Pitchfork

Sufjan Stevens' "Put the Lights on the Tree" is a track from 2002's Hark!: Songs for Christmas, Vol. II. The video arrives just a couple weeks before the November 21 release of the Songs for Christmas box set, which packages together all five volumes of Stevens' feel-good (and feel-bad) Christmas covers and originals.

Directed and animated by Tom Eaton, the video maintains the (Christmas) spirit of the box set by bringing back the cast of characters in Stevens' world, including members of the Michigan Militia band, the Illinoisemakers, and the Seven Swans band. Look close for cartoon cameos by Asthmatic Kitty artists such as My Brightest Diamond's Shara Worden, Half Handed Cloud's John Ringhofer, and Liz Janes.

It's probably the cuddliest video of the year, reminiscent of those classic cartoon Christmas specials like "Frosty the Snowman" and "A Charlie Brown Christmas".

Eaton is a part of the AK family himself; Stevens and Rosie Thomas gave their voices to some of Eaton's animated short films and Eaton was a member of the Michigan band. He is also responsible for an animated segment in the Danielson Famile documentary Danielson: A Family Movie.

Eaton's "Put the Lights on the Tree" video, as well as a related comic strip, come packaged with Songs for Christmas, which also includes Christmas stickers, short stories by Stevens, and "...an original Christmas Family Portrait painting of Santa Sufjan (with wife and kids!)." If it's anything like my last family portrait, at least one family member will be crying in it. If it's exactly like mine, then I'll be crying in it.