We love a good holiday song here at Z&S. Give us chestnuts roasting over an open fire, dreams of white Christmases, and dreidels made of clay, and we go positively cuckoo for carols. We abstain all year, you see, saving up for that sacred festive season, and then as soon as the clock strikes midnight on Thanksgiving night, the spirit of the season sallies forth from our earbuds and doesn’t stop until Christmas.

But amid all this holly and tinsel, sometimes you just want a little snow. Something non-denominational, holiday neutral, which can carry you past Boxing Day and into the new year. So this year, for our wintriest of playlists, we decided to diverge from our seasonal themes past, and present a playlist for snowy days and chilly nights, regardless of the date on the calendar (if we’re being perfectly honest, this decision may also have had to do in large part with the fact that we’ve done two holiday playlists on here already, and we’re running out of favorite carols to share).

From guitars and bluegrass to Broadway stars and one Nobel Prize winner, these songs are for the bare tree season. Pour yourself a big mug of cocoa, with some marshmallows and perhaps a shot of something stronger thrown in. Sugarplums are swell, but sometimes you just want to watch the snow fall. Listen below or on Spotify.