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Dear listener, you may believe that the holidays are a time of good cheer and

mirth and that every song you sing is one filled with joy.

And if you wish to continue thinking that, I suggest you travel somewhere else.

Perhaps a story of Santa Claus and good boys and girls drinking eggnog and playing

with toys all through the winter solstice.

We'll not find any fairy tales of happiness here.

For every merry Christmas that exists, there's also one filled with darkness and depression.

These are the tales that I've come to offer.

You may think you know what it is like to hear such story and that you're prepared to listen.

But my research has found that often when we sort through accounts, a deeper, darker understanding

of our own reality has found.

I'm a historian and it's my task to understand why certain experiences are retold generation after generation.

Only minor details change here and there.

Some become legends.

...