Singer/songwriter Sarah McLachlan [ tickets ] will celebrate Christmas with the release of her first holiday album, "Wintersong," due in stores Oct. 17.

The 12-song collection features the Canadian folk-pop singer's unique spin on holiday classics, with a few unusual choices thrown in, including a cover of John Lennon's "Merry Xmas (War is Over)" and Joni Mitchell's "River," which includes the line "It's coming on Christmas, they're cutting down trees..."

The album features several standards, including "I'll Be Home For Christmas" and "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas," as well as a cover of Gordon Lightfoot's 1975 "Song For a Winter's Night."

Several guests make appearances on the disc, including Diana Krall on piano for "Christmas Time is Here," from the 1965 Charlie Brown Christmas cartoon, and fellow Canadian Jim Creeggan of Barenaked Ladies, who plays bass throughout the album.

On the Lennon cover, McLachlan is backed by a Vancouver children's choir from a school the singer personally funds and oversees through her Sarah McLachlan Music Outreach Program.

"As a kid," McLachlan said in a press release, "music saved my life; having that one thing that I knew I was good at made all the difference. It feels so good to be able to see their lives impacted. There's hardly any joy comparable."

"Wintersong" is McLachlan's first studio album since 2003's double-platinum "Afterglow," which received a Grammy nomination for Best Pop Vocal Album.