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With\xa0Christmas\xa0coming up, you're likely in the full holiday swing of things \u2014 decorating your tree, eating certain foods, listening\xa0to particular\xa0music, and buying and wrapping gifts. But did you ever stop to think about\xa0why\xa0it is you're taking part in this slate of often weird-but-wonderful traditions?\n\nBrian Earl has traced the backstories of our\xa0Christmas\xa0traditions\xa0in his podcast and book called\xa0ChristmasPast. Today on the show, he shares some of those\xa0backstories with us, and explains how many of our seemingly fated and timeless traditions\xa0actually came about in fluky and fortuitous\xa0ways and are a lot more recent than we think.