Another Year Over . . . and a New One Just Begun

Sweeping Up Times Square on January 1

It's mighty hard to believe, but another holiday season has come and gone. I hope it was a memorable and happy one for you and yours. I spent the holidays with my brother and his family in Maine, and it couldn't have been a more wonderful ten days. Well, OK, it would have been better if I could have brought along some of the weather we were enjoying when I left Los Angeles, but that proved impossible. Call me crazy, but I prefer sunny, 80 degree days to snow, ice and below-zero temperatures. Still, it was nice to watch the snow coming down from a comfortable chair near the fireplace indoors, and it was good to learn that I can still work a snow blower pretty well when called on to do so.

I really enjoyed putting this year's mixes together, as well as posting information about their contents. When I started this blog in 2011, I saw it as a useful vehicle for sharing some background about my annual holiday mix tapes. The focus has expanded a bit to include posts on holiday music in general, which I've also enjoyed writing. And that's not the only thing that's expanded. Steady and decidedly modest during its first two years, this blog's readership expanded significantly in 2013 – a ten-fold increase, in fact. I was completely unprepared for this higher level of traffic, and unfortunately we exceeded my website's monthly download allotment for December before the month was into its second week. As a result, I understand that many people who tried to download this year's regular and special bonus mixes were unable to do so. I'm sorry about that. As a result, I've decided to leave those mixes on the website for the balance of this month rather than taking them down on January 1, which had been my plan. Visit my website to download or listen to those compilations while they're still available. I hope to be better prepared next year, and I appreciate your patience in the interim.

We will now begin our annual hiatus, which is scheduled to last until sometime this November. I wish each of you a happy, healthy and satisfying 2014, and I look forward to getting together with you again this Fall for another wonderful holiday season.