30 Weeks / 212 days until Christmas (Instrumental Christmas Song Battle)

[00:00:02] This is Christmas Morning I'm from the North Pole, it's time for Christmas Morning The daily show where every day is Christmas Here are your hosts, Bran and...

[00:00:32] Well ho ho ho and Merry Christmas in the middle of May to you I am not Bran, we don't know where Bran is, he's on vacation I'm your host Scott and joining me is my good buddy Alonzo Duraldi Alonzo, thank you for taking the time to be here with us today Oh, delighted, thank you And it's not the middle of May, Scotty, it's practically over Oh yeah, you're right, it is the last week of May, isn't it? Yeah We're almost in June, we're gonna be at the halfway to Christmas mark

[00:00:59] Yeah, so as soon as we're done exploiting, you know, our recent birthdays We're gonna move right into, you know, prepping for Leon Day It's just always something Yeah, I'm still celebrating my birthday, how about you? Ah, you know, wherever I can I think I might still have some freebies I haven't cashed in yet from like a pizza place or something Oh, I'll take that I think I used my Starbucks, I used my, I don't even know what else it was I got my free popcorn and soda from AMC Oh nice That was nice And a few other things floating around

[00:01:29] But yeah, say what you will about loyalty programs, they come through clutch on birthdays Yeah, I got a free cheeseburger from McDonald's and that's not a joke Nice And it's just proof I will eat absolutely anything if it's offered to me for free And why wouldn't you? And why wouldn't I? Exactly If I don't eat it, someone else will Exactly Hey, let's open up the mailbag and see what people in the last week of May have to say Oh yeah Letters, we get letters

[00:01:56] We get stacks and stacks of letters Well, before we do the mailbag, I actually have to roll out the mea culpa section here Because on the party episode earlier this week, I forgot to use Jack Unverfurth's poem Oh no! He sent me a couple, you know, like two months ago And I don't know, I just missed it So Jack I'm sorry So sorry That's all on me

[00:02:26] So, and Jack was a good sport about it I did email him and say, oh man, I'm an idiot Well, now you're stocked up for the months to come He said, he said, you're ready for June So sorry about that, Jack I have an email from Tom Maloney Tom says, hello, Brandon Scott And obviously Alonzo Hello As I'm writing this, it's Memorial Day It has been called the unofficial start to summer The long, hot summer days are now starting It's a little sad to us lovers of Christmas Who prefer the colder, shorter days That signify how much closer to Christmas we are

[00:02:55] But the good news is, we're in the single digits Of how many holidays are left Before the glorious Christmas holiday is here I like the way you think, Tom Yeah, that is a great way to look at it Tom says, I know people have been writing in With their sightings of Christmas already in the wild And I have one to share if it's a little unconventional I was scrolling Facebook the other day And this ad popped up Some people might have been annoyed With the advertising of Christmas this early in the year But not me It made me smile and excited for the season to get here

[00:03:23] I've attached a screenshot of the ad And it's a Bradford Exchange ornament set here That's the Muppet Christmas Carol Now these ornaments aren't really my style, Alonzo But I'm thrilled to see them For sure, yeah You've got Kermit's Bob Cratchit with Tiny Tim on his shoulder You've got Miss Piggy with a sort of Victorian cape and whatnot Yeah, I would not necessarily be top of my list But I do love these reminders

[00:03:52] Facebook sees me coming I get ads all the time for like places that will sell you trees and garland And ornaments and you name it All year round Instagram is worse It's like the SkyMall of the internet now Like, you know, you buy something and wonder if you're going to get it But I love the weird stuff that comes at me It gets me that little endorphin rush of What am I going to see next? So I wanted to include this today Because Tom has a great point

[00:04:20] This is going to start showing up for more and more of us Especially with our tailored interests So if you see something neat Do not hesitate to email it to us At christmasmorningpodcast at gmail.com Great to hear from you, Tom I had a little in the wild moment myself I was in Albuquerque for the Memorial Day weekend And if you've ever been to Albuquerque You know they take their chilies very seriously Yes, they are very serious about the hatch chili and whatnot Yeah, the red, the green, the whole thing

[00:04:49] I went to an ice cream place called Berkey Licks They had a flavor called the Berkey Burn That was vanilla ice cream with green chilies I did not try it, but it is there It actually sounds kind of interesting I mean, sure, yeah You at least want to give it a nibble and see what the heck that's about But so Dave and I were at a breakfast place And they had breakfast burritos And I heard somebody ordering theirs And the guy behind the counter said You want that with red, green, or crispness? Oh, that's fantastic

[00:05:18] I like that Did your ears perk up immediately? Oh yeah, no, exactly The hairs on the back of my neck Suddenly, you know, we're standing And apparently this is a commonplace thing Because the red and green sauces are so popular there Yeah That they will offer you the Christmas if you want both But I just, just hearing that said out loud Was like, ah, it's a moment Did Dave roll his eyes is what I need to know I'm sure he kept staring at his phone And didn't even clock it Oh, okay, good I have an email from Julia Hurd And Julia says, hello, Bran Scott And obviously Alonzo

[00:05:48] I started listening to Christmas Morning last year in September And I absolutely love it One of my favorite segments is the Christmas TV listings See, I knew there were one or two of you out there I'm not the only one But the jokes are always top-notch too I am writing in to ask for advice For Christmas this year, my grandparents are taking my family on a cruise That happens just before Christmas And we get back on December 22nd While I'm excited, I'm worried it will make Christmas feel shortened

[00:06:15] I would love advice on how to bring Christmas onto the cruise Or how to make the time of Christmas more meaningful As we will not be having presents this year Please let me know if you have thoughts or ideas Thanks again for spreading cheer all year round I'll let the guest go first Alonzo, do you have any thoughts? Golly, well, you know, I think if there's any Like if you can bring like a little tiny speaker That Bluetooth, you know, connects to your phone And you can, you know, have a playlist ready to go With holiday music

[00:06:43] I think that's one way that would certainly Give you a little bit of that holiday jolt Maybe stuff some stockings into your suitcase And some way to affix them to the wall of your cabin Maybe a roll or two of some sort of garland That you can get, you know, at the store That's kind of pre-tinseled And you just need to, you know, unleash it You know, something that will fit in your suitcase I know that's not going to necessarily be your top priority But it's a little visual and oral cues, I think

[00:07:12] Will kind of help keep the holiday alive Even if you are at sea I like those ideas I'll jump on that and say Make sure you download the playlist ahead of time Because connectivity can be spotty and or expensive On a cruise ship Totally I like the suggestions you had The garland and the stockings They don't take up a whole lot of space Like a tree might Right So you can roll those up And make the best of those Probably don't bring anything that requires plugging in

[00:07:41] I remember on my last cruise There was a single outlet in the entire room It's like, well, okay Are we going to put up Plug in Grandpa's CPAP machine? Are we going to have the lights? I don't know One of the two One more thought though, Julia Is Christmas doesn't have to be The traditional way to make a strong memory And maybe this will be something you look back on fondly Of, yeah, it was a non-standard Christmas for us But it really sticks out in my memory Good Lord willing

[00:08:11] You'll have plenty more Christmases So I'd say roll with it Make the best of it And don't feel like you're missing anything Just feel like it's a different kind of Christmas this year Yeah, it's an alternative And one that you'll probably never forget And if nothing else You know, bring a little crystal bowl And some of those red and white striped Hershey kisses And, you know, I think you're off to the races And also every gift shop on the face of the earth Sells ornaments So grab a couple extra for yourself this year Treat yourself and say

[00:08:40] This is going to hit the tree When we get back on the 22nd So you'll still have a couple days to enjoy it And as for not having presents Totally understandable Especially if it's, you know, like Because the cruise is really expensive kind of thing Again, it's That was the gift this year And sometimes we find meaning more In the experiences we have Than the things we collect So hopefully that helps If anybody else has some thoughts for Julia Write in And we'd love to hear them So what you're saying is Be present Yeah, that's right

[00:09:10] Be present Don't get the present The present is the present How about that? Yeah We don't have any reviews Because Brand's out And I don't know how to do that And that's fine, you know But I do have a joke Oh, goodness And this was submitted to us by Tia Horn Are you ready, Alonzo? Let me have it What is Santa's tax status? Oh, um Is he Ho-ho holding or something? I don't know Pretty close He's elf employed Oh, what go?

[00:09:40] Tia sent me a whole bunch A few of them were brand new to me So there will be a couple more In the coming weeks If you have any jokes Please send them in to me It's so helpful To not have to stress out For 15 minutes Going site to site Looking for jokes And only finding stuff We've already done So Good one Let's do the countdown Let's Go

[00:10:07] 212 days until Christmas 212 It's the New York City area code That means in two weeks We're going to be under 200 Which is a significant milestone We make up nonsense about milestones Here all the time But that's a real one And it's also only 30 weeks Which still sounds like a whole lot of weeks But it's a whole lot less than 52 weeks I guess Exactly This is all relative, baby We're going to hit the halfway mark

[00:10:37] Real soon Like within a month Well, in a month Obviously But the good news is It's only 127 days Until October 1st Oh And that's only 18 weeks It's like it's already here Come on Yeah, exactly Tell Dave to break out The Instagram account And open up the closet I want to see that stuff again I do love your husband's Instagram account With all the DXAX tree It's Thank you So, so

[00:11:07] It really is one of my favorite things And to see it come out Probably around Maybe the beginning of November Or like I think he starts getting warmed up It's a real high watermark for me For the whole Christmas season Oh, well, good I'm glad it's become one of your Sort of annual touch points I love it Let's do the news Let's It's Wednesday May 27th And it's time for the news Thank you, Jerry

[00:11:36] Appreciate that He needs major medical Golly So this is exciting The Nightmare Before Christmas Is getting a collected trade paperback release On September 15th, 2026 Not the original Nightmare Before Christmas Mind you But a brand new story The Shiver of Christmastown All right This story was originally published as Four individual issues by Dynamite Entertainment Back in January

[00:12:05] It's written by Tarun Grenbeck Who has worked recently on Red Sonja With art by Edu Mena Who has done art for Army of Darkness Rather than centering on Jack Skellington The story focuses primarily on Sally And Lock, Shock, and Barrel The plot kicks off when Dr. Finkelstein Unveils his newest creation Intended to be the scariest creature ever Which turns out to be adorably cute instead Sally names it Shiver for its freezing breath And when Shiver wanders into Oogie Boogie's lair

[00:12:35] The adventure really gets going Meanwhile, the mayor sends Lock, Shock, and Barrel To teach Christmastown residents how to trick or treat Giving readers their first look at Christmastown Celebrating Halloween The series had direct involvement from both Disney and Tim Burton Every outline and script went through both of them With some of Grenbeck's jokes being cut or adjusted along the way She noted her humor ran Quote, a little too dark for their tastes So yeah, this is very cool I think

[00:13:05] People talk a lot about Wanting to get sequels to their beloved films And a movie as intricate and complicated In the production as Nightmare Before Christmas was I think that was going to be a tough call But to have a sequel on paper Is certainly the next best thing It sounds so good And by the way, golf clap for you You did that one take With difficult names And man, you rolled right through that Just a seasoned professional around here Bringing up the average for the rest of us

[00:13:33] You know, I don't always have a producer as skilled as you So I just, I figure I gotta do it once Or it's gonna be a disaster Well, you are the movie expert of the show here Has there ever been any talk about an actual animated sequel? You know, you'll hear reports about it But then they're very quickly sort of scuttled Like, ah, that's all I need to do No serious, you know, negotiations are in place Blah, blah, blah The amount of elbow grease involved in stop motion animating that movie

[00:14:02] It was, you know, this is not done in computers It was literally, eh, move the arm Move the arm, move the arm, you know So to do it that way I can't even imagine how you would sell a studio on that They would insist on CGing it instead So frankly, if we're not gonna be pure about it I would just as soon read the comics Do I remember right that Tim Burton and Disney Had some sort of falling out? Like they don't wanna work together? Or am I completely making that up? I don't know

[00:14:30] But I do wanna give a shout out to Henry Selick Who actually directed The Nightmare for Christmas And very often gets lost in the shuffle Because Tim Burton's name isn't the title But he's the one who went in there and did all the tweaking Yeah, I think I'm misremembering the origin story Where Tim Burton used to work for Disney And then his scripts were rejected And then like after he left, they bought it Something like that So don't take anything I say at face value Citation needed Always a good bet Why don't we take a quick break

[00:14:59] And when we come back, we'll do the TV listings With my fact checker Live in the studio with me So we'll be right back here on Christmas Morning And we're back And now I'm getting a little bit nervous here Because I feel like I'm playing violin for Mozart Or something here You know, I should just open up my chat on my phone And get ready to text you Yeah, yeah, you should Let's save yourself the trouble of having to do it On a Wednesday

[00:15:28] You know, later on a Wednesday So here is your Christmas TV Minute Courtesy of MostlyChristmas.com Wednesday, 9 a.m. on Hallmark Mystery Diagnosis, Murder, Santa Claus 3 p.m. on Hallmark Mysteries Matt Block, Santa Claus And 4 p.m. on Rewind Becker, The Ghost of Christmas Presents I've always wanted to ask you If you think it's rewind or rewind Oh, I'm thinking rewind, but Yeah, rewind sounds like a verb Whereas rewinds, I don't know

[00:15:58] I guess it's It's more noun-y, yes I've never watched the channel So I don't know how their promos do it Thursday, 1 a.m. on Catchy The Bob Newhart Show His busiest season 6 p.m. on Lifetime NCIS False Witness 6 p.m. on MTV The Big Bang Theory The Bath Item Gift Hypothesis And 9.55 p.m. on TV Land Everybody Loves Raymond The Thought That Counts Friday, 12 a.m. on Start TV Gilmore Girls Santa's Secret Stuff I included that one Because of the wonderful

[00:16:28] Gilmore the Marrier podcast With our friend, cousin Chad and Bran Well, also Dan too But we don't talk about him much on the show He's Bruno We don't talk about Bruno 12 p.m. on Antenna Bewitched Sisters at Heart 6 p.m. on Hallmark Family A Christmas Miracle 6 p.m. on Hallmark Tidings for the Season 8 p.m. on Hallmark Family Christmas Comes Twice And 8 p.m. on Hallmark Christmas Under the Stars Few more Saturday, 6 a.m. on Antenna Sabrina The Teenage Witch Sabrina Nipping at Your Nose 11 a.m. on Lifetime

[00:16:57] A Cowboy Christmas Romance 12.30 p.m. on Lifetime Thank God Christmas at Keller Ranch 1.30 p.m. on MeTV Plus The Danny Thomas Show Christmas Story And 11.30 p.m. on Aspire The Bernie Mac Show Road to Tradition Finally, Sunday 5.30 a.m. on Fee TV Petticoat Junction Cannonball Christmas 12 p.m. on MTV2 The Deuce The Wayans Brothers A Country Christmas And finally 7 p.m. on GetTV Walker Texas Ranger A Matter of Faith

[00:17:26] And that was your Christmas TV Minute or so courtesy of MostlyChristmas.com How'd I do, Alonzo? Very well done I didn't say anything stupid like, I wonder what The Danny Thomas Show is Because that would have instantly gotten me a composed text from you You know, I mean first of all it's all there in the title but second of all I think that that one that is an old enough show where I would be a little more forgiving as opposed to like what's Hazel? Yeah Danny Thomas was a dancer am I remembering?

[00:17:56] A comedian Okay Comedian and singer See, I threw that in there I threw you a bone so you could pick on me just a little bit Alright, let's get to last week's Christmas music battle because I am furious with the results of this one It was the I Saw Three Ships battle a song that Bran and I had battled but we had not done with the listeners something we're doing a little bit more of because we're out of the virgin songs I suppose Coming in last place was I Saw Three Ships by Vile Richard

[00:18:26] and this was brought to us by Dave in Utah and Mike Westphal Thank you both for submitting I say last place it was 23% of the vote and the next one is 28% of the vote Ah But I'm furious about this Alonzo because I thought I had this one in the bag This is I Saw Three Ships by Higher Hands Mmm This has like a Ben Harper kind of thing and I just love it and Bran even said while we were recording

[00:18:54] congratulations on your win Yeah this is the three drink minimum version I loved that version but I guess what resonated with the listeners more at 48% of the vote was I saw I Saw Three Ships by Michael Dowdle and it's an instrumental and Bran said while we were recording I said you brought an instrumental huh and he said you can tell I do not like a song very much when I bring an instrumental on non-instrumental week well it paid off for you Brandon

[00:19:23] so 48% of the votes I think the listeners got this one wrong but obviously I'm biased so good on you Bran he's running away with it this year Elections are a tricky thing they sure are let's do this week's Christmas music battle this was an instrumental week and we've got three really good ones here I am very excited I was about to give away which was which because I don't normally do the intros for these but the first up is

[00:19:53] The Christmas Song by Amanda Whiting

[00:20:53] A little harp Alonzo Yeah I'm not mad at that you know I think with especially with instrumentals you really sort of start digging into well what's another way to do that's true and I'm I'm not mad at a harp I kind of feel like I'm in the lobby of a Nordstrom maybe like there's a like a woman playing at the bottom of the escalator or something and for some people that is their holiday happy place I certainly wouldn't be mad if that's what I encountered next up is God rest ye

[00:21:22] merry gentlemen by 8-Bit Trio

[00:22:20] I heard 8-Bit Trio and I thought oh surely it's not oh no no it is it is it's not gonna be everybody's cup of tea but if you're like me and you love old nostalgic Nintendo style music Christmas with Donkey Kong yeah it really sounded like Castlevania to me which was probably came a little bit after your time but it was right in the sweet spot for me Alonzo oh when it comes to video games they're all after my time like I was young for

[00:22:49] the rise of things like Intellivision and Atari but wasn't really into them much the only video game I've really spent a lot of time playing is Katamari Damacy and there's a reference to it in the new movie I Love Boosters and I felt very seen because usually a video game reference in a movie like I have to have somebody annotate the Super Mario Galaxy movie to me because I don't get the Easter eggs but I saw the big rolling ball in I Love Boosters I was like I know what that is I did the Leonardo DiCaprio meme pointed to the screen

[00:23:19] and finally we have Frosty the Snowman by Blue Ox Jazz

[00:23:24] a little Christmas jazz

[00:24:26] to round out the three instrumental versions today go to the link of the show notes so you can vote now Alonzo I love guessing which way this is going to go obviously I don't want to sway the vote but I have thoughts and I'm sure people have thoughts as well if I had a firmer grasp on how much of a hold I thought Castlevania had on the listening populace I think that might sway me in one direction or the other but it's going to be news to me you know our audience does sway a little bit older than Deck the Hallmark but I don't know

[00:24:56] I thought I had it in the bag last week and I obviously didn't so we'll find out but we got listener submissions this week from Drew Basic Lee Hodo Michelle Byerly Kim Gazerak Lance Garman Jack Unverforth and John Rice thank you all for submitting we could not do this without you and Alonzo because you're our guest I wanted to give you the honor of choosing what will be the song that we battle next week so I rather than give you the entire backlog I narrowed it down to three okay these are three songs

[00:25:25] that Bran and I have battled but we have not battled with the listeners and your choices are Old Lang Syne You're a Mean One Mr. Grinch and Joy to the World anything stand out there? hmm uh I think I'm gonna go Joy to the World just because I think that's one that that you know you can play with tempo you can play with you know instrumentation that kind of thing there's you know it's like we were saying it could be it could be jazzy it could be harpy it could be all kinds of things so yeah show me what you got listeners alright so go to

[00:25:55] Bandcamp that's important don't send me Spotify links or YouTube links because I can't use those go to Bandcamp find a version of Joy to the World you like and email it to me at christmasmorningpodcast at gmail.com and I know our friend Alonzo if you find like a nice 50s salsa type version or maybe samba type beat bossa nova bossa nova that's what I was trying to think of something loungy boy you know what was that album that you turned me on to oh Esquivel yeah

[00:26:25] I love that Christmas album now bear in mind folks as you're searching through the pages of Bandcamp for this you do not want the three dog night Joy to the World all the boys and girls Joy to the Fish you want the other one the Christmas Carol you want the one about the Jesus right yes all right Alonzo well it's been a great episode and I couldn't have done this without you it would have been so lame for me to stand here and just talk without having somebody fun around me and I as a listener

[00:26:54] frankly would have resented another week off so I'm just happy to keep the ball believe me we considered it but it's been a bit much and I think this I think most of the vacations are going to drop off after this so I truly appreciate you flying back home coming straight home and hopping on with me and I'm sure the listeners do as well remind everybody how to go buy your books oh sure yeah you know what hey we're coming on June and so it's a great time to read my book Hollywood Pride which I wrote for Running Press

[00:27:24] and Turner Classic Movies you can get that wherever you buy books get your library to pick up a copy get them to pick up the ebook and the audio book while they're at it use that wonderful Libby app my library has one and I use it all the time for stuff and hey you are Christmas morning people so anytime is a good time to pick up the new edition of my book have yourself a movie little Christmas a guide to holiday cinema with all kinds of films in there I think you'll have a really good time with it and Scotty I look forward to seeing

[00:27:53] you in person at Bramble Fest in July where we'll be recording the July party episode it's actually less than two months at this point so looking forward to it and I guess looking forward to finally cresting that peak of the halfway point to Christmas because the thing about cresting a peak is it's literally downhill after that point I went to my Hobby Lobby this week to see if there was anything I found a few stacks of those ornaments but it was mostly still pink flamingo

[00:28:22] cups with straws hanging out of them and stuff and I'm just toying with you at this point yes gross come on nobody very soon all right well we're looking forward to it join us next week and don't forget to vote and submit your version of joy to the world but until then Merry Christmas

[00:28:54] you're about to hear some ads that help pay for our trip back and forth to the North poll feel free to listen feel free to bail now but either way thanks for being here ho ho ho