The Joy of Krupmas

Welcome! If you are new to Krupmas, you are probably asking yourself why I, a more or less cultural Jew, would be such a champion of Christmas and Christmas music.  Well it all started as a young lad, when our family was watching some old home movies, and I discovered that my older brothers celebrated Christmas before I was born.

I was probably about 6 or 7, and man did I feel gypped. I'm assuming I threw at least a little tantrum. When I asked my parents why we no longer celebrated the holiday that seemingly every single kid in the universe celebrated, my mom told me that she had started to feel guilty about it. I'm guessing some yenta said something to her at the beauty parlor.

Of course there was nothing I could do to change my parents' minds (they were a team), so I pretty much was deprived of Christmas up until college. (That's not completely true: A big shout-out to the Kelly Family of Westfield who showed me what Christmas was all about with their amazing open houses for family and friends, featuring their father's killer eggnog). You better believe I bought a Christmas tree my first year in school. And somewhere along the line, because I was/am an obsessive record collector, I started collecting Christmas music.

I probably made my first Christmas mixtape around 1990, give or take a year.  It started the old-fashioned way, with what we Boomers used to call cassette tapes. These 90-minute masterpieces eventually gave way to the space age technology of CDs, condensing the number of allowable minutes but vastly improving the sound quality. And, beginning 13 years ago, I finally dragged all of us into the 21st century with handy, downloadable files.

(May not reflect actual file types)

This switch to files meant I no longer had to make and send out multiple copies. It also resulted in saving a good deal of money. And, as has become custom (and in keeping with the true spirit of the holiday season), I can pass the savings onto the charities of my choice.

Ann and I are once again donating to the following two charities (because, again, nothing ever seems to change in the USofA), plus we're adding The World Central Kitchen (because they've been extra-busy over the last couple of years):

Planned Parenthood, because Fuck Leonard Leo, The Federalist Society, and the carefully constructed Supreme Court.

March For Our Lives,  because, c'mon? What the hell is it going to take?!?!

And last, but certainly not least, the World Central Kitchen

 

And now that we've dispensed with the heavy stuff, let's get to the music.

For 2024's mp3/AAC mix, The Joy of Krupmas, click the link below to download to your computer:

mp3/AAC Version

The Joy of Krupmas Tracklist:

You can also stream it on Mixcloud!

Plus, here's a Bonus Link of some of the Ghosts of Krupmas Past. Together, with this year's mix, that's about 1.3 days of non-stop Krupmas Classics!

Link to Past Krupmas Mixes

Click here for a complete Master Tracklist of all 26 Krupmas Mixes

Note: Krupmas is for everyone*, whether you celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, or Festivus, so please feel free to share with your friends and families.

(*Unless you're a MAGA, racist, fascist, and/or Nazi-sympathizer. Seriously, if you voted for that orange conman, do not even consider listening to any of these mixes. You are dead to us.)

Merry Crimble, Feliz Natal and a Very New Year

- Your pal Krup