Call me lazy, but I usually don't start planning Christmas until three days prior.

A month before? Way too early.

"You think (that's) early? We've been working on the album since summer," laughs well-known Quebecois singer-songwriter Roch Voisine.

Voisine has just released his first Christmas record, L'Album de Noel, and its English-language counterpart, Christmas Is Calling, and right now he's in the middle of a flurry of activity surrounding both releases: He's already filmed French and English holiday TV specials (the English show airs Dec. 17 on GJ), he's been doing promotional work in Canada and in France, and he's just getting ready to do a handful of Canadian concerts -- including a show tonight at the Jubilee Auditorium -- that will keep him working until Dec. 23.

Who knew Christmas was so much work?

"A regular record it's like, 'Oh, it's not ready? It doesn't matter, let's push it back a month,'" Voisine says.

"But Christmas is on the 25th of December, no matter what happens. So you've got to get yourself in line ... make sure that promotions are done right, the TV specials are ready. I'll be a happy puppy on the 26th of December.

"At least I'll get to enjoy Boxing Day."

Christmas Is Calling is a warm contemporary collection of 14 classics, including Joy To The World and Little Drummer Boy, as well as the title track of the album which is a Voisine original.

The songwriter reveals that the four-month painstaking endeavour behind the CD was equal parts compiling the track list and equal parts recording those songs.

"It was a long process of screening and finding the right songs and the right keys. Musically speaking, I wanted to find fresh ideas for the songs without losing the classic Christmas feel to it," he says.

"That's probably why some people make Christmas records in one or two weeks, and some people make them in a day.

"But that's also why a lot of those Christmas records don't stand the test of time."

Voisine is hoping his CD, or at the very least his song will.

The track is one that explores the true meaning of the holiday in a world that seems to have forgotten it, and it's a message he's sure people will embrace.

"Christmas Is Calling is a classic Christmas tune. It's a new one but it's a classic way of writing one," he says.

"A lot of people have added it their Christmas lists so maybe next year it will still be played.

"That's really nice because when you write a new Christmas song, you're standing on the edge of oblivion."