Noel Paul Stookey's "Christmas Dinner"

In his liner notes of his new Christmas album Somethin’ Special: A Noel Paul Stookey Holiday Recollection, folk legend Noel Paul Stookey calls it “a recollection of special memories.”

A recollection, he writes, “can be a distant memory--suddenly recalled--or in this instance, a gathering of childhood stories, unique to the holidays.” Some recollections on the album are highly personal, he adds, others are musical remembrances of Christmas concerts with his classic folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary, but most reflect his “evolving appreciation of the expression and the reason for the holiday: the birth of Christ.”

“Something happens the older you get,” says the insightful Stookey. “You recognize stages of involvement with special things like the holidays, whether it’s through the eyes of your children or grandkids or spouse or significant other. You measure the extent of things that remind you of something you went through yourself.”

He thinks specifically of his five-year-old granddaughter.

“She hasn’t put in a request for a bicycle yet—but she will. It’s a human’s first glimpse of personal freedom, transportation-wise: When I was growing up, my mom would say,