mace wrote:

Call me a scrooge. I will tolerate traditional Christmas music on December 24 and 25. Nothing before and nothing after. Only original artists please. None of the Happy Holiday drek that passes for Christmas music today.

I have a sure-fire way to avoid holiday or Xmas music on the radio when I don't want it. I don't listen. And when I do want to listen to the radio and don't want holiday joy foisted upon my barren soul, I rely on stations that don't air it except perhaps for the handful of days you mention. Community and campus stations are a safe bet for me when the Commercial stations are trying to cheer me up by pissing me off. So are Indigenous stations (like CFGI 92.3 Georgina Island in South Lake Simcoe). CJRT will hold off for awhile yet, as will the CBC French and English music stations, because their primary interest is actually the listener. When DXing, I've conditioned myself to not actually listen when I don't want to. I sit in a very comfortable red or green armchair and read, do paperwork, stuff my face with licorice allsorts etc, or contemplate exotic catches in the Land of Nod, with the headphones on. I'm recording live, so if something interesting jumps out of my trusty AOR-7030, I just have to be conscious enough to stop the recording, scribble a few notes on a napkin, and start the next one. And when I want to DX more actively, I move around the dial, so no single subjection to All I want for Christmas is a Four-Element Yagi or Silent Auroral Night lasts long enough to cause more than minimal pain and suffering. It's the same with holiday music as it is year-round with US talk stations and their hosts' neverending worship of (see another more appropriate thread).