Merry Christmas. It's all led up to this day. The 2016 Christmas season reaches its high point today.

Me, I'm the kind of guy who likes the season a little more than the actual day, but I hope that wherever you are and whatever you're doing and whoever you're doing it with, that today is a special day,

a very merry Christmas, surrounded by the warmth of family and friends and good food and

laughter and Christmas cheer. By the time this episode arrives in your podcast feed, I'll be on

the East Coast with my family, and we'll hear more from them in just a minute.

But first, let's take a quick look back.

This podcast tells the stories behind holiday traditions, and the running theme is that Christmas is constantly evolving.

The term new tradition might sound like an oxymoron, but traditions are forming around us

now just as they have been for millennia.

Think of recent editions like The Elf on the Shelf,

the Hallmark Channel's Countdown to Christmas,

ugly sweater parties.

So, did 2016 make any contributions?

Things will look back on decades from now?

Let's take a look.

After all, starting tomorrow, Christmas of 2016

belongs to Christmas past. The top toys this year were Hatchamels, which I'd never heard of,

anything Star Wars, no surprise there, and Pokemon video games. We got lots of new Christmas albums,

including ones from Pentatonics, Kylie Monogue, and

the wonderful, wonderful Elizabeth Chan. For movies, we got Office Christmas Party and Collateral

Beauty, neither of which I've seen, and neither of which I probably will. And also, nothing new

from Netflix as far as original holiday content goes, unless I missed

...