Author Archive for: Editor
Entries by Jeff Westover
Best of New Christmas Music from the Tabernacle Choir
Christmas and choir music just go together. The Tabernacle Choir is not afraid to tackle any song of Christmas but nowhere do they shine better than on the traditional, simple songs of Christmas such as O Little Town of Bethlehem. They are, quite literally, a choir of angels: The all-volunteer choir actually puts out new […]
The Naughty Stuff of Christmas
It was expected that in the era of President Donald Trump the war on Christmas would become more extreme. But nobody saw this coming. This time it is not the religious of Christmas under attack. It is definitively secular. Charlie Brown’s Thanksgiving, more than half a century old, is now considered by some to be […]
Best New Christmas Music from Rehya Stevens
The strategy many emerging artists tend to take with Christmas music is to just Bing it up and release a sing of White Christmas. It’s safe, it showcases their talent and it is known. It’s also boring. Rehya Stevens is not one to take the path of least resistance. In her new album Celebrate Rehya […]
Best of New Christmas Music from Trace Adkins
I always hesistate to post reviews of new music from established stars. You get only two types of responses. It is either over-the-top love from gushing fans or bitter criticism from those who hate all things associated with the artist. Fame has a way of bringing out the weird in people. So does Christmas. Not […]
Kurt Russell and the Ultimate Santasy
There’s a new Santa in town. Everyone is talking about him. Over Thanksgiving weekend Netflix debuted their new Santa-driven Christmas film they dub, probably because they will make this a regular holiday thing, The Christmas Chronicles. In others words, it’s a story – a Christmas tale. This one is a Santa story – a fantastical, […]
Best New Christmas Music from The Cooter Boys
I’m sitting here very early in the morning of Black Friday doing what I’m always doing the day after Thanksgiving: working on Christmas. In those dark, still, productive moments a notification pops up telling me I’ve got mail. Who could that be at 1:30am? Well, it’s The Cooter Boys and they have a new song […]
Best New Christmas Music from Caleb and Kelsey
Today is the single biggest selling day for Christmas trees of the entire year. Thanksgiving weekend is filled with a great many traditions that get a lot of notice: the turkey, football and Black Friday just being the most talked about. But aside from eating turkey there is no bigger tradition than getting the family […]
Best of New Christmas Music 2018
We have to smile each year as we count the many radio stations claiming to be the first who switch to all Christmas music. Or for those stations who pop up on cable, satellite, and associated websites claiming to be the end-all-be-all of Christmas music. We laugh because since our first radio stream launched in […]
A Prediction of Christmas Future from 1896
In preparing for another episode of the Merry Podcast I came across an editorial from a New York newspaper published in 1896. It contains an amazing prediction of Christmas-yet-to-come. It is interesting to contemplate this being written considering how Christmas was celebrated in 1896 in America. By the end of the 19th century Christmas had […]
How Thanksgiving Became Thanksgiving
Like Christmas, the origins of Thanksgiving are hotly debated. Like Christmas, we can thank stories of Thanksgiving passed down through generations by word of mouth, in letters and documents, period media reports, and great literary works for the making of all that we celebrate of the holiday today. Historians these days love to deconstruct “the […]
Finding Christmas in Thanksgiving
A recent survey revealed sharp divisions in when the celebration of Christmas begins. Nearly a third said Christmas begins right after Halloween, a third said Christmas begins right after Thanksgiving and for another third the celebration of Christmas is something done every day. In recent years many have insisted that Christmas so overpowers the calendar […]