How can people find your music? https://www.katiecurley.com
What is your current single and/or album? Big Colored Lights (EP)
Do you prefer artificial Christmas trees or real trees? Definitely real. I have a daydream of starting a Christmas-tree farm. I have it all planned out. It is going to be an amazing place.
When do you decorate your Christmas tree? On Thanksgiving Day. We pull out all of our Xmas records and take turns choosing which to play. We live in a very small apartment, so we don’t bring in a tree. I have two tall branches, which we collected off the street after a hurricane, and I made them into a kind of tree-like sculpture. We decorate that.
What is your favorite Christmas song? What makes it your favorite? River by Joni Mitchell. I love that it is so sad. I used to play it on the piano when I was a teenager. It’s an all-year song, which also works as a Christmas song.
What is your go-to holiday drink? Egg Nog with lots of bourbon. I look forward to it every year!
What is your favorite Christmas present that you have ever received? My uncle, who passed away when I was eight, bought me a bright red wagon when I was a toddler. I LOVED it! And I knew someone loved me when I saw that thing under the tree.
What were your Christmas traditions when you were younger? We opened our presents on Xmas Eve, which seemed unusual because where we lived all my friends’ families opened their presents on Christmas morning. We were not religious, but my dad used to tease us by reading from the Bible before we could open presents. He would read the Xmas story from Matthew, pause, and then go on to read from Luke, pause, and even go on to read more from John. We’d be crawling out of our skin to get to the presents by the time the reading was done!
How have your Christmas celebrations changed since becoming an adult? I have a lot of siblings. As we’ve gotten older and moved to different places, holidays in general have become a lot quieter. I like it that way too though. More reflective.
What is your favorite Christmas memory? I have an uncle and aunt and some cousins who used to live in a big log house in the mountains of Idaho. My family lived in Washington State, and one year we all drove up to spend Christmas with their family. It was amazing because it was snowy the whole time, and my mom’s mom, brother, and sister were all there. I remember seeing her in a different light when she was with them.
How do you spend the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day? Relishing in not working and formulating New Year’s resolutions.
How do you spend New Year’s Eve? Drinking Champagne. It might be my favorite holiday for that singular reason.
What do you typically eat on New Year’s Day? I’ve never thought about that. The last few years, we’ve been doing dry January, which I have to say is always a little depressing for the first few days. But maybe if we came up with something exciting to eat… I’ll have to get back to you.
Do you have a New Year’s Resolution for 2025? Not yet. I’m starting to look back at this past year though. There have been so many surprises, some good, some that feel not so good from this vantage point. Maybe one of my resolutions will be to go into the new year with an open mind.