This time of year is filled with traditions.  Families gather at the same places, to eat the same foods, and do the same things they've done before.  It's as if we're not happy if we're not doing the same stuff we did last year.  That applies to the music we listen to as well.  There's no holiday tradition more prevalent than the cover song.  Musicians love to perform Christmas songs, they just can't always come up with there own.

Take "The Christmas Song" for example.  It was originally written in the summer of 1945 by Mel Torme.  The singer explains the writing process, it only took about half an hour, and performs the song in this clip.

Despite being the original, Torme's version isn't the most famous.  That distinction would go to the legendary Nat King Cole, the version he recorded in 1961 is still popular today.  It's hard to believe there's anyone who won't recognize this rendition:

The fact that the most famous version was recorded so long ago hasn't stopped others from still redoing the song.  According to Wikipedia (not a definitive source, but enough to get a good idea) the song has been covered roughly 150 times.  Christina Aguilera released a music video for her version from 2000: 

Of course "The Christmas Song" isn't the only song to be remade countless times.  How about "White Christmas," here's the original video featuring Bing Crosby, from the classic movie of the same name.

While people love this version it hasn't stopped anyone from making their own.  It's been covered countless times.  To illustrate the range of covers, here's two music videos.  The first by Dolly Parton, the second by the Jingle Cats

(If you made it all the way through the Jingle Cats please leave a comment below explaining how you did it.)

Basically, name any old Christmas song and it's been done and redone more times than anyone could count.  This means there's a wide variety to choose from.  For example if you want a music video for "Little Drummer Boy" you have a big range of choices.  You could choose the odd couple of Bing Crosby and David Bowie:

The odd all by himself RuPaul:

Or this year's unexpected version, Bob Dylan's "Little Drummer Boy."

Not every Christmas standard was written in the '40s or '50s.  Artists do come up with original material, like Wham!, they had a hit in the '80s with the song "Last Christmas."

When George Michael sang those vocals in the '80s it was a fresh song.  Naturally others jumped on it.  Today you could hear those lyrics from Hilary Duff, *NSYNC, Kimberly Locke, and Taylor Swift among others.  As for music videos there's Cascada's 2007 version that sounds ready made for the club: 

It was also amusingly turned into a rap:

When somebody covers a non-holiday song fans of the original are quick to say "How could they do that?  They butchered that song."  It seems we don't hold Christmas songs to those same standards, if the Jingle Cats started doing Beatles covers the public would be outraged, but they stick to Christmas so we let it slide.

The lesson to be learned here, the next time you hear a brand new Christmas song try to really enjoy the freshness of it while you can, because the odds are you'll be hearing it again and again.