Happy Holidays & such! We're out of here for about a week, but that doesn't mean there won't be a post or two maybe that comes as a result of raiding the 'rent's music collection. This condition is genetic, you know!

Here's some holiday song-age for you.

The other day, I was thrilled to see that Feist did a version of my favorite Christmas carol of all time "Lo, How a Rose E're Blooming" (via Dream of Horses). This is what happens when you spend a chunk of your youth in serious children's choirs -- you love obscure carols. This is one of those great ones, like "The Holly and the Ivy" (another fave!), that employs a botanical analogy for Christ's birth, death, and ressurection. Not surprisingly, Sufjan Stevens did a version too (via Mocking Music).

But enough of that! Nothing says Christmas like a tarty pre-fab English pop group, right?

Girls Aloud -- White Christmas

...and from the ridiculous to the bittersweet:

Cocteau Twins -- Frosty the Snowman (via BEST OF THE BUNCH!!)

(Something about Liz Fraser's delivery makes this song even more melancholy... I mean, Frosty does melt and all. It's sad...!)

Listening to The Chieftains' Bells of Dublin is a tradition in my family, along with watching the "Christmas Cake" episode from the BBC series of All Creatures Great and Small and the Cary Grant/Loretta Young classic The Bishop's Wife. This song is about how you know, by the time Boxing Day (that's the day after Christmas) rolls around, you've had just about enough of all that cheer and goodwill nonsense-- towards your family, at least:

Elvis Costello & The Chieftains -- St. Stephen's Day Murders

And what's the holidays without some handbells?

St. Wulfrum's Handbell Ringers -- Good King Wenceslas

Feliz navidad, prospero año y felicidad, y'all!