All George wants for Christmas is a fog machine. He’s giving you a round up great music this holiday week.

The evocation of Vermont as the land of archetypical Christmas spirit continues. Nationwide, the idea of the state as possessing every tiny detail needed to be the ultimate vision of Christmas has persevered for a very long time, such that it is now woven into the very fabric of America’s consciousness. The abundance of fresh white snow unbroken across a rural landscape; quaint, isolated villages nestled in the mountains with carolers in front of a town meeting house; trays of homemade maple cookies on the morning of Christmas Eve … These are not realities in many places, but in Vermont, it’s just the way things are.

This year’s festive display of 117 trees, beginning at 6 p.m. Thursday, December 18, with a children’s toy making workshop with Santa himself, is sponsored by Killington restaurateurs, Realtors and various other food and retail providers in the region.

In our current economic spiral and with the holidays upon us, it is human nature to gravitate toward the discounts, clearance sales and brand name bargains that populate the papers, airwaves and ether. Hip ads on TV, pithy jingles on the radio, coupons in the dailies and pulsating banner ads online all beckon us to save, save, save yet spend, spend, spend.

Realizing that using my chosen vernacular to describe Monday night’s Bela Fleck show at the Paramount might offend certain members of the Herald audience, I was trying to think of creative ways of emphasizing my points. I thought it might be OK to say “Holy ship! That was clucking amazing!” Then again, you never know who you’re gonna offend, so I’ll try to use some normal English.

While some phrases can seem cliché, to say you had to be there to believe it seems an appropriate way to start.

A parade of torch-wielding skiers, synchronized snow-grooming, a mountainful of musical events and a Neil Diamond look-a-like who also sounds like the famous singer-songwriter are among the entertainment on tap in Killington this weekend when the resort celebrates its 50th anniversary.