Christmas Downunder

Whether you're heading down the coast, going camping, or just chillaxing with a seasonal barbie at home, priority #1 is a cracking selection of Christmas Downunder tunes — and with that in mind, we've raided Santa's prezzie sack ahead of time to bring you the songs that best express our unique Yule. Rolf Harris gets the holiday underway by explaining Australia's reindeer switcheroo on "Six White Boomers," the Bee Gees capture that feeling of joy to all men on "All My Christmases Came at Once," Gabriella Cilmi offers a soulful twist on "We Three Kings," and Johnny Farnham swings hard as he tells us what "Christmas Is." Pull a cracker and splash on some insect repellent — our Christmas Downunder collection continues in Next Steps.

Many of us love to rock 'n' roll all the way from Christmas to New Year, and 'round this time of year it's traditional to unwrap cod-Stones outfit the Dimmer Twins (Mick & Keef), who go carolling in a proper Aussie fashion on "Deck the Sheds (With Boughs of Wattle)" — "Don we now our swimming cozzies/sunburn cream and stuff for mozzies." The Veronicas do a splendid job with anti-materialist anthem "Grown Up Christmas List," the fellas from Human Nature are both manly and angelic on "Away in a Manger," and Adam Brand looks to the breakers for a special delivery on the seasonal country twanger, "Santa's Gonna Come on a Surfboard." Hark, the herald angels sing . . . and so do the Heebee-Jeebees, in Deep Cuts.

There's nothing quite like a burst of jolly black humour 'round this time of year, and thanks to the Heebee-Jeebees, we'll be giggling all the way through our seasonal feasts to "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer." The ABC Adelaide Chorus keeps it heavenly with the choral magnificence of "Christmas Night (Cradle Song)," Katie Noonan is pretty as a Yuletide peach on "Maybe This Christmas," Mundy-Turner adds folkish punch to the Xmas pot with "Christmas Road," and Brendon Walmsley reminds us to think of the less-advantaged with his well-meaning "One Candle": "Make a difference to the darkness/shine your light to show the world/we can make a better place for every boy and girl."

Christmas comes but once a year, and while the rest of the world pulls on a collective woolly jumper and takes refuge from the seasonal cold snap around a crackling Yule fireplace, here Downunder we're more likely to be splashing around in the surf wearing little more than a Santa hat, tanning up a deeper shade of bronze than our roasts, and perhaps catching a little Test Match cricket. Of course, our passion for a great Christmas tune is as strong as anyone's, and we take a special delight in highlighting our Xmas idiosyncrasies, whether that means celebrating "a scorching summer's day" along with the Sunny Cowgirls on "Aussie Jingle Bells," joining Slim Dusty for "Christmas on the Station," or telling it straight with Colin Buchanan & Greg Champion on "We Wish You a Ripper Christmas" — "Great prezzies we bring/all wrapped up with string/they're not very ex-pen-sive/but they're in-ter-est-ing."