In case you were wondering where the new holiday humor classics are coming from, here's a gem from John Scalzi.

And, yes, it's that holiday time o' year. Over the weekend, there was a reader comment posted at the Daily Dish that summed up my position on the whole subject of yuletidiness pretty well: "As a religious holiday, pre-modern Christmases were rather austere celebrations defined by lengthy church services. That this coincided with pagan culture's raucous celebrations of the winter solstice was a source of great displeasure to institutional Christianity for centuries. The "kitsch" that Harris discusses (Evergreen Trees, the man from the north who brings us goodies) are pagan icons. Giving gifts and spending time with your family and friends (instead of spending the day in mass) are also holdovers from popular tradition of drinking and reveling which the church had been actively hostile to. In short, everything WE secularists value in Christmas has been entirely appropriated by the Christian world."