Tottenham Hotspur's Christmas 2016: Hugo Lloris, Charades and Sitcom Specials

Talk about a great Christmas present for Tottenham Hotspur supporters. The news on Thursday that goalkeeper and captain Hugo Lloris had signed a new contract with the club until 2022 was probably the most significant of this year's numerous renewals and extensions.

Already highly rated from his time at Olympique Lyonnais, since joining in 2012, Lloris has established himself as one of the Premier League and Europe's best 'keepers. Consequently, there has understandably been unease in some lower points—such as the recent Champions League elimination—over Tottenham's ability to keep the France international.

While the new contract does not guarantee he'll spend the foreseeable future in north London, it gives the club security from losing him cheaply. For now, though, the knowledge he will not be leaving anytime soon will fill Spurs fans with plenty of festive cheer.

Tottenham understood what a gift this would be to their fanbase at this time of year. For all their other attempts to generate a good mood, it is positive matters directly relating to the team that affect most of all—wins, announcing exciting new signings or news like this that a favourite would be staying.

They acknowledged as much with the above Christmas reference in their extensive social media coverage. On their official website, two lengthy interview pieces followed the announcement.

"That's the way I show my commitment to the club, to my team-mates and the gaffer and to show again how much I believe in this project and hopefully the best years are ahead," the 29-year-old said in a series of statements that will have given adult fans smiles as big as any kid's grin while unwrapping presents on Christmas morning.

"Step by step, we are building a strong team, a strong spine, and then we are making a competitive team for the future," Lloris went on. "It's an interesting time with the new stadium, so everyone at the club is excited, and hopefully we'll continue our run in the league and try to reach the top four to get back into the Champions League next season."

Lloris touched on a poignant aspects of Tottenham's 2016 festive period. It is their last one at the current version of historic home White Hart Lane before they spend a year away at Wembley Stadium.

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They have already played their final such game at the venue. For all the attempts to create a seasonal atmosphere with suitable pre-match music and a half-time challenge involving ex-Spur Micky Hazard, club mascot Chirpy and fans dribbling around a bunch of Christmas trees, the team ensured it was a good afternoon with the three points.

Christmas at the Lane has provided plenty of good memories over the years. Most recently, fans would point to the 5-3 2015 New Year's Day win over champions-elect Chelsea.

In general, the period has been good for Tottenham in this decade.

Doing well handling the quick turnover of games, both home and away, has proved big in establishing their Premier League top-four credentials. Whether you define the festive fixture list as beginning at the start of December and ending prior to FA Cup third-round weekend at the beginning of January or something more contained within that stretch, the Lilywhites have used the high number of points available to good effect.

A 1-0 defeat away at Manchester United on Dec. 11 has been their only blip. Manager Mauricio Pochettino and his team will hope to follow up the subsequent successive wins over Hull City and Burnley with victories in challenging away trips to Southampton and Watford.

The difference wins makes to the latter half of December, for fans especially, is considerable.

They can lift the spirits of those having a rougher time of things enormously, and not everyone celebrates Christmas, so just having so much football on is fun in itself. For those enjoying themselves a little more, seeing your team do well is just a great bonus—the seconds and thirds of Christmas dinner, the star on top of the tree, etc.

It also makes everyone just that bit more receptive to the club's extracurricular ways of spreading cheer.

Players visiting children at local hospitals is just about a mandatory feature for clubs in England. The Tottenham stars were out earlier ahead of Christmas to hand out presents, and they no doubt proved just as, if not more popular with a few parents.

Additionally, there is a variety of other events held for fans of all ages. Social media has seen clubs strive even more to make their presences felt at this time of year. Videos of players letting their hair down with different traditional activities and games are also par for the course. This year's included Mousa Dembele, Joshua Onomah and Moussa Sissoko partaking in a game of charades:

Again, it all helps for the team to be winning. The fact Tottenham are competitive at the upper end of the Premier League these days means plenty of fans all over the world will definitely be unwrapping replica shirts and all other sorts of club merchandise.

Football invades just about every part of Christmas. For Spurs' English fanbase, that also includes little cameos in that traditional staple of the sitcom special.

In the 1975 Christmas episode of the prison-set show Porridge, the central character and Spurs fan Fletcher joins a couple of his fellow convicts in engaging one of the prison guards in a discussion of the 1962 FA Cup final. The reminiscing of Spurs' 3-1 win over Burnley is used as cover while the guard's bicycle is stolen for use in a big escape attempt that's being orchestrated.

Former Tottenham centre-back and Hull City captain Michael Dawson gained a permanent place in TV history in 2008. In that year's Gavin & Stacey episode, he is revealed as Spurs fan Gavin's favourite player when Stacey gives him an autographed photograph of the defender as a present.

Jan Kruger/Getty Images

A lot of this will likely go over the head of some of Tottenham's summer signings this year, who were interviewed in a series of My First Spurs Christmas features on the club website.

Still-settling striker Vincent Janssen, for one, has his priorities right, though. Amid all the talk of Dutch festive traditions and his plans for the holiday period, his Christmas wish was clear: "To score some goals in the Premier League to help the team—that would be very nice!"

Spurs fans will raise a glass of their favourite tipple to that!

Merry Christmas and season's greetings to all Bleacher Report readers. I wish you all a very happy 2017.