54 episodes
- Please check WeirdChristmas.com for the text of all the stories along with links to the authors' bios, other works, and all the show notes.
Please help support the show, the podcast, and Weird Christmas website by donating/gifting any and all amountsĀ at Ko-Fi.com (click here). The money from the prizes is all from donations. And the more donations I get, the more I can give to the contestants. My long term goal is to make every story count as a professional sale by most writing organizationās standards. You can alsoĀ donate any amount through PayPalĀ by giving to weirdxmas@gmail.com. - If youāre looking for any of the links mentioned in the show, they're all at WeirdChristmas.com on the post for the first part of this conversation, which, yes, is technically a different episode, even though I probably should have made them all one, although there were a couple years inbetween the talks, so it kinda makes sense, and once you've started a truly epic run-on sentence, you really need to see it through. But all the links we discuss are there in one place.
The only differences are the intro/outro tunes:
Music:
āChristmas Market (Demo)āĀ by Tris
āDurch die Durch die StraĆen auf und niederāĀ (trad., go read up on Martinmas in Germany; itāll be important later)
Itās probably Christmas-time (ish) when youāre reading this, so remember the spirit of the season is giving. Any donations go toward hosting fees and paying the authors for the annual story show.Ā If youāre feeling generous,Ā you can leave a donation at Ko-Fi.com. OrĀ PayPalĀ me a direct donation usingĀ weirdxmas@gmail.com.
You can also LEAVE A WEIRD REVIEW ON APPLE PODCASTS OR YOUR FAVORITE PODCAST APP! Send me a note that you did (weirdxmas@gmail.com), and Iāll send you a sticker! Benito Cereno and Christkindlmarkt Travel (Christkindlemarkets in English for the searches)
21/12/2025 | 59 mins.Craig talks with Benito Cereno about Benito's tour of Christkindlmarkets (Or ChristkindlmƤrkte to be accurate, but we're also gonna call them Christkindlemarkets just to make sure the search engines fine anything for my fellow Americans).
If you don't know Benito, you should. He knows more about Christmas history than anyone I know. He's also a talented writer, especially for comics. He's written most recently the Hector Plasm series (the latest one tackles Bigfoot), Startling Tales of Santa Claus, but he's also written for The Tick, the Invincible series, and the incredibly fun Tales from the Bully Pulpit that feature an ass-kicking Teddy Roosevelt. He's also working on a much longer mythology of Santa that will create a (mostly) self-consistent set of myths, stories, and legends about the man, integrating all of the folklore that he can find.
Benito's Instagram account, where he always posts his travel pictures.
BenitoāsĀ Christmas history videos (THESE ARE AMAZING SO WATCH THEM NOW!!!!)
BenitoāsĀ writing at Gumroad
ApocrypalsĀ podcast
Friends āTill the EndĀ podcast
Progressively Horrified
Benito's podcasts with us:
Tomtar and Nissen (Christmas elves)
Mari Lwyd
Christmas Witches
Christmas Werewolves
The Yule Lads
Christmas Comics (from 2018 -- a bit out of date by now)
Music:
"At the ChristkindleMarkt"Ā by mark and the mongrels
"Iche geh mit meiner Laterne" (trad., also, just go read up on Martinmas in Germany)
Itās probably Christmas-time (ish) when youāre reading this, so remember the spirit of the season is giving. Any donations go toward hosting fees and paying the authors for the annual story show.Ā If youāre feeling generous,Ā you can leave a donation at Ko-Fi.com. OrĀ PayPalĀ me a direct donation usingĀ weirdxmas@gmail.com.
You can also LEAVE A WEIRD REVIEW ON APPLE PODCASTS OR YOUR FAVORITE PODCAST APP! Send me a note that you did (weirdxmas@gmail.com), and Iāll send you a sticker!- Baking: Recipes & Stories from Tomb Offerings to Gingerbread Boys. Talk about disgusting food and wondrously delicious treats, along with some of the strange stories that lay behind them all
Buy the book direct from the publisher (Llewellyn). (Or that other place.)
Her author site at Llewellyn where you can also get her classic The Old Magic of Christmas.
Past episodes with me:
We talked about the strange, darker legends of Christmas.
and the history of elves/fairies and their relation to Christmas.
She also shared some writing advice for the story ConThology after helping me read the entries one year.
Music:
"Sweet Gingerbread Man" by Bradford Trojan
"Flaming Christmas Pudding" by The Swedish Shortsnouts
Itās probably Christmas-time (ish) when youāre reading this, so remember the spirit of the season is giving. Any donations go toward hosting fees and paying the authors for the annual story show. If youāre feeling generous,Ā you can leave a donation at Ko-Fi.com. Or PayPal me a direct donation using weirdxmas@gmail.com.
You can also LEAVE A WEIRD REVIEW ON APPLE PODCASTS OR YOUR FAVORITE PODCAST APP! Send me a note that you did (weirdxmas@gmail.com), and Iāll send you a sticker! - 2024 Weird Christmas Flash Fiction Contest Winners:
Weird Card Winner: āThe Study ofĀ OwlsĀ and the Christmas Contronymsā by Daniel Roop
Unreal Holiday Celebration Winner: āTheĀ MycelialĀ Muffinheadsā Annual Pilgrimage to the Cave of Forget-Me-Nothingsā by C.L. Sidell
Stocking Stuffer Winner: āAll Eves for the Yuleā by A.S. Hahrwort
All the stories:Ā (in no special order other than appearance on the show):
āNativityāĀ by John Nicol
āThe Sadly Beautiful Life Cycle of the Mrs. ClausāĀ by Nicoletta Giuseffi
āRudolphaāĀ by Nicholas De Marino
āCountdown to ChristmasāĀ by John Wolf
āKeepers of the FruitcakeāĀ by Carla Rudy
āLiturgy for the Feast Among the GastrolithsāĀ by Cardigan Broadmoor
āO Unholy NightāĀ by Matthew Reyes
āNorthern RomanceāĀ by Reva Sherrard
āSt. OāClauseāĀ by Lancelot Schaubert
āAdventāĀ by Ben Daggers
āThere Was Only Ever One DeliveryāĀ by Brian B. Humby
āSanta Hooks Up a SabbaticalāĀ by Paul Lewthwaite
āCanaryāĀ by Stephanie Kelly
āGrowing Season of the GiverāĀ by J. Rohr
āLightsgivingāĀ by Greg Clumpner
āNiklausāĀ by Rosa Meronek
āThe Study of Owls and the Christmas ContranymsāĀ by Daniel Roop
āThe Mythical Muffinheadsā Annual Pilgrimage to the Cave of Forget-Me-NothingsāĀ by C.L. Sidell
āAll Eves for the YuleāĀ by A.S. Hahrwort
Please help support the contest, the podcast, and Weird Christmas website by donating/gifting any and all amountsĀ at Ko-Fi.com (click here). The money from the prizes is all from donations. And the more donations I get, the more I can give to the contestants. My long term goal is to make every story count as a professional sale by most writing organizationās standards. You can alsoĀ donate any amount through PayPalĀ by giving to weirdxmas@gmail.com.
AĀ bigĀ thank you to both volunteer readers this season:Ā Dustin PariĀ (@dustinpari, who is always so wonderfully generous and optimistic and inspiring), andĀ my friend JoelĀ who wants nothing more to do with this whole thing.
Usual opening:Ā āO Holy NightāĀ by Tiny Tim,Ā āChristmas Doesnāt LastāĀ by Make Like Monkeys,Ā āSanta Claus BoogieāĀ by Hasil Adkins,Ā āSpace Age SantaāĀ by Ross Christman
Special opening:Ā āChristmas-Procrastination BluesāĀ byĀ Tom DeMasters.
Bumper music (ripped straight from YouTube): byĀ MyuuĀ (for the dark piano) and aĀ hostĀ ofĀ wonderfulĀ theraminĀ artists.
Contest results from previous years:Ā 2023,Ā 2022,Ā 2021,Ā 2020,Ā 2019,Ā 2018.
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About Weird Christmas Podcast
All things holly, jolly, and odd-ly.
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