A Montana Christmas

Yes dear reader, Christmas is finally here, I am writing to you in the wee hours of December the 22nd with my sister still talking on the phone in the room next to me. (God rest my parents when they get THAT phone bill!) I hope as you read this blog you are hearing the music of George Winston's Album "December" being played in the background whilst multi-tasking at work or the home by shopping online trying to find places that will ship last minuet.

For me,George Winston's music has been a Carroll Family Christmas tradition for as long as I can remember. Every Christmastime my dad would pump our almost-as-old-if-not-older-than-i-am CD player with six Christmas Cd's that would play continuously throughout the holidays for any occasion. For dinner parties, visiting relatives, or to break the lull on Christmas Eve. The Cd's changed from season to season but one CD always started the season for us and would be the last CD we would listen to before the end of the Christmas season:

George Winston's "December".

For those of you unfamiliar with George Winston I will give you a brief biography, George Winston (like myself) was born in Michigan and later found his home in Montana (much like the Carroll family in the mid 90s). He is a New Age Pianist whose many successful albums include: "Autumn", "Linus and Lucy", "Montana- A Love Story", and of course "December".

For the longest time when I was younger, I used to believe that Mr. Winston was a friend of the family. That we were only one of a small number of people who would ever get to hear this beautiful music as Mr. Winston had yet to make it big. Montana is a small place and at my age I assumed we just knew everybody in the state on a first name basis. It was only in my teenage years that I discovered that this was not the case that in actuality this album had gone platinum in the US and Mr. Winston was widely known throughout the US.

"December" has the strange power of being able to capture, to me at least, what is essentially Montana. It is very simple yet breathtakingly beautiful music, that evokes both the natural beauty and the loneliness of the Montana countryside. Listening now to "Peace" I can close my eyes and see the snow fall in the early morning with the sunlight just coming up over the mountains to reveal a cabin that is the only sign of life for miles. Each song on this album sets this sort of tone, it is love ballad to Montana. It takes me back to the place where I am most happy, as I can almost hear the snow crunch underneath my boots with every note.

It is a symphony of Christmas spirit as well. It captures children's tumbling feet as the rush down the stairs to find the presents Santa has left for them. It is candy canes and poinsettias, it is Scrooge and Rudolph, it is the reading of the Bible before opening gifts and the small Nativity scene in the den. It is everything about Christmas that we loved as little children and now treasure as adults. So as we continue in our family tradition of listening to this album before the big day, I urge you to begin your own tradition with this album and see where the music takes you and your memory this holiday season.

Cheers,

Winslow