Name: Yuletide Carolers keeping Christmas tradition alive
Uploaded: 2025-12-15T03:17:34.758Z
Duration: 2 min 24 s
Description: A Pew Research Center poll finds nearly 80% of Americans put up Christmas trees, but only 16% go Christmas caroling as adults. Jericka Duncan met a group of singers sharing some favorites while spreading yuletide cheer.

A Pew Research Center poll finds nearly 80% of Americans put up Christmas trees, but only 16% go Christmas caroling as adults. Jericka Duncan met a group of singers sharing some favorites while spreading yuletide cheer.

New York

A recent Pew Research Center poll shows that while nearly 80% of Americans put up Christmas trees, only 16% participate in caroling as adults. The Yuletide Carolers, a group founded three decades ago in New York City, aim to keep the caroling tradition alive with over 100 singers performing in 17 groups across five states. 

The group schedules around 250 performances each year, including visits to hospitals and nursing homes at no charge. Their handcrafted Victorian costumes and classic repertoire are designed to evoke nostalgia and help audiences feel connected to the warmth and safety of past holiday seasons.

Yuletide Carolers keeping Christmas tradition alive

Finally, a Pew Research Center poll finds nearly 80% of Americans put up Christmas trees, yet only 16% go Christmas caroling as adults. In tonight's Weekend Journal, we met a group of singers sharing some favorites while spreading Yuletide cheer. On a cold December night in New York City, Christmas past became the present. These are the Yuletide carolers. Jennifer Fierstein brought her son Evan to this performance at the Langham Hotel for the second year in a row. It's so wonderful that they put this on. So many memories in that. Husband and wife team Greg Martz and Susan Santoro created the first group 30 years ago. It was four of us. We figured, we'll get two other people. We got like two or three jobs that year and thought, wow, this isn't bad. Sure. It's fun. You know, it wasn't, didn't even think anything of it. It was a hobby. Now, there are 17 groups made up of over 100 singers in five states. Performers audition in the summer, rehearse in the fall, and are fitted with a costume. Each handcrafted and inspired by Victorian styles of the 1860s. When they put on the costumes, their body energy changes. This year, Yuletide carolers have 250 performances across the country. They're going to follow you all day. One man hired a quartet to follow his mother around in Colorado the entire day. The singers also visit hospitals and nursing homes free of charge. Those actually can be some of the most fulfilling, rewarding, heartfelt jobs that we've done. Their goal, they say, is to help everyone feel like they're home for the holidays. The music connects you with your past. What we would love for them to go away with is to emotionally go back to a place where they felt safe and they felt loved. And if we can take them there, even for a moment, we've done our job and it's a wonderful feeling. Indeed, I'm feeling it.

The person of interest authorities took into custody in connection with the shooting at Brown University has been identified as Benjamin Erickson. He's a 24 year old, originally from Wisconsin.

Providence

Person of interest identified in Brown University shooting

Two alleged gunmen who killed 15 people at a Jewish celebration in Sydney's Bondi Beach were a father and son, police said on Monday, as Australia mourned victims of its worst gun violence in almost 30 years. This video contains graphic images.

Bondi Beach

Father and son behind Bondi mass shooting, Australian police say

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is prepared to renounce NATO membership if there are Western security guarantees. U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff and U.S. President Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner are also present at the major Berlin meeting on the war in Ukraine.

Berlin

Zelenskyy ready to drop NATO bid in exchange for security guarantees

Israel has described a deadly mass shooting at Sydney’s Bondi Beach as an attack on Jews, after gunmen opened fire during a Jewish holiday event, killing at least 11 people.

Council of the City of Sydney

Israel calls Bondi shooting attack on Jews, urges action on antisemitism

Two gunmen attacked a Hannukah celebration on a Sydney beach Sunday, killing at least 11 people in what Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called an act of antisemitism and terrorism.

Gunmen kill several at Jewish gathering in Sydney's Bondi Beach

Providence police have detained a "person of interest" in connection with the Brown University shooting that left two students dead and another nine people wounded, as the Ivy League school said it had lifted a shelter-in-place order for its campus in Rhode Island.

Police hold person of interest after Brown University shooting

Belarus has freed more than 120 political prisoners in a major thaw in relations with the United States. The releases came in return for Washington lifting sanctions on potash, a key source of revenue for Belarus.

Minsk

Belarus releases 123 prisoners as U.S. lifts sanctions

Washington was still under a state of emergency on Saturday after torrential rains swamped communities. Plus, snow and dangerous cold are falling on some in the Midwest and on the East Coast. Nicole Valdes has more from Washington state.

Deming

Washington under state emergency as rains ease

China's plans for a massive new embassy in the British capital were delayed until January. Construction plans have proven controversial, with some raising espionage concerns. Ramy Inocencio has more from London.

London

Controversial Chinese embassy construction in London delayed

A United Airlines jetliner lost one of its engines during liftoff from Washington's Dulles Airport bound for Tokyo.

Tokyo

United Airlines flight loses engine during liftoff, sparks brush fire

Thailand says there is no ceasefire with Cambodia, and its military will continue fighting until it faces no further threat. That's despite the US president's earlier announcement that both sides had agreed to stop their attacks. Villages along the border are largely empty, except for a handful of volunteer security guards.

Phnom Penh

Fighting continues along Thai-Cambodia border

U.S President Donald Trump has threatened potential land strikes on Venezuela to target an illegal narcotics trade. Trump says the drugs are arriving on U.S shores and that President Nicolas Maduro is behind it. Maduro has denied the claim.

Caracas

Washington considers Venezuela land assault

King Charles III, who shared his cancer diagnosis with the world in February 2024, announced Friday that he would be scaling back his treatment after his doctors have seen success. The monarch also pushed for people to get early screenings, saying, "Early diagnosis quite simply saves lives."

King Charles to reduce cancer treatments

Belarus has freed more than 100 political prisoners, including a Nobel Peace Prize winner, in exchange for sanction relief on Belarusian potash, a U.S. statement said on Saturday.

Belarus releases political prisoners as U.S. lifts some sanctions

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he visited troops fending off Russian advances near the embattled city of Kupiansk that Moscow claimed to have captured last month, which Kyiv denies.

Kup'yans'k

Ukraine Invasion

Zelenskyy visits troops as Ukraine claims gained ground near key city

In an audacious move, the EU has decided to indefinitely immobilize the Russian sovereign assets, pushing back against external pressure to release the funds before Moscow agrees to pay war reparations to Ukraine.

Brussels

EU locking in Russian assets for good

U.S. House Democrats released new images from the estate of the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein that feature U.S. President Donald Trump and other high-profile people previously linked to Epstein.

Washington

House Democrats release more Epstein estate photos

For the first time, Amnesty International has accused Hamas and its allies of committing crimes against humanity, following an investigation into the 7 October 2023 attacks on Israel. The organization found that 1,221 people were killed and said the mass killing of civilians amounted to extermination.

Jerusalem

Middle East Conflict

Amnesty accuses Hamas of 'crimes against humanity' for Oct. 7 attack

The “Architects of AI” were named Time's person of the year Thursday, with the magazine citing 2025 as when the potential of artificial intelligence “roared into view” with no turning back.

Rise of AI

Time magazine names 'Architects of AI' as person of the year for 2025

Message board website Reddit filed a lawsuit on Friday (December 12) asking Australia's High Court to overturn the country's social media ban for people under 16 as well as its inclusion in it, calling the law an infringement of free political expression.

Reddit sues to overturn Australian social media ban

As tensions rise with Venezuela, U.S. President Donald Trump said land operations could start "pretty soon." Sources tell CBS News the administration is also planning more tanker seizures.

Trump says Venezuela land operations could begin 'pretty soon'

One day after capturing an oil tanker off Venezuela's coast, the U.S. has sanctioned three of Nicolas Maduro's nephews, along with six other oil tankers.

Trump ramps up pressure on Maduro with new sanctions

The EU has decided to keep the assets of the Russian Central Bank immobilised for the foreseeable future. The ban, which is based on a provision for economic emergencies, pushes back against external attempts to release the €210 billion in assets before Ukraine is compensated.

Moscow

EU triggers emergency clause to indefinitely immobilise Russian assets

Nobel Peace Prize laureate and Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado said she planned to take her award back to Venezuela, but declined to say when she would return to her home country after leaving in great secrecy to receive the honor.

Nobel peace laureate Machado vows to take award home to Venezuela

Japanese authorities are assessing damage after a 7.5 magnitude earthquake struck northern Japan, followed by multiple aftershocks. In response, officials have issued a warning about the possibility of a megaquake, defined as a magnitude 8.0 or higher event.

Japan alerts citizens about possible megaquake

A Maryland judge has ordered the Trump administration to immediately release Kilmar Abrego Garcia from ICE custody. Abrego Garcia was wrongfully deported to El Salvador and was later detained for potential deportation to another country.

Judge orders Kilmar Abrego Garcia's immediate release from ICE custody

About 500,000 people are fleeing renewed clashes on the Thailand-Cambodia border. Over a dozen were killed as fighting shatters a US-Malaysia-brokered peace deal amid a decades-old temple land dispute.

Samraong

Half a million flee as Thailand-Cambodia border clashes escalate

The U.S. has seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela, President Donald Trump said on Wednesday, ratcheting up tensions with Caracas.

Trump confirms seizing of Venezuelan oil tanker

The U.S. House has approved a bill to end all Caesar Act sanctions on Syria, sparking cautious optimism in Damascus as the measure moves closer to becoming law.

U.S. House votes to lift Caesar Act sanctions on Syria

Myanmar's military bombs a hospital in western Rakhine state, at least 31 people are killed and dozens injured.

Breakdown