Thanksgiving. Black Friday. Cyber Monday. Dragon Tuesday. It's that time of year: Christmas is coming. We cover "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas" as performed by Johnny Mathis, as well as another update of a classic, "White Christmas" by The Drifters.

Whether or not blue snowflakes have started to fall in your part of the world, signs of the holiday season have begun to appear. If you're already sick of eggnog and Christmas music, this episode - in which we cover two songs about what a bummer Xmas really is - is for you.

This week's episode comes out on Diwali, the festival of lights celebrated in India and around the world! In honor of this bright and joyful holiday, RJ and Ian listen to two upbeat winter holiday songs about light - "Candlelight", a light-hearted Hanukkah parody by The Maccabeats, and "Light of Christmas", an odd and uneven Veggie Tales anthem by Owl City and tobyMac. Thanks again to Emma for requesting "Candlelight"!

This episode features HARK's first guest - Ian's sister, Emma stops by to help celebrate RJ's birthday, review two glam rock Christmas songs, and make a live request - stay tuned 'til the end if you want to find out what we're listening to next week! Thanks again to Emma for joining us and being such wonderful company.

Hello herald angels... and hellish an-ghouls! This week's episode is spooooky! Maybe not as spooky as a ghost, but like, as spooky as Tim Burton. Happy Halloween, and don't forget to turn your clocks back on November 1st! Need some holiday reading? RJ highly recommends Herschel and the Hanukkah Goblins: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/496802.Hershel_and_the_Hanukkah_Goblins

Meedley meedley meedley meedley! This week we explore some hot licks in our first-ever foray into holiday metal. By Dave's request, we cover the poorly named "Heavy Metal Christmas" by Twisted Sister. Then we heal those wounds with the soothing/awesome vocals of the late Christopher Lee. Check out our snazzy redesign at harkpodcast.tumblr.com! Also, we neglect to mention in this episode that RJ started a new twitter account related to the podcast: nihilist_abba.

New Year's Day - a time to reflect on our failings, to drink away our regrets, and to make promises we do not intend to keep. Nothing matters. Enjoy ABBA. Also, Snoop Dogg and some other guy do a thing. (In case you've never seen it, here's Nihilist Arby's: http://twitter.com/nihilist_arbys)

For World Space Week, RJ and Ian take on a request for "Christmas Tree", a sexy beep-boop song by Lady Gaga and Space Cowboy. We then cleanse our ear-palates with the infectiously upbeat "Space Christmas" by Shonen Knife. Thank you to Dylan for requesting "Christmas Tree". I guess. (We love you Dylan.) The War Rocket Ajax episode that we mention can be found here: http://www.warrocketajax.com/2013/12/23/episode-187-the-2013-yuletide-solstice-podmass-podcast-podbash-blast-bash-cast-jax-fmatt-fraction-and-maggie-serota/ As we've mentioned before, the WRA dudes have been a big inspiration to HARK, so definitely go give them a listen!

For "Maple Leaf Day", an obscure Canadian cousin of Arbor Day, we're celebrating trees. But expect the unexpected - sorry, no Tannenbaums. Instead, we review "Hanukkah Tree" by The Klezmatics, a Klezmer tune with lyrics penned by a famous goy, and a version of "Rockin Around the Christmas Tree" with a poorly-executed plot twist performed by Canadian sensations Michael Bublé and Carly Rae Jepsen.

The Muppets' return to TV may be in the news, but we're keeping it old school. In honor of Jim Henson's birthday, we discuss and rank two songs from the greatest Christmas specials of all time: John Denver and The Muppets: A Christmas Together, and RJ's own personal Citizen Kane, A Muppet Family Christmas. In case you were wondering what quote made RJ cry, it was: "My hope still is to leave the world a bit better than when I got here."