Tori Amos’s “A Silent Night With You” is another original song, but there’s a personal story behind this one and how it ended up on my favorite list. I was a big, big, big Tori Amos fan back in the early-to-mid-’90s. Bought all her albums and singles, absolutely devoted to her output. And then, as time went on… her later albums did nothing for me. Maybe it was her, maybe it was me, maybe it was a combination of the two. But I’d burnt out on Tori Amos, and in mid-2009 when her new album came out, I listened to it streaming online and decided not to buy it.

Then, a few months later, she released Midwinter Graces, and it did for me what her last couple couldn’t; drew me in and grabbed my attention. It was a lovely reminder of what I’d liked from some of her earlier albums, and was nice to know that she could still create something that felt like it was especially for me. (Interestingly enough, I also think it’s not like anything else she’s done, so that made it all the more impressive.) Anyway, this is a simple but lovely song from the album that just makes me feel like I’m in front of a fireplace with snow coming down outside. Good stuff.