If you prefer your contemplative Christmas music with a Celtic/folk undercurrent rather than a jazz/new age one, then Windham Hill's
Celtic Christmas series is a dependable choice. As an added benefit, you can bathe in relatively obscure traditional Celtic airs rather than yet another collection of the hoary carol standards. The second volume highlighted such artists as
Nightnoise,
Capercaille, and various members of the Ni Dhomhnaill and O Domhnaill clans, with trad mainstay
James Galway and pop ringer
Luka Bloom (vocal track "Listen to the River") along for the sleigh ride. ~ Roch Parisien