Holly, Ivy, and Roasted Chestnuts: A Garland of Winter Carols Solemn, Merry, and Downright Irreverent (Fourth Edition)

There's more to the music of the end-of-year holidays – Christmas, Hanukkah, New Year's, and all the rest – than what you hear on the PA system in every shopping-mall atrium all December long. In this slim, highly-portable and easy-to-use volume, you'll find the lyrics for 60 traditional and recent winter-holiday songs, covering every mood and occasion – the religious, the festive, the obscure – even well-beloved parodies of well-beloved traditional carols – that's what we mean by "Roasted Chestnuts"! (Shh – don't tell Grandma! That is, unless she already knows them all.)

Need a carol for Wren Day (a.k.a Saint Stephen's Day)? Don't know any songs for New Year's Eve other than the first verse of Auld Lang Syne? This book will help get you started with DIY Holiday music fun.

'Tis the season to be jolly, so get together with some friends and family and a cup of hot, steaming wassail, crack open the (new) old songbook, and sing along for the Holidays the old-fashioned way. You might even be inspired to carol door-to-door – just don't expect your neighbors to bring out the figgy pudding!

48pp; text, illustrated, b&w interior with color covers. Includes Index and Table of Contents.  Illustration and design © 2023 E. J. Barnes. All song lyrics in this collection not in the public domain are used by permission.

Parental Warning: Contains Christmas-carol parodies that were popular when your mom was in school. (Real content warnings: Virgin birth, Slaughter of the Innocents, a boar’s head, cruelty to wrens and butlers, and religious irreverence.) Appropriate for all ages; parental guidance suggested for young readers.