A Christmas tree is synonymous with the holiday season as much as gift-giving overload; fun but mildly dysfunctional family get-togethers; and otherwise cringe-worthy but enjoyable "seasonal" music. But do you know where your tree comes from?

Presents are bought, decorations are up, the egg nog is spiked, Christmas is here. Watch this video so your plans for holiday fun will go off without a hitch.

Screw classiness. America still loves tinsel (mainly because it's cheap). The Wall Street Journal conducts a hard-hitting investigation into its history. Here are some things you didn't know about tinsel, that the WSJ thinks you should.

Barneys creative director and noted gay male Simon Doonan oversaw White House Christmas decor this year, and his trees are an assault on family values, say right-wing bloggers. Then again, does Mao Tse-Tung really belong on Obama's tree?

Hot shot 80's comedian Arsenio Hall presents his comedic stylings in his comedy special "Solid Gold Christmas." In this clip he talks about Christmas in LA, Black peoples' reactions to radio giveaways and of course— Rick James.

[This overly ornate house is one of the many on The Boulevard Christmas Lights Display in Melbourne, Australia. We want to live there. Image via Getty]

Commercials for Tarako, a roe product marketed with marching kewpie dolls and children's choirs, are always strange, in keeping with Japanese advertisement standards. In the full-length Christmas ad, children chant incessantly while visions of fish eggs dance on their heads.

Do you need context, for this? A Fox correspondent says Philippines is covered in ash, because of a volcano, so "in a way they're having a white christmas." So nice of Jesus to blanket them in His loving sulfur!

[Designer Narcisco Rodriguez looks on as club promoter Suzanne Bartsch, Marc Jacobs, and gym owner David Barton pose at David Barton Gym's annual toy drive. This is how they do Christmas in Chelsea. Image via Getty]

Martha Stewart dropped by Late Night with Jimmy Fallon tonight for two segments. The first: an interview with Fallon, in which Stewart's intrinsic pretentiousness played out hilariously. Later, she and Fallon made croquembouche (and penis jokes). The videos, ahead.

You know Dasher, and Dancer, and Prancer, and Vixen... but did you know that they are crazy high? In Scandinavian Lappland, Sami herders have shared psychotropic mushrooms with their animals for centuries; a possible explanation for Santa's flying reindeer.

Thanks to the media-hating GOP, the poor saps who cover Congress will be spending Christmas Eve in the Capitol watching Communism happen in the form of a vote on the healthcare bill. Their White House counterparts will be in Hawaii.

If you insist on chopping down your own Christmas tree this year, make sure it's not going to fall on and crush your home.

Jim Behrle's Kreepie Kats are here to tell you what Christmas is really all about.

On the up side, we now know Santa's White House flight pattern and the importance of reindeer snacks. Univision's news reporters must be pissed that their network gave a presidential sit-down to a pop star.

Tonight, NBC aired a two-hour SNL primetime special, A Very Gilly Christmas, starring everyone's least favorite Kristen Wiig character. It was mostly a showcase of great Holiday-themed sketches of the past, but Gilly—and others—made some new, unfunny appearances.

[This look inside a Christmas tree made of lights in Madrid, Spain, is giving us some serious flashbacks, man. Image via Getty]

The Jersey Shore continues its assault on the California Coast with an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel. Pauly-D, The Situation, and Snooki play the three wise men—the only difference: Two of these wise men have rock-hard abs.

What did Rachel Maddow and Fox News president Roger Ailes' say to each other at tonight's White House holiday party for broadcast journalists? Our guess: [Five minutes of awkward silence.] MADDOW: "Well, I guess I'm going to get a drink?"

Buying gifts for the forced merriment of the office holiday party is a tricky endeavor. Because gift guides suck we can't tell you what to get, but we can keep you from embarrassing yourself in front of your coworkers.