfolk

Heading home to New Orleans on a recent morning, Billy Adames was surprised at Norfolk International Airport by a delight he'd never tasted: live Christmas caroling.

"You only see this type of stuff in the movies," the 25-year-old Marine said as the Larrymore Elementary School chorus sang "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" in the airport lobby.

Bag-toting travelers stopped, little smiles playing on their faces at the fifth-graders' medley of familiar songs about peace and joy. Adames bobbed his head to the tempo. He applauded each tune.

"It makes me happy; it makes me think about back home," Adames said of the carols. "I've never seen anything like this. I think it's dying off."

But live caroling is actually hanging on.

It's been a tradition for 17 years at the airport, where singing by hundreds of local school children will lighten the stress of holiday travel through Wednesday.

"This was an opportunity to help soothe some nerves and it really does seem to put travelers in a holiday spirit," said Wayne Shank, an airport spokesman. "There's no Grinch out there that can possibly deny the magic of these children."

Caroling also lives in Scout Troop 66 in Virginia Beach, where boys will carol tonight at the local Sentara assisted-living center.

"It's a little bit old-fashioned," said Adam Stanfield, 14, one of the singers. "Most of us just do it because it's the right thing to do, and it's nice. I feel good after I sing."

There was caroling outside Norfolk City Jail last Friday by singers that included members of Catholic Workers, a religious social justice group.

"People from three floors of the jail can see us," said Steve Baggarly, who's sung for five years. "We bring signs wishing people a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, letting them know they're not forgotten."

On Monday, staff from Carver Intermediate School in Chesapeake caroled through their students' neighborhoods, with bells a-ringing and Santa hats on their heads. Children poked their heads out front doors to catch their teachers' Yuletide serenade.

"We like to teach them that the real joy of the season is just spreading cheer and happiness, and caroling is just one means by which we can do that," said P rincipal Cassandra Barksdale.

At St. Peter's Episcopal Church, congregants met on a recent Sunday afternoon to carol at Our Lady of Perpetual Help nursing home in Virginia Beach. Their repertoire had plenty of Christmas songs - but not the secular, "Frosty the Snowman" sort.

"I have nothing again Frosty, but if you're out trying to share the Christmas message, he doesn't do it," the Rev. John M. Eidam said. "We feel that's part of our obligation, to share that Christmas message."

Of course, it is high season for local singing troupes, including the Doorway Singers and the Joyful Tidings Caroling Co., who perform for hire.

Both groups don Victorian costume, playing up romantic images of Currier & Ives sleighs, Dickens' "Christmas Carol" and 19th-century traditions of steaming wassail and roaming carolers.

Nobody who hears live caroling keeps a poker face, said Doorways founder John Ickes.

"Does it sometimes take them to a place years before that was warm and happy and comfortable? I hope so," he said.

And if few households have wassail waiting for carolers, some South Hampton Roads neighborhoods are still no stranger to amateur caroling.

In Virginia Beach's Linlear section, Ruby Ann Dunn is looking forward to joining neighbors Thursday for their

annual Christmas parade. Awards for the best Christmas lights are traditional; outdoor caroling will be indispensable.

"We'll just stand on the side and sing," Dunn said. Songs are sung from memory - it'll be too dark to read lyrics. "Most everybody is off-key," but nobody will care. "It's a happy neighborhood," she said.

Steven G. Vegh, (757) 446-2417, steven.vegh@pilotonline.com