Late Night Radio: Christmas is in the Air

Howdy folks, and welcome back to the show! That Burl Ives Christmas album is terrible. I love it. It's a time capsule, bringing me right back to the early days and holidays. Mom would always start the season with the coffee table. Made from an antique trunk, it would sit closed all year, quietly holding books and propped feet and all the other things a living room coffee table should — until Christmastime rolled around. Then we'd open it, unpack the decorations, and fish out the music. If I close my eyes, I can almost smell the incense for the smoking toy soldier.

Have a Holly Jolly Christmas was always first, with Burl Ives looking strange but festive on the cover. Ding, dong! The season would start. What a time. My folks knew how to do Christmas, and the music was a big part of it.

Now, as Christmastime is here again, the music is back, along with the memories. I never know when they'll hit. Stressed and sinking in a red sea of brake lights and traffic one December evening, I fumbled with the radio. An old recording of a choir crackled over the airwaves. Suddenly, I was in my grandparent's living room again.

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