Over the years, Albert Einstein's name has become synonymous with genius.

In his lifetime, Einstein changed the world, describing the workings of reality better than anyone since Isaac Newton and revealing the capabilities of the atom bomb. In 1999, Time named him Person of the Century.

Here are 25 of Einstein's most telling quotes; each will take you inside the mind of the legend.

SEE ALSO: 25 quotes from legendary CEOs that can make you more successful

On authority

"Unthinking respect for authority is the greatest enemy of truth."

["The Curious History of Relativity"]

On scope

"Nature shows us only the tail of the lion. But there is no doubt in my mind that the lion belongs with it even if he cannot reveal himself to the eye all at once because of his huge dimension."

[Smithsonian, February 1979]

On politics

"I am by heritage a Jew, by citizenship a Swiss, and by makeup a human being, and only a human being, without any special attachment to any state or national entity whatsoever."

["The Yale Book of Quotations"]

As the holidays approach, it's typical to have questions: What should you get your cousin Katie? Where can you find the perfect sweater for your college roommate's ugly sweater party?

And perhaps most importantly, how much should you tip?

"The holidays are the traditional time to show appreciation for the people who make our lives more pleasant throughout the year," says etiquette expert Patricia Napier-Fitzpatrick of The Etiquette School of New York. "Always show your gratitude in some form, whether it's a monetary gift or a handwritten thank you note."

Here are a few best practices when it comes to holiday tipping, according to Napier-Fitzpatrick:

• If you're going to give cash, it's better to give earlier in the month than later, if possible. The recipients will be using those tips to buy gifts for their own families.
• You don't want to give less than you did last year, unless you truly can't afford to.
• If you have a personal relationship with a service provider, such as your regular hairdresser or housekeeper, you might want to give a more personalized gift in addition to a cash tip.
• If you live in an apartment building and are tipping the building staff, the amount you give depends on how long you've lived there, whether you rent or own, how large your apartment is, and how much you use their services. For instance, if you work from home and get a lot of deliveries, you might want to tip more.

Below, she helped Business Insider outline the appropriate tip amounts for everyone in your life. If you don't see a specific service provider you want to appreciate, a rule of thumb is to tip the cost of one extra service.

Megan Willett contributed to an earlier version of this post.

SEE ALSO: Here's how to split the restaurant bill in any situation

DON'T MISS: 21 do's and don'ts of holiday shopping

The suburban Brooklyn neighborhood of Dyker Heights is a quiet and friendly area year-round – that is, until the holidays start. That's when the neighborhood is flooded with thousands of Christmas-light peepers anxious to see the area's famed displays. Countless homes in the neighborhood take part, putting up dazzling and awe-inspiring feats of festivity, and likely producing similarly awe-inspiring electric bills.

I took a trip to Dyker Heights to see the hyped "Dyker Lights" for myself. Keep scrolling to see some lights that would make Clark Griswold die from envy.

SEE ALSO: This New York City restaurant spends more than $60,000 a year getting ready for Christmas — take a look inside

Dyker Heights is a good half-hour drive from downtown Manhattan, and about an hour away on the subway. Luckily, there are Dyker Lights tour buses that will take you there hassle-free — for a price.

You can see most of the best displays between 11th and 13th Avenues around 81st through 86th Streets.

Some of the homes put up stately, elegant arrangements.

We've given you some dos and don'ts for exchanging gifts at the office. 

But if you're still undecided on what you should get your coworkers this year, perhaps knowing what not to give is a good place to start.

According to a new survey from CareerBuilder, conducted online by Harris Poll among 3,300 employees and 2,379 HR professionals, about a fifth (22%) of employees say they plan to buy holiday gifts for coworkers, and 21% plan to buy a gift for their boss.

As a general rule, it's the thought that counts when it comes to gift-giving, which means gifting something thoughtless doesn't leave a very good impression. You're better of avoiding gifts that are inappropriate, offensive, or that might leave your coworkers scratching their heads. 

To help you avoid these gift-giving faux-pas, here are 31 gifts real employees have received from someone in the office during the holiday season, according to CareerBuilder, CooperKatz, and Business Insider survey respondents:

SEE ALSO: 15 things you should never do at the office holiday party

DON'T MISS: 8 ways to get through your office gift exchange without things getting awkward

Thoughtless gifts

• A bunch of stationery from the stationery cupboard

• A broken ornament

• Expired canned food

• Too-small, company-branded apparel

• A pad of paper

Second-hand gifts

• A used Yankee candle

• Used plaid tennis shoe

• Old backpack full of old shoes

• Piece of cake that was already being eaten at the party

Mean gifts

• A bottle of axe and a card that said, "Take a shower."

• Lump of coal

You know Dasher and Dancer, Prancer and Vixen.

But do you know Father Frost, Snow Maiden, or Krampus?

Holiday traditions are as unique as the countries they're from. Some rituals date back centuries, while other celebrations are only decades old.

To celebrate this time of coming together, we rounded up the most spectacular holiday traditions from around the world.

SEE ALSO: 26 beautiful photos of traditional wedding dresses from around the world

Rovaniemi, Finland, is a gateway to the Arctic north and the "official home town" of Santa Claus. The man in the red suit can be visited 365 days a year.

Source: Rovaniemi

There, children from around the world come to deliver their wish lists in person.

In Croatia, residents release thousands of paper lanterns carrying their Christmas hopes and wishes into the sky at the nation's capital a few days before the holiday.

Source: Croatia Week

As morning people who appreciate routine even while we try to embrace some spontaneity, we're admittedly fascinated by the drive, dedication, and self-discipline embodied by Olympic athletes.

Following a rigid diet that involves counting protein grams and being mindful of carbohydrates isn't at the top of our things-that-thrill-us list, but it's hard to argue with the positive impact that certain habits have on our productivity.

We're both runners, for example, who value the feeling that comes from a good workout. Some days, it can be a push to get outside after we've laced up and gotten the playlist ready, but a three or four-mile jog or 45-minute session at the gym can be the difference between feeling on top of our game and at the bottom of it.

Eight-plus hours of sleep a night gets a thumbs-up from us, not just because getting a good night's sleep feels oh-so-nice, but also because it affects how we work — the very quality of work we produce, in fact.

Habits are helpful. There's no question that athletes at the Olympic level take their habits and routines very seriously. We were curious to see what else we could be doing that would give us a professional edge and make us feel accomplished day in and day out.

While we're not about to start setting our alarms for 4:15 a.m. to fit more in and double the length of our workouts, we might be willing to try taking more regular breaks to give our tired minds a much-needed rest.

SEE ALSO: Here's what former gymnast Kerri Strug has been up to since she stuck the unforgettable vault that won her team the 1996 Olympic gold

DON'T MISS: Here's what 19 Olympic legends went on to do after retiring from sports

DON'T FORGET: These 15 successful Olympians also served in the US armed forces

1. Get the right kind of rest: Kassidy Cook, USA, diving

Routine fun fact

The day prior to competition, Cook takes a bath in a tub full of ice to ensure her legs are fully rested and ready to go when she arrives at the pool the next morning. (Oh, she also makes sure she gets a manicure and pedicure, too.)

How you can apply these habits

Rest is crucial. Just as Cook wants her legs to be fresh for the most important dives, you want your mind to be as rested as possible in order to reach optimum productivity. That means listening to your body, getting enough sleep each night, and unplugging from work on a consistent basis.

2. Focus on the nutrients: Novak Djokovic, Serbia, tennis

Routine fun fact

Djokovic has a very specific routine to start out his day, and it goes in this order: a large cup of room temperature water; two tablespoons of honey; and a nutrient-rich breakfast comprised of muesli or oatmeal, nuts, seeds, fruit, coconut oil, and a non-dairy milk or coconut water.

How you can apply these habits

Djokivic’s ritual is designed to set his body up for ultimate success. And you can do this, too, by fueling with foods that are whole and healthy and staying hydrated throughout the day.

3. Aim for high-quality sleep: Michael Phelps, USA, swimming

Routine fun fact

Phelps' sleeping situation is, well, unique. Each night he dozes off in a special altitude chamber (yes, you read that correctly).

How you can apply these habits

We're willing to bet that these contraptions aren't cheap (or even close), but you can still aim for high-quality sleep in other ways. Make sure your room is as dark and cool as possible, keep electronics away from the bed — or out of the room all together — and try to fall asleep and wake up on the same schedule each day.

Santa Jim understands the value of a top-notch beard — no straggly, wispy nonsense or anything that could easily get pulled off.

Instead, he imports his beard, which ties on in three places, from Switzerland for a whopping $750.

To Santa Jim, it's worth every penny.

According to this professional, private events Santa Claus — Jim Manning when he's out of the red suit — a lot more goes into playing Santa than simply showing up, finding the nearest couch, and letting kids sit on your lap.

Below, Manning shares more about the business of being Santa:

SEE ALSO: What it's really like to be a professional Santa Claus

DON'T MISS: A man who's played Santa for 13 years shares the 5 most annoying things he wishes parents would stop doing

First: Create an online presence

In 2004 I grabbed the domain name SantaBoston.com, and that's really been what's sent a lot of the Santa Claus traffic to me. The website presence has been important, and I've added social-media presence over the years. I'm now seeing direct social-media results — people see me on Instagram and they're hiring me from that. But the website is still the No. 1 way people contact me.

And having a mobile-friendly website has been huge. My website wasn't mobile-friendly until about three years ago. Now about 78% of people look at my website on their phones or their iPads.

The content that goes on the website is important, too. There are a lot of Santa Clauses who have websites, and fortunately I've had a lot of them helping me in terms of what the site needs.

People want to see ... Do you look good as Santa? Do you seem trustworthy? And what are your prices? And you don't put your prices on your website, because that's just not something you do. But people want all that information, and they want it quickly, and they're going to decide whether to reach out to you from that.

Then, start booking a year in advance

The busy season is December, Thanksgiving to Christmas. We start receiving calls and emails in August to book events. Some people will book from the year before. But the real majority of the requests start coming in October and November. And a lot of last-minute requests come in, too. The real season starts to ramp up after Thanksgiving.

The first week of December is more promotional work — a lot of photo shoots. I did a photo shoot for Legal Sea Foods, where they had me as Santa Claus taking photos of their clam chowder or their lobster. Drug stores, car dealerships — they'll bring me in to set the tone for the season and whatnot.

Then toward the middle of December, that's when I start getting into more corporate parties, private parties. And then as we get closer to Christmas Eve, the majority of my events are parties in people's homes.

Christmas Eve is the busiest day. I'll do 10 appearances. This year, my first visit is at 11 a.m. and my last visit is scheduled for 9 p.m.

Most weekdays are two to three visits. Weekends are much busier. Sunday I did eight different visits. I'll have five or six days off somewhere in between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Santa Jim charges $499 for a visit, and does upwards of 80 visits during the season.

Be sure to suit up

I've also got a lot of my own costs. This isn't a part-time thing for me — this is my full-time gig. So I have an operations manager, and a lot of money goes into advertising and promotions.

I spend over a hundred dollars on gloves every year. My dry-cleaning bills are pretty expensive.

The gloves I wear are band gloves that have little grips on them. Why do they have grips on them? Because when I'm turning the pages of "The Night Before Christmas" I don't have to fumble around. To me, details like this are super important.

The wigs and beards and mustaches? A friend of mine imports them from Switzerland. One wig, beard, mustache set costs me about $750, and I have five of them, which I've built up over the course of a few years.

My beard is tied on in three different spots. It's really beautiful, and children under the age of 8 have a tough time distinguishing between my beard and a real beard. 

 The belt cost me $400 — that was handmade from a leather maker in Montana, which a big, gold-brass buckle.

I've got a cooling vest, which law-enforcement officers use to stay cool, because I'm playing Santa Claus for upwards of 10 hours. I've got the fat suit. 

I spend over $300 a year on dry cleaning with all my suits. I've got five suits that I keep in regular rotation. So pretty much as soon as I wear a suit I'm dropping it off at the dry cleaners and I'm keeping them on a constant rotation because I want to look as fresh as possible.

Driving-wise, this year I'm driving 75 hours, probably over 3,000 miles. So there's gas, tolls, and so forth.

Then there's food. Normally I cook for myself and my wife, but I don't have time for the month of December, so I end up eating out a lot, doing take-out. I tried finding a meal-delivery service. But at the end of the day, it's a lot of grab-and-go.

As 2016 comes to an end, the tumult of the past year shows the truly unpredictable state of world affairs.

Brexit in the UK and the election of Donald Trump in the US showed the inherent failures of relying too heavily on public polling, while the scope and ability of ISIS attacks worldwide served as a crude wake-up call to the group's deadly reach, even as it loses ground in the Middle East. 

But even as 2016 proved to be a year full of surprises, several of the predictions from Business Insider's Military & Defense team for what the year held proved to be accurate: The South China Sea has only become more militarized, the leader of the Democratic Republic of Congo has extended his rule beyond constitutional limits, and the Kurdish insurgency in Turkey has gone off the rails. 

Here are 11 big geopolitical events that we think will come to pass in 2017.

SEE ALSO: Here's what we thought would happen in 2016

Paul Szoldra's predictions: North Korea will present one of the first tests for a Trump White House.

The Hermit Kingdom has always been a wild card on the national security stage. While most experts can make predictions as to what countries would do in certain situations, the only prediction one can really ascribe to North Korea’s leadership is bluster and chest-thumping.

Whether its joint military training exercises with the US and South Korea militaries or US Navy ships being seen too close to North Korean shores, Pyongyang often has a response, and it’s usually not good.

One example that comes to mind is North Korea’s shelling of a South Korean island in 2010. Would President Trump be a hardliner toward the North, possibly increasing tensions? With Kim Jong-un inching closer to having a viable offensive nuclear weapons program, those tensions may come sooner rather than later.

Russia will make more provocative moves against Baltic states to see how Trump and the world respond.

Russia has been emboldened by its moves into Ukraine, especially when it was able to infiltrate and eventually annex Crimea — with little recourse from the international community.

Moscow’s top government hackers conducted a major cyberattack against the US electoral process, and though it was called out in public by the Obama administration, Russia’s denial of hacking brings to mind its initial denials of taking over Crimea. Only after a large portion of the world comes out against Moscow does Russia finally say, yeah, you caught us.

We expect more of Moscow’s meddling in other’s affairs, especially in the Baltic states. Russia moved nuclear-capable missiles very close to Poland and Lithuania in October. NATO has responded by putting troops and tanks in Baltic states.

Will this Cold War-like buildup continue? That’s very likely. And with President Trump in charge, it will be interesting to see whether Moscow gets the pushback it has seen in the past — or whether it encounters a new, conciliatory tack.

The Islamic State’s capital of Raqqa will be directly attacked by a large-scale ground assault.

ISIS’ power is on the trend downward, and that’s going to continue into 2017. The US and Iraq finally have their act together when it comes to confronting the terrorist group within Iraq’s borders. Although efforts to rout the group from Mosul are going slowly, it’s likely that the city will be back in the hands of the Iraqi army by early next year.

US military leaders say it could be another two to four months of tough fighting before Mosul is secured. After Mosul, it can be expected that ISIS will try to hold out in remaining Iraqi cities before most fighters fall back to its Syrian capital.

That’ll mean a much, much tougher fight once Raqqa comes under assault, but we think an attack in 2017 is likely, especially if Mosul falls and Syria’s government forces take more control back from rebels.

In the past, Syrian government forces have basically ignored ISIS and its Raqqa stronghold. If the war looks to be coming to a close against the anti-government rebels, it’s likely that Damascus will then go after ISIS — which could mean a very awkward coalition emerges between the governments of Syria, Russia, Iran, and the United States.

Uber launched its second pilot program in San Francisco last week, but the day it launched, a car ran straight through a red light. 

Uber has since said the incident was due to human error, but it's not clear whether that means a person drove through the light or failed to stop the car from doing so while it was in autonomous mode. Either way, Uber knows its cars will fail from time-to-time, which is why a safety driver and engineer sit upfront while the cars autonomously drive people.

(Uber shut down the San Francisco pilot program on Wednesday after the California DMV revoked the cars' registration.)

Uber let us get behind the wheel for the launch of its pilot program in Pittsburgh in September, and we got to see firsthand what it's like when the car fails and needs a driver to take over.

Keep in mind that Uber used self-driving Volvo XC90s for the San Francisco pilot instead of the self-driving Ford Fusions in Pittsburgh. As a result, the interface we experienced is slightly different from the one in the Volvo cars.

But you can scroll down to get a basic sense of what it's like when the robot cars need help:

First, a brief introduction to Uber's self-driving car in Pittsburgh: a Ford Fusion retrofitted with autonomous tech. The car has a massive, spinning lidar on top and 20 cameras. That doesn't even factor in the several radar and lidar modules on the side and GPS units helping the car drive safely.

Lidar is an acronym for light-sensing radar, a remote-sensing technology that uses lasers to map out the world around the car so it can "see" obstacles.

That lidar on top is exceptionally powerful. Eric Meyhofer, the engineering lead for the self-driving-car project, says it's capable of firing 1.4 million laser points per second to build a 3D view of the car's surroundings. A camera under the giant lidar machinery transforms that black-and-white 3D view into color so it can sense things like traffic-light changes.

But that doesn't mean the car is ready to go out in the world all on its own. We've already heard that Uber's self-driving cars struggle with bridges because there aren't enough environmental cues for the car to figure out where it is.

You can read a bit more about that problem here.

For much of the past 30 years, the BMW M3 has been the gold standard for performance sports sedans and coupes. Countless newcomers have attempted to challenge the dominance of the Bimmer. Although a few have gotten close, none have been able to topple the king.

The latest challenger to the Bavarian performance car is the Cadillac ATS-V. If you're surprised to find the byword for soft American luxury mentioned in the same sentence as the ultimate driving machine, you haven't been paying enough attention to the Cadillac's evolution.

For the past decade, Caddy has been infusing its products with more edge, performance, and quality in an attempt to shake the hangover of all those boat-like examples of the wreath and shield from the 1970s and '80s — right down to the lush velour interiors, throwback whitewall tires, and pretentious names like "Fleetwood Brougham" and "Deville." Ask Caddy, they'll tell you that driving dynamics and engineering excellence have put those days in the rearview. It's no accident that the automaker, which recently moved its sales and marketing to New York City, talks a talk that echoes what you hear coming from Stuttgart, Ingolstadt, or Munich.

With its current generation of ATS, CTS, and CT6 models, along with its performance oriented V-Series cars, Cadillac has been mounting a series charge at Germany's sporting automotive supremacy. The ATS-V coupe and sedan are the latest performance offerings from Caddy's "V-Series" aimed directly at the BMW M3. (The M3 Coupe has been renamed the M4.)

Business Insider spent some time with a 2016 Cadillac ATS-V coupe. It starts at $62,665, but our highly optioned test car came to $76,035.

Photos by Hollis Johnson unless otherwise credited.

SEE ALSO: The new A4 sedan is the best car Audi ever made

For 30 years, the BMW M3 has been the gold standard for compact sports sedans.

Today, the stunning M4 continues that tradition of automotive excellence.

Sportiness hasn't really been a big part of Cadillac's tradition. However, since the late 1980s, Caddy has become more and more interested in incorporating "sportiness" to its cars.

As automation sweeps the restaurant industry, fast food execs may look for inspiration from Eatsa — a small chain that is powered by machines instead of people. 

Eatsa, which opened its first location in San Francisco in 2015, functions essentially like a vending machine or a high-tech automat that spits out freshly-prepared bowls of quinoa. There are real people behind the scenes preparing the food, but instead of cashiers there are kiosks.

In the past year, Eatsa has expanded from a single location in San Francisco to five restaurants in California, New York, and Washington, DC. 

After its first location in New York opened in December, we were eager to see for ourselves what it's like to eat at a restaurant with no employees in sight. 

SEE ALSO: Fast-food CEO says he's investing in machines because the government is making it difficult to afford employees

Outside Eatsa, which is located in Midtown Manhattan, a sign advertises one of the restaurant's major attractions — it's affordable price. Almost everything costs just $6.95.

Inside, customers are immediately faced with a nontraditional set up. Instead of flocking to a single place to order and pay, about a dozen kiosks are set up along the side of the store. It almost resembles an Apple store with its long, sleek tables and minimalist style.

While there were a handful of employees milling around the location to assist customers unfamiliar with the concept, the kiosk was pretty well-equipped to take me step-by-step through the process. Note: you can't pay with cash at Eatsa.

With just two weeks of regular season football remaining, the playoff picture is finally starting to gain some clarity.

Four teams have already clinched: the Patriots, Raiders, Cowboys, and Seahawks are all in, while the Chiefs and Giants (both with 10 wins) look well-positioned to lock down the first Wild Card in their respective conferences.

After that, though, there's still a lot up in the air.

The Packers are now just one game behind the Lions in the NFC North, and the two teams square off in a Week 17 contest that could be an elimination game. Elsewhere, the Steelers are trying to hold off the Ravens in the AFC North, the Falcons are trying to hold off the Bucs in the NFC South, and in the AFC South the Texans, Titans, and Colts are all still alive. Don't count out the Dolphin or Redskins out of the Wild Card just yet, either. 

All in all, with only two weeks left a loss could completely derail a season.

Happy holidays, and happy football!

32. Cleveland Browns

Record: 0-14

Week 15 result: Lost to the Bills, 33-13

Week 15 star: We'll give it to Robert Griffin III for his 196 passing and 48 rushing yards, plus a rushing touchdown, with no interceptions.

Week 16 opponent: vs. San Diego Chargers

One thing to know: There is currently a GoFundMe to throw the Browns a parade if they go 0-16. 

31. San Francisco 49ers

Record: 1-13

Week 15 result: Lost to the Falcons, 41-13

Week 15 star: Colin Kaepernick had a decent game, all things considered. He posted a 95.9 passer rating, throwing two touchdowns and 183 yards on 20-of-33 passing. 

Week 16 opponent: at Los Angeles Rams

One thing to know: The 49ers haven't won a game since September 13. Luckily, that came against the Rams. Who knows, maybe they'll do it again!

30. Jacksonville Jaguars

Record: 2-12

Week 15 result: Lost to the Texans, 21-20

Week 15 starr: Rookie cornerback Jalen Ramsey had his first career interception, plus five other pass defenses.

Week 16 opponent: vs. Tennessee Titans

One thing to know: The Jags fired head coach Gus Bradley after their Week 15 loss. He finished with a 14-48 record. 

New iPhone? Time to load it up with apps. 

If you're just getting started with a brand new iPhone, here are the apps you should check out first. We already know you're going to download Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, and the like, so we picked some other options and hidden gems you might not normally think about.

SEE ALSO: Wearables are dead

Super Mario Run

It's the first Super Mario game for the iPhone, and it's as awesome as you'd expect.

"Super Mario Run" is a fresh take on the franchise. Instead of using directional controls, Mario is always moving forward. You just tap the screen to perform jumps and make it through each level.

Our only complaint: The game is pretty short. You can beat it in a few hours.

Price: Free to play the first few levels, but you have to pay $9.99 to unlock the full game.

Download it here.

Google Photos

Google Photos gives you unlimited online storage for all your photos and videos.

But it's more than that. The app also lets you search by object and automatically groups your photos into albums. It's much better than Apple's Photos app that comes with your iPhone.

Price: Free

Download it here.

Microsoft Solitaire

Microsoft's iconic card game is finally on the iPhone, and it's the perfect way to kill some time.

Price: Free

Download it here.

Whether you're looking for a celebratory weekend getaway or planning to relocate permanently, it's likely that you'll want to find a city that offers plenty of fun activities, but doesn't break the bank.

With the help of WalletHub's 2016 Most fun cities in America ranking, we've come up with a list of 15 cities that are both fun and affordable.

To determine it's original ranking, WalletHub compared the 150 largest US cities based on 51 key metrics, ranging from number of fitness centers per capita to movie costs to number of music venues per capita. Each city was scored on three categories: entertainment and recreation, nightlife and parties, and costs. (Read more about their methodology here.)

To compile our ranking, we averaged the cities' overall score and costs score — a category made up of 10 metrics, including average beer price, average food price, movie costs, and bowling costs. The cities with the lowest averages made it to the top of our list.

Below, check out 15 US cities where you can have a blast on the cheap.

SEE ALSO: The 25 cities with the best quality of life in the US

DON'T MISS: The 25 best cities for millennials in America

14. Kansas City, Missouri

Average beer price (6-pack): $8.04

Average pizza price: $8.16

Average movie ticket: $9.15

Price for a 3-star hotel room: $60

(TIE) 13. Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Average beer price (6-pack): $8

Average pizza price: $9

Average movie ticket: $10.18

Price for a 3-star hotel room: $82

(TIE) 13. Buffalo, New York

Average beer price (6-pack): $7.99

Average pizza price: $8.66

Average movie ticket: $10.16

Price for a 3-star hotel room: $93

Christmas is a special time for people all over the world.

While the holiday can be celebrated in many different ways, perhaps no custom is more important than the time-honored Christmas Eve or Christmas Day meal.

Still, these meals vary greatly in different parts of the world.

Inspired by this BookTable post by Rob Rebelo, we took a look at some typical Christmas meals from countries across the globe.

Christian Storm contributed reporting to a previous version of this article.

SEE ALSO: HAPPY HOLIDAYS FROM THE WHITE HOUSE: See the presidents' Christmas cards, from Coolidge to Obama

Germans often serve fruity Stollen cake, along with a mulled wine called Gluehwein. Stollen is traditionally baked to have a hump, symbolizing the humps of the camels that carried the wise men to see Jesus.

Many Bulgarians fast before Christmas, so on Christmas they nosh on stuffed vegetables, soups, and cakes.

In Fiji, locals dine on banana leaf-wrapped fish, stuffed chicken, and pork made with a "Lovo," an earth oven made with heavy stones, like the one seen below.

The grocery delivery service Instacart has released its predictions for the top trending products that will dominate the food industry in 2017.

To come up with its predictions, Instacart identified the items that experienced the biggest surge in search traffic this year.

Last year, LaCroix soared in popularity.

This year, Halo Top ice cream and Harvest Snaps — snacks made of snap peas, lentils, and black beans, — are among the top-trending products.

Here's the full list.

SEE ALSO: Whole Foods predicts the 8 biggest food trends of 2017

Halo Top

Halo Top ice cream saw a staggering 919% spike in search traffic compared to last year.

Instacart expects this low-calorie ice cream to keep growing in popularity in 2017. It has just 240 calories per pint and is advertised as "healthy ice cream" that's low in sugar and high in protein.

New Barn almond milk

Next in line is New Barn, an almond milk brand that claims to have three times the protein as regular almond milk, with fewer overall ingredients.

The brand also makes ice cream.

Search traffic for New Barn was up 737% in 2016, compared to last year.

RXBARs

Protein bars have gotten a bad rap for being glorified candy bars. RXBARs are a new kind of protein bar that's billed as healthier with no added sugar and simple, whole ingredients. 

The Peanut Butter bar, for example, contains only five ingredients: dates, egg whites, peanuts, peanut oil, and sea salt.

RXBAR searches are up 716%. 

"Make your money work for you" is such common personal finance advice that it borders on being cliché.

But what does it actually mean? And more importantly, how can you do it?

There's no simple answer — or a single way to do it. In fact, almost everyone can find at least one way to put their money to work. Below, Business Insider rounded up eight methods to get you started. 

SEE ALSO: Former Wall Street executive Sallie Krawcheck reveals the worst investing advice she's ever heard

DON'T MISS: A financial planner reveals the most common money mistake 30-somethings make

Open a high-yield savings account

Sean Gould, a wealth strategist with Waddell and Associates and a certified financial planner, explains that before sending your money off to do the heavy lifting, you'll want to have an emergency savings account of about six months of living expenses stored in cash.

A smart place to keep it is in an FDIC-insured high-yield checking or savings account, where it can generate more value as it waits.

A typical savings account offers an interest rate around 0.01%, and a typical checking account is the digital equivalent of putting your money under the mattress. However, high-yield checking and saving offer interest rates that exceed 1% — 100 times what you'd get otherwise.

These accounts are usually available at online banks, which keep costs down by forgoing brick and mortar locations. NerdWallet provides comprehensive lists of high-yield checking and high-yield savings.

Develop streams of passive income 

Passive income is the term colloquially used to define any money earned with little to no effort expended, according to Investopedia.

Once you've set it up, passive income streams earn you money while you sleep. Sounds too good to be true, right? But fear not — it's not a get-rich-quick scheme. Creating any streams of passive income requires an investment upfront, whether of your time or money, but can lead to huge payoffs later. 

Common forms of passive income include real estate investments or silent partnerships in businesses, but it can also be generated by anything from making YouTube videos to using affiliate marketing on your blog. 

Store it in retirement accounts

Retirement accounts such as 401(k)s and IRAs are investment accounts, meaning your savings are invested in the market and have the potential to grow exponentially.

"The key is to get money in a 401(k)," says Gould. "Save as much as possible to have your money work for you tax-efficiently and to get money in the markets. The first bucket outside of the emergency fund is the 401(k) up to the match [if your employer provides one]. You don't want to give away free money."

After that, Gould explains, you'll want to put money in an IRA or a Roth IRA.

"Another good tool people don't think about are HSAs," he says, referring to the savings accounts for which people with high-deductible health insurance coverage are eligible. "If you sock money away in an HSA you don't lose it, and whenever you have healthcare costs, you can pull the money out and not pay taxes on it. When you turn 65, it turns into an IRA and you don't get penalized for using it for other costs — you can pay Medicare costs and long-term care premiums."

Read more about how to use an HSA.

Evercore is set to finish 2016 with Wall Street bragging rights. 

The small firm is on course to finish the year top as the No.1 boutique investment bank in M&A, according to Dealogic. It ranks 11 overall.

It has been a big year for the firm. It landed roles on two of the biggest deals of the year: Qualcomm's $47 billion deal for NXP, and CenturyLink's $33.7 billion deal for Level 3. It hired John Weinberg, part of a Goldman Sachs dynasty, to be executive chairman. And the Evercore share price is up almost 30% in the last 12 months. 

In a presentation to investors earlier this month, Evercore CEO Ralph Schlosstein said that productivity per advisory senior managing director is now ahead of the average productivity of all of its public independent peers. 

In plain English, that means Evercore's top staff make more money than their rivals. 

Here are some tables showing Evercore's 2016 M&A performance:

SEE ALSO: Several New York hedge funders have been arrested and charged with $1 billion fraud

Evercore Partners tops the M&A ranking for boutique investment banks

Evercore is at the top of the revenue ranking too

First-time parents face a mountain of expenses, from top-of-the-line nursery furniture to dozens of teensy polka-dotted socks.

But filling a nursery isn't the only thing making demands on a new parent's wallet. Unscheduled doctor's visits, utility bill spikes, and the ever-increasing cost of childcare can hit new parents' bank accounts with a variety of unexpected costs.

While everyone's experience is different, a little foresight can be great for the budget. So we reached out and asked real parents, including our Business Insider colleagues: What costs did you not see coming before your baby was born?

Here's what they said:

SEE ALSO: Here's why every couple should get a prenup

SEE ALSO: The most important financial decision you can make to have a successful marriage

The cost of convenience

Andrew Key, who runs the website Living Rich Cheaply, didn't expect that he would lose his inclination to comparison shop after his son's birth last July.

"I like to consider myself a savvy shopper, and I always try to find the best price. But when you're sleep deprived and have a crying baby at home, you just buy whatever it is you need at the most convenient place," he explains. "Most times, the closest place doesn't have the lowest price, but it's not worth it to comparison shop when you're short on time."

Bottles

A few bottles aren't so expensive — but what about when you have to buy every kind?

"No one really talks about it, but sometimes babies refuse to drink from the bottle," explains Key. "When my wife returned to work, my son would not drink from the bottle, which was pretty stressful, as he was extra fussy. We bought a bunch of different bottles until we found one that he was willing to drink from."

Utility bills

They say a baby should always wear one more layer than you do, but keeping the house warmer will cost you.

"The one cost that I didn't even think of was the increase in utilities," says Grayson Bell of Eyes on the Dollar, who had a 15-month-old at the time he spoke with Business Insider. "My wife and I are very hot-natured and love our home cold all year round. Since our son was born after Christmas, our home was cold, but that quickly had to change. We now pay double for our electricity bill and 30% more for our water."

The same holds true for babies born in the summer as well.

"We had a bag of tricks to get through NYC's muggy summers in our top-floor apartment with nonexistent roof insulation — by turning off the AC units, turning on fans, and sleeping on top of the covers — but this wasn't an option for us with our newborn, who was born right as summer started," said Dave Mosher, science correspondent for Business Insider. "A sleepy baby (and her sleepy parents) kept us anchored at home and using the A/C all of the time."

Since the first nuclear test on July 15, 1945, there have been over 2,051 other nuclear weapons tests around the world. 

No other force epitomizes the absolute destructive power humanity has unlocked in the way nuclear weapons have. And the weapons rapidly became more powerful in the decades after that first test.

The device tested in 1945 had a 20 kiloton yield, meaning it had the explosive force of 20,000 tons of TNT. Within 20 years, the US and USSR tested nuclear weapons larger than 10 megatons, or 10 million tons of TNT. For scale, these weapons were at least 500 times as strong as the first atomic bomb.

To put the size of history's largest nuclear blasts to scale, we have used Alex Wellerstein's Nukemap, a tool for visualizing the terrifying real-world impact of a nuclear explosion.

In the following maps, the first ring of the blast is the fireball, followed by the radiation radius. In the pink radius, almost all buildings are demolished and fatalities approach 100%. In the gray radius, stronger buildings would weather the blast, but injuries are nearly universal. In the orange radius, people with exposed skin would suffer from third-degree burns, and flammable materials would catch on fire, leading to possible firestorms. 

An earlier version of this story was written by Armin Rosen. 

11 (tie). Soviet Tests #158 and #168

On August 25 and September 19, 1962, less than a month apart, the USSR conducted nuclear tests #158 and #168. Both tests were held over the Novaya Zemlya region of Russia, an archipelago to the north of Russia near the Arctic Ocean. 

No film or photographs of the tests have been released, but both tests included the use of 10-megaton atomic bombs. These blasts would have incinerated everything within 1.77 square miles of their epicenters while causing third-degree burns up to an area of 1,090 square miles. 

10. Ivy Mike

On November 1, 1952, the US tested Ivy Mike over the Marshall Islands. Ivy Mike was the world's first hydrogen bomb and had a yield of 10.4 megatons, making it 700 times as strong as the first atomic bomb. 

Ivy Mike's detonation was so powerful that it vaporized the Elugelab Island where it was detonated, leaving in its place a 164-foot-deep crater. The explosion's mushroom cloud traveled 30 miles into the atmosphere. 

9. Castle Romeo

Romeo was the second US nuclear detonation of the Castle Series of tests, which were conducted in 1954. All of the detonations took place over Bikini Atoll. Castle Romeo was the third-most powerful test of the series and had a yield of 11 megatons. 

Romeo was the first device to be tested on a barge over open water instead of on a reef, as the US was quickly running out of islands upon which it could test nuclear weapons.

The blast would have incinerated everything within 1.91 square miles.