In a way, Christmas is the last respite before Academy Awards season really starts heating up.  Before New Years Day rolls around, voters will be staring at their ballots, studios will know it's time for a full-court press, and nervous potential nominees will see some scary deadlines looming.

But for now, let's forget about that and celebrate a holiday with some pretty close ties to the Academy Award. The classic Christmas song of the past century, for instance, won the best original song award at the 1942 Oscars: 

"Holiday Inn" (Paramount Pictures/Universal Home Entertainment)

Seven years later, another song that grew into a seasonal standard debuted in a film, and won the Oscar as well. The movie, "Neptune's Daughter," starred Ricardo Montalban, Esther Williams, Red Skelton and Betty Garrett.  Here, the latter two tackle another Oscar champ, “Baby, It’s Cold Outside.”

"Neptune's Daughter" (MGM/Warner Home Video)

And finally, a song that has nothing to do with the Oscars, except that the video includes a small role for eventual nominee Matt Dillon. But this 1988 gem is the greatest Christmas song at least since Darlene Love’s “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home),” and I can’t get through a holiday season without listening to it many, many times. The Pogues with the late, great Kirsty MacColl:

"Fairytale of New York," the Pogues with Kirsty MacColl (Island Records)

Happy holidays to all.