There are 38 comments.

1. Coolidge
   Taras

   @Taras

   11:33 AM EST ⋅ Dec 23, 2019

   colleenb (View Comment):

   Wolfsheim (View Comment):

   I became aware of Joseph Bottums through First Things but had never heard him speak before. Please invite him back.

   Christmas has what I would call its “Proustian moments,” as suggested in the podcast. Of course, they vary greatly and unpredictably from person to person. C.S. Lewis’s “joy” cannot be automatically experienced by rereading Squirrel Nutkin. And such must not become the focus of one’s longing for the spirit of Christmas, which is, of course, the celebration of the Incarnation.

   I confess that I do not appreciate most American Christmas music, regarding which I cannot distinguish the merely tacky from the sentimental. I love the old German, French, and English carols, and when I hear the latter sung, as though to celebrate just how “hip” and talented the famous modern performer is, I cringe with Scrooge-like mutterings. And such “secular Christmas” music as “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” is worse than vulgar; it sends a terrible message.

   I live in Japan, where department store clerks wear Santa Claus caps but where all but the tiny Christian minority has next to no idea what Christmas means. In coffee shops, Christmas music à la Lady Gaga is played ad nauseam. And yet there is something deeply moving about attending mass with Japanese Christians, for whom the celebration is all the more meaningful. (By the way, the First Noel sung in semi-classical Japanese is much better than it is in English. I look forward to it every Christmas Eve. À chacun son goût!)

   It was sad that he and First Things were not a fit but that happens sometimes even when you wish the best for both partners. Do you ever go to Nagasaki for Christmas?

   For great American Christmas carols, I recommend our musical Founding Father, William Billings (1746-1800):  “Methinks I see an heav’nly Host”, “While shepherds watch their flocks by night”.

2. Inactive
   Donnie-Boy

   @DonnieBoy

   12:09 PM EST ⋅ Dec 23, 2019

   I thoroughly enjoyed James’ comment regarding Goodyear and BFGoodrich Christmas albums.  As the grandson, son, and nephew of BFG factory workers in Miami, Oklahoma, I can vouch for the entertainment value of both series of records.  James might also be happy to learn that Firestone also had a series of Christmas records in the 60s and 70s.  

   I also enjoyed James’ reference to a church community founded by his grandfather.  My great, great grandfather helped found and build a Methodist church out in western Oklahoma after the land run.  Some years ago, before the church building was demolished, my mother, stepdad and I salvaged a number of pews out of the building.  The attached picture displays one of the remaining examples of my great, great grandfather’s handiwork. 

   Merry Christmas!

    

   

3. Lincoln
   Mr. Michael Garrett

   @MichaelGarrett

   5:23 PM EST ⋅ Dec 23, 2019

   colleenb (View Comment):

   Kevin Schulte (View Comment):

   Wonderful episode.

   However, the exit song ? That wonderful rendition, it was utterly ruined. RUINED!!!!

    

    

   Yeah Kevin – what were they drunk, high, ??? when they recorded that puppy?

    

   Fifty shades of Christmas?

4. Inactive
   Wolverine

   @Wolverine

   7:01 AM EST ⋅ Dec 24, 2019

   The 1963 Firestone Christmas album with opera singers Rise Stevens and Brian Sullivan is greatest Christmas album ever produced in my humble opinion. Traditional renditions of the classic Christmas songs, all religious and no Santa.

   https://www.amazon.com/Firestone-Presents-Favorite-Christmas-Carols/dp/B004E69L56

5. Coolidge
   Taras

   @Taras

   6:51 PM EST ⋅ Dec 24, 2019

   My nomination for best Christmas album of all time is Christmas with Kiri Te Kanawa:  Carols from Coventry Cathedral (1995).  

   Some of the best arrangements of some of the greatest carols of all time, from “Of the Father’s heart begotten” (lyrics ca. 400 A.D., music 1582) to “The Virgin Mary had a baby boy” (collected in the West Indies 1942).

   And for a place to sing songs of hope and peace, what can beat the ruins of Coventry Cathedral, destroyed by Nazi bombing in the darkest days of World War II.

   For the DVD, Walmart beats Amazon by several dollars:

   https://www.walmart.com/ip/Christmas-With-Kiri-Te-Kanawa-DVD/22127090

   A digital video download is available at:  

   https://www.christiancinema.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=2066

   Audio-only versions are also available.

6. Coolidge
   ToryWarWriter

   @ToryWarWriter

   6:12 AM EST ⋅ Dec 26, 2019

   Dont worry I managed to go to a friends house and watch her 6 year old son, while she and her mother argued over how to cook a turkey all day.

7. Coolidge
   kedavis

   @kedavis

   5:08 PM EST ⋅ Jan 1, 2020

   ToryWarWriter (View Comment):

   Dont worry I managed to go to a friends house and watch her 6 year old son, while she and her mother argued over how to cook a turkey all day.

   Cooking a turkey all day, is never a good idea.  It gets all dried out and stuff.

8. Member
   Arahant

   @Arahant

   5:18 PM EST ⋅ Jan 1, 2020

   kedavis (View Comment):

   ToryWarWriter (View Comment):

   Dont worry I managed to go to a friends house and watch her 6 year old son, while she and her mother argued over how to cook a turkey all day.

   Cooking a turkey all day, is never a good idea. It gets all dried out and stuff.

   No, they just argued all day.