Wrapping: Ye Olde World with Annie dressed as a winter maiden in green velvet dress and garlanded in red roses. Inside, Annie explains why she has recorded an album of Christmas songs: “I have sung these carols since I was very young… they tell ancient stories… each has its own special message.”

Content: The usual suspects: Silent Night, The First Noel and God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, alongside unusual selections such as Il Est Ne Le Divin Enfant and As Joseph Was A Walking (The Cherry Tree Carol). Plus a new song, Universal Child.

Style: Annie resists modernising these much-loved songs and presents them in a traditional style that would not be out of place in a candle-lit church service.

‘Tis the reason to be jolly: God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen is a gorgeous, gentle slow burn, and a gold star too for including In The Bleak Midwinter, my favourite hymn.

Scrooge moan: The folksy and overly jaunty As Joseph Was A Walking. Yuk! Also I would have liked Annie Lennox doing a modern take on these songs and making them her own, as the X Factor judges might say. Perhaps a follow up is called for?

White Christmas: Not a chance!

Blue Christmas? This is the perfect CD to get you in a grown-up Christmas mood; to be accompanied with a glass of mulled wine while you wrap presents, put up the tree or prepare you festive feast.

Stocking or shocking? A sophisticated choice for a favourite aunt, or a groovy granny.