December. It is winter, solstice, and holidays of all sorts, of seasonal observances by those who hold many different faiths and by people who hold no faith .

Whatever you may be marking this winter season, music offers a way to find connection, reflection, celebration, and peace.

This is true even if Christmas is not your story, or you feel you have heard too much holiday music.

Winter: it's a season of connection and celebration, solitude and reflection.

It is also a time of stories, and of music.

Quite a few of those stories have to do with Advent, and Christmas. Whether those are within your faith or not, there is much to enjoy and learn in the stories. There are many stories of the season told with no words, as well.

In the northern hemisphere, it is winter. Winter has many faces and facets. As you travel through winter, you may well experience all of them. I have always enjoyed winter's aspects of quiet and the season's call to reflection; you may experience this time of year differently. There are holidays and holy days of most faiths; there are secular celebrations; there is the turning of the year. This music will help with the journey.

It is winter in the northern hemisphere.

Unsettled weather in every sense of the word, in every part of the world, at this December.

Yet, that very unsettled aspect can offer encouragement and means to treasure connections, to deepen them, to look for those things which we hold in common rather than what divides us. Yes, that can be hard, but the long term consequences of the alternatives are harder still.

This month at the Travel Blog Mob, the theme is Stupid Questions (although we all KNOW that there are no stupid questions, right?). It's all a matter of perspective.

So, our Stupid Question to answer this month: What is there to do in Michigan during the long cold winter months?

It is winter, just past the turning of the year. This is a time which in invites reflection, resolutions, thoughts of change, thoughts of what may come. Here is music which will be a good companion to you as you consider these things, in winter and at other times of year.

Winter is a season for gathering together, and for solitude, for savoring connection and dealing with distance, for, as the song says, greeting a friend and welcoming a stranger. Music can be both timely and timeless about all this.