Peace on Earth / Little Drumme Boy - David Bowie / Bing Crosby

David Bowie and Bing Crosby made a surprisingly compelling team when they performed the tender duet Peace on Earth / Little Drummer Boy, made especially poignant in light of Crosby's death shortly thereafter.

A Christmas Carol

It's hard to beat George C. Scott as Ebenezer Scrooge and David Warner as Bob Cratchit in my dad's favorite version of A Christmas Carol.  (It's a close second for me; the Muppets still have to top my list.)

The Promise - Michael Card

Michael Card delivers an album full of reverent reflections on the birth of Christ with The Promise.  My favorite tracks explore the emotions of those directly involved: Mary (What Her Heart Remembered), Joseph (Joseph's Song), the shepherds (Shepherds' Watch) and the Magi (We Will Find Him).

An Irish Christmas - The Irish Rovers

The Irish Rovers is one of my absolute all-time favorite bands, so I really love An Irish Christmas, which ranges in tone from the reflective Bells Over Belfast and Down Among the Bushes of Jerusalem to the raucous Miss Fogarty's Christmas Cake and Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer.

Do They Know It's Christmas? - Band Aid

Band Aid's Do They Know It's Christmas? gathered some of the biggest pop stars of the 1980s to help relieve the effects of famine in Africa. A little cheesy, but well-intentioned and exuberant.