Claude says:Sufjan Stevens—Detroit-born multi-instrumentalist who studied oboe at Hope College—assembled five EPs of original and traditional Christmas songs, releasing them as a boxed set in 2006. This third volume mixes reverent carols with his oddball originals (elf dances, sleigh bells, songs about terrible holidays), all draped in the same handmade indie-folk arrangements that made Illinois a sensation the year before. You picked it up in December 2008, played it hard that month, then came back for one more December the following year before letting it go.