Season 5 of Stranger Things is already Netflix’s biggest English-language release, 2025 Black Friday shopping cost more but yielded less, and making sense of expensive Christmas wish lists for Gen Z and Gen Alpha. But first:
Song of the Week – “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” by Brenda Lee
Climbing to the top of Spotify’s Daily Top Songs USA chart, the 19-year-old with beehive hair is back once again to welcome us into the Christmas season. While this song has been covered by the likes of Kacey Musgraves, Justin Bieber, Miley Cyrus, and Meghan Trainor, the vocals on Brenda Lee’s original version were recorded when she was only 13 years old, back in 1958. For 30 years, the song stayed relatively unknown—until it was featured in the movie Home Alone, when Kevin uses mannequins and cardboard cutouts to convince the burglars that a party is happening in his house. Of course, you would already know all of this if you were keeping up with our Advent: For the Record playlist. But what you won’t find there? This video of Brenda Lee, singing the same classic Christmas tune at age 79.
And now for our three conversations..
1. Strangest Things
What it is: The first half of the final season of Stranger Things dropped last week, and it’s already Netflix’s biggest English-language release.
What to know: If you’re confused, four of the eight total episodes released the week of Thanksgiving, three more will be released on Christmas, and the final episode will be released on New Year’s Eve. The four episodes out right now set the stage for the final conflict of the long-running series, with more creepy tentacle stuff, heightened stakes, and the horror of characters not communicating or having empathy. The plot revolves around kidnapped children, creepy military scientists, and the machinations of the big bad, Vecna. Parents should know that in terms of content, there are shocking moments of violence, a pervasive creepiness, and that the show continues its exploration of same-sex attraction with some of its major characters.
Continue the conversation: What do you think is going to happen in the Stranger Things finale?
2. Record Breaking… Kinda
What it is: Black Friday broke spending records this year but not because people bought more stuff. Prices continue to climb, so inevitably totals went up even as shoppers actually took fewer items home.
Why it matters: The headlines read that over 11.8 billion dollars was spent over the holiday weekend and TikTok was flooded with Black Friday hauls. But this year, many shoppers were more selective (paywall) and intentional, looking for real deals instead of grabbing whatever was on sale. Some storefronts still saw a lot of foot traffic, but consumers of all ages were doing the math to make their money stretch just a little bit further this year. Teens may joke about being “chronically broke,” but many of them are also paying attention to all of this, and at least in some ways, trying to become more strategic shoppers.
Continue the conversation: When you watch hauls on TikTok, what stands out to you—the deals, the stuff, or how much money people are spending?
3. wi$h li$ts
What it is: Pajama sets, expensive athleisure, designer half-zips, Rhode makeup, and luxurious holiday candles… If your teen didn’t scoop these bougie items up on Black Friday, there’s a good chance (paywall) they are hoping to receive them on Christmas morning.
Why it’s complicated: We hear a lot about how Gen Z and Gen Alpha are “conscious consumers.” This is the same cohort who thrifts for clout and frequently calls brands to task on social media for crimes against the climate and labor abuse. But at the same time, many of their wish-lists are still stacked with the phantoms of excess and waste. They want in-game currency for Roblox and Fortnite. They want sets: three-piece (!) pajamas, polka-dot Lululemons, and Alo loungewear. They want a skincare fridge, to chill their skincare product suite, to presumably freeze their faces at 17 forever. They say they want to break free from what they call the capitalist machine, but they can’t seem to stop feeding the beast. It might seem like an obvious contradiction—but what if it’s not?
Let’s translate this one further…
According to data from PricewaterhouseCoopers, younger consumers are the ones most concerned about lowering their Christmas costs this year. They’re looking for coupon codes, waiting for sales, and even asking ChatGPT how to time their purchases for optimal savings.
Whether they’re holding out for a hero product or hunting for a dupe that fits their budget, their consumption decisions are consistent in that they’re values-based. They’re not buying to possess. They’re buying to be. Everything they choose to own is taken as a deep mark on their identity. If an item resonates, it goes in the cart—and if it doesn’t, there’s no way it’s coming home with them.
When the stakes feel this high for teens, it makes the whole gift-giving thing a lot more complicated. Maybe, when you look at what your teen is asking for this year for Christmas, you feel overwhelmed or at a loss for how you can afford anything on their list. Or maybe you have a teen who would never reveal their deepest desires for fear of them going unfulfilled. Maybe you’re missing the days when a Barbie Dreamhouse or a Hot Wheels set was enough to make it a magical day, or maybe you’re already dreading your children’s brave faces when they see you’ve made cuts to the Christmas budget this year.
Thankfully, Christmas isn’t about what we can afford to give our kids. A Christmas celebration grounded in God’s story of redemption, his Son sent to save the world, is the best holiday your teen could ever hope for. And when we speak into their true identity as beloved of God, we remind them that a life based entirely on stuff is ultimately no life worth having.
For more context and nuance, check out our Roundtable podcast on Spotify, Apple, Amazon Music, or wherever you listen to podcasts. In the meantime, here are three questions to help you continue the conversation with your teens:
- What’s the best gift you’ve ever received on Christmas?
- Why do you think people get so excited about Black Friday shopping?
- What’s the most valuable thing you own?
Parenting together,
Kate Watson and the Axis Team
In Other News…
- Oxford named “rage bait” as its word of the year and the internet immediately proved their point by fighting about it.
- It’s officially “Wrapped” season as Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, Twitch, and many others put nice packaging on all the user-data they gathered this year.
- Sabrina Carpenter and the White House have beef. On Monday, the White House social media team posted a video of ICE agents making arrests with Carpenter’s song, “Juno” playing in the background. Carpenter responded with disgust.
- Do you know the band Geese? Some are calling them “Gen Z’s Nirvana” and the generation’s “first great rock band.”
- On TikTok, the word “genuinely” (language) has now become a comically overused way to emphasize anything and everything.
PS: Know someone who could use our conversation starters with their teens? Share the CT with a friend!