Happy Halloween, everybody. It's Brian back with another episode on this uniquely festive day.

I say that because, of course, Halloween is a fun and exciting celebration in its own right,

but also Halloween acts as a barrier for some of us to the Christmas season.

Some people, though I doubt you're one of them, but some people, can't fathom the idea

of getting into the Christmas spirit before Halloween.

But now that Halloween is here, there's little holding us back from declaring the Christmas

season fully upon us.

Well, that's how I see it anyway.

And of course, as you know, Christmas and Halloween go together very nicely because of something

they have in common.

Actually, they have more than one thing in common.

Wearing costumes at Christmas time was once very common, even though now it's largely

forgotten.

But that's a topic for another time.

No, the thing I'm thinking of is ghost stories.

It's a topic we've discussed many times here on Christmas past.

The Christmas ghost story is a venerable tradition, especially popular in Victorian England,

which explains the success of a Christmas Carol.

And I have a feeling they're right on the verge of a comeback.

So I am especially excited today to help to get you into the Christmas spirit in the

spookiest way possible by introducing you to a brand new audio series called The Midnight Carols.

The Midnight Carols is an original full-cast, eight-part, dark fantasy podcast series that

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