I LOVE Christmas albums. I tend to play a lot of Christmas music between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Along with the standards from Bing, Nat, Brenda Lee, Jose Feliciano, Johnny Mathis, Elvis, Burl Ives, et al, that I have to hear each year for Christmas to be complete (though you tend to hear these everywhere at Christmas), I tend to play these albums a lot at Christmastime:
Leon Redbone - Christmas Island - Whole album is good, a different sound to stir in to the classics
A Christmas Gift for You from Phil Spector
Andy Williams - The Andy Williams Christmas Album - My very favorite as a little kid. Don't know why.
Barenaked Ladies - Barenaked for the Holidays - fun arrangements of the classics
Odetta - Christmas Sprirituals - I love Odetta, she's a commanding soul
Carolyn Wonderland - Fireside Songs for the Soul - Fun album
The Irish Tenors - We Three Kings - Love all their Christmas albums
Danny Wright - An Intimate Christmas - Interesting piano arrangements I like to mix in
Pink Martini - Joy to the World - Interesting and international
Jewel - Joy: A Holiday Collection - Jewel being Jewel
Martina McBride - White Christmas - I was surprised by how much I like to play this whole album. Simply done well.
Willie Nelson - Pretty Paper - Pretty Paper is one of my favorite Christmas songs
Twisted Sister - A Twisted Christmas - crazy, but Dee's thunderous vocals make O Come All Ye Faithful sound like a Christian call to arms. An absolute blast to crank this.
The Messiah - London Philharmonic - Hallelujah is too triumphant to not rise to
Whitney Houston - Do You Hear What I Hear - She set a new standard on this song for me
I'll have fun checking out everyone else's list too!