“I can kill a man, dismember his body and be home in time for Letterman. But knowing what to say when my girlfriend’s feeling insecure … I’m totally lost.”

So laments the protagonist in Showtime’s critically acclaimed Dexter — originally based on Jeff Lindsay’s novel Darkly Dreaming Dexter — one of the most imaginative, entertaining and haunting shows on television.

Picture this: amid the bedlam of the city — the hum of restless murmurs and bustling urgency — the din of Sinatra’s rendition of “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas” is playing.

Ephemeral and seemingly transcendent of our current sphere — dotted with street lamps, house-tops and building strewn about — carefully falls the season’s early sparkling snow, one of Mother Nature’s most powerful tools of change. Fleeting memories of simplicity and peace abound, alluring and familiar, like an old refrain.

Few can resist the electric draw of Christmas magic. The thousands of twinkling lights. The idyllic, Norman Rockwell-esque comfort of sitting in front of a fire with loved ones. The evolution of Christmas itself is reflected in the very music that supercharges the season.

Anyone who truly appreciates music, appreciates it on a deep, visceral level and enjoys a wide variety of sound. No, we’re not just talking about listening to everything on the radio, but rather having an ear to admire how this art form has evolved and flourished over time. Whatever our musical commitment, we as humans each innately possess a unique inner sense of rhythm, melody and flow — whether it be witnessing a complex orchestration onstage or simply being outdoors.