Hibernation

There's not much going on in the world of Christmas Music bloggery these days.  Post-Christmas lull across the blogs.  Lack-of-Winter blahs.  For those at the edge of your seat regarding the so-called Winter in Kansas City, we are at an all-time low of 3.1 inches of snow for the season.  Tornados were in the area last night, with Harveyville KS (an hour and a half from KC) getting some pretty major damage.  It's very early in the year for severe weather.

Anyway - I'm hoping to get some more Cuneo Christmas books photographed and posted in the next few days.  I don't know yet whether I'll post any non-Christmas music here this off-season.  I'm leaning more toward spreading the Christmas ripping throughout the year so I'm better prepared once the season hits.  I will need to re-stock with some thrift store runs.

So - Happy Leap Day everyone!  Do something unexpected :-)

Snow! Finally!

It took until Feb 13,  but we finally got our first inch of snow in Kansas City.  The snow arrived early in the AM on Feb 13, and left about 2 1/2 inches at my house.  No pictures, unfortunately, because I was home-bound with cold/flu and didn't feel much like photographing anything.  40's today (2/14), rain tomorrow, so snow will be gone soon.  Hope to get another snowstorm or two before the season ends.

Cuneo Christmas 1947

The 1947 edition of the Cuneo Christmas series is the second collection of stories by William Thackery.  As always, the book concludes with the Pope's Christmas broadcast.

This is the only Cuneo book that I have that is bound in green.

Spine: 

Title Page:

Acknowledgements:

Table of Contents:

Illustration:

Pope's Broadcast first page:

Cuneo Christmas 1946

The earliest Cuneo Christmas book I have is from 1946.  It is the first of a two-year set featuring stories and illustrations by William M. Thackery. 

The Christmas 1946 edition of this series featured Pope Pius XII's Christmas broadcast from December, 1945, the first Christmas following the end of World War II.

Spine (with bowl of fruit):

Title Page:

Acknowledgements by John Cuneo:

Table of Contents:

Story and Illustration:

Pope Pius XII Christmas Broadcast (first page):

The Cuneo Christmas Project

Back in December I posted about some wonderful Christmas books from the Cuneo Press.  Tonight I'm going to start a series of posts featuring the books I've acquired so far.  I've limited myself to the inexpensive end of the spectrum.  There are more in the series that I don't have that are higher priced out on the web, and there are also several years that I haven't found yet.  The older ones are, as expected, more elusive.

These are simply marvelous books.  Each year from 1942 through 1980, John Cuneo published a new edition, selecting stories to share for the Christmas season.  And, each book reprinted the Pope's Christmas broadcast from the prior Christmas.  This creates an amazing historical record.

Here's my helper in this little endeavor:

This antique iron horse bank belonged to my aunt, and dates to the early 20th century.  He will be my helper to hold the books open during the photo sessions :-)

"Winter" in Kansas City

Well, according to the calendar it's Winter.  It's hard to tell by any other means this season.  Today is January 25.  So far this season here in Kansas City, we have had an official total of 0.4 inches of snow.  And that was spread out over two "snow events".  And furthermore, temperatures have been consistently above normal.  Many, many days in the upper 30s, 40s, and 50s.  Very few days in the 20s.

I love Winter.  I love cold weather and snow.  Give me a season where it doesn't get above 40 between Nov. 15 and March 1, throw in lots of snow, and I'm good.

The last two Winters here we had over 30 inches of snow each season.  Where are you Old Man Winter?  Is it because I restocked the firewood?

It's looking like we'll be into February with less than a half inch of snow.  Maybe we'll finally get a snowstorm next month.  Or, we'll get one of those mid-March huge, heavy snows...

Thus endeth the Wintry Lament.

Housekeeping: Links, free downloads, etc

During the Christmas season with my main focus being sharing out vinyl, I didn't have much time to post information about new music.  I did a few mini-reviews this year, and a couple full-CD reviews, but a lot of the information about new music that I received went un-acknowledged and un-posted.  Fortunately, Stubby excels at keeping us all informed about new Christmas releases each year, especially the artists offering free downloads.

Here on New Year's Day, I want to list out some of the info I received during the season in the e-mail box.  My apologies for not being able to give these artists the attention they are due.  Hopefully these links are still valid when you, the readers, try them out.  So, without further ado, here are links to some new music released in the 2011 season:

Amanda Lamb:  Free download and artist info  link

TimPermanent:  Joy to the World  link

The Bopst Show:  Christmas-music podcasts, as well as others  link

Alternate Root Holiday Sampler:  zip file download

KDHX Radio Holiday podcasts:  link

No Ninja Am I: free download  link

Soujourn Music:  free sampler download link

Jeff Mellin:  free download link

That Band from Holland:  free album  link

The Very Most:  free EP zip file download

Stratocruiser:  free EP  link

There is some very good music in the above list.  I enjoyed Stratocruiser and Amanda Lamb quite a lot, but I just didn't have the time to do them justice with a full review.  I hope you enjoy them, and the other artists and podcasts listed above, as much as I did.