Although a good deal of my record collection might suggest that I’m somewhat of a joyless music snob, I’m actually a complete sucker for the sugary, sappy fluff that turns up on lite-and-easy and oldies stations around the holidays. Case in point: I just heard Paul McCartney’s “Wonderful Christmas Time” on the radio and became so ridiculously happy and probably even sang along loudly (mid-traffic, windows rolled all the way down). But while that song’s a great big slice of holiday cheese, so many of this season’s soundtrack staples are more like candy-cane-striped pop confections – sometimes with a little bit of genius hidden inside their gooey centers.

Nobody does Christmas classics better, I do believe, than the 60s girl groups showcased on A Christmas Gift for You from Phil Spector. And while the title may be slightly scary in this day and age, you can’t deny the giddy sweetness of songs like Darlene Love’s “Marshmallow World” and The Ronettes’ “Sleigh Ride.” Ronnie and Co. have certainly charmed Pogo A Go-Go blogger Phil, who recently shared an MP3 of one of the album’s highlights (“Although we have a moratorium on Chrimbo music in our household until December (enforced unflinchingly by Dearest Wife), I couldn’t resist posting The Ronettes’s sublime version of ‘Frosty the Snowman,’” Phil confesses).

Another early-’60s Christmas must-have, The Beach Boys’ Christmas Album always seems to hop into my CD carousel the day after Thanksgiving and stay put till the end of December (and “Santa’s Beard” just gets me every time). I grew up hearing that record over and over every holiday season, just as I did the first volume of A Very Special Christmas. To this day I’ve still got a major soft spot for the Pretenders’ rendition of “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” and U2’s “Baby, Please Come Home,” and it makes me giggle to find that a recent reissue of the 1989 release replaces Bon Jovi’s “Back Door Santa” with a much-tamer “I Wish Everyday Could Be Like Christmas” by the same poodle-haired band.

Perhaps just as holiday-music-happy as I am, ThisNexter Kristine has created an entire list of her favorite Christmas songs and albums. “My Holiday Playlist” runs the gamut from classic (Stevie Wonder’s “Ave Maria”) to contemporary (Destiny’s Child’s “Little Drummer Boy,” Jewel’s “Silent Night,” and Barenaked Ladies’ “Do They Know It’s Christmas?”) to the perhaps downright cruel (David Hasselhoff’s “Hark the Herald Angels Sing,” of which Kristine says: “Hee Hee. This is the song you play when you are trying to get your guests to leave”).

Even dreamier than David Hassellhoff, indie cutie Sufjan Stevens has enchanted both Ohsweetheart and Alyson with his 41-song Songs for Christmas. “It took me two years to love Sufjan Stevens,” says Ohsweetheart. “And boy do I love his angelic sensitive choir boy voice.”

Also ideal for those who want to have a very indie Christmas, Christmas by Low features the gorgeously melancholy “Just Like Christmas” (perfect for making holiday mix CDs for your exes, if you’re into that sort of thing). The Late Greats shares an MP3 of that track in a recent post that also includes the ultimate modern-rock-radio holiday classic: “Christmas Wrapping” by The Waitresses. Download now, or go fetch yourself a copy of The Best of The Waitresses (a smart choice, because then you also get “I Know What Boys Like,” which absolutely no one should even try to resist).