With Mr. Christmas, the ever-popular Joe Diffie delivers a middle-of-the-road collection of tunes that run from the fun and holy to the maudlin and ludicrous. Diffie's title track is a lively and somewhat funny song about Santa sliding sideways in the snow, while "Leroy the Redneck Reindeer" is a tale of a temp who comes in his pickup truck to help out the jolly old elf when Rudolph gets sick, but the tune doesn't go quite far enough with the concept. The rest of the original songs--and the covers--are formula-friendly, and while Brent Mason's fluid guitar playing is especially satisfying, the overall result is a set of mostly forgettable stuff. Still, you really have to wonder what the old Joe D. was thinking when he recorded "Magazine Angels" with its how-to chorus: "Sprinkle some glitter on magazine angels / Use matchsticks and clothespins to build Bethlehem / Make the star in the East from a piece of foil." Somebody got paid for this? Now that was a gift. --Martin Keller