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Christmas Portrait by  ReleasedOctober 13, 1978Recorded1977–1978Length49:08/Associate Producer –  chronology
(1977)Christmas Portrait
(1978)
(1981)Professional ratingsReview scoresSourceRating

Christmas Portrait is the first  and ninth studio album by the American popular music duo , released on October 13, 1978.

Background

The album includes a revised version of the duo's signature Christmas song, "". It also includes one of two versions of "" (a slower version, recorded in 1974, as well as other unused songs recorded during this album's sessions, were issued on the Carpenters' later Christmas album, ).

Album artwork

The original album cover by Robert Tanenbaum is modeled on 's 1960 painting, "Triple Self-Portrait", done as a cover for .

Commercial performance

On April 16, 1998, Christmas Portrait was certified  by the  for shipment of one million copies in the United States since its 1978 release.

In December 2011, Christmas Portrait: Special Edition (Note: the original Christmas Portrait has not been available on its own in the US since the late-90's when the cassette version was discontinued, so the chart action in the 2010s is from the 1984 compilation) re-entered the  album sales chart at No. 150 and eventually achieved a new chart peak position of No. 126. In December 2012 and then in December 2013, the album again re-entered the Billboard 200 album sales chart and attained a new chart peak position of No. 114. In January 2019, it reached a new peak position of No. 67 on the Billboard 200. In January 2020, it reached another new peak position of No. 56 on the Billboard 200.

By the end of November 2014, Christmas Portrait was the twenty-third  during the  era of music sales tracking (March 1991 – present), having sold 1,950,000 copies according to SoundScan.

Track listing

All lead vocals by , except where noted.

Side oneNo.TitleWriter(s)Length1."" (lead vocals: ) Traditional R. Carpenter 0:282.""/""/""/""/""/""/""/"" (overture) Traditional / Traditional David Overton /   / Traditional / Traditional James R. Murray /  /  Nick Perito Peter Knight /  4:383."" 2:154."" 2:395."It's Christmas Time"/"Sleep Well, Little Children"  /  Leon Klatzkin 2:536."" Blane Martin 3:557."" 1:058."" 3:399."" Knight 3:19Side twoNo.TitleWriter(s)Length10."" Knight 1:1011."First Snowfall"/""  / Cahn Styne 3:3512."" Leontovych Wilhousky Perito Knight 1:3913."" R. Carpenter 3:0514."" 3:4815."Christ is Born" Domenico Bartolucci 3:1316.""/""/""  /   /  5:3117."" Knight 2:35