When I look out our windows at home, the colder November sights I see are always accompanied by the sounds of A Winter’s Solstice or Celtic Christmas by Windham Hill – a few series of CDs I’ve played since college.
In my junior year, one of my roommates was playing them before the Christmas break and I glommed onto them. I gravitated to Hillary’s room often to play one of them in her stereo.
I bought five of them for my mom for Christmas that year, and burned them all for myself off of hers (sorry, Windham Hill). I still have them and they are a staple of my winter life.
Since I’ve listened to these discs every November and December for the last 25 years, the songs and even the CD covers are loaded with nostalgia for me. They are packed with my memories of all the stages of my own growth, our children’s growth, and the aging of everyone in my original family.
When we moved here, the pastor of our church, Dick Staub, happened to invite his friend Jeff Johnson, a Windham Hill artist, and some of Jeff’s musical friends, to play a December Christmas concert here. It has since been an Orcas Island Community Church tradition every year. What a bonus for someone like me!
Brian Dunning, Wendy Goodwin, Jeff Johnson, and Eric Miller at our church 
Wendy Goodwin 
Brian Dunning
Over the years, I’ve come to realize that Windham Hill has made a lot of collections for wintertime, and I’ve found that every one of them is good.
If you’re looking for wonderful background music to accompany your cooking, cleaning, family time, or alone time through these colder, cozier months, look for these as well as the other winter compilations Windham Hill has made…
I would also recommend a four CD set called Noel by the women’s group Anonymous Four. I have to play these every December.
https://www.amazon.com/Noël-Carols-Chants-Christmas-Set/dp/B000A5HJUO
Thank you, Louise!!