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Never let it be said I don’t take requests! In comments to yesterday’s post, a reader asks about the possibility of the hammered dulcimer making an appearance in this series. I confess to not being familiar at all with this instrument; I know it exists, but that’s about it. I didn’t even know how it was played, beyond it involving, well, hammers. Turns out the hammers are a special kind of mallet that one deploys over the dulcimer’s strings to produce tones. And it’s a very pleasing sound, I must admit. So, here are selections!   Share This PostDown the rabbit hole….

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OK, today I provide a public service, if you so desire. You may be familiar with a game called Whamageddon, in which you try to get as deep into December as you can without hearing “Last Christmas” by Wham!. Why this game, why this song? No idea, really…only the song is pretty ubiquitous as Christmas songs go, and many people find it outright annoying. (For me, the song is an “in one ear and out the other” song, I don’t have an opinion of it, one way or the other.) As soon as you recognize that you’re hearing the originalDown the rabbit hole….

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It’s December, so here we go. This year things feel markedly different. I suppose there’s only one way to avoid having to celebrate a first Christmas without your mother, and…well, I’m not signing up for that. But still. I’ve always featured this particular carol, all by itself, in a single post at some point. This year, it’s leading off, because it was her favorite Christmas carol. I hope you’re somewhere that you can hear these, Mom. I hope.   Share This PostDown the rabbit hole….

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And at last we come to it: the day of The Birth, if you’re a believer. But you don’t have to be to get at least something out of the story and the emotions surrounding it. I hope that whatever your beliefs may be, the day and the feelings surrounding it are good, happy, and true; and I hope that whatever is going on where you are, you and your loved ones are warm and safe.   Share This PostDown the rabbit hole….

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Well, as I write this, it’s actually the 22nd and all of The 716 is going nuts in advance of both Christmas and what is at this point promising to be a winter storm for the ages. As you’re reading this, I hope I have power–and that you do, too! I’m obviously scheduling this in advance, for the very obvious reasons. This storm is sounding like something I’ve never seen before, so…well, I’m sure I’ll end up writing about it sooner or later. Hopefully sooner…and also hopefully soon we’re able to look back on it as a thing that happened asDown the rabbit hole….

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Hector Berlioz, L’Enfance du Christ. This work has been a popular Christmas piece almost ever since Berlioz wrote it–it was one of the few outright successes he got to enjoy during his life–even though it’s not about the birth of Christ but about what happened after, when Joseph and Mary and the child were fleeing Herod. Still, the work’s gentle nature–seemingly at odds with Berlioz’s unfair reputation for bombast–appeals greatly this time of year.   Share This PostDown the rabbit hole….

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I think it’s always important to realize that Christmas is not a time of unremitting happiness and cheer. For many people Christmas is a deeply difficult time, and for those of us who are lucky enough to still be able to enjoy happy times at Christmas, there is still a sense of the bittersweet, as the memories of Christmases past accumulate and the sorrows that some are no longer with us remain. Here are some bittersweet Christmas songs, some of which are favorites of mine, as essential to the season as “Jingle Bells” or “The Christmas Song”. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WSh4StH4zA8 And now,Down the rabbit hole….

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This post is really simple: selections of music and/or songs from movies that may be Christmas movies directly, or may be Christmas movies even though they don’t initially seem like Christmas movies but really are, or movies that really are not Christmas movies specifically but hey, yes they are, just because. Did that make sense? No? Well, I’m not re-typing it. Here’s some music. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnzMaS79TDI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-V3kc56a20A https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2G6dd7ikrXs   Share This PostDown the rabbit hole….