Sting and his wife Trudie keep with tradition on Christmas Eve: They go to a local church, sing along to carols, then head back home to their English estate to open presents with their family.

It's a cheery scene one would expect during the holiday season. But that kind of celebratory mood is absent on his latest album, "If On A Winter's Night."

Instead, the seasonal offering features the rocker's interpretations of traditional British songs, ranging from carols to lullabies, that somberly mark the winter season _ definitely not the kind of music for that tree-trimming party.

"I wanted to present something slightly different," explains a bearded Sting, talking about the album while sitting in his Upper West Side apartment.

"There's a fault with a lot of Christmas songs; they are a little bit triumphal: 'Isn't life wonderful, God's in his heaven and I'm rich,'" laughs Sting. "They sort of forget a lot of people aren't."

"If On A Winter's Night," which Sting will present in a "Great Performances" concert on PBS on Thanksgiving, doesn't forget. In a recent interview, Sting explained why he felt compelled to make the CD, being middle age and why he's not giving up on his rock roots.

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The Associated Press: Had you rejected doing a traditional Christmas album in the past?

Sting: I don't think there's any need for me to do one of those kind of records. I think there are enough of them out there and my feeling toward the season is a little bit more ambiguous (laughs). So just to be truthful to my own sensibility, I need to acknowledge that the season is not all joy and light for a lot of people. It's tough _ environmentally, emotionally, spiritually. So I wanted to achieve some sort of balance between that sense of traditional Christmas and being home and being warm and being cozy, and also the opposite of those things. A lot of people suffer.

AP: When the leaves start to fall and the snow comes, what do you start to think about?

Sting: At this particular time, preparing for the winter of one's life. I'm 58. I'm not in the winter of my life but I'm definitely preparing for it, so it reminds you of your mortality, the short span of years we have on the planet, what to do with that, how to be useful, how to be meaningful.

AP: How does one prepare for that?