This is more of an advent calendar than a newsletter. If you subscribe, you'll receive 13 emails every year, one on each of the 12 days before Christmas and one on Christmas day.
In each email: a single mp3 file, encoding an xmas- or winter-related song that I really like, and some words about why I like it. The words tend to be fairly personal. Not private―you can subscribe even if you don't know me―but personal, at times perhaps confusing if we're strangers.
Why do I do this? Every year I get giddy as December approaches, since it's the only time of year I allow myself to listen to Christmas music. I hope to make a few more people excited for December, and maybe even get them excited about Christmas music, too. I think Sufjan Stevens captured the appeal:
What is it about Christmas music that continues to agitate our aging heartstrings? ... Maybe this: Christmas music does justice to a criminal world, marrying sacred and profane, bellowing obtuse prophecies of a Messiah in the very same blustery breath as a candy-coated TV-jingle advertising a string of lights and a slice of fruitcake. Gloria!
So: sending songs! Seasonal melodies and sleigh bell samples. A tradition in my favourite senses, both a shared structuring of time and something special to look forward to.