Christmas Eve

Chris Stevens

Episode 3.10, "Seoul Mates"

"I," said the cow, all white and red,
"I gave Him my manger for His bed;
"I gave Him my hay to pillow His head.
"I," said the cow, all white and red.

So every beast, by some good spell,
In the stable dark was glad to tell
Of the gift he gave Immanuel,
The gift he gave Immanuel.

It's an old legend that on Christmas Eve at midnight, all the animals fall to their knees and speak, praising the newborn Jesus.

Back in the winter of sixty-nine, my Dad was serrving a short time for a DUI and I don’t know where my mom was. Anyway, I was home alone Christmas Eve and I stayed up extra kinda late to see if my dog, Buddy, would talk. And he did. I don't remember his exact words, but that's not important. What matters is that a seven-year-old boy experienced his own personal epiphany.

What’s my point? Well, it's that Christmas reveals itself to us each in a personal way, be it secular or sacred. Whatever Christmas is--and it's many things to many people--we all own a piece of it. It’s like, well, it’s kinda like Santa's Bag: inside, there's a gift for everyone. My Christmas wish for you tonight? May your dog talk.

Good night, Cicely. Merry Christmas.

• Chris reads from the traditional French carol, "The Friendly Beasts."
• To learn more about the Northern European legend that animals talk on Christmas Eve, read the 1976 reprint of Clement A. Miles’s 1912 book, Christmas Customs and Traditions: Their History and Significance.
• You can compare John Corbett’s delivery of this monologue to the final script by visiting Moosechick’s Merry Christmoose page.
• Listen to The Chieftain's version of "Oh Come All Ye Faithful", the song Chris plays on KBHR while discussion the raven, or buy the full album, The Bells of Dublin.

Snow, Beautiful Snow

Chris Stevens

Episode 5.10, "First Snow"

Oh! The snow, the beautiful snow,
Filling the sky and earth below.
Over the housetops, over the street,
Over the heads of people you meet.
Dancing, flirting, skimming along,
. . .
Oh, the snow, the beautiful snow,
How the flakes gather and laugh as they go.
Whirling about in their maddening fun:
It plays in its glee with everyone.
Chasing, laughing, hurrying by,
It lights on the face and it sparkles the eye.
And even the dogs with a bark and a bound
Snap at the crystals that eddy around.
The town is alive and its heart in a glow,
To welcome the coming of beautiful snow.

It’s happening, people. Say hi to the flakes.

• Chris reads an excerpt of the poem "The Beautiful Snow." The italicized line was added by the episode’s writers; it is not part of the original poem.
• The poem has been attributed variously to an anonymous 'fallen woman' and to a minor poet, Joseph Warren Watson. One fan even claims the poem was discovered by Walt Whitman.
• You can read the entire poem beginning on page 429 of Nineteenth-Century American Women Poets: An Anthology.
• Chris closes the broadcast by playing Earl Klugh's Spanish Night.