Roberta Bernstein

USATODAY

Granted, this Nick Offerman Yule log video is basically a very long ad for Lagavulin whisky (we don't want to know what he got paid for this -- who are we kidding, yes we do), but it's also pretty great. Here's what it's got going for it:





Nick Offerman A Yule log Nick Offerman sitting by a Yule log Nick Offerman sittting by Yule log and saying nothing It makes a nice crackling noise

And while we have your attention, in the spirit of assuming you actually don't know why the Yule log is a tradition, or what a Yule log actually is, we're going to tell you.

The word "Yule," according to the Merriam Webster Dictionary, originates from an Old Norse midwinter festival.

According to Whychristmas.com, the log used to be an entire tree "carefully chosen and brought into the house with great ceremony. The largest end of the log would be placed into the fire hearth while the rest of the tree stuck out into the room." It was then slowly fed through the twelve days of Christmas.





This story originally appeared on the USA TODAY College blog, a news source produced for college students by student journalists. The blog closed in September of 2017.