WINNIPEG - Here's one lump of Cole we'd be happy to find in our stocking again next year.

Of course, no one in their right mind would ever use the term "lump" to describe jazz chanteuse Holly Cole, who gave Winnipeggers an early Christmas present last night -- a knockout evening of winter and yuletide-themed standards.

Nattily attired in a long black coat and narrow pants -- and oozing equal measures of sass and class -- Cole set the bar high with her opening number, a sax-heavy version of Ron Sexsmith's Maybe This Christmas.

Next came a sultry spin through Cry If You Want To, featuring a fairly explosive bridge, and a cover of Tom Waits' Tango 'Til They're Sore that had the audience so enraptured you could hear a pin drop when she dropped the volume down halfway through.

If there's anyone qualified to deliver a performance peppered with holiday favourites, it's resident expert Cole, whose very first EP was a collection of Christmas tunes, and who has returned to the genre with some frequency during the course of her 20-year career.

But in keeping with her earthy diva demeanour, she tends to forego the more traditional (read: religious) stuff in favour of cheeky cuts like Eartha Kitt's Santa Baby, which she dedicated last night to "everyone who likes to get a lot of really expensive things at Christmas."

"Christmas is about the spirit of giving," Cole quipped to the near sell-out crowd. "But there have to be people who are in the spirit of getting, or it's not going to work."

A native of Halifax, Cole treated the crowd to Waits' Shiver Me Timbers -- her favourite song about the ocean -- as well as a sped-up cover of the Tin Pan Alley gem On the Sunny Side of the Street, and a sexed-up reworking of Tea For Two before giving her smoky alto a break with a 20-minute intermission.

When she returned to the stage with a second set of bluesy, breathy jazz-pop, Cole -- apparently taking cues from all the sparkly ornaments on her tree -- was clad in a glitzy silver pants suit.

"I decided I wanted to wear something a bit more flammable," she joked.

Luckily, no fire extinguishers were necessary. The outfit -- like Cole's voice, the Christmas tunes, and come to think of it, the entire evening -- was a perfect fit.