The holiday season is upon us in full swing, and nowhere is it more curiously amusing than at Cabot Square. It's the Bubble Boy brought to a new height: small ensembles entertained park-goers and pigeons alike with their festive and upbeat music. The catch, of course, is that they're - wait for it - inside a big ol' plastic bubble!

This might be the worst piece of reporting in the history of the blogosphere: I failed to get a picture, a band name, or even a website for the trio of dudes that I happened upon at lunch on Monday. I tried going back today, hoping they would reappear, but to no avail (if you have any info, please share!). Picture three regular-enough guys - jeans, sweater-vests, bearded (regular enough, right?) - playing a double bass, clarinet, and banjo (?) inside a big plastic bubble, delighting lunching students, busy workers, and passers-by (one particularly young and adorable spectator asked whether the men slept in there) for a lunchtime concert.

Listening to a catchy clarinet version of "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" made me think, though: isn't it peculiar how December brings out the whimsical philanthropist in us all? Whether donating a few gifts to Sun Youth (they haven't yet met their goal this year, hint hint!) or delivering some meals with Santropol Roulant (they deliver meals right through the holidays, and would love your help, hint hint!), somehow when it's in the name of the "holiday season," our hearts grow a few sizes and our pockets open wider a few inches. I'm no Scrooge McDuck - au contraire, in fact; I shed tears no fewer than 3 times during a recent screening of Home Alone. I just think it's interesting that we need a once-a-year excuse to be benevolent.

So I'm glad that these guys are in their bubble, playing music for everyone to enjoy. I'm just saying that perhaps this "cheery" feeling evoked in people's hearts upon seeing these bubble-bound chaps can carry into 2012.

Stay posted this weekend when we look at another example of holiday-artist-in-a-box at the Weihnachtsmarkt-esque display of fun-tivities in the park opposite Église Saint-Enfant-Jésus on St-Dominique.

Thanks to flickr user chasingfun for the picture of Wayne Coyne of The Flaming Lips in a bubble, and to Dr. Seuss for the classic image of a heart growing three sizes.