The catch-all Christmas Eve post is a soft and fuzzy list of seasonally related items. This could be, “Oh, nuts, I didn’t post THAT piece of music,” Or someone else shared a nugget I wanted to steal.
The Wexford Carol – Yo-Yo Ma, Alison Krauss
Gaudete – Steeleye Span
The Bells of Christmas – Julie Andrews, from a Firestone LP I still own, crackles and all
Jesus Christ -Big Star
A Charlie Brown Christmas album- Vince Guaraldi
GRINCH – Middle Aged Dad Jam Band feat. “Weird Al” Yankovic
What Child Is This? – Peter Sprague, featuring Allison Adams Tucker
Nativity Scene | Nate Bargatze’s Nashville Christmas
Must Be Santa – Bob Dylan
Bethlehemian Rhapsody – because puppets
Hamidolph (An American Christmas Story) – Hamilton Parody – Eclipse 6
The serious Carol of the Bells / Shchedryk – Marsh Family adaptation of Ukrainian New Year song for 2026
The raucous The Season’s Upon Us -Dropkick Murphys
It’s A Wonderful Life
I was one of those people who had dismissed that 1946 Frank Capra film, sight unseen.
Cole Haddon wrote Why You’ll Never Get Tired of ‘It’s a Wonderful Life.’ Spoiler: It’s not because life is so wonderful.
“’I’m not a praying man, but if you’re there and you can hear me, show me the way.’
“George Bailey utters these words in a now-iconic scene near the end of It’s a Wonderful Life – but it was an unscripted line of dialogue, as it turns out.
“‘As I said those words, I felt the loneliness, the hopelessness of people who had nowhere to turn, and my eyes filled with tears,’ Jimmy Stewart said in a 1987 interview. ‘I broke down sobbing.’
“George wasn’t supposed to cry, but Stewart couldn’t help himself. That’s because the actor was a broken man himself, not unlike the character he was playing…
“He was suffering from shell shock, what we call Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome today. Shakes, a short temper, nightmares. He had become prone to the very same mood swings and explosive outbursts George Bailey periodically displays.
“However, playing George turned out to be spiritually restorative for Stewart in many ways. While he rarely spoke about what he witnessed in the skies over Europe, the character taught him how to act again and, I think it’s fair to say, provided him with one of the most personal roles he ever played.”
This is the eve of Christmas, and a Saturnday to boot. This will be a different year. Our daughter has gone off to college, and while she’s back for the holidays, it’s a different dynamic. I think she’s stopped believing in Santa Claus, but I’m not positive.