Mingle, Jingle, and Scream, Jill Schoelen’s Horror Christmas

It’s Christmas, dammnit, and Horror Heals is decking the halls with horror, heart, and holiday cheer.

This episode marks the relaunch of one of our most beloved Christmas conversations, featuring horror icon Jill Schoelen, actress, fan favorite, and now holiday music maker. Jill joins us to talk about returning to creativity after stepping away, why the horror community remains one of the most welcoming spaces around, and how Christmas music can coexist beautifully with a love of all things spooky.

We dive into Jill’s holiday release, Christmas Is Forever, including her joyful original song Mingle and Jingle, which is all about showing up for life, leaning into connection, and letting the season pull you back into the moment.

We also talk about one of the most fun horror holiday collaborations you will hear all year, Here Comes Santa Claus, featuring a lineup of horror royalty including Barbara Crampton, Judie Aronson, Diane Franklin, and more. It’s festive, playful, and proof that horror fans know how to bring the light when it counts.

Along the way, Jill shares thoughtful insight into why horror resonates so deeply with so many people, how fear can be cathartic rather than harmful, and why physical media like vinyl still matters, especially when it comes to art made with intention.

If the holidays are joyful for you, this episode adds to the fun. If the holidays are complicated, this episode reminds you that you are not alone.

Because horror has always been a home for outsiders, survivors, and people who feel deeply. And yes, even at Christmas.

Stream Jill’s music, support independent artists, hug your fellow weirdos, and remember, when someone asks, is horror good for mental wellness, you tell them, of corpse it is.

Thank you for listening to Horror Heals. 

Share the show with someone who loves horror and someone who needs a little healing.

If you want to support our guests, check the show notes for links to their work, conventions, and fundraising pages.

You can also listen to our sister podcast Family Twist, a show about DNA surprises, identity, and the families we find along the way.

Horror Heals is produced by How the Cow Ate the Cabbage LLC.

Is horror good for mental wellness? Of corpse it is.

Transcript

Crypt Keeper Cold Open, John Kassir welcomes Horror Heals

John Kasir The Crypt Keeper 0:11

Hello, foils and dudes. It's your old Val trying to hear the voice of the good people. And I want to welcome my good friends of the Horror Heels podcast. It's horror good for mental wellness. But of course it is. I delight in the delicious deaths of pitiful people on the still. So get ready for a hell of a good time with my new fiends, Cory and Kendall. On the Horror Heels Podcast.

Corey 1:01

Hey horror heliacs, it's Christmas gamut. Which means joy and family and a completely unnecessary level of stress about whether a gift bag is nice enough. I'm Corey, and this is Horror Heals, the podcast where we celebrate the healing power of horror and we do it with love, laughter, and the occasional emotional support slasher. Today we've got Jill Sholen on the show. Horror icon, absolute delight, and now the creator of a Christmas release that is festive, fun, and proof that you could bring light into the darkness without pretending the darkness isn't there. And honestly, that's our whole thing. We talk about the horror community, the magic of conventions, and how something as simple as a movie, a song, or a shared obsession can pull you out of your own head. We were so excited to talk to Jill that we just started chatting and forgot to introduce her on the show. We were talking about our other podcast, Family Twist, and Kendall was sharing his found family story with Jill, and we just got carried away, so away we go.

Jill Schoelen on “River” and adoption, holiday feelings get real

Jill 2:02

Songs on my record on my Christmas album, River. That's a Joni Mitchell tune. And somebody told me that they had read that that song has to do with how she gave up a girl for adoption. I don't know if that's true.

Kendall 2:23

Interesting.

Jill 2:24

I mean, the song sounds like a love story with a man, and it probably was, right?

Kendall 2:30

Right.

Jill 2:31

But I don't know how old she was or whatever. But they also told me that she just never could. I don't know if she ever went back to the idea of wanting to meet her. I think it's maybe for a mom too painful, maybe.

Kendall 2:47

Yeah. My dad was the complete opposite. My dad, his wife knew that I existed. You know what I mean? They wanted to try to find me, but they had no way. So it's been amazing. It's been crazy and cool. And we're gonna go see my brother and his wife and their kids on Christmas Day. Fantastic. You know, it's funny. You don't think you'll ever really give up, but when I turned 40, I felt like I had exhausted every resource to try to find people, and this was a little bit before the DNA stuff was happening that just opened all these doors.

Jill 3:24

Yes, yes. Wow, you guys, fantastic.

Why Horror Heals exists, the Sam Raimi convention moment

Corey 3:29

Yeah. It's it's really kind of funny how our podcasts sort of cross over to each other. We've got the Family Surprise podcast, and then now with horror heels. So thank you for mentioning the Joni Mitchell song because it just sort of ties into the whole holiday thing and you know adoption thing. We're definitely going to talk about your album because we are Christmas music fanatics here. Yes. But real quick, I just want to remind the listeners why we do this. So I was at a horror convention about a year and a half ago, waiting in line to meet Sam Raimi. And there was this young man behind me who was clearly in duress, you know, very, very anxious, kind of muttering to himself and stepping back and forth. And so I was about to say, hey, if you want to step out of line and come back in when it's your turn, you know, totally, totally fine. But the guy next to him said, noticed the stack of DVDs he was holding, and he uh, you know, it's like, oh, I really love that movie. All of a sudden, all that anxiety washed off this young man's face, and he had made a new friend, and they were just chatting away until it was their turn to meet Sam Raimi. I immediately called Kendall because we've been talking about doing horror podcasts because we're horror fanatics. And I said, Well, I think I got I think I got it.

Kendall 4:41

So the angle we could use.

Corey 4:43

We've had some greats on the show. D Wallace, she's remarks how often people come up to her and just say, like, you know, ET saved my life, or you know, this movie saved my life, and thank you so much.

Jill Schoelen on fandom, Babes in Toyland, and why horror works

Jill 4:54

The nature. Yes, I'm always so surprised. I don't do a lot of shows, but it seems to be the ones that I go to. There's always at least one person, usually a few, that say, you're the only reason I came to this show. And that always shocks me because that's normally at the bigger shows with really huge stars. And they're like, never go out, you're never anywhere, but just means the world to me. But yes, people talk about their experiences. I think a film that really affected a lot of people, and it's not horror, where they say the impact this movie made on their life is a little film called Babes in Toyland. Yeah, it's a Christmas film with Keanu and Keanu Reeves and Drewberry Moore and many other stars. And but people talk about that film and how much it meant to them to sit with their grandma or their mom watching that film and their siblings. I think horror in general, I find that a lot of people are attracted to horror on an unconscious psychological level. Let me use an analogy first. It's like I've always thought to myself, well, why do people pay so much money to go to a sporting event? I'm convinced it's because they don't know the outcome. And when they watch the players play and the excitement, they get to kind of live vicariously. It tunes them into the moment and life, and it's, you know, this heightened kind of thing. And I think that same kind of conduit, living life vicariously happens with a lot of horror fans and seeing these horror movies that their characters they relate to, or they're just relating to surviving the horrificness because they feel something in their life was so askew, or whatever. It it's like almost like a relief for some for us, it's definitely a release.

Kendall 7:12

Yeah, it's escapism, growing up gay.

Corey 7:15

Like we always saw ourselves as outsiders relating to those characters, those outsider characters, and there's you know, there's one or more in every feature that you can relate to.

Jill 7:25

I think it's interesting because it's so changed, you know, with people who are gay. It's so is changed, right? Like now people they just come out right away. But there was a time, you know, certainly going back into the 70s and 80s, where people really did feel the need. I mean, they still feel the need, they still feel the need to that initial thing of coming out, and it's not even that the family would reject them. Of course not, they're loved in their families, but they just don't know how to do it because maybe they're a family that goes to church or you know, so they there's just a lot of fear. And then for some people it's it's real because you know, there's prejudice that exists. I find it interesting if it's okay to talk about because there's a lot of the gay population I find that's very into horror. Am I making that up?

Corey 8:31

You do no, no, I think you're right. And I think part of it is because of the community is so inclusive. You know, when you go to a horror convention, it's all walks of life there, you know, and it's and so it's you know, not only gay people being able to be open and out at a horror convention, I think it's also a release for other types of folks because you'll have like doctors and lawyers there that are probably not out as horror fans, but they absolutely love horror, but in their professional life, you know, they don't talk about it because there's that stigma which is thankfully changing as war becomes more mainstream and and we're seeing all kinds of amazing stories being told this year, especially. We're probably gonna see a horror movie or a couple of them up for best picture, you know, which is remarkable. I could see sinners, I could see weapons, you know, up there too. Yeah, and it's what a what a year for war this has been. Yeah, yeah.

Jill 9:23

Well, one of the things though, and it kind of makes me mad, is that some of these movies that do get that attention, they have the budgets, you know, to really keep horror alive and well, really like all genres, not just horror. They've got to change. I feel, can you tell my whole voice changed? Um, I'm in my mind now. Okay, guys. Yeah, but I mean, I feel very strongly about this. They have got to change this, the concept of like a handful of films getting all the money, and all the rest of the films getting no money, you know, horror films being made on a shoestring budget. It's like we need financial middle class for five to twenty million dollars. We need more films than that. Because if they're made, they'll be well received. But it's very hard to make a good film for no money. People, you don't have without, you know, right. People are resources too, so you need the resources to get the resources, but on the other hand, the horror community is so supportive of the horror community that people are willing to do small films, not only actors, but directors and people just want to they love the genre so much, they just want to be making these films. So there's that part. I'd still like there to be more money involved and make better films, you know, higher quality films.

Corey 11:11

Yeah.

Jill 11:12

Like the ones that you mentioned.

Corey 11:15

Well, and I think it's that camaraderie, too, of people coming together for a project, for a creative project, which leads us right into your Christmas album and what a crazy, wild, fun collaboration that was, right?

Jill Schoelen’s comeback story, COVID, “It’s time,” and making the album

Jill 11:26

Yes, it was. You know, I've been retired for a long time. It was very it was a weird chain of events that happened when I got really sick with COVID. My life changed because I thought, okay, well, this is it. This is all that there is, you know. And I couldn't recover. And I heard this voice deep down inside me as I couldn't breathe, made me think a lot about life. Like, oh my god, how did this happen? How did I arrive here? I'm so healthy. And I heard this voice and it said, It's time, and it wasn't time to go. Yeah, and it was so bizarre because within no time at all, I got a phone call from Diana Prince. She's the Darcy the Mail girl.

Corey 12:26

Yes, yes.

Jill 12:28

So she got in touch with me and said, You want to come? I want so bad you come be on uh Joe Buck Brick show. It's called The Last Drive In, and we want to do a thing about popcorn. And so I did that. And then Barbara Crampton sent me an email. Never met Barbara Crampton. Barbara Crampton sends me an email. Would you be willing to work and talk to this director? So I talked to him. I did his short in his anthology that'll be coming out. Then I get this phone call from the ex-CEO of 20th Century Fox saying she's retired there, but she wants to make this film, and it's a self-finance film. Would I be willing to open myself up to work again? Having no idea that I just did the short film. She knew I'd been retired for 29 years, and I did their film, and then I got a phone call about doing another film. It's been very bizarre, like complete nothing, and then all of a sudden to be working again. Because I got COVID after COVID was over. I never had in the big part, you know, when I had it later. But anyway, when the shutdown stopped and all that, that's when I got it. Maybe that's why I got it, let down my guard a little bit. Who knows? I to the Christmas album. One of the films was called Rouse Perfect Christmas. And it had this huge horror twist in it. And during about maybe nine months ago or something, they were talking about how they were working on the post-production, the music part of the film. They had the edit, they blah blah blah. And they said, Oh, yeah, well, we're looking for Christmas songs now. And I'm like, Oh, I have some Christmas songs, ones that are recorded years ago. And anyway, they are using one of those songs in the film, and that's what led me to wanting to do a Christmas album. I thought, hmm, I've got a Christmas film. I've always wanted to do a real Christmas album. It's time.

Kendall 14:47

Yeah, sure.

Jill 14:52

So yeah, it's an EP. You know, it's just an EP. Although the physical LP, which I sell on my website, and I have a red vinyl special edition of it, as well as the C D, and they're both completely different packaging. The C D has the pamphlet and tells the whole story and everything like that. But anyway, that has my older songs on it that I had previously, but not the one that's going to be in the movie because that's a surprise.

Kendall 15:29

Cool, cool.

Jill 15:31

That album nine songs on it, but the digital EP only has the five.

Corey 15:36

And it's fantastic. We love upbeat Christmas music, and you never know what to expect when somebody's got a new Christmas song or album. And so it was a delightful surprise for being so upbeat and so fun.

“Here Comes Santa Claus” collaboration with Jill Schoelen and fellow scream queens

Jill 15:48

Oh, the Here Comes Santa Claus with Barbara Crampton and Chrissy Fox and Judy Aaronson and Diane Franklin, 80s big Diane Franklin.

unknown 15:59

Yes.

Jill 16:00

When I it was so funny because I handpicked that song months and months before even thinking about who I wanted to bring onto that song. Because there was this part of me that was like, well, there's so much darkness in the world right now. So much darkness in the world. And we know that people involved in horror, lovely people. But if you're not part of the horror community, then you think, oh, I would, you know, there are those people, I would never watch a horror movie. Those people that watch those kind of movies, they're, you know, they're very judgmental about the people that might watch them. So I'm like, that's not true at all. So how do you break that prejudice? You know, the nicest, kindest people I meet are the fans of horror. You know what? I need to bring some of that. So how do I get that element in? You know, I'm gonna ask some girls that are previous scream queens, except Chrissy Box, who's newer, and uh get them to sing on the song, and we'll bring a little light into all this darkness.

Corey 17:14

Now, yes, I've met Barbara and I've met Diane, and they're just fantastic people. When I saw that you were having this collaboration, I was thinking this must have been just a blast to do.

Jill 17:23

Oh, it was, but you know, the weird thing was we did it all separately. Nobody had any idea what anybody else did. I put all that together, I cut that with my music producer, Brandon. Boy, did we have fun cutting that together. But it was hard. Because each girl three, four tapes, and then it was so random. You know, I gave them a little bit of direction, but it was so much fun. But then we've had fun in shooting the video and our separate photo shoot, and we just had a big party.

Corey 17:58

We love seeing collaborations like that. You know, we've been fortunate to interview and meet so many people for luminaries, you know, and it's just I would say like 99.9% of them are just genuinely good people, even though they made this movie 30, 40 years ago, like they're still that's still their family. You know, they're still in touch with them, and it's just it's beautiful.

Jill 18:19

I was very fortunate and very surprised that Robert England invited me to his ceremony at the Walk of Fang for him to get his star. I was just like, and I was complete outsider because family, it was really all nightmare down the street people.

Corey 18:42

Were folks there surprised to see you, like some of the nightmare folks, and were they just like, wow, you know, and please come back?

Jill 18:50

I've been out of the business for so long that I think people don't recognize me when they first see me. I'm older, right? And so they just don't recognize you, or you're just out of set out of mind. Then you shake somebody's hand and you say, Oh, hi, I'm Jill Sholen, and they go, You're you know, then they know they won't know me initially. So yeah, but it's wonderful to see people and some people I knew, you know, and knew me. I know Amanda Wis and Tim Myers, and but not a lot. I'm very shy, painfully shy, but I'm shy in a public environment to go and say hello to people out. I'm just I don't know why. Just have always been.

Corey 19:47

I'm a little bit that way too. I think people are surprised when I say that because this is my Leo over here. Yeah, here's what I started doing years ago at the horror conventions. I wear the wildest sequenty, shiny blade. Your suits, you know, or like a nice red velvet smoking jacket or something, and it's a conversation starter that I don't have to start the conversation because somebody's coming up to me, you know. That's poor. That's what works for me.

Jill 20:15

I love that.

Corey 20:17

Do you foresee maybe now that you're only semi-retired and kind of getting into making more films that we might see you pop up at a convention or two next year or the year after?

Jill 20:27

I love meeting all the fans of horror. I I don't I'm not invited. I mean, I'll just be tell you frankly, I'm not I the promoters just I don't know why. I think because I'm more niche in the horror problem.

Corey 20:47

I wonder if it's just that they're because you've you know been out of the business for so long that it's just not that they don't want to have you, but they just it hasn't crossed their mind. I mean, there are some really great conventions here on the East Coast, and you know, I'll I'll definitely put the fielders out there and and say, hey, you know, Jill would love to meet the fans because I there are I'm sure there are a lot of people that would come out, as you said, just for you, because you know, like they've been waiting, you know, they had never had the opportunity to say hello and and get their popcorn, you know, signed.

Jill 21:19

I went about five or six years ago now, maybe could be seven to the Mahoney drive-in. So I went there, and that was a Gillam, so that was nice because they showed multiple of my films there. And but that's not a convention. Right. I did Chiller, I did that a year ago, but before that, I have not been to the East Coast at a convention since I think 2011.

Corey 21:51

I was even remarking to Kendall that I'm because I was going pretty frequently, like four or five a year, and I was like, boy, but I've never I've never seen Jill at one of these. So yeah, we'll yeah, we'll we'll put the good uh feels out into the universe, and let's and maybe we can get you out here next year.

Jill 22:07

And Corey, it surprises me that you're shy. First of all, you have the most joyful face, you just illuminate light from you. Beautiful smile. Both of you have gorgeous smiles.

Kendall 22:21

Thank you.

Jill 22:22

But you're a fire sign, and so am I. We're supposed to be out there in public. And but you do wear the sequence jacket.

Corey 22:34

That's just it's funny. I I think it was maybe one of the last conventions I went to, and Greg Nicotaro was there, and he had invited Brett Butler to come because she was doing The Walkie Dead at the time and hadn't really been out in the public eye in a while. She immediately had to come up and give me a big hug.

Jill 22:56

Oh, I love it.

Corey 22:57

So it definitely sparked something.

Jill 23:00

So great. I just bought a sequence jacket. I went to the sphere in Vegas, and I saw The Wizard of Oz there. And when I saw that red sequence jacket afterwards, I'm like, that is mine.

Corey 23:18

I agree. I've heard so many good things. What was your experience like seeing that? Because that's one of our favorite movies.

Jill 23:24

I mean, it's my all-time favorite film. One of these days, I threatened either to write a very long article or a book on the Wizard of Oz, but not in the traditional sense, not in the sense of the filmmaking part of it. But for me, the Wizard of Oz is a roadmap to life. You know, speaking of the yellow brick road, my first indication, this is what happens, my favorite movie as a child. And then I didn't see the movie for years and years and years. And I think around the time my children were small in my 30s is when I saw it again. And when it got to the scarecrow and she comes to the crossroads, as a child, I remember having the thought, oh, like, you know, I went to Catholic school, so oh, thank heaven, thank heaven, pick the right road to get to the M city. And then when I saw it as an adult, I was like, I was so wrong about that. Didn't matter what road she chose, didn't matter what path. She just needed to be on the path, right? And Glinda, the good witch, not to be totally off on this, but I just I'm just it just makes me so excited. But and they cut this part. That was the one thing I did not like about seeing it at the sphere, was they cut down the movie and just went and one of my favorite lines is when Judy Garland, Dorothy, says, Well, how do I start for the Emerald City? And Glinda replies, Well, it's always best to start at the beginning, right? All you have to do is start. Then that's just start, and it gets you on the path, and you will find your Emerald City. And it's like, what's at the top of every mountain? Another mountain.

Corey 25:29

Yes. Well, and I found that out the hard way a couple of years ago when we took, we're both scared of heights, and we took what do they call those little cars up the mountain with my mom, and my mom was like, Don't turn around and still look because you can't tell from the bottom, you know, where the top's gonna be. That was terrifying.

Jill 25:46

Where did you go? Where were you?

Corey 25:48

We were in the White Mountains in New Hampshire. And yeah, it was beautiful, but it was frightening. And they had just got a surprise, two feet of snow.

Jill 25:59

But you didn't it didn't give you a panic attack if you were fear of hights?

Kendall 26:03

If I was a little anxious, I just imagined the car just falling and because yeah.

Jill 26:11

My brain have you ever had a panic attack?

Corey 26:15

I had a mild one, and I was like that's another time I was with Kendall and my mom. We were just on some hike or something, and it was just got a little too the the path got a little too narrow for me, and we were a little too high, and my mom had to talk me down.

Jill 26:29

There's nice little panic attack, yeah.

Corey 26:32

Right, exactly.

Jill 26:33

And I was nervous about going to the sphere for that reason because I had read whatever, I didn't have the problem at all there. No issue. I wasn't sitting on the edge of one of the balconies, you know, and I was just in the first balcony because I have a neck issue. I'm having surgery in in a couple months here. I have a big surgery coming up, and I heard if you sit on the floor here like this, well, I can't be in that position any longer than what I did.

John Kasir The Crypt Keeper 27:03

Right.

Jill 27:04

So, yeah, I I found I had no issues there, but like I stay in in my hotel, I'm like, first ten floors, please. Yeah, I would do not be my brother. He got a room up on the 55th floor. He's like, come on up, have a glass of champagne. I'm like, you would need to give me five bottles of champagne. And then I can't drink more than a glass because I, you know, just don't like to drink more than a glass. So it wasn't gonna happen.

Kendall 27:38

Yeah, I'm we I have no interest in that level of height.

Jill 27:44

No, it's biological.

Kendall 27:46

I believe that.

Jill 27:48

It's like a brain thing. Some people have it, some people don't.

Corey 27:51

Right? Yeah. I'm terrified. Yeah. See, because I will get on a roller coaster by Kendallwell.

Jill 27:58

Oh, we're fire sign. You love roller coasters.

Kendall 28:04

I'm a cancer. I do not enjoy any of that motion.

Corey 28:09

So, Jill, we're I'm gonna edit this episode today so it gets out in time for Christmas so people can at least uh stream the Christmas album, and then once they stream it, they're gonna love it. Then they're gonna go on your website and buy physical copy because we're all about physical media here still, like we're big vinyl collectors.

Jill 28:27

Let me tell you, I can work. Could you sign it though? I will sign it. Okay, so let me tell you about my vinyl really quickly. I fear not enough people are buying them because of the price, but I only made a hundred. So do you know the cost making a hundred?

Corey 28:46

I can only buy very costly.

Jill 28:49

So I only sell them autographed because there's that's just how I've been selling them.

Kendall 28:55

It's cool.

Jill 28:56

Um I'm not selling it just with the vinyl, but the other reason I'm selling it autograph is because I think it's in the long run a gift to the fans. They're a hundred dollars, right? For the vinyl and autographed. I sign them, and on the website, it gives you the option to say however you want to have it autographed to anybody that does buy them. But it's beautiful, it's this red opaque. Oh, it's so pretty. They are a little costly, but because there's only a hundred of them, once they are sold out. I know you know this about vinyl, instantly they become value.

John Kasir The Crypt Keeper 29:38

Sure.

Jill 29:39

Once there's five left, even they'll the price will probably jack up. That's just the nature of you know, supply and demand for hardly being there.

Corey 29:50

As collectors, we know that. Yeah. The last question that we ask every guest here on the Warrior Heels podcast, and we know this is probably putting you on the spot, so feel free to think about it for a moment. Who is your favorite final person, the survivor of a Warren movie?

Jill 30:05

Oh my am I allowed to say me?

Kendall 30:09

Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely.

Jill 30:12

A joke. A joke. Gosh, boy, I have never ever thought about that. Yeah, I don't know. I mean, I think, oh gosh, oh no, you've got me stung.

Corey 30:27

We've gotten some really interesting answers, but I can tell you at the top the top ones are Ripley and Alien, um Mancy in uh Nightmare on Elm Street, of course, and probably the top is Jamie Lee Curtis, Lori Strode in Halloween.

unknown 30:44

Yeah.

Jill 30:46

Yeah. Well, I think that that makes sense, but I think now that I'm listening, I would say Ripley, right? Because she's in space, and that A, she's in space. She had to be smart, and she also had to be confronted, really, you know, face her fear, not just survive her fear, but she had to conquer it. She had to say, okay, I'm gonna motherfucking meet this thing, finding that thing in you. It's like no, you're not taking me down. So I I I go there. And guess what? I was just watching him the other day. I watched, I think, one, two, and three all in one day.

Corey 31:34

Wow, that's awesome.

Jill 31:35

Just maybe 10 days ago or something.

Corey 31:39

That's thank you so much for some taking some time to talk to us. Thank you for the wonderful Christmas album. And uh yeah, and have an amazing Christmas.

Jill 31:48

Yes, can I say one more thing about this? Absolutely, of course, my single, it's on the EP, but then I also did a separate single of it because it was the one song I wrote, and it's called Mingle and Jingle. And a lot of people tell me it's their favorite song on the record. I wrote this song, it has a one little knot to horror in it, in the lyric, in the first, the first verse in the song, and it's a little knot to horror in it. It says, Turn away your frights and fear, or turn turn a quote, no, not turn away something frights and fear. Anyway, I forget my own lyric. I'm always this way. I it's like I look at myself on the screen and I refer to the person as she, and I hear I'm in the studio, and I'm listening to myself sing the song, and I go, Well, she does this one part here, you know, and she because that's the artist in you, right? That's not you, Jill on the planet, and then there's like the artist, the thing that comes out of you. So I talk in third person about myself, and but in mingle and jingle, the reason I wrote that song, it just came to me one day on a long walk. This idea of mingling and jingling, and how mingle and jingle brings the holiday tingle. But I really wanted to write it about that voice I heard, like it's time. And I always thought I was already fully showing up. I had to learn that I wasn't fully showing up to life. COVID taught me that. And so mingle and jingle, when I wrote that song, it was really about coming back to life. It's time, you know. Let's you can sit there or you can come and be part of life. So let's mingle and jingle and get that holiday tingle.

Corey 33:47

Cool, perfect. That's wonderful. I love it. Excellent. Well, thank you so much again.

Jill 33:53

I hope I get to meet you at a convention.

Kendall 33:57

It would be wonderful. We would look for a bright sequence, Jack. Right.

Jill 34:03

Oh, well, we might be the only two. If I know you're gonna be there, I'll bring mine.

Corey 34:08

There you go. Perfect. Huge thanks to Jill Scholan for joining us and for giving us the rare holiday gift of being both joyful and real. No forced cheer, no fake perfection, just the good stuff. Go stream Jill's release Christmas is forever, right now. And if you're a collector, go grab the physical copy. This supports the artists who actually make things and support the kind of art that makes the season feel a little less heavy. And for anyone who's listening who's feeling the weird side of the holidays, the grief side, the lonely side, the complicated side, we see you. Horror has always been a safe place for the outsiders, the anxious, the tender hearts, and the people who need a little catharsis with their cocoa. So follow the show, leave a review, share the episode, and come hang out with us on Instagram. Merry Christmas. Stay spooky. And remember, when someone asks, is horror good for mental wellness? You tell them of Corpsians. The Horror Heels Podcast is produced and presented by How the Cow Ate the Cabbage, LLC.