Christmastime is coming!

I love Christmas music. One of my old standbys is the Roger Wagner Chorale Christmas album, Great Choral Music of Christmas, which you can find online (in vinyl! Yes, I totally bought a record) for a decent price at alibris and the like. Listening to it reminds me of sitting in front of my parents' ancient stereo speakers, trying to hear the songs through the crackling and scratches.

A former coworker of mine introduced me to Chanticleer. Their Christmas album with Dawn Upshaw is spectacular.

I caught a performance of the Mila Vocal Ensemble at the DECC in Duluth, when they appeared on A Prairie Home Companion. That was just after they'd released their CD Iz tamne noci (From a Dark Night) (which you can check out samples of and/or buy here at their site) and so they sang a bunch of Christmas songs from Russia and the Ukraine and Croatia and elswhere. Sample:

Oj khodyt' pokhodyt' misjats'

Very haunting, very lovely. I'd love to see them in concert again, they're such robust singers.

I approve of cheese, too. Well, to me this is cheesier Christmas music:

And speaking of Bing, I can't forget this surreal snowflake:

On the trip back up north last year, A. and I were radio station-flipping in Dallas and as if by magic (Christmas magic, that is) happened upon this gem:

Thank you, Metal X-mas.

Last and certainly least, one of my current coworkers introduced me to that glorious, self-discovery via appropriation of pain Christmas nu!classic, The Christmas Shoes. If you have not yet appreciated this, I invite you to pour out some eggnog, pull your chair closer to the fire, and cringe along with me...

Aaaand here's a decent (well, partly*) antidote in the form of a rant from Patton Oswalt:

(Aaaaand she naaahaaamed the poh-neee Jeeesus)
*NSFW