CCM: Were there any period-specific studio venues where parts of the album were recorded? Are there really any of those still functional anymore, like the old Sun Studios, for instance?
MD: We [recorded] “Deck The Halls” at this little studio called the Brown Owl which is up in Berry Hill [Nashville area]. We tracked everything exactly the way they did it in Motown. We had one mic for the drums—Jason even loosened up all the drum heads to give the drums that Motown sound. Then we tracked that one live, all the parts at the same time.

CCM: What are some of your Christmas traditions?
MD: My mom’s Christmas fudge, number one. She makes this peppermint chocolate fudge. She just puts a tub of it in the fridge. The whole month of December, you just open up the fridge anytime. I’d always be sneaking them as a kid. She would say, “What are you doing in there?”

“Nothing.” [Laughs]

My wife and I take turns visiting home. Even now, we all go ice skating on Christmas Eve. We’ve been doing that for years and years. One of my sisters, who was born on Christmas Eve, always gets a cookie cake from the Great American Cookie Company. Then we go to the candlelight service.

I still remember one candlelight service at my church—it was all somber, and everyone’s got the lit candle—and then, “WHACK,” and this kid starts crying. This kid had lit his sister’s hair on fire and his dad hit her head with a hymn book to put out the fire. That was a great Christmas memory.

Presents. We do stockings on Christmas Eve, then presents in the morning. We each open them one at a time in rounds.

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