Merry Christmas! Happy Holidays!, various artists (Mistletunes, 2019)

Somehow, a reality show star yelling at a cat became the biggest thing on social media this year, but if you stop and think about it, this meme is actually a pretty reasonable summary of what's been going on in America the past few years. Well, enough with the pop philosophy; let's take a look at the holiday through the funhouse-mirror perspective of your jolly website host.

"Merry Xmas Everybody," Film -- A nice upbeat disc opener, and it's been years since we've had a cover of this great Slade holiday original on the annual playlist, so here it is once more.

"Under the Mistletoe!," Elle King and Ronnie Spector -- A 1960s girl-group legend teams with a popular millennial singer-songwriter for a bombastic holiday future classic.

"Being Home For Christmas," Ivan & Alyosha -- I never heard of these folks before, but I like this stately midtempo ballad a lot. They've got to work on their names, though; every time I see those names I think of characters from the Ukraine scandal.

"Holiday-ish," The Regrettes -- No, this doesn't have anything to do with any ABC-TV situation comedies, it's just a nice original pop-rock take on Christmas.

"Arbolito de Navidad," Los Lobos -- The self-proclaimed "Just Another Band From East LA" tips their hats to their heritage with a Christmas album stocked mainly with folk carols from Mexico to South America, but they manage to keep their rock 'n roll bonafides in the foreground as well.

"I Got Your Christmas Right Here," Aloe Blacc -- I've only ever seen this guy perform on Jools Holland's BBC-TV show on the MTV Live channel, but he's a great soulful singer, and this original is from an album of mostly new funky holiday tunes.

"Better Everyday," Keb' Mo' -- With all the existing blues Christmas tunes that are out there, it's great that this popular blues singer managed to put together a few originals of his own for his first Christmas album.

"Mediterranean X-Mas," Josh Rouse -- Seems like every year we manage to nod to Christmas in the warmer climates, and this year's tropical sugarplum comes from an American guy who spends a lot of time in Spain. Hence, this new original song.

"The Leader of the Pack," Merkel and the Merkelettes -- This bunch of Philly comedians put together a note-perfect Christmas parody of the classic Shangri-Las' tune.

"Christmas Time Is Here (Uh-Oh)," Telekinesis -- Let's rock out with this driving little number that was originally intended for Cheap Trick, but the writers kept it for themselves, with great results.

"Angels We Have Heard On High," The Decibels -- If a young Van Morrison were one of the angels, this is what the carol might sound like. These guys take a classic carol to the garage and rock out.

"Eight Nights a Week," Loudon Wainwright III -- The "Dead Skunk" guy weighs in on the celebration that is Hanukkah in this gently rootsy tune.

"Merry Christmas Happy Holiday," Amber Pacific -- A chirpy little folk number, this is here mainly because it serves as the playlist's title tune.

"I'm Going Back Home for Christmastime," Olivia Bloch (featuring Kurt and Al Bloch) -- Because if that's not where you are this time of year, it's where you want to be.

"It's Christmas Time," Jenn Bostic -- More blues influence, only from the female perspective this time. Which is only fair, since there are a LOT of women in the blues field nowadays.

"Mardi Gras for Christmas," Squirrel Nut Zippers -- These guys came in about 20 years ago riding the new swing band trend, went away for a while, and now they're back with this nod to the season done New Orleans style.

"Silent Night (Christmas Is Coming)," Sting and Shaggy -- This is a popular Christmas carol, but it's usually done in ways that aren't quite in keeping with the spirit of our annual playlist. The former Police-man and the reggae star fixed that for us this time around.

"Broken Gnome," The JAC (featuring the Christmas Crew) -- A damaged holiday decoration sets up the singer for a bit of dread about the future, but the sentiment is set off against an upbeat power-pop melody.

"I Think We Killed Santa," Lucky Halfspeed -- Oh no, you bastards! You don't hear many Christmas carols that take their plots from "Weekend at Bernie's," so here you go.

"X'mas Time (Sure Don't Feel Like)," Letters to Cleo -- This 90s band resurrected one of my favorite obscure Christmas tunes from about 30 years ago, so I thought I'd put it on the playlist this year.

"Rebellion of Winter," Piebald -- Whip out your lighters, the energy here is threatening to melt the polar ice caps. What, it's already happened? You mean it's not a hoax propagated by the Chinese government? Who'da known, eh?

"New Years Blues," G. Love -- What the heck, one more blues to wrap the collection for another year.