Without bells on – the atheist's guide to Christmas music

Christmas with the Puppini Sisters sounds pretty much like any other time with them: a full-on cheese-fest of wannabe Andrews Sisters vocal arrangements of material which is, due to the thematic restrictions, less liberally sprinkled with surprises than usual.

It's 16 years since Mariah Carey's first Christmas album, and there's nothing here to suggest she's developed significantly since then.

Nobody works the festive angles the way James Brown could: not many acts have managed to crank out three complete Christmas albums, as are compiled here along with a smattering of bonus singles – including the not entirely festive-spirited "Believers Shall Enjoy (Non Believers Shall Suffer)", on which the Number One Soul Brother doesn't seem to have quite grasped the notion of goodwill to all men.

Never mind mistletoe and wine. It's sex and sadness that made the blues singers' seasonal songs so potent

Millions of Christmas gifts are stacking up in warehouses and might not be delivered in time for the big day, a haulage expert said today.

Gift-buying is a minefield – and austerity makes matters worse. So why do we still insist on getting into debt for often unwanted presents? We should learn our limits, says Harriet Walker

If you're planning to keep fit during the forthcoming festivities, you don't need any more reasons to avoid going to the gym. Steven Lawani will be piling on the pounds rather than stealing them after being given a five-year ban from all leisure centres in the UK.

Some of the hundreds of thousands of letters sent to Father Christmas each year have been published in a new book which reveals that, far from being selfish demands, many Christmas wishes are generous and heart-wrenching and, frequently, funny.

Are we due for yet another Santa Claus rally? In most years in the run-up to Christmas and the New Year the stock market enjoys an exuberant run. I believe it will do so once again, despite the hesitancy created by the multitude of problems confronting the eurozone.

Starring: Eugene Byrne

The first half of this memoir concerns a very young Augusten Burroughs, stuck at home with his pill-dependent mother and alcoholic lecturer father, convinced that Santa and Jesus are one and the same (they both appear "in continuous rotation on television at the same time each year"), much to the horror of his Southern, God-fearing grandparents.

Sweden's Arctic north provides a very different Yuletide experience to its Finnish rival, says Tam Leach

Singing from the same hymn sheet: Sir Elt and Brother Leon's Gospel glory