RUSH: It’s a 20-plus year tradition on this program to wrap up our final program before Christmas with Mannheim Steamroller and Silent Night. I love the song, and if you’ve not heard it — you probably have by now — if you’ve not heard it off a CD, turned it up as loud as you can make it on a very good stereo system, you should. It is a beautiful, beautiful rendition of a great song. And this is the time of year, Thanksgiving is one thing, but I happen to feel more sentimental and thankful for all of my blessings at Christmastime for some reason, that’s why I try to take a moment to express it all to you.
Something that I’ve realized over the years is that when I’m away over Christmas, I’m actually away from my family in a sense because that’s what you all are, probably the largest extended family known to exist in the free world. And I’m never with you on holidays, except, of course, in my heart. You’re always with me, and I don’t know what I would do if you weren’t there. I have people tell me still how much the program means to them and so forth, but whatever that is, it is small in comparison to what you all have meant to me and my family. It’s indescribable what you have all meant, and I can’t thank you enough, no matter what. It’s a piece of gratitude I’ll never fully be able to express or even fully repay.
We sometimes say that great radio makes for great listeners, but that also goes vice-versa. Having such a great audience makes for great radio and a great host. You are an indescribable, can’t-do-without-it link to everything that’s here. Try to put this fight over the payroll tax cut out of your mind and have a great Christmas holiday and a great New Year’s. And remember, don’t forget to tell everybody in your family, according to the BBC, that they are fat. You’re doing it for their own good.