My Kind of Christmas

1	Christmas Time 4:02
2	This Year 4:14
3	Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas 4:03
4	Angels We Have Heard on High / Eric Dawkins 4:11
5	Merry Christmas, Baby 5:44
6	O Holy Night 4:52
7	These Are the Special Times 4:31
8	This Christmas 4:01
9	The Christmas Song 4:25
10	Xtina's Xmas 1:32
11	The Christmas Song Holiday Remix 4:03

Barnes & Noble

After releasing two albums in 14 months and nabbing the 1999 Grammy for Best New Artist, the reigning teen queen now brings us something to cherish over the holidays, My Kind of Christmas. Released on the heels of her Spanish-language album (Mi Reflejo) and her star-making 1999 self-titled debut, My Kind of Christmas is more proof that this boisterous genie is not about to stay in her bottle. The album features three new tracks (not bad for a Christmas album): the fa-la-la-fueled dance number "Christmastime," the achy love ballad "This Year" ("This year I'm gonna take you home/This year I don't wanna be alone"), and the Diane Warren-penned "These Are Special Times," which covers that pesky goodwill-toward-man aspect of the holiday. Aguilera's kind of Christmas apparently also includes crazy, old bluesmen, as Dr. John shows up on "Merry Christmas, Baby." She more than holds her own with the gravelly voiced voodoo rocker, showing that she can get down and dirtier than the next gal (hear that, Britney?). Other highlights include "Oh Holy Night," which metamorphosizes from an icy church hymn into an emotive gospel sing-along, and a solid reading of tragic soul man Donny Hathway's hopeful "This Christmas." The best news is that the absence of "Feliz Navidad" leaves room for a Christina Aguilera Spanish-language Christmas album! Bill Crandall

All Music Guide

The second punch in a double whammy of stopgap releases in the fourth quarter of 2000, My Kind of Christmas appeared on the shelves two months after Mi Reflejo, Christina's Latin reworking of her debut album. My Kind of Christmas actually has more new material than Mi Reflejo, and Aguilera responds in kind, turning in passionate performances throughout the 11-song album. She can teeter on the edge of being too passionate, belting out when she should lay back, but the power of her voice, no matter how diva-esque she may be, remains remarkable; she needs to learn restraint, but she's clearly a better singer than her peers. Of course, My Kind of Christmas remains a holiday album, filled with covers of standards (from "Oh Holy Night" to "The Christmas Song" to "Merry Christmas, Baby") and a handful of obligatory new songs. None of the new songs are knockouts, but "Christmas Time" and "This Year" are pretty solid pieces of dance-pop, even if the marvelously titled "Xtina's Xmas" (easily the best name of any new holiday song of 2000) is a 90-second collage trifle that doesn't live up to its promise. But, hey -- filler is part of a holiday record, and there's actually not too much of it here. Instead, it's pretty tight, entertaining seasonal dance-pop. It may not add too much to Christina's catalog, but it does suggest that she may not be a mere one-album wonder. Stephen Thomas Erlewine