It’s time to stop those Christmas songs … or is it?

I’m someone who embrace EVERYTHING about the holidays. Advent is one of my favorite times of year. Bring on the anticipation about the birth of Christ, advent calendars, movies, lights, decorations … and of course, music!

You’ll always find me decorating my house the day after Thanksgiving (I’m a traditionalist, can’t help it) with Christmas music playing. I play it with Alexa in the evenings. I play it on my computer while I work during the week. And of course, it’s always on when I’m in my car.

So, when Christmas comes and goes, I get a little blue thinking about no more anticipation, calendars, movies, and music. The lights and decorations, for me at least, get to stay around until Epiphany weekend. That helps.

But do we really have to give up ALL the “Christmas music?” I say, definitely not. Because a lot of the songs we listen to aren’t truly Christmas songs. They’re actually winter songs.

Hear me out. Do any of the following songs mention Christmas? Get out your phone, computer, or other device and look. Take your time, I’m not going anywhere.

1. Jingle Bells
2. Sleigh Ride
3. Let it Snow
4. Winter Wonderland
5. Baby It’s Cold Outside (I know this one creeps some people out nowadays, but it’s still played often)
6. A Marshmallow World
7. Susie Snowflake
8. Frosty the Snowman

You’ll see that none of these – and many other supposedly “Christmas” songs – mention the holiday. They just talk about winter.

So why do we have to stop listening to those? I say we make a separate category of seasonal songs that are for winter only. I see many advantages to this. First, we can extend some of the joy of the holiday season.

Second, many of these songs can lift your spirits when the January blues hit. I’ve written about the January blues … they’re real for so many of us. Even though it’s only Dec. 27 today, don’t let your guard down. They’re around the corner and they can be brutal.

Third, they make winter sound kind of fun. For someone who struggles with winter every January – March (let’s face it, in Indiana, March is really a winter month) I need to embrace the fun of the season.

As I wrote this, I wondered if perhaps someone else had the same idea. Lo and behold, Spotify has a playlist called “Vintage Winter Music”! YouTube has “Mix-Winter Music.” I may have squealed a bit at the discovery. It features many of the songs I listed above.

I hope you’ll join me in keeping some of the magic of the holiday season going. You can find me walking through downtown Noblesville humming “Winter Wonderland” with a gleam in my eye this January … or February … or March.

Amy Shankland is a writer and fundraising professional living in Noblesville with her husband John, two sons, two dogs, and a cat. You can reach her via email at amys@greenavenue.info.