This year, I look at various personifications of the Christmas holiday, from the mock kings of antiquity to the very complicated evolution of the holiday's modern poster boy, Santa Claus. It's a story of ancient gods and goddesses, mischievous elves, and a legendary saint, and how they all got mixed up and baked into one colorful holiday treat!

Much of the Christmas music on this episode, including the tracks “Wish Background,” “Deck the Halls A,” “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring,” and “O Holy Night,” by Kevin MacLeod and available at incompetech.com. Rendition of “O Come All Ye Faithful” by Jingle Punks available through the Youtube Audio Library. Additional music, including the tracks “Holiday Gift,” “Nothing (Bonus Track),” “Something (Bonus Track),” “Brooks,” and “Daedalus,” by Kai Engel and available at freemusicarchive.org. All music licenced under a Creative Commons Attribution license.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

John Mulaney