Jeff Hanneman LOVED Christmas!

It may be hard to imagine but the thrash guitar titan's favourite time of year was Christmas...

When you think of Slayer the first thing that comes to mind isn't likely going to be Christmas, but for Jeff Hanneman, that was his favourite time of the year.

In a 2013 article by Revolver featuring the surviving founding band members, Tom Araya, Kerry King, and Dave Lombardo — as well as Hanneman's widow, Kathryn, shared their memories of the reclusive guitarist.

Shockingly to many fans, Kathryn shared that home life at the Hanneman's "was almost surprisingly wholesome, particularly around the holidays."

"Christmas was his absolute favorite holiday," Kathryn shared. "He loved giving gifts, and he would always get me quite a few gifts. He started me on a German nutcracker collection and a bear collection, so he was always buying me new pieces for those. For Jeff, the bigger the tree, the better. Our house has 24-foot-high cathedral ceilings, and I remember one year him coming home with a tree that was 22 feet high!"

Jeff was the least public of the band, preferring to disengage from his band mates and hang out at home, writing whenever the urge should come upon him, sleeping in and watching TV.

It was only after his passing due to liver failure on May 2, 2013 at the age of 49, that we began to learn some of the more intimate details of his life. Hanneman's official cause of death was alcohol-related cirrhosis, a result of a lifetime of heavy drinking.

That day, the world lost an incredible and talented individual and Slayer would never be the same.

So this Christmas, slip a Slayer track or two into your holiday playlist in honour of Jeff Hanneman's favourite holiday, while you are enjoying the season's festivities.

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