standards. the only twist, it seems, is who is belting them out. but no new songs seem to break the candy cane ceiling. >> it's hard to figure out why it is that even though we still have the top stars of today writing original christmas songs, none of them have really broken through. >> chris wrote a piece for slate.com pinning down this christmas song trend. he points out that the latest modern holiday song to stick was, well, take it away, mariah carey with "all i want for christmas is you." >> it's not that there are no more good christmas songs coming out. it's that we as a culture have stopped embracing the new ones that do come out. it's been 19 years since "all i want for christmas is you." >> that's right. the newest of holiday standards is 19 years old. before that, the waitress's christmas wrapping, now a perennial holiday song on the radio, came out in 1981. it's hard to write a new