Songs that aren't even remotely connected to Christmas are now officially canonized Christmas tunes. 'Frosty the Snowman,' 'Jingle Bells' and 'Winter Wonderland' never mention anything religious but are still notches in Christmas' belt of musical dominance.
During the first 13 centuries after the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem, no one thought of setting up a creche to celebrate Christmas. The pre-eminent Christian holiday was Easter, not Christmas.
People have nannies and big cars, and they want to go to Maui for Christmas. When there are those kind of stakes involved, people get ruthless.
'The Nightmare Before Christmas' is my number one biggest influence artistically in every way.
Don't send funny greeting cards on birthdays or at Christmas. Save them for funerals, when their cheery effect is needed.
I still get up every morning at 4 A.M. I write seven days a week, including Christmas. And I still face a blank page every morning, and my characters don't really care how many books I've sold.
I was supposed to be working on 'The Weekenders,' but I was blocked. I got this crazy idea that I would make Christmas stockings out of blankets.
I beg people not to accept the seasonal ritual of well-timed charity on Christmas Eve. It's blasphemy.
Classic Christmas cookies are really time-consuming. Instead, make a bar you can bake in a pan and just cut up, like a brownie or a blondie or a shortbread, which still has that Christmas vibe.
Somehow we just don't make the same boisterous fun of Holy Week that we do of Christmas. No one plans to have a holly, jolly Easter.
I love the smell of a real Christmas tree - also, my mum's Christmas pudding with brandy sauce.
My early business ventures included growing Christmas trees and breeding birds.
It may be a cliche, but it's true - the build-up to Christmas is so much more pleasurable than the actual day itself.
One Christmas build-up tradition, however, has totally bypassed me - that of going up to town and 'doing a show.'
As much as I liked the build-up to Christmas, the week after always socked me with the blues.
I was once part of a Christmas cabaret. I sang 'I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus.' I tap-danced. I had a ten-gallon hat. It was quite absurd.
I asked for a horse for Christmas, and I got one! It's an adult horse. I didn't want a 5-year-old, which is a teenager for horses. It has a beautiful gait. It's the Cadillac of horses.
Christmas and a cappella - what we learned really, really well is that they go extremely well together.
I really like the European carols, and I like that captivating sound that they have that isn't usually in Christmas songs.
There's been a streak of vengeance and carnage in all of Dylan's records except for the Christmas record, since 2001, since 'Love and Theft.' Particularly on 'Modern Times' in 2006.
