I mean, I’m Jewish and everything, but this is undeniably good. Eleanor thought so too.

Let’s be real about Christmas music for a sec. RUN DMC’s Christmas in Hollis is freaking awesome – for a verse. Don’t even pretend you know – or get enthused – about anything beyond that. Mariah’s “All I Want for Christmas” is pretty much the final glimpse of a fresh-faced R&B singer who wasn’t trying to open garage doors with her vocal chords on purpose, and nobody actually gathers around the tree to listen to the Pogues, OK? We just post the Youtube link on Facebook to prove that even cool bands made Christmas tunes. So, in the end, there are two objectively enjoyable Christmas albums in existance, and Elvis Presley’s Christmas album is one of them.

And wouldn’t you know it, Eleanor’s a huge fan too.

Elvis’ Christmas Album Wowfacts™

• This original release of this record was released with a little gold [To/From] sticker on it. If you have a decent-quality copy of this hanging around, there are some people on Ebay would would like to talk to you.
• “Santa Claus is Back in Town” was written and produced by Jerry Lieber and Mike Stoller, who are also responsible for two of Presley’s bigger hits “Don’t” and “Jailhouse Rock”
• I have been to Graceland during Christmas and it was weird.
• On its original pressing, side A of the record had secular, non-Jesus-y songs like “Blue Christmas” and “White Christmas” (snort).
• Side B of the record was basically a church sermon.

Ellie’s reaction to “Blue Christmas”: yaaaaaaaay (basically).

Here’s why this album is great. It’s (mostly) Christmas standards, sung by the King. It’s playful, bluesy and melodic all at once. It’s fun to sing along to, and somehow never gets tiresome. here was Eleanor’s reaction to it.

That’s a happy kid. Thanks, Elvis.

I’m just going to say it: I don’t like any of the Beatles Christmas stuff. Paul McCartney’s “Simply Having” reminds us that sometimes a great artist and a used car salesman have the same creative process. And while I’m sure John Lennon’s “So this is Christmas” is supposed to give me pause about the world I live in, it just makes me want the line at Shopper’s Drug Mart to move faster. On the other hand, there’s this album. I look forward to hearing Elvis croon at me every year – a rarity really. It’s also a wonderful bit of music to share with Eleanor, who’s probably shown the most enthusiasm to this album (It’s an Elvis thing) than to almost anything else we’ve played for her.

So, we’re going to arbitrarily give Elvis’ Christmas Album 4 out of 4 Eleanor’s with a photoshopped Santa hat on.

Oh, and to the point I was making earlier; this is a fun album and everything, but do you really want to hear it in mid-April? That’s basically why I’m not adding it to the playlist.