Well, this qualifies as a more-than-mild surprise ... apparently there was one Christmas CD put out this past holiday season that I missed. Now I have the joy of listening to a few more Christmas tunes as we look toward the middle of January.

What CD could possibly make me want to re-listen to new tunes? How about one with Lakewood's own Michael Hodge performing a couple of acoustic instrumental versions of "Oh Come All Ye Faithful" and "We Three Kings."

Yeah, now that I have your attention ...

The record label allows you to purchase the individual songs for .99 on their site if you desire to go that route. In the name of speed, I did. I still plan on getting the full CD just for the sake of posterity.

Michael's work is definitely very mellow with some jazzy background beats helping the songs along. As stated, it's all acoustic. The CD was released in partnership with McPherson guitars. In case you ever notice a Lakewood guitarist pick up an acoustic, these should look really familiar to you.

Anyways, if you've got two bucks burning a hole in your pocket, buy the downloadable songs and add to your Christmas music jukebox.