Win a Sufjan Stevens: Songs for Christmas box set!

Seems like no one is interested in wanting this box set, oh well. I guess we'll stray away from contests for awhile, thank you for reading and such.

Okay so we have a winner! Hooray Susan! That's the Christmas spirit!

Funny how Barnes & Nobles accidentally shipped us one extra box set! So we thought one of you readers may want it. So in the spirit of giving, all you have to do to win this unexpected contest is to print out the provided Sufjan Stevens cutout and take a photo of Mr. paper-doll-Sufjan anywhere you'd like. Take him out to the park or have him stand on the dashboard of your car. We'll pick winners based on humor and creativity, you may even add speech bubbles if you'd like.

Just give us the link to your photo as a comment and we will announce the winner this Monday...good luck!

Download this cutout and take a pair of scissors and cut along the dashed lines. To make Sufjan stand up on his own, try folding the bottom flap. If you're taking Sufjan outside and it's windy outside, be sure to bring some tape so Sufjan doesn't blow away!

>>> Download Sufjan!

What's in it...?
This festive box set is filled to the brim with five EPs, some stickers, a Sufjan Stevens' family portrait with a comic strip on the back and the extensive liner notes include short stories from Sufjan and his friend Rick Moody, the cute animated music video of "Put The Lights On The Tree" and has chords and lyrics to every song! Here is a visual guide of the contents in the box set and it will surely get you in the Christmas spirit.

How this came into existence...
In the liner notes is the story of how Sufjan came to hate Christmas and then reconciled with the holiday by covering classic Christmas songs and also creating his own starting in 2001. I'll include two short excerpts, I tried to capture the gist and not reveal too many details, but reading the whole thing in its entirety is of course what will give you the feeling of satisfaction and understanding. Sorry for such the choppy transition, but I didn't think many were up to the challenge of reading 100% of this type-heavy post. So here are two short excerpts:

(...A bad experience with Christmas had ruined the holiday when he was still young...)

Even today, whether I'm at home in Brooklyn or in some distant East Asian country, Christmas still leaves a plastic taste in my mouth, a toxic residue that reminds me of tube socks. Is it any wonder then, that after years of enduring the Stevens Family Christmas Crisis, I grew to despise the Holidays with the kind of deep antipathy one usually reserves for things like racism and terrorism and corporate fraud?

(...grown up Sufjan burns a plastic spatula in his apartment reminding him of the tube sock smell...)

I turned to the one thing I knew well: music---the singular kind of language I could use to communicate the things that mattered most. And by music, I mean Christmas music. "Angels We Have Heard On High." "It Came Upon A Christmas Clear." "Take Me Back to Toyland." And so, that very same day---in the Year of Epiphanies---I decided to to make a Christmas album, spending the next week or so fastidiously singing, vigorously strumming, mindlessly humming, and joyfully jingle-jangling a collection of Yuletide carols, which I would record and mix and burn to disk and wrap in newspaper and send to my family back home, as an offering of peace.

Preview & purchase...
If that made you curious, go on and enter the contest or give it to a friend who could use a little Christmas spirit! We featured this as a gift idea along with others in the post below. Asthmatic Kitty has re-stocked the box sets and have already started shipping the back orders. You can also stream the whole box set right here on Asthmatic Kitty. Here's a preview of the box set with one song you can download from each of the five volumes:

Tracklisting:

Songs For Christmas Vol. I: Noel

1. Silent Night
2. O Come O Come Emmanuel
3. We’re Goin’ To the Country!
4. Lo How A Rose E’er Blooming
5. It’s Christmas! Let’s Be Glad!
6. Holy Holy, etc.
7. Amazing Grace

Songs For Christmas Vol. II: Hark!

1. Angels We Have Heard on High
2. Put the Lights on the Tree
3. Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing
4. I Saw Three Ships
5. Only at Christmas Time
6. Once in Royal David’s City
7. Hark! The Herald Angels Sing!
8. What Child Is This Anyway?
9. Bring A Torch, Jeanette, Isabella

Songs For Christmas Vol. III: Ding! Dong!

1. O Come, O Come Emmanuel
2. Come on! Let’s Boogey to the Elf Dance!
3. We Three Kings
4. O Holy Night
5. That Was the Worst Christmas Ever!
6. Ding! Dong!
7. All the King’s Horns
8. The Friendly Beasts

Songs For Christmas Vol. IV: Joy

1. The Little Drummer Boy
2. Away In A Manger
3. Hey Guys! It’s Christmas Time!
4. The First Noel
5. Did I Make You Cry On Christmas Day? (Well, You Deserved It!)
6. The Incarnation
7. Joy To The World

Songs For Christmas Vol. V: Peace

1. Once in Royal David’s City
2. Get Behind Me, Santa!
3. Jingle Bells
4. Christmas in July
5. Lo! How A Rose E’er Blooming
6. Jupiter Winter
7. Sister Winter
8. O Come O Come Emmanuel
9. Star of Wonder
10. Holy, Holy, Holy
11. The Winter Solstice

~ Charlie and Anne (team cameracrowd)