That was the best Christmas album ever!

I'm not the world's biggest Sufjan Stevens fan. He's the current indie favorite. That's fine. I've listened to a lot of his songs and have only found a couple that I like.

Except for every song in the 5-disc Christmas box set.

I told Christine last night he was giving A Charlie Brown Christmas a run for its money. That's still the all-time favorite, owing largely to nostalgia. But these 40 or so songs are the only thing I'm listening to right now.

I normally avoid 'holiday' songs. It's almost got to be classic, well-done, and somewhat about Jesus's birth for me to listen to it. (Charlie Brown (which does have some classic Christmas songs) and The Nutcracker get a pass.)

But I'm willing to make an exception for Sufjan's Santa songs. He mixes them with Jesus' birth, sometimes in the same song (like 'Let's all boogie to the elf dance', which the twins and I LOVE right now).

I downloaded them back when they were still available for free, but ponied up the 20 or so dollars to get them from Amazon to support the project (I usually buy one new Christmas album every year). This means we would like more next year, please Mr Asthmatic Kitty.

'Get Behind Me Santa' - very clever. 'That was the worst Christmas ever' - 'Father yells, throwing the gifts in the woodstove'. Some good rocking out and some good banjo-pickin'.

If you want to try them out, just cruise on over to the The Hype Machine and search for Sufjan. They're all over it. Or if you're looking for some fresh Christmas music, take the plunge and buy the box set. Great stuff. Sure to make you smile this Christmas season (if not, I'm sending the Ghosts of Christmas to your house in 11 days ;-).