LEWISTON – Roasting chestnuts and reindeer games still sell.

That’s the message beneath the Santa hat, hovering above hundreds of holiday CDs at Bull Moose Music.

Since before Thanksgiving, the Maine-based record chain has been selling large numbers of its seasonal CDs, even coming up short on some titles that have been moving faster than expected.

The same weekend that many people were eating turkey leftovers, some stores sold out of “James Taylor at Christmas.”

“There was a run on it that week,” said Chris Brown, vice president of operations for the Bull Moose chain.

Why? Maybe Taylor made a TV appearance that week that caught people’s attention. Maybe the recent bump in record sales – fueled by recordings from Incubus, Eminem and, yes, the Beatles – have rubbed off on the holiday market.

Or maybe Mainers were caught up in the holiday spirit.

“We know that holiday music buys skew older than others,” Brown said. There is also a new crop of CDs.

Besides Taylor’s, offerings include Sarah McLachlan’s “Wintersong” and Twisted Sister’s “Twisted Christmas.”

The McLachlan CD is at No. 7 on the Billboard album charts. Taylor, who first broke the charts 36 years ago, is at No. 18 with his album.

Even Twisted Sister, last popular in the 1980s, is doing well.

“They have sold more CDs in the last month than they have sold of their reunion DVD, released last year,” Brown said.

Bull Moose declines to release its sales figures. However, a cashier at the Lewiston branch has been watching the CDs sell. She’d add the Trans-Siberian Orchestra to the mix of big sellers.

And in most cases, the buyers need to ask little of her.

“They know what they’re looking for,” she said.

Bull Moose does what it can to lend a hand, Brown said.

“We learned a while ago to put all the holiday music in one place,” he said.

Right beneath the hat.