David Crowder wants to set the record straight: He would never put up Christmas decorations before Thanksgiving.
“We’re a post Thanksgiving family,” Crowder says proudly. “I grew up that way. It’s hard for me to talk about it. You don’t start holiday songs till the holidays there. We got to get through pumpkin spice before you get to the Wassail. One beverage at a time. Let’s keep them separated.”
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He’s very passionate about this, which is why it was a bit surprising for him to roll out his new Christmas album, Milk & Cookies, before the Halloween decorations even came down.
Normally, he shared, he wouldn’t be in the Christmas mood until the proper time. But Christmas came early for the Crowder household this year. Months ago, a little studio named Marvel came knocking on his door, asking if they could turn his house into a Winter Wonderland. And Crowder, a wise man, told them “yes.”
Before we get into the insanely true story of how Crowder’s house was featured in the upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy Christmas special, you may be wondering why Crowder’s home was singled out. The answer is that the house is spectacular. Crowder gave People a tour of his renovated home a few years ago, and it is a sight to behold.
The only thing more jaw-dropping than the house is the story of how it became the centerpiece of a Marvel Christmas special. Crowder spoke with us about the film’s inspiration for his new album and what it was like living in a Marvel Winter Wonderland on the RELEVANT Podcast, but here’s Crowder telling the story of how it came to be in his own words:
Here’s what happened. We had Christmas at our house happen early this year because this is the most bizarre story. Got a knock at the door. They’re these people and they’re like, “Hey, we are with Marvel Studios and we’re going to do…” You know Marvel. They make the superhero films.
They’re like, “We’re with Marvel and we are going to do a Guardians of the Galaxy Christmas Special.” They told us the plot of it and I’m like, “Okay, first of all, that may be the funniest joke ever in cinema.” They said the plot deal is that the Guardians want to give a gift to Star Lord, to cheer him up. They think the best thing they can give to him is the person, Kevin Bacon. They’re going to go kidnap Kevin Bacon from Earth, who they would like for Kevin Bacon’s house to be our house. They want to break into our house and steal Kevin Bacon. I’m like, “Wait, what? Rewind all of that because that’s magnificent… and yes, absolutely!”
We’re like, “Are things going to blow up because you’re Marvel, you blow things up. Please, are you going to blow up our house? Please say yes.” We were up for it. We were like, “Whatever Kevin Bacon needs, he’s given us enough.” Then we win the game forever too. I’m like, “Does this mean we get to win the game? We’re zero degrees away.” They’re like, “Yes, you would win the game and you would.”
Here’s what happened, when Marvel does Christmas time, because it’s set at Christmas time, and they do… it was Marvel Christmas. I think they purchased all of the inflatable Christmas blow-up things for yards available. Our whole yard was just blow-up Christmas. Then inside there were obviously decorations, but they’re what they have… they call them stunt trees. It’s not stunt person. No. These are stunt trees because we have a tree that’s going to be in the front foyer. Of course, it’s going to get destroyed. What else are Christmas trees for in movies?
If you see a tree in a movie, you know it’s going down. This tree goes down and they immediately have backup trees. They’ve got backup stunt trees that have been decorated exactly like the tree that went down. You’ve got to have that continuity. They got a continuity editor. He’s like, “Oh no, that ornament’s off.” No. They had all these trees. We counted 15 to 16 stunt trees and they were storing the stunt trees in our bedroom. We would go to bed at night in a forest of Marvel magic and wake up. You know when you get a good sleep and you’re like, “I don’t know where I am. I don’t know who I am. I don’t know what’s going on”? Okay. It was like that for every morning, for a month, waking up in a Marvel forest.
I’m like, “If ever I was to record a Christmas album, this would be the year to do it. I mean, we’ve already been given the gift of winning the Kevin Bacon game. I think it’s time to give back to the people.” Then two, when am I ever going to have a follow-up to an album titled Milk & Honey? It obviously just writes itself: Milk & Cookies.
This was the year. To be in a festive mood, as I said, we wouldn’t go… There’s no way I could get to the Christmas season before Thanksgiving. That means, I would have to write a record in December to release the following year. Nobody wants to do that. That doesn’t sound like any fun. You’re going to do something and nobody gets to hear it till years later. That doesn’t sound like a good idea. I just didn’t want to do one.
Then all of a sudden we wound up in a magical Marvel Wonderland and it was meant to be. This is the year of the Crowder Christmas. Yeah. That’s how this happened.
You can see Crowder’s house in The Guardians of the Galaxy Christmas Special on Nov. 25 on Disney+.
