All of Clay Aiken's Christmas memories involve something that went wrong. And for Aiken, those are all positive memories.

"Most of America is accustomed to something going wrong," Aiken said, "like the turkey not cooked right. Those are the memories I think are funniest."

For Aiken, his memories include driving for hours in his stepfather's car on Christmas Eve, looking at lights in neighborhoods they had never been to, while he and his brother waited impatiently in the back seat to get home to open presents. And the time his family was forced to take home a Christmas tree in a Honda Accord. To accommodate the tree, one of the windows had to be rolled down during the entire 40-minute drive from Durham to Raleigh, N.C., in freezing weather.

Aiken is currently on his fourth tour in the past 18 months, calling this outing "The Joyful Noise Tour," in support of his new Christmas CD, "Merry Christmas With Love." He will perform in Abravanel Hall on Monday, and the show will be strictly Christmas songs and other holiday favorites. He will be accompanied by an orchestra and choir at each show, and he encourages the crowd to show up in their Sunday best.

"We want to do more of a classy show that flows together. Hopefully we'll have a few less people shouting 'Clay, I love you,' in the middle of a song," he said with a chuckle. "It'll be classy but not classical. A classy and polished show."

Speaking to reporters during a teleconference from Los Angeles on the eve of his tour, Aiken is battling a cold but in good spirits.

The easygoing Aiken, with his Southern drawl, still sounds genuinely humbled by his enormous success over the past two years. He was the runner-up on "American Idol" in 2002 but ended up the big winner in the long run by selling 3 million copies of his debut album "Measure of a Man."

Despite those sales, Aiken still has a kind of "aw shucks" attitude when doing interviews, describing himself as a "redhead geeky dork from the South."

In addition to a new album and tour, the busy Aiken also recently released a collection of essays about lessons he's learned in life, "Learning to Sing: Hearing the Music in Your Life," and has an NBC special scheduled to air next month. "I'm not old enough or wise enough to give life's lessons," he said, referring to the book. "Not everyone who reads it will get a life-changing lesson."

As for the show that brought him success, Aiken called "American Idol" a double-edged sword. He realizes he wouldn't be where he is today without it, but he still wants to be around even when the show is gone. "People see 'American Idol' as a talent competition that doesn't produce good talent. People see it as a reality show. We don't want to be considered reality-show contestants. We want to be seen more as singers.