Welcome back to Good Music Monday at Carrots! No matter what last week was like for you, I think we could all use some music that makes us feel like we’re wrapped up in a giant blanket. The sort of thing that you can listen to when you sit by the fire or put something in the oven or turn on the space heater. But I’m kind of a stickler for not listening to proper Christmas music until much closer to the actual Christmas season and never before Thanksgiving. (I’m not judging you, post-Halloween Christmas carol enjoyers. You keep on. I just can’t.)
I want my Advent music during Advent and my Christmas music during Christmas. But, then what do you listen to when prepping Thanksgiving dinner?
In case there’s other crotchety folks out there who want to creep into holiday cheer without jumping the gun on Christmas music, I wanted to come up with a few songs that conjure feelings of snug winter without that pesky out-of-season music guilt.
Ready for some good music?
(You might have to click over to the actual site to access the Spotify playlist if you’re reading on a feed reader.)
- White Winter Hymnal: Fleet Foxes (Such a great one. It’s been a favorite for ages.)
- I’ll Build You a Fire: Seabear (Seabear is my go-to cold weather music. They’re Scandinavian or Icelandic. From somewhere frigid. So it just SOUNDS COLD.)
- Mister Winter: Fox and the Bird (A new-to-me song that goes perfectly with the season.)
- Sit Down by the Fire: The Veils (Another new-to-me cozy one.)
- Sister Winter: Sufjan Stevens (Love love LOVE this one. Haunting and beautiful. One of my favorite from Sufjan’s holiday albums. I even let it slide into the mix despite it saying, “to wish you a Merry Christmas” at the end. Mea culpa.)
- Winter Song: The Head and the Heart (I can’t seem to make a playlist lately without The Head and the Heart).
- 16, Maybe Less: Calexico/Iron & Wine (I’m a little obsessed with this whole album, but this one makes me feel so nostalgic, sad, and ready for a strolls through a Christmas Tree farm.)
- Winter Song: Sara Bareilles/Ingrid Michaelson (Recommended by a friend. New-to-me. Totally digging it.)
- Winter Winds: Mumford & Sons (Super obvious. Sorry. You know you love it. Or maybe you don’t. I still do.)
- Tracks in the Snow: The Civil Wars (Another rec from a friend.)
- Winter in my Heart: The Avett Brothers (Heart eyes.)
- Fox in the Snow: Belle and Sebastian (This album was my JAM in high school and it’s still so good.)
Thanks for the list –
you might try Winter’s Tale by Queen – it is one of the last songs Freddie Mercury wrote – a different tune but you might like it
You’re welcome, Lisa!
Listening to your great playlist while the kids and I eat breakfast 🙂
I try to stand by the no Christmas music before Christmas with one very notable excepion: we are a musical family, and need to practive our Christmas songs way before advent even begins!
Good point!
Here’s another great one, which never fails to bring tears to my eyes.
https://youtu.be/ubeVUnGQOIk
YES. ^^^^
I’ve seen the book but never this! Love it 🙂
The full version of the animated book is about 26 min and is on YouTube…watch it with your kids (or by yourself) and you won’t be disappointed!!!
So that’s where this song comes from! We have an instrumental version of it from a piano album called “Christmas at the Movies” by Michael Chertock (which isn’t on you-tube, unfortunately). So haunting and beautiful. And wintry 🙂
This would/will be such a great playlist for me come June/July in Australia! For quite awhile after moving here, I just wanted to listen to Christmas music when the weather got cold and chilly. But now I don’t want Christmas music so much as WINTRY music. So this is perfect!
A couple songs off Sarah McLachlan’s Wintersong were about the only ones I could find in my collection that seemed to fit what I was looking for last winter, so love the additional ideas. Thanks! 🙂
I didn’t think about Wintersong! Good idea 🙂
Thank you! It’s a struggle to get my family to hold off on Christmas music until Halloween, let alone Advent, but I’ve been wishing for some non-festive wintry selections for when it’s my turn to pick the tunes. This list is perfect – both for the fast before the feast, and for post-Candlemass when it isn’t Lent yet but still totally winter. Thanks again for sharing!
Great mix! Two other great ones are Audrey Assad – Midwinter and Winter Snow 🙂
You might want to listen to George Winston’s December album. It’s piano music that is quiet and reflective and perfect for cuddling up with a mug of something warm by a fireplace or with a good book.
We listened to that in my house when I was little! That’s a great idea. <3