After receiving numerous requests from our friends and fans wanting to purchase our Christmas album, we decided it would be a good idea to finally make one.

The requests crescendoed when we first performed “I Have Seen the King.” In late November 2012, we were asked to perform a song in a Christmas concert. The songs throughout the concert were to portray the various pieces and perspectives of the story of Jesus’ birth. For our contribution, we were asked to perform a song about the wise men. While “We Three Kings” is a lovely song, we wanted to perform a song that was a little more historically accurate than one referring to the magi as kings from the orient. Plus, Mr. Something just couldn’t get the picture out of his head of the scene from Arrested Development where Ann is pulling a stubborn camel while trying to sing “We Three Kings” during an inner beauty pageant. Needless to say, we needed a different song. Thus, we set out to write a Magi song.

To us, the most fascinating part of the Magi story is that they, foreigners of a different religion, and not the Jewish religious leaders, were the ones who went to worship the recently born Jewish Messiah. The religious leaders and teachers had all the right answers but seemed to miss the big picture. While they knew where their prophesied king was to be born, they did not follow the Magi to worship him.

We also find it intriguing that the Magi were led by a fire in the sky (a star) similar to how the Israelites in Exodus were led by a fiery pillar of smoke.

With those themes in mind, we wrote the verses one day, wrote the bridge the next and performed it two days later. The audience response was overwhelming. For the following several weeks, we were approached by many friends and fans who told us repeatedly that they loved the song and wanted to buy our Christmas album.

Knowing that a Christmas CD is what our fans wanted to hear, we chose a couple of our favorite Christmas songs, wrote a special Mary and Joseph song (quite fitting for us in that we are a Mr. and Mrs. after all) and headed to our top notch recording studio - our apartment bedroom closet.

We reached a new milestone with this record in that we achieved a band goal to perform every instrument on every song. While we usually record at least most of the instruments on our songs, this is the first time we recorded our own drums.

All vocals, guitar, bass, banjo, drums, cello, ukulele & harmonica performed by Mr. & Mrs. Something.

“God With Us” and “I Have Seen the King” written by Benjamin and Chelsea Peck.

Produced by Mr. & Mrs. Something.

Recorded by Mr. & Mrs. Something at The Treehouse in Seattle, WA except the drums, which were recorded at Calvary Christian Assembly in Seattle, WA.

Mixed by Kevin Veatch at www.kevinveatch.com except track 3, which was mixed by Jesse Proctor at The Barn in Olalla, WA.

Mastered by Stephen Pettyjohn at Ethereal Mastering.

Album Artwork and Photography by Peter Orr.

Special thanks to: God for being with us, Joseph and Mary for believing, and the Magi for making the journey; our friends and family for their constant love and encouragement; Randy and Jan Peck, Todd and Kothra Lidstrom, and Zina Hoyt for helping us find public domain Christmas songs; Todd Lidstrom and Calvary Christian Assembly for providing drums to record and for assisting with the process; Tim Wicks for asking us to sing a Magi song; Peter and Sam Orr, Kevin and Julie Veatch, Jesse and Lara Proctor, Stephen Pettyjohn; Uncle Dave and Aunt Marti for the banjo; the Thorps, Becks, Weisses, Pecks and more for contributing to the purchase of “The Lord of the Strings”; Jackie Robbins; and finally Ryan Cunningham for begging us to record Christmas music.