Today on the Morning Thing, we counted down the top 30 songs of 2018. We’re helping you end 2018 with a bang and get the new year started right. Click HERE to listen!

30. The Way (New Horizon)- Pat Barrett

29. Living Hope- Phil Wickham

28. Stand in Your Love- Josh Baldwin

27. Bleed the Same- Mandisa ft TobyMac

26. My Feet are On the Rock- I Am They

25. Just Give Me Jesus- Unspoken

24. The Breakup Song- Francesca Battestelli

23. So Will I (100 Billion X)- Hillsong United

22. Witness- Jordan Feliz

21. All My Hope- Crowder ft Tauren Wells

20. God of All My Days- Casting Crowns

19. I Just Need U- TobyMac

18. Only Jesus- Casting Crowns

17. Everything- TobyMac

16. Resurrection Power- Chris Tomlin

15. Even Then- Micah Tyler

14. No Matter What- Ryan Stevenson ft Bart Millard

13. What A Friend- Matt Maher

12. All In- Matthew West

11. Counting Every Blessing- Rend Collective

10. Do It Again- Elevation Worship

9. Confidence- Sanctus Real

8. Who You Say I Am- Hillsong Worship

7. Control- Tenth Avenue North

6. Known- Tauren Wells

5. Grace Got You- MercyMe ft John Reuben

4. Fear is a Liar- Zach Williams

3. joy- For King and Country

2. You Say- Lauren Daigle

1. Reckless Love- Cory Asbury

As always, thanks for listening and happy New Year from WNZR!

As 2018 comes to an end, our Morning Thing Co-Hosts plus special guest co-hosts Todd McKinley and Lilly Buckley share their favorite memories from this year! Everything from seeing Lauren Daigle soundcheck to traveling to Italy! Take some time to remember some of the memories from this past year with your Morning Thing crew!Click onthepicture of the host below to hear their favote memory of 2018!

Good morning! Friendly resident Afternoon Drive Co-Host Lilly here!
Todd McKinley and I took over the Morning Thing for one more day here on WNZR, and today on the show we shared with you the top New Year’s Eve party ideas!

If you want to see the whole list, click here!

Here are some of the highlights!

Tuxedo cheese and Crackers – Add a creative twist to your cheese and cracker plate by placing black olive ties and buttons onto each cheese wedge! You can use your favorite type of soft cheese, or you can use an assortment of cheeses.

Oreo Cookie Clocks – These adorable cookie clocks are made using Oreos, black candy melts, white and black fondant, almond bark and silver and black sprinkles. These are the perfect treats to snack on as you countdown to midnight.

Disco Truffles – New Year’s Eve is the perfect time to celebrate all things sparkly, making disco truffles a great choice for your dessert table. The truffles are made using semi-sweet chocolate, and they’re decorated with gold and silver dust.

Glow in the Dark Celebration – This unique glow-in-the-dark party featured neon glow stick plate toppers, light-up centerpieces, glow-in-the-dark silverware and glow stick favors for each guest.

Antipasto Skewers – These antipasto skewers are quick and easy to make, and they taste absolutely delicious! To make the skewers, simply place a slice of prosciutto, a sun dried tomato, basil leaves and a mozzarella ball on a wooden skewer.

Easy Fruit Rockets – For a fun and healthy dessert, try creating these fruit rockets. To make the rockets, simply place a strawberry, blueberries, and grapes on a colorful foil skewer.

Honeycomb Ball Table Decorations – Pay homage to the New Year’s Eve ball drop with these honeycomb ball table decorations. You can make them in a variety of colors, and you can also hang some above your table

Today we also played our Morning Thing Game of the Day and today it’s “Freaky Friday”! I’d like to call it ‘riddle me this’ for today though hahaha.
Here was today’s riddle…
Question: What two things can you never eat for breakfast?
Answer: Lunch and dinner!

Congratulations to David from Fredericktown! He guessed correctly!
They won one of our 2018 WNZR sports shirts!
Also congratulations to our birthday and anniversary winners this week…
Alisa Miller was our birthday winner and Steve and Kathy Griffith were our anniversary winners this week! Congratulations and happy celebrating!

Thanks for hanging with us!
– Lilly and Todd

Today on the Morning Thing, your resident Afternoon Drive Co-Hosts held down the fort, talking about how to use those Christmas leftovers, the best zoos in Ohio, and of course, giving away some awesome prizes!

Do you have leftovers from Christmas dinner? Don’t fret! We’re here to help! (Courtesy of our friends at Better Homes and Gardens)!

A south-western twist with leftover pork!
A recipe Ben Wyatt would be proud of!
Chicken + broccoli = a delicious Christmas casserole
Gruyere and ham? Sign me up for this Dr. Seuss dinner!
A lighter take on your leftover pork
The best use for leftover ham? Split pea soup!

Check out the whole list here!

Did you know today is ‘Visit the Zoo Day’?
Here’s a little history…
The idea of having exotic animals confined to a certain area for other people to view or observe is not new at all. The earliest such enclosure , called a “menagerie” discovered by excavators in Egypt and is believed to date back to about 3500 B.C. King Solomon of Israel was a known ancient animal collector, as were King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia and Alexander the Great. The first actual zoo, created to educate and entertain, was opened in London in 1828.

The best way to celebrate this day is to visit a zoo yourself! Of course, we have the awesome Columbus Zoo here in Ohio, which hosts “Wildlights” every year.
Alongside the light displays, you can see attractions like Vanishing Giants, Discovery Reef, Manatee Coast and more. Also, enjoy other holiday festivities like Sparkling Spruce, Rudolph and Friends and the Polar Bear Express.
Hours for Wildlights are 5pm-9pm Sunday through Thursday, and 5pm-10pm Friday and Saturday through January 6th.
Learn more about the Columbus Zoo and Wildlights here!

We also shared with you a few more of the cool zoos that Ohio has to offer!
Check out the Cincinnati Zoo, hosting the PNC Festival of Lights now through January 1st.
And also, oh my goodness, the Cincinnati Zoo has the Southern Tamandua, and it is the cutest animal I have ever seen.
Check out the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo! They’re hosting some “Keeper for a Day” events this month! Learn more here!

The Toledo Zoo hosts ice carving at 6pm on Thursday’s, and they also have a Tasmanian Devil conservation? WHAT!? S’cute! Check out more here! Check out the Akron Zoo!  They also do their version of Wildlights now through December 30th. Visit SantaLand, and the Holly Jolly Hillside featuring lighted North American animals & trees synchronized to music. See the Classic Holiday Town in Grizzly Ridge and Rockin’ Lighted Spectacular with a wall of animated lights set to holiday music! For more information, click here!

For an inside experience, check out the Greater Cleveland Aquarium!
Did you know a lionfish can consume up to 30x it’s own stomach volume? You can see these lionfish at the Greater Cleveland as well as round Goby’s, pythons, sea dragons and more! Learn more about the Greater Cleveland here!

Of course, we gave away a $5 gift certificate to the Southside Diner! We played “Throwback Thursday” for our game of the day today, where we gave you facts about a ‘throwback’ artist, and you had to guess who it was!
Today’s artist clues were…
– a Christian rock band from Canada.
– They have released six studio albums to date: downhere (2001), So Much for Substitutes (2003), Wide-Eyed and Mystified (2006), Ending Is Beginning (2008), How Many Kings: Songs for Christmas (2009), and On the Altar of Love (2011)[1]
– They have won several Juno and Covenant Awards.
– In July 2012 the members of the band announced that January 1, 2013 would mark the end of their traveling ministry for the foreseeable future. Members of the band have stressed that this is not a break up, and they are still open to playing select shows and events here and there. Each of the members have felt God is leading them all in different directions, thus logically ending this chapter of the band
– The band was formed by Marc Martel and Jason Germain who were roommates at Briercrest Bible College in Caronport, Saskatchewan.

The answer, of course, is Downhere!
Congratulations to Kim from Mt. Vernon! She was our winner today!

Thanks for listening!
– Lilly and Todd

Thanks for hanging out with us today for the all-girls Morning Thing crew!

Today on the show, we shared some of our favorite Christmas songs and some of the stories behind them! You can listen to our favorite songs by clicking the links below!

This one is a favorite shared by Marcy, Rachel and Lilly. It is now a Food for the Hungry tradition to sing this for the broadcast. Check out Amy Grant’s version of Grown-Up Christmas List here, and check out Lilly and Rachel’s version here!

We also shared some more songs that were performed during the Food for the Hungry drive this year! Check out our rendition of “Little Drummer Boy” by For King and Country. Check out the original here!

Listen to Briley and Cody Daniels rock their version of Lauren Daigle’s “Light of the World“, and listen to Lauren sing her version here.

Listern to one of Joe Rinehart’s favorites, it’s MercyMe with “Joseph’s Lullaby”!

One of Marcy’s favorites is from “the Nativity Story” and it’s called “The Virgin’s Lullaby“.

It’s not Christmas without a little TSO, right? Check out one of our favorites, “Christmas Eve Sarajevo“!

We would also like to say congrats to our winners from the show today!
Congratulations to Missy Moore from Mt. Vernon! She was our grand prize winner for the 2018 WNZR Christmas Gift Exchange! She won an overnight stay at the Mt. Vernon Grand Hotel! Thank you to the Mt. Vernon Grand Hotel for partnering with us to give away a GRAND prize for our gift exchange!

Also, congratulations to Donna from Mt. Vernon for correctly guessing our Morning Thing Game of the Day: “Movie Quote Monday”.
Today’s quote was from a Christmas movie classic…
“I can’t put my arms down!”
“You can put your arms down when you get to school.”

That’s Randy and his mom from “A Christmas Story”!
Check out this classic scene here!

Thanks for listening!
– Lilly, Rachel and Marcy

The Morning Thing Fave 5 this week focused on our favorite Christmas traditions.
Take a listen as each co-host (and guest) share a special way that they celebrate the holiday.

Marcy Rinehart

Daria Swisher

Trevor Moore

Rachel Rinehart

Wesley Boston

What traditions will you participate in this Christmas?
Are you looking for something NEW?
Check out this list of FUN and EXCITING traditions from parents.com
Click HERE to see 14 tradition ideas.

(Picture from www.parents.com)

Did you know Christmas is NEXT WEEK?! I know! We can’t believe it came so fast!

Do you still have some gifts you have to get for family and friends, but you don’t know how you’ll have time to get them? Well, we have some amazing DIY Christmas gift ideas for you!

How about a super cute Hot Chocolate mix shaped like a reindeer? Click here!

Or… some mini Hot Cocoa toppings in a cute little package? Click here!

To see the complete list from woohome.com, click HERE!

Don’t forget to call in for the WNZR Christmas Gift Exchange each day this week! We have some amazing gifts under the WNZR Christmas Tree!

Each day of the contest, our DJs will select Christmas gifts to put under the tree. Throughout the day, the DJs will give a cue to call 740-397-WNZR (9697). Caller #9 gets the chance to pick which DJ’s gift they want from under the tree. You need to choose carefully, because you only get one chance to exchange the gift.

*There’s also a mystery gift under the tree each day!*

AND – every winner gets entered into a drawing for our GRAND PRIZE – an overnight stay in a standard room at the Mount Vernon Grand Hotel!

We’ll announce the grand prize winner on Monday, December 24 at 7:30 a.m. on The Morning Thing.

Find out more info about the WNZR Christmas Gift Exchange at wnzr.fm