Those who are in the know will tell you, Christmas Day is the traditional “first day of Christmas” spoken of in the popular song “The Twelve Days of Christmas” (not the 12 days leading up to Christmas). So, though I’ve been planning and thinking about this for a while, I thought that Christmas Day would be the most appropriate time to kick off my “365 days of Christmas” project.

“Why? Why? WHY OH WHY? Why would you commit yourself to producing something about Christmas, every day for the next 365 days?” Well, the honest truth is that there are a number of reasons. Some of them have to do with Christmas and some of them do not.

• I have long been fascinated by this type of project. A commitment to produce/do/photograph/paint/etc. something every day for a year. I’ve come across 365 Projects by many photographers on flickr, and other artists around the web. Some of these have become very well known and even the source of movie material (Julie and Julia). The very idea is inspiring to me.
• I need to earn some money for my little family so we can eventually buy a house (please don’t hate me for being honest on this issue). I earn a little off of advertising revenue on the sites I blog on. The truth is, I have a much more popular website already called Thirteen for Halloween, but the prospect of blogging about Halloween for 365 days absolutely DEPRESSES me. I feel much more enthusiastic about Christmas because . . .
• I am a Christmas music/story/art/movie junkie. I love Christmas and I love Christ. I love carols and I love singing them. I had some amazing, life-changing experiences caroling with my high school chamber choir, The Troubadors (20 years ago now) . . . we’d do as many as twenty performances between Thanksgiving and Christmas and I was in the group for 3 years. I love it when people ask me to sing for Christmas to this day.
• Writing and arranging music for Christmas has been one of the most rewarding in my life. Why not do more of it?
• I would like to become a better artist, and one thing I’ve noticed in artists that I admire is the tendancy to develop a particular theme. I’d like to do that with Christmas. Nativities, ornaments, paintings, etc.

I have more reasons, but I’m sure they’ll pop up over the course of time and become more self-apparent. Another question I’d like to tackle is: “What kind of things are going to be posted on this blog?”

Well, some projects take longer than others. Taking a photograph of something is about as quick as you can get. Writing a review takes a little longer. Some art projects are an hours worth of time and others take weeks or months. The same is true with musical projects: singing a song takes little time and producing a full-blown track for a Christmas CD or arranging a carol for a string quartet takes a lot longer. I hope to do all these things, and more, interspersing quick projects with more meaty, time-consuming ones.

“Come on, be specific!” I hope to:

• Finish a new Christmas music CD this year.
• Write music for choir: arrangements of classic Christmas carols, settings of Nativity scriptures, original Christmas songs.
• Write music for other groups that I can get a performance commitment out of: solo singers, string quartets, bands, orchestras, other chamber groups.
• Make and photograph a bunch of ornaments, Nativity art, etc.
• Write reviews of Christmas books, CDs and movies.
• Make a caroling songbook to rival the infamous “Christmas in Song.”
• Write Christmas poems and maybe a story or two.
• Post a few favorite recipes that I’ve made for our family Christmas gatherings. Some are old family recipes, others are ones I’ve altered.
• Write about Christmas itself.

Too much? We’ll see! Merry Christmas!