More Christmas music stations? No, really, you shouldn't have.

It's officially The Season.

It's officially OK to listen to holiday music without shame or fear of reprisal. No reason to be afraid of bopping along your merry way with your requisite Christmas CDs and MP3s.

But no one person's music collection can do it alone.

When the only prescription for seasonal bah-humbug disorder calls for more sleigh bells, it's time to turn to the radio. And in Hampton Roads, we are blessed with abundant good cheer.

Between now and Dec. 14, the region is home to two 24-hour-a-day Christmas stations. After Dec. 14, three. And if Santa brought you a super strong radio receiver last year, you might be able to pick up more from northeastern North Carolina or the Eastern Shore.

Which naturally leads to a full-throated "whoa, whoa, whoa" and "I thought we were cutting back this year."

Having three stations sounds superfluous, ridiculous, ostentatious. After all, how much Christmas music can one person listen to? How much longing to spend the holidays with your boo can one man's ears endure?

The answer is: a lot.

And as counterintuitive as it sounds, two stations devoted to holiday music might not be enough.

Hampton Roads needs more jing-jing-jingling.

The reason? We need choices. Everyone knows there's plenty of terrible Christmas music out there. Really terrible.

Do you know how many bands who had no business covering "Please Come Home for Christmas" did it anyway? Do you know how many singer-songwriters felt the world needs another "Do They Know It's Christmas?" The numbers are staggering.

There are so many Christmas classics and covers and R&B-infused carols and rock-tinged instrumentals and parody songs that, when the mood for holiday music hits us, we can find exactly what we want.

When we're feeling melancholy, we want The Pogues. In a soulful mood? Only James Brown's "Funky Christmas" will do. We want to enjoy good Christmas music while driving to Target, and we'll know it when they play it.

I conducted an experiment last week. During one afternoon, I compared the music on two Christmas stations. What I found was that I wanted more options:

Vanessa Hudgens' "Winter Wonderland" vs. Ray Conniff's "Twelve days of Christmas"?

I was hoping for Mannheim Steamroller.

"Carol of the Bells" by David Foster vs. Frank Sinatra's "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas"?

Unfortunately, the latter is a song best enjoyed on Christmas Eve, not a Tuesday afternoon in late November. Besides, I was in the mood for an indie-rock cover of "We Three Kings."

Andy Williams' "Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!" vs. Thurl Ravenscroft's "You're a mean One, Mr. Grinch"?

Obviously, I chose the Grinch. It's holiday gold, frankincense and myrrh.

Then a tough one: "Holly Jolly Christmas" by Burl Ives vs. "Angels We Have Heard On High" by the Roches? It felt as uncomfortable as a Christmas sweater party, mostly because I was hoping Mariah Carey would tell me all she wanted for Christmas was me. And another full-time holiday radio station.

For years, artists have given listeners Christmas songs. And given and given and given. Really, it's too much. They shouldn't have.

Finding the right stuff at the right time in our on-demand world is harder simply because there's so much bad stuff out there.

But if Santa can bring yet another station devoted to holiday music, we'll be able to say, any hour of the day, "This is exactly what we wanted."

Mike Gruss, (757) 446-2277, mike.gruss@pilotonline.com, PilotOnline.com/gruss