Christmas Time, The Beagle Ranch (Blue Star Records)

This Canadian band ("where it snows until June," says the liner notes) put out a pop-rock EP for 2008 that is just the bee's knees, though only the title song is a holiday tune. It's a nice mid-tempo song about holiday anticipation, worthy of a mix disc berth. The rest of the tunes are in the same vein, a mix of acoustic and electric guitars offering a mellower version of power pop. Found this at Not Lame while I was snapping up Vibeke's disc. UPDATE: Click the cover to grab it from Amazon.