Or, Will my fans forgive me for Chris Gaines? At this point, it's awfully hard to resist cynicism when it comes to the former (and future?) Chris Gaines. Brooks has settled in for an easy-listening, big-band, middle-of-the-road holiday album. Song selections, arrangements, even the title are all standard-issue Yuletide fare with only the hat on the cover to remind folks that Brooks is allegedly a country singer. This is certainly acceptable when Brooks invests the tunes with the emotion and sincerity necessary; it is atrocious when he doesn't. At its best, the CD is a mildly entertaining, leisurely holiday stroll with no surprises. At its worst moments, it sounds like the work of a two-bit, commercial-jingle hack. It's doubtful Brooks spent a great deal of time or effort putting this collection together--and he needed to pull a few songs off of 1992's Beyond the Season (a better though now-unavailable Xmas effort) just to flesh it out. But the truth of the matter is that releasing a Garth Brooks Christmas album is like printing money. The magic of Christmas? Garth Brooks's commercial power. --Marc Greilsamer