This is the time of year that I filter a shit-ton of Christmas releases in order to add three songs to the playlist. Hyperbole, a bit, but honestly it is hard to uproot a lot of the performers we have on the list. Is it better than Nat King Cole? Really? Is it different enough from NKC's version to justify inclusion anyway?

There are people who kitchen sink this task - just put Holiday on shuffle or do a radio station. But we have strong enough opinions as a family and singularly that that just doesn't work very well by day three. So, the playlists are manicured and gently jostled so that the new can be absorbed.

There are a few new releases that are practically getting copy-pasted into various playlists. Victory Boyd's Christmas Hymns is gorgeous, showing the range of emotion and expressiveness that a voice, a guitar, and a nice-sized room can provide. Little Big Town's The Christmas Record and Blessing Offor's To All a Good Night are just immaculately made, with fun originals and great renditions of traditional songs.

As a runner-up, Brad Paisley's Snow Globe Town is also quite good, with some lovely arrangements of classics and a couple of chuckle-worthy originals. There are a lot of songs there and not all of the spaghetti sticks to the wall. Your mileage, as with all things musical, may vary.

I might mess around and do a "weird holiday" playlist later, but for now that'll get you in the spirit. <3