It’s not just me, it’s the whole household you’ve abandoned! On Christmas! Only Virgin Mary would do that! (Well her parents, but you see whaddeye mean…).

The Growlers extend loneliness to the whole household with “Lonely This Christmas,” a swingin’ Elvis-stylin’ (karate chop!) bluesy rock crowd pleaser. Alan Williams fronts the Rubettes with this as well. Perhaps a dollop more pathos. K.T. Tunstall also warbles through this. More quietly = more endearingly.

The kids! What bout the li’l ones?! George Jones AND Tammy Wynette separately belabor the ordeal with “Lonely Christmas Call,” corning the pone slowly. So, who left whom? Let’s clear the Ol’ Opry stage, however, for offspring Georgette Jones and her lugubrious own offering.

POV switcheroo: what about the upside? The triumph of the dumper? The hidden joke of passive-relief? The whispered finally!

Savannah Smith unearths a tub of troubadour talent with her “Ex-Mas,” a bouncy folk bit about how she done ya, so there.

Cowardly country, “Break Up Before Christmas” addresses the creative economic advantages of not having to buy her a present if not together. Corey Hunt Band swaps commitment for drinking beer alone. It’s a helluva party… until three days later.

The easy present for Christmas is clothing.

Sometimes that’s a good thing. Not that often, though.

I mean if it was a flying suit–! Teresa Brewer intros “The Flying Suit Song” as a Christmas wish. Not a practical gift, so don’t ask me for that.

Carmen is asking: “Give Me Pajamas for Christmas.” Her folk recital is awful persuading with all the comfy and cosy.

Trey Stone couldn’t be happier! All he wants is a “3 Pack of Underwear.” With his group The Ringers he country lauds the perfect present. So happy….

Fate dealt you an Xmas cardigan… and it is ugh-lee.

Sam Wineman rocks his “Christmas Sweater“… he says. But his lugubrious folk rock seems to say something else (echh).

Surrendering to the crushing traditions, Party at the Moontower polka rocks out “I Need an Ugly Sweater.” Party requirements, folks!

That “Ugly Christmas Sweater Party” is their reason for Phil and The Osophers to gather. It defies pop folk music rhyme!

Generation Empowered has an “Ugly Christmas Sweater” dance for you, while peddling their by-the-numbers pop electronica and hating what gramma made by hand. Ingrates.

I guess it’s the contrast, babe. Patrick Thomas gets country clever by praising her beauty in her “Ugly Christmas Sweater.” Her blinking lights are up here.

Actual country music is much like folk music, hard living, hard loving, hard hardness. But more violins.

The Corn Fed Girls focus on that detail (those “Christmas Cards”) posted on your wall, which stands for something sad (and angry), so shove off. (But with a sweet mandolin sendoff.) And that’s country.

We’ll deal with Xmas personifications a bit later. But that deep-rooted desire to be taken home is systemic from limb to limb throughout the thicket…

Perhaps the songs should say it for them:

Certainly Stevie Wonder makes the case with “One Little Christmas Tree.” This ’67 R+B tear jerker involves a whole tree family and some extra angel granting wishes. Ooooh, aaaah. (Countrified by Jennifer Lind.)

Marty Merchant chortles out a kids’ song country pop weeper, “Lonely Christmas Tree.” Desperate, needy, dying little thing.

Parry Gripp goes imaginatively, juvenilely delusional with “Christmas Tree in the Lot.” Some kid sleeps with one eye on the window watching the tree for sale across the street. Is that tree lonely, just like him? No, it’s dead, but in a cool folk-song way.