[Mickey]

These quotes were taken from a recent interview with Essential Records artists who contributed to City on a Hill - It's Christmas Time.

Essential Records
Artist Christmas Memories

Charlie Lowell, Jars of Clay - "One of my favorite Christmas memories is hearing my mom retell the story of how I pulled the Christmas tree down on myself. I don't remember doing it, but I love listening to her tell the story about how it happened, how terrified she was and how quiet I was under that tree."

Steve Mason, Jars of Clay - "You know one of my favorite memories is more of a contemporary one. It's tradition that my family would go cut down a tree and place ornaments on it. Well, one year we bought a plastic tree and found that we could reuse that tree over and over again. It was smart because we found that we were saving a lot of money, so every year our family would come together and separate the sizes of the branches, and we did that as a family. And that was one thing that brought us together at Christmas."

Mac Powell, Third Day - "One of my favorite Christmas memories is when I, in 1995, right before Christmas, asked my wife Amy to marry me. It was a big secret thing. She didn't know that I was going to ask her, and I was a little sneaky and had to tell some little white lies to hide it from her. But, eventually I asked her and she said "yes." So, it's been six years now, and we're very happily married and hope that your Christmas is just as good. God Bless."

David Carr, Third Day - "One of my favorite Christmas memories was way back in the dark ages of the 1980s. I asked for a keyboard--a Casio incredible, multi-sound, multi-drumbeat, one-speaker, 48-key keyboard. And I didn't get it. You think that I would have been disappointed right? I actually got the better one, the one that I didn't think I was gonna get. The one with 52 keys had more sounds. It had really realistic drum sounds. And you know I am a drummer, so that's a big deal to me; it's a very important thing. And, man, it had the tiny little keys on it that you could barely put your fingers on. It was a great Christmas for me."

Michael Boggs, FFH - "My favorite Christmas memory is actually one when I was about 8 years old. My sister and I were debating which one was gonna be able to open up their presents first. My sister and I started getting into this fight, and I thought that I could actually handle her. She was just a few years older than me, and she went to hit me on the shoulder, and I ducked. She managed to black my eye and bloody my nose. I've never fought my sister since. But that's my favorite Christmas memory."

Brian Smith, FFH - "The thing I love most about Christmas is getting to spend time with family. I think the thing that I remember most and that we still do today, kind of a tradition, is getting together at my grandparent's place on Christmas night and sitting around in a circle in the living room passing out our presents and going around one by one and opening them. It takes a couple hours, but we love it, and we have a great time, and it's just awesome being able to spend that time with family."

Paul Colman, pc3 - "We don't know exactly what Santa Claus sounds like over here, but around Christmastime, this is what you hear in Australia: 'Goodday, here's your presents aren't they beeaauutiful.'"

Paul Colman, pc3 - "I remember when I was 12, Christmas Day, my parents bought me a drum kit. I think that they got it for 90 bucks, and I think they were really excited about what was going to happen when I got the drum kit. But when I played it for 12 hours a day for the next year, I think that they really regretted giving it to me. But thanks mum and dad, 'cuz now I can tell Phil what to do when he plays the drums, yeah."

Phil Gaudion, pc3 - "I remember at Christmastime we used to have these pillow cases, which we would put out to get our presents in. We all got to draw on them a picture of Santa. I got tormented by my brothers because I actually made Santa cross-eyed. I was too young, so I didn't understand. But, Merry Christmas everyone."

Grant Norsworthy, pc3 - "You are probably very aware of this, but in Australia, Christmas is very, very hot. It's the middle of our summer. The strange thing is, we still find ourselves singing things like 'Dashing through the snow, in a one horse open' huh? It doesn't seem to make much sense. Another thing that doesn't make much sense to me at Christmastime is a lot of the time shopkeepers, they'll get white spray paint and spray it right over their windows to make it look like snow in the middle of summer. That's Australia for ya, but you know, God is the same right around the globe . . . and we love that."

Paul Colman, pc3 - "It always amazes me that the God of all creation humbled himself enough to be born as this little, helpless child. And not just born in a comfortable place, but born inside this little trough that animals eat out of. That's just the most amazing irony at Christmas, that this God we have would be so humble. It amazes me every year, so thanks God, you're awesome."

For much more on Jars of Clay, click here

For much more on Third Day, click here

For much more on FFH, click here

For much more on the Paul Colman Trio, click here