Just because Christmas has come and gone doesn't mean the holidays are over.  This year, Dave Shumka of Stop Podcasting Yourself is hosting CBC Radio 3's All-Star Tribute to Sweaters.  It features great moments in sweater history, some lessons on what a sweater is and isn't, and sweater talk with Dan Werb of Woodhands and Steve Bays of Hot Hot Heat.

The special will be repeated throughout the week on cbcradio3.com and you can download it directly or from iTunes right now! 

This week's case, To Tree or Not to Tree.

Jason and Brandi disagree: Jason believes that Christmas decorations should not be put up before Christmas Eve, keeping the spirit of Advent. Brandi argues that they should go up in the first week of December, so that the decorations may be enjoyed longer. Only one man can settle the dispute.

To listen to this week's Judge John Hodgman podcast, subscribe in iTunes or using this feed.

Download Directly (MP3)

Discuss the ruling on our forum here.

A holiday extravaganza!

Interviews with:

Ronnie Spector, the very bubbly and Christmas-spirit filled lead singer of legendary 60s girl group The Ronettes, performed what became Christmas classics on A Christmas Gift for You, and she's recorded some new songs to add to the list with Ronnie Spector's Best Christmas Ever. (Transcript)

Fred Schneider is best known as the frontman of the new wave group The B-52s. Hear some of his signature talk-singing and tracks from his band The Superions' Destination… Christmas! (Transcript)

And finally, a visit from Tasha Robinson and Kyle Ryan of The AV Club for a holiday gift guide including Bruce Springsteen's The Promise box set, The Goonies, Simpsons World: The Ultimate Episode Guide, and The Secret of Kells. (Transcript)

Plus some of our favorite holiday music. It's all in one big, fun, festive show, and we hope you enjoy it. Happy Holidays!

Jump to our transcripts here.

Rob Halford is the legendary Metal God, and frontman of seminal heavy metal group Judas Priest. The band's hits include Breaking the Law, You've Got Another Thing Coming and Hell Bent For Leather. His new solo album is a heavy metal holiday celebration called Halford III: Winter Songs.(Halford Transcript)

Plus: Audrey Ewell and Aaron Aites moved to Norway to pursue their interest in that country's black metal scene. They discovered a story of extreme aesthetics, murder and church burning. The film they created, Until The Light Takes Us, follows two of the scene's scions. Gylve Nagell, known as "Fenriz," of the band Darkthrone, is a quiet, contemplative metalhead, deeply invested in the medium's aesthetics and rueful of what the scene has become. Varge Vikernes, known as "Count Grischnak," of the band Burzum is a distinct contrast. He's a charismatic and eloquent advocate of an extreme Norweigan nativist political and religious agenda. He's also a convicted murderer and church arsonist.(Ewell and Aites Transcript)

Celebrate the darkest days of winter with us!

Jump to our transcripts here.

Maria Bamford's Christmas Special! from Punchline Magazine on Vimeo.

Do They Know It's Christmas? from Scott Aukerman on Vimeo.

You can tell it's Christmas, because all of our favorite LA comedians have recorded this ironic cover of Do They Know It's Christmas to promote the Comedy Death Ray 2010 calendar and Christmas CD.

Featuring (in order): Paul F. Tompkins, R.O. Manse, Tig Notaro, Rob Huebel, Patton Oswalt, Mike Phirman, Jimmy Pardo, Brian Posehn & Scott Aukerman, Garfunkel & Oates, Aimee Mann, Chris Hardwick, Paul Scheer & June Diane Raphael, Doug Benson, Mary Lynn Rajskub, Nick Thune, "Weird Al" Yankovic, Cracked Out, Dragon Boy Suede, Natasha Leggero, Thomas Lennon & Ed Helms

PRI apparently authors a holiday gift guide every year, and I was asked to contribute five items. The items I chose will likely be familiar to regular TSOYA listeners and readers of this blog, but if they're not, they should be.

Louis CK - "Chewed Up" and "Shameless"

Until Louis CK had his first child, parenthood was the subject matter where good comics went to die. And bad comics went to die worse. Like women going to the bathroom in pairs, children being adorable and confounding was such a well-worn subject that it was tough to imagine anyone wringing any real surprises from it. Over the past five years, though, CK has made fatherhood his own, with two brilliant hour-long comedy specials that use anger and frustration to shed light on the love he has for his kids. I'd never have imagined that a man could show love by calling his toddler the c-word, but CK pulls off the trick. Along the way, CK (who wrote for Letterman, Conan and The Chris Rock Show, among others) throws in a little incisive social commentary to boot. If you ask me, Louis CK has surpassed his close friend Rock as the best standup comic in America today.

Brian K. Vaughn "Y: The Last Man"

This comic book series imagines that a plague has wiped out all the men on earth but one, a dorky escape artist named Yorick. An agent from a secret government agency and a genetic scientist escort him (and his monkey) across the messy wasteland of a male-less America in an effort to find out what happened. There's plenty of comic-bookish thrills, but it's also funny and thoughtful. The series full run has been collected into ten trade paperbacks, which you should be able to find at any large bookstore or comic shop.

BrassEye: The Complete Series

Years before Jon Stewart took over the Daily Show, the British comic Chris Morris and his writing partner Armando Ianucci made mincemeat of the news media with two short-run TV series, "The Day Today" and "BrassEye." While DVDs of the former are only available in UK format, DVDs of the latter will play in any DVD player. "BrassEye" is a satire of Hard Copy-style newsmagazine shows, with the incomparable Morris as anchor and in many cases, correspondent. I have never seen satire so funny or trenchant. Morris and crew tear apart the fear mongering of the media and government with both fictional characters and real interviews with real British celebrities and news makers (the inspiration for Ali G, Bruno and Borat, by the way). To say the show is scathing and hilarious is to sell it far too short. Better than the Daily Show and South Park put together. Available from amazon.co.uk (and they ship to the US) or most other British online DVD retailers, like hmv.co.uk.

Jack Handey "What I'd Say To The Martians (and Other Veiled Threats)"

Handey is the brilliant absurdist writer behind Saturday Night Live's "Deep Thoughts," as well as some of the show's most hilarious sketches, like "Happy Fun Ball," "Tales of Fraud and Malfeasance in Railway Hiring Practices," and "Toonces, the Cat Who Could Drive a Car." He's also a contributor to The New Yorker and PRI's Studio 360. The essays collected in this book are Handey at his best, spinning childhood fantasies (and childhood belligerence) to bizarre heights. If you don't find this hilarious, we can't be friends.

Andrew Daly "Nine Sweaters"

Daly is best known as former castmember of the mediocre FOX sketch series Mad TV, but that credit barely hints at his remarkable talent. This CD collects nine of Daly's character monologues, which blend grandpas-and-apple-pies optimism with bizarre and distressing depravities. Daly's sunny disposition and general geniality carry the listener through characters like Patty O'Herlihy, champion of the 2008 Limerick, Ireland Blarney Contest. With a wink and a charming Irish brogue, O'Herlihy tells us all about the delightful blarney he's spread this year -- to cover for increasingly sad and horrific acts of violence. Listening to this CD was the funniest 90 minutes of my year. Available from iTunes, Amazon MP3, or on CD from http://store.aspecialthing.com