Merry Christmas, hockey fans: Here are your ‘Funeral Burgers’

The lockout is indeed the Grinch that stole the NHL from Christmas 2012. But it can't take away Puck Daddy's annual Dec. 25 tradition: The Funeral Burgers!

In 2008, the story of the Chicago Blackhawks' surprise bus trip to the wake of then-General Manager Dale Tallon's father, and subsequent visit to a small-town McDonald's in Canada, became a national sensation after an anonymous email spun a tale of rickety bus rides (no heat!) and frozen landscapes and acts of generosity.

It was an instant Hockey Holiday Classic, for all the right reasons; at a time when athletes' reputations are only as admirable as their next contract negotiation or TMZ video, the Blackhawks reminded hockey fans that tremendous moments of kindness and consideration can still come from professional players.

In order to give this inspiring yarn a proper presentation, we enlisted the help of the great Wes Johnson -- actor, comedian and arena voice of the Washington Capitals -- for a dramatic reading of the story we formally dubbed "The Funeral Burgers," because every hokey Christmas story needs some sort of object-based title. (See: "The Christmas Shoes," "The Christmas Toy," yadda yadda.) And we celebrate it every year.

We'll be back to our regularly scheduled programming on Dec. 26, unless something huge breaks today. Merry Christmas to all, and thanks again for supporting this silly blog.

What was your best gift today? Did you, like, get anything NHL related?