It’s been seventeen years and some odd months since Joanne Rowling revealed the existence of Hogwarts—and our entire wizarding world—to the muggle public.

Since then, I’ve read so many pleas posted on your Internet (while muggle technology cannot function within the Hogwarts castle walls, I have been known to use it from time to time while on holiday) from many a muggle who wishes that they too could attend Hogwarts. You Americans are particularly impatient when waiting for letters that will never come—don’t you know that Hogwarts is located in the United Kingdom and not the United States? Unfortunately, it is impossible to accept students who do not already have magic flowing through their veins. At this particular season of the year, it is all the more unfortunate, because it truly is a magical time, especially here at Hogwarts.

Thankfully, muggles do possess a different kind of magic that is even greater than what we witches and wizards practice here at Hogwarts School: the magic of imagination. You may not be able to visit this castle physically, but you can visit it in your minds. You can wonder what it would be like if you could spend Christmas here at Hogwarts.

Open your minds and imagine:

You open the oak doors to the Great Hall and a thousand different smells reach your nose. Your mouth immediately starts to water as you know that the Christmas feast has been laid out upon the four long tables. The fires are roaring. You are warm and toasty, and yet, when you look up, you can see snow coming down from the ceiling. But the snow does not reach you, because as you know already, the ceiling is merely bewitched to show the sky. You see and smell the twelve tall fir trees around the Great Hall, covered in every kind of light and ornament.

You hear music. The music is difficult to describe. Could it be the ghosts caroling? Perhaps. But I have also heard that a few Christmas songs exist in the muggle world that contain lyrics about our world. In fact, I’ve heard that many of those songs are excellent and may help put you in the magical spirit of Christmas, though you cannot be at Hogwarts.

As Albus Dumbledore once said, “Ah, music! A magic beyond all we do here!” How right he was. I hope this magical music has lifted your spirits in preparation for Christmas and will continue to lift your spirits throughout the new year.

Happy Holidays from Hogwarts! Yours most sincerely, Professor McGonagall

Editor’s note: I had a lot of fun writing this article, and I’m excited to post it because this also marks my 200th article on FictionRow! Originally, I meant to review the four Jingle Spells albums (released by The Leaky Cauldron several years ago), but it evolved into a Christmas Letter from our favorite Headmistress of Hogwarts.

I had also originally planned to embed several YouTube videos into this article, but videos did not exist for a few of the songs that I wanted to include in this article, so I started looking for alternatives. I settled upon a Spotify playlist, which in any case is more efficient to listen to all the songs one after another. I guess you need to download and log in to Spotify to listen to this playlist, so if you don’t want to sign up for an account, search for these songs elsewhere, because they’re awesome. I only included my five favorites on this playlist—there are so many other good ones on these four albums too!

• Happy Christmas Day by Oliver Boyd and the Remembralls comes from Jingle Spells 1 (Amazon / iTunes)
• Candle in the Window by Tonks and the Aurors comes from Jingles Spells 2 (Amazon / iTunes)
• Magical Christmas and Celebrate the Day both come from Jingle Spells 3 (Amazon / iTunes)
• The Cold, Wild Yonder by Oliver Boyd and the Remembralls comes from Jingle Spells 4 (Amazon / iTunes)

Thank you to those who continue to come back to FictionRow after seven years. Merry Christmas!

What are your favorite songs from the four Jingle Spells albums? Share in the comments!