A lot of holiday music is harmonically rather dark. But instrumentally and in the performances, it's bright and cheerful... Certain piano tones and lyrical topics-of festivity and Jesus, mostly-are clichés of the genre.
If you look at the Christmas canon, it's all wrapped up in nostalgia. The canon hasn't changed much over the decades... What many people like about holiday music is that it reminds us of previous holidays, especially childhood's.
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