This song is one of those rare ones that basically wrote itself in one sitting. It was written in the summer (not Christmas time) on a particularly depressing day after I had received some disappointing news about a choral piece I was trying to publish. I sat down and wrote the song to cheer myself up and convince myself that I was a good songwriter despite the rejection… I wanted to write a song that would appeal to people regardless of faith or denomination, thus the “special time” of the title… In the choral version of the song, the “christmas-times” in the back up vocal were alternated with “hanuka”, which I think worked quite nicely. It’s a song about Christmas memories, but also a song about Christmas songs and their particular effect on us…