August Christmas Party - 4 Months Until Christmas 2026

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

[00:00:32] Well, well, well, hello everybody and Merry Christmas. Happy August 25th to you. It's the 25th of the month and you know what that means? It's time for a Christmas party episode. Parties are no fun by yourself. Trust me, I've tried. Please help welcome my good friend Scott Scott. Merry Christmas! Merry Christmas, Brandon. It's not much of a party for me. I was telling Shannon before we started here that I pulled a muscle in my neck sleeping because I'm old.

[00:01:00] So if I sound unenthusiastic, it's not anything to do with Christmas, with us, with the listeners. It's because I'm in agony. That's no party. But you know what? Much like a real good party hostess, you still showed up. Yeah, maybe just standing here and listening to what all the lovely listeners have to say is going to buoy my spirits. And I know seeing Shannon has. Seeing Shannon's already made me happy. I haven't seen her since Bramble Fest.

[00:01:30] Yes, I know. It's been a couple of... No, it's been a month. Nope, it's been a month. Just a... It's been a month, but you weren't able to join us before that. So it's just lovely to have you here. That's what it is. It just, it feels like it's been a very long time since I last saw you. I think it's the heat. It's got to be. It makes every day feel like an eternity.

[00:01:52] An eternity, yes. I mean, it's like, I feel like we've had summer in Colorado since last February. Yeah, exactly. It's like 11 months of summer now or something. I'm just, I'm ready for it to be done. Exactly. Exactly. That's why they say that hell is hot. Listen, because every day feels like an eternity when you're in the heat. Nobody is saying that hell's cold. You know why? Because cold is awesome. That's absolutely right.

[00:02:21] But this is a party, so we shouldn't talk about hell or hurt next or agony. We should be talking about fun and joy and Christmas. That's exactly right. Because it's a Christmas party. It is a Christmas party episode. Well, we should start with the countdown then. Let's do it. Four months until Christmas! You know what? You know what, Scotty? That's not bad.

[00:02:50] Yeah, we're back to having to look up how many months it was, and I was like, really? It's only four? How about that? That means, that's, we're basically, that's like, that's just four. Oh, man. And I've had some breaking news from Dave in Utah that came in last night. Oh, my gosh. What do you mean? He sent me a photo of Christmas at Costco. No way. I know, that's a major milestone for us. It was just two things, but yeah, like some decorations. Not a tree or anything. We're not going crazy yet.

[00:03:19] But I was pretty excited to hear that. It's the little things, folks. It is the little things, isn't it? I mean, we're about a month, this time next month, Scotty, for the September Christmas party episode, there's going to be stuff all over the place. There has to be. Yeah. Five or six days away from the burr months. Yeah. Very excited. Yeah. I already started, you know, drinking pumpkin spice creamer in my coffee. Oh, me too, Shannon. I'm like ready for fall because fall just means that crisp cold air. It means Christmas is literally right around the corner.

[00:03:49] I am so excited. Fall is my favorite season, Shannon. Oh, I love fall. Fall is the best season. If you don't think fall is the best, we're going to have some problems. Sometimes winter can be brutal. I love the snow and I love the cold weather and I love the shorter days, but sometimes it's a little much. Fall is just awesome on all fronts. Things start showing up in the stores and you still have a great season coming after it. So bring on the fall. I want all of it.

[00:04:15] And for you and me, Shannon, we've had snow as early as, snow flurries, obviously, as early as like September 8th before. Now I don't, I'm looking out the window. I don't see anything coming anytime soon, but it could happen. And that's exciting. And I don't want to, I don't want to get in the weather weeds too much here, but you all are certainly due for a big winter.

[00:04:40] And I think that the El Nino, El Nano, whatever the heck, El Nano, gnarly this year. And that usually leads to a pretty good winter. El Narno. It's El Narno this year. El Narno. Usually it leads to a pretty gnarly winter. It sure does. I am excited about that. We have turned into a weather podcast and I am enjoying this. Yeah, that's a, that's a completely different podcast. We should get back to the listener content. Let's do that. But also good news is I put all this together last night.

[00:05:10] I can finally see the bottom of the mailbag. Wow. After this brand. How about that? So I don't know if, I don't think we really have sections as much as we normally do like Christmas memories. Everything's a Christmas memory. But Shannon, would you mind reading our first email from Jade? Yeah, you got it. Let's see. Hello to all my Christmas buddies. My name is Jade. I'm from Ontario, Canada and have been listening to your show since 2023. All right. I would like to share one of my favorite memories from last Christmas.

[00:05:40] It was a very special year because my baby niece, Calista, celebrated her very first Christmas. This particular memory is from December 4th, 2025. It was my second Christmas concert with my choir, the Lakehead Choral Group. The theme of the concert was the miracle of peace. I loved all the songs we performed and the audience really seemed to be enjoying themselves. But the best part for me was the baby. My brother brought her to the concert and she just loved it.

[00:06:08] I kept hearing her making little noises while we were singing and I had to try not to laugh. Sometimes she was just right on key with us. I think she's going to be a singer someday. I have attached a short video of the choir singing the little drummer boy. You can hear the baby clearly. We are all dressed in black with red and green Christmas scarves, but you'll know me from the others because I'm not holding a music book. I'm blind and can't read print music. And I have the audio from Jade's video that she sent here.

[00:06:38] And boy, can you hear Calista here. Let's give it a listen.

[00:07:08] That was so cute. What an awesome memory this is, both in video and in audio form, to be able to hear, you know, like, Brian, your kids are older now. And my kid's a teenager now. You know, kids are cute until they aren't. And this is so great to be able to go back and hear it, you know, get those core memories back. I absolutely love this, Jade. Thank you so much for sending this. Absolutely. Kind of remarkable.

[00:07:36] This is our second listener who's blind. And it's so interesting to hear these stories from a different perspective. So, Jade, anything else you want to contribute? I would love to hear what Christmas is like for you in different ways and be able to think about it differently. Absolutely. There's nothing quite like getting to see your kid, like, really latch on to music for the first time. Oh, yeah. Or in this case, just hear them squeak, squeak, squeak. So cute. So fun.

[00:08:06] We have an email from Richard, Eve, and Corey. And this was sent back on June 10th. Not everything today is from June, but I've had some things that came in and I couldn't use them in the July party episode, blah, blah, blah. So this one's an older one. And I did apologize to Eve who sent this and said, hey, I'm not ignoring you, I promise. The email says, Merry Christmas from the United Kingdom. We just wanted to say hello and let you know how much joy your podcast brings us.

[00:08:34] Richard has been listening for about three years now, and he introduced my son Corey and me to the show about two years ago. We were on a summer road trip through the English countryside when he suggested we listen to the Christmas party episode. Corey and I thought he had completely lost the plot. Who listens to a Christmas chat in the middle of August? But we went along with it and we've been hooked ever since. Corey doesn't choose to listen on his own, but he never complains when it's on, which, as any parent of a teenager knows, is high praise.

[00:09:03] Richard even overheard him telling a friend, my father likes Christmas so much, he listens to a podcast about it every week, which is similar to what my daughter says to her friends. My dad likes Christmas so much, he does a podcast every week. So Corey's in good company there. We're excited for this week's episode now that the countdown is under 200 days, which is why I brought up how old this email is. My apologies. This weekend, while wandering through our local designer outlet, we spotted the Christmas decorations in the photos attached.

[00:09:31] Richard immediately said, we need to let Brayne and Scott know the shops in the UK are putting out Christmas stock. We thought you'd be delighted to hear that Christmas is creeping in over here. Thank you for keeping the Christmas spirit alive all year long. Your podcast has become a little tradition to our family, and we appreciate you. How nice is that, first of all? Thank you all. Very nice, but not as nice as these ornaments. Look at these things. These are nice. Yeah, I put these on our Instagram so everyone could check them out.

[00:10:00] Shannon, they look like crystal, maybe? Yeah. Yeah, I think they're glass. Glass. Glass or crystal, whatever they are. They're like the fancy ornaments that my mom would have told me to stay away from growing up. The ornaments said I will not be hanging on my tree anytime soon. Yeah, between your kids and your dogs and your cat. Lots of animals. Yeah, there's too much. This is a disaster waiting to happen for me, but they're very nice to look at. The ones that caught my attention, Shannon, are the ones in the bottom left of our first photo, and I think it's the first one on Instagram, too.

[00:10:30] I'm seeing Toy Story and maybe Disney. Yeah, what is that part of this? Isn't that neat? That's like a separate part of this. It's not Christmas related, but it's also, I think, made of glass. Yeah, they're very pretty. Too fancy for me. I can't have these kind of breakables in my house. Are those superheroes? Are those Marvel characters? There's Iron Man, Captain Marvel, Jessie, and Jasmine. Okay, perfect. The big four.

[00:10:58] And then you have the Star Wars over here on the right. That's right. That's Princess Leia. Leia. What is that? What's the ship? Oh, it'd be the X-Wing fighter there? Yeah, that's the X-Wing fighter. Yeah, yeah, and I'm CNC-3PO and I think Leia. So check out our photos on Instagram. Really cool. And thank you all for sending these, Richard, Eve, and Corey. It is great to hear from you. And Corey, thanks for doing this for your parents. You might enjoy it a little bit, but I know you're just being a good kid, and I appreciate that. That's right.

[00:11:28] And reading our email from Travel Dad, Ernie Delasanti. Absolutely. Ah, we missed Ernie at Bramble Fest, and he says, We're sorry we missed Bramble Fest, but we had a good reason. We were scoping out Christmas in paradise. Oh, wait, no. Travel Dad had a travel conference. We were in Honolulu and came across this Christmas shop. I loved the nutcrackers and immediately thought of my mom. She had dozens, some even beyond the HOA-regulated height.

[00:11:55] I attached some pics of the store, but thought of you guys and the fun you were having as soon as I saw it. Mahalo and Melekalikimaka. Ernie, Jody, and Joey. And we missed you guys. This is cool. We did miss you. I put these photos on our Instagram as well. These are really cool. I want to go to the Waikiki Christmas store. Yeah, they are very cool, and they have such like a vibrant color to them. Very island. I like them a lot. So I would encourage everybody to go check that out.

[00:12:24] We will hear from Ernie later in today's episode with his... Double the Ernie, double the fun. Double the Ernie. I'm never upset about that. You know, I think Ernie should set us up with a little trip around the country for research. You know what I mean? For Christmas morning research. Oh, I thought that was part of the whole deal. He was going to send us in these Christmassy places and then let us go there. Exactly. Well, and he will, he'll foot the bill, of course. Yeah, absolutely. Thank you. Of course.

[00:12:54] That's Ernie. Yeah. That's Ernie for you. I have an email from Marielle Abbott. Marielle says, hello and Merry Christmas. I wanted to share a little sprinkle of Christmas that I was able to give my nieces in July. We had planned a family get together for the weekend of July 25th, and I couldn't resist planning a surprise for them. Their Nana brought out their Christmas stockings, and we wrapped a couple of small gifts, things we had purchased to give them anyways. So when they came downstairs for breakfast, I had Christmas music playing, and they got to open their presents. They loved it.

[00:13:23] Sometimes a sprinkle of Christmas is all it takes. We didn't have the ability to put together a full Christmas breakfast or other decorations, but the little bit was enough to create a fun memory for those girls. I've attached some photos of our simple setup, and my youngest niece excited about her present, which was a necklace that matched mine. Happy Christmas in July from Marielle or Aunt Mar. And I didn't post these photos because I didn't get to ask her if it was okay for privacy reasons, so I erred on the side of privacy.

[00:13:50] But what I can tell you is these kids are adorable, and what a great idea this is. I love the idea of just a little sprinkle of Christmas brand. Oh, so cute. Just a little something. Listen, I mean, that's what we're all about around here, a little sprinkle of Christmas. We're sprinkle boys and girls. We're big into sprinkles. Did even the cat get a stocking? Because I see the cat's on the stocking. I saw the cat, too. It's probably just playing with the stocking, but I like to think maybe the cat got a stocking.

[00:14:19] I mean, listen, my animals get stockings at Christmas time. Yeah, absolutely. You can't leave them out. Absolutely. They know. Let's have the fun. For sure. They'll be very upset. Oh, they will be. Thank you, Marielle, for sending this in. Shannon, we have an email from Katie. Could you read it for us? Merry Christmas to all the Christmas people. I am having so much summer sadness this year. Not that it's summer, but all of the hate summer is getting. Oh, no. Oh, no. Wow. Okay. Okay.

[00:14:47] Katie, skip the weather segment at the beginning of this episode. Wow. Okay. I love summer. I mean, okay. Fair. It's a season of outdoor pools, barbecue, amusement parks, the best movies. And most importantly, when as a teacher, my husband is off of work. Plus, my chronic pain is a teeny tiny bit better than when it's really cold. That's definitely fair.

[00:15:13] But when I live at a pain level a little over 7 out of 10, I'll take every bit I can get. On to my question. My husband is also diabetic. Luckily, he's more of a savory fan. But as we come up to the time of year when sweets are everywhere, I'd love some new ideas for no sugar added treats. Scotty, do you have any favorites? Well, first, let's address the summer hate. Now, I don't enjoy summer. That doesn't mean that I hate it for everybody.

[00:15:41] I liked this email because it reminded me that we all have different perspectives and needs. Sure, all the things you said are nice. I happen to like the cold, shorter days. But I get why people like Beth Ann Smith as well, who love outdoor get-togethers and all the people-y stuff. So, Katie, please, you know, don't take my perspective as the one that I think everybody should have. If you enjoy summer, I am thrilled for you. And, yeah, your husband's off work. How cool is that?

[00:16:10] As for the diabetic part, this one obviously hit home for me because, same, I don't get to enjoy the sweet treats. And Christmas is the holiday of sweet treats. Thanksgiving is, too. It can be a little tough there. Some great pies that I cannot eat. And I will email you with some ideas. But the one that I wanted to throw out there is a sugar-free cheesecake. My daughter made one for me recently. And I can tell you, like, sometimes you make things like sugar-free brownies.

[00:16:40] And all of the other ingredients that they put in there to get around it still raise my blood sugar way up. So, those don't work that great. But sugar-free cheesecake, that one does. And the flavor is pretty great. And you kind of don't even realize you're eating something that's sugar-free. So, I will email you and we can correspond about some ideas for your husband. And I wanted to thank you for writing in and reminding me that not everybody hates summer. So, my apologies there.

[00:17:07] And to be fair, I think it's that I don't like how hot it's gotten in the summer. Absolutely. When it was, like, a little less hot, it's like I can go outside, you know? Where I feel like I can't go outside when it's so hot. Totally. It just got too hot. If it's overcast as well and there's a little breeze, I don't mind at all. Yeah, Katie, where do you live? Yeah. Yeah, maybe that's it. Not Miami. Yeah, for sure. Maybe Canada. I don't know. All right. I think we should take a break and come back and we'll hear some more of our listeners. So, stay tuned.

[00:17:37] We'll be right back here on Christmas Morning. Welcome back, everybody. It's a Christmas party episode. You can feel it. Everybody's in a good mood today. We've got some fantastic emails already read from the listeners, but we've got some more in the bag still, Scotty. Yep. I can tell you so far that all of these emails and just thinking about Christmas and being with my friends Shannon and Brian is already making my neck feel a little bit better. Or at least kicking the can down the road.

[00:18:05] Yeah, you can barely tell that you're in agony looking at you. Yeah, yeah. It's not bad. I'm only leaning to the right just a little bit. So, I have an email from Jeff Dale or Jeffrey. Sorry. He signed his email as Jeffrey, so I'm going to go with that. Jeffrey says, Merry Christmas to Brian Scott and all the Christmas morning listeners and Shannon, obviously. My sister and her family are visiting from Cambodia. My sister's a doctor and she, her husband and kids run a nonprofit providing medical care to remote villages in Cambodia.

[00:18:34] They also work with the local orphanage, which is a chapter of Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity. So, first of all, Brian, this is another episode of Everybody Is Better at Being Humans Than Us. Stop showing off. We get it. Jeff says, My sister is also a huge fan of Christmas and I thought, what a better way to celebrate than going to the Inn at Christmas Place in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. Yeah. I live in North Georgia, which makes for a short trip.

[00:19:03] The Inn does such a wonderful job of decorating every bit of the hotel, including the rooms. We had two different Christmas trees and a five-foot Santa. When entering our room, the TV displayed a crackling fire and Christmas music was playing. Being that it was July, I was glad the fire was on the TV. Speaking of Santa, he visited the hotel and we had a sing-along followed by milk and cookies. The next day, I took a moment to have a seat on old St. Nick's chair, which I don't think he'll mind.

[00:19:28] There were so many different scenes located throughout the hotel, including cowboy Santa and Santa on his Holly Davidson motorcycle. That joke got an eye roll for my teenager, but I thought it was pretty funny. One of the best features of the Inn is a large clock that chimes each hour and plays two Christmas songs. Outside is decorated with lights, wreaths, and decor. I have sent photos, but it does not come close to the amount of Christmas spirit the Inn has and shares with the guests. It's a must-visit for any Christmas fan.

[00:19:57] I was also able to visit the large Christmas Place store across the street and pick up some accessory pieces for my village. I've already started working on platforms and a mountain for the village scene this year. Hope you all have a great rest of your summer as the Burr months. The Inn at Christmas Place are right around the corner. And Jeffrey sent in some great photos, and I put those on our Instagram. Brian, this isn't the first time a listener has told us about the Inn at Christmas Place. No, of course not. For some reason, though, I was unaware that the rooms all had Christmas trees.

[00:20:27] That's a pretty nice touch. I like this a lot, and I'm hoping the Inn at Christmas Place would like to bring us in for a live episode. What do you think, Shannon? Oh, yeah, absolutely. I mean, look at how beautifully decorated it is. Like, it's so extravagant. It definitely looks like you are literally in a home. Yeah, and all these decorations are tasteful, and there's wood floors. Nothing's gaudy about this. Gaudy. Gaudy. You know, you never know how it's going to go. Gaudy. They all look fantastic.

[00:20:56] And the last two pictures are ones from the room, and I'm seeing the decorations, Brandon. I'd be pretty happy to go stay in this hotel. For sure. I mean, yeah. I was going to comment on the dated rugs, but we don't need to get into that. No, no, no. Don't worry about the rugs. You're supposed to be looking at the Christmas tree and the boughs of holly over the mantle here and stuff. I love it. Maybe the hotel at Bramble Fest could do this for us. Oh, man. Can you imagine? Yeah, really? It's the least they could do.

[00:21:25] Don't you guys pay extra for that? Wait, your room wasn't decorated? Mine was. We should. Yeah, they haven't been doing it. So thank you for sending this in, Jeffrey. Jeffrey's been contributing a lot lately with the song battles and emails, so keep it up, Jeffrey. We love it. Shannon, could you read this email from Kristen Lowe? Yeah, absolutely. I love Kristen. She and I are social media buddies. We have a super secret double-decker art Facebook group.

[00:21:52] We meet up online and do art and shoot the stockings together. It's very informal and fun. This November, we're planning a group event, likely two meetups, where we'll all paint and then decorate little wood houses to create a virtual Christmas village. Will you share this with the class and encourage people to request to join the Facebook group? We all agreed that non-double-deckers can join us, and they should join Bramble Jam ASAP. Yeah. That's a great suggestion. Definitely join the group.

[00:22:21] I haven't actually been to one of these meetups yet, but I am in the group. And I know, Scotty, you actually posted something to the Facebook group about what you had made for your wife, Jen, recently. Yeah. So I got this email from Kristen, and I said, yeah, absolutely. I'll do this. So first and foremost, I put the link to the group in the link section of our website. It's a Facebook group, and you don't have to be a double-decker to join. That's really important. So you will be welcomed.

[00:22:47] And because it was an art group, I said, hey, I'm an artsy guy. I like to make things. And my wife asked for a box to hold all her watercolor pigment wells. So I posted it to the group, and what an outpouring of love I got from everybody, including you, Shannon. So that was very nice. No, it's a great community. Yeah, absolutely. Thank you. Yeah, whatever your craft is, even if you're not a crafty person, just join to chat with people. Yeah, it was very welcoming right from the get-go,

[00:23:16] and everyone said, oh, what a great job you did. So now I want to go make more things and post more things, which is the point of joining an art group, right? For sure. For sure. If I was going to join an art group, this is the one that I would join. That's the one? Do you do anything crafty, Bran, besides obviously the podcasting and all the other stuff? Well, you're a content creator, so we can't say that you're not a creative person. I don't do much with my hands. But you make music, which kind of is crafty in its own way. That's art, sure. Sure, yeah.

[00:23:46] I suppose that would, I don't know if it's craft. It's a craft, but it is. And I also don't know if it's art. It's definitely art. It's most definitely art. And Bran, you're still in your 30s. I didn't develop these crafty habits until I was at least in my 40s. So you got time. Yeah, I do have a desire to do things with my hands. Yeah, I'm hoping you'll come out here sometime and we'll do some woodworking together. So thank you, Kristen.

[00:24:11] Definitely, everybody, if you're interested, go to our link section of the website and find the link and request to join the group. That's right. I have an email from Tony Doc Watson, who we've heard from before. Tony's given us some great stuff. The Doc. The Doc. Tony says, recently you guys were talking about anticipating the fall and Halloween or spooky season, as you often refer to it. Yeah.

[00:24:34] Apparently, this is growing more common as interest in participation in Halloween activities begins earlier and earlier, starting increasingly in the latter half of summer. I live in Southern California and Disneyland is already advertising its, quote, Halloween time, which begins August 20th and ends October 31st. That's a longer period than their Christmas celebration, which I'm sure you'll agree that just doesn't seem right. I saw a news story talking about this and referred to the shift as Summerween. Interesting.

[00:25:04] Is there a corresponding word for Christmas related activities, movies, items and stores and so on that we see in October through November? And he suggested autumn-ness or fall-yule? Just wondering out loud. Your brother in holiday cheer, Doc. So I was going to pose this question to you both and see if you had any ideas. Yeah, that's interesting. Maybe a festive fall. I like alliteration. Festive fall works. Festive fall is pretty good.

[00:25:32] We already have Christmas in July, but this goes beyond July. I don't know. Festive fall. Festive fall so far is a good suggestion, Brent, because it lets you know that you got a little Christmas in there and it's also fall time. Some people call it Christmas creep, but that's usually used as a pejorative term, not a positive thing as we're thinking about it. I don't like Christmas creep because it just makes me think of creepy people. Yeah, exactly. Some guy hanging out in the bushes. Look, it's a Christmas creep. And that's not us, okay?

[00:26:01] No, not either of you. I don't hang out in bushes. I hang out in craft stores. Tony, great to hear from you. Thank you for the email. We have an audio clip from our friend Lenora Gilbert, so let's give that a listen. Hey, everybody. It's Lenora here, your Arizona Christmas freak on the street, just burning my hands, getting my mail out of my mailbox. And I'm here today with a book review. I just finished reading The Christmas List by Lucas Jones.

[00:26:29] I first learned about Lucas Jones from his social media videos of his spoken word poetry. You may have caught his, I saw God on the train or his one, I will teach my boys to be dangerous men or no flowers, please. His poetry really touches my heart. Looking for his book of poems, I came across The Christmas List and decided to start there. The book is described as a 25 chapter multi-perspective novel for each day of Advent.

[00:26:59] Nope. Do not read this book for Advent at Christmastime, especially if you'd like to be cheerful. I suggest reading it in the off-season, saving something a little bit more light for Christmastime. This book follows a $10 bill as it passes through 25 different people's hands at Christmas. The chapters lead up to the Christmas ending on Christmas Day.

[00:27:24] Each of the chapters reveal the difficulties, struggles, hopes, and secrets of 25 different characters. Each character is a mini-story on its own, as Mr. Jones draws you immediately and thoroughly into their drama. The stories are set in modern-day London, giving the characters a Dickinsonian feel.

[00:27:45] There's bullies, robbers, a would-be bomber, gamblers, and murderers, all mixed in with innocent children, hapless spouses, and frail elderly. With the $10 bill weaving them all together. I came away after finishing the book with a reminder of how Christmas can add so much pressure to the lives that are already under stress, and how fate and luck can affect your life, no matter how hard you try to live right.

[00:28:13] There's a surprise ending, and I really liked it, and I never would have guessed it. Anyway, I really recommend it if you want a book of Christmas tales with a dark London vibe, especially if you enjoy drama. Happy Christmas party, everybody! Thank you, Lenora. Always great to hear from you. I got to hang out and have lunch with Lenora at Bramble Fest, and it was so much fun. Fantastic. I always love when she comes up and does the quiz.

[00:28:39] Oh, the quiz was great, wasn't it? Especially since Shannon and I won. I was real bad at the quiz. Nothing, it always hurts to lose, but knowing that I caused Alonzo to lose with me, but that's why you got to pick your friends wisely, folks. Exactly, that's why you make friends with Helga and Mrs. Claus. Right. That's right. Right. Oh, that's right, I forgot. It wasn't you that I won with, Shannon. It was Helga. Two years in a row for A-team, you know what I'm saying? That's right. Maybe we need to change the seating arrangements.

[00:29:08] We could, but I want to keep winning, so no. I'm open to that. Helga's not always open to that. Mrs. Claus, eh. But we'll see. Me, I'm open to it. Okay, all right. We have a poem from our friend Jack Unverperth. He sent us Signs of Christmas by Edwin Lees. Signs of Christmas by Edwin Lees. When on the barn's thatched roof is seen, The moss in tufts of liveliest green, When Roger to the woodpile goes,

[00:29:35] And as he turns his fingers blows, And when all is cold and drear, Be sure that Christmas tide is near. When up the garden walk in vain, We seek for Flora's lovely train, When the sweet hawthorn bower is bare, And bleak and cheerless is the air, When all seems desolate around, Christmas advances o'er the ground. When Tom at eve comes home from plow,

[00:30:03] And brings the mistletoe's green bough, With milk-white berries spotted o'er, And shakes it the sly maids before, And hangs the trophy up on high, Be sure that Christmas tide is nigh. When howl the woodman in his clogs, Bears home the huge unwieldy logs, That hissing on the smoldering fire, Flame out at last a quivering spire, When in his hat the holly stands,

[00:30:31] Old Christmas musters up his bands. When clustered round the fire at night, Old William talks of ghost and sprite, And as a distant outhouse gate Slams by the wind, They fearfully wait, While some each shadowy nook explore, Then Christmas pauses at the door. When Dick comes shivering from the yard, And says the pond is frozen hard, While from his hat all white with snow,

[00:31:00] The moisture trickling drops below. While carols sing the night to cheer, Then Christmas and his train are here. Thank you, Jack. Now, Jack actually sent this back in July, But we had to prioritize the in-person stuff At Bramble Fest, And Brandon, We thought it would be kind of awkward If we're all just sitting there listening, Staring at each other, Listening to audio. So Jack was really cool and said, Yeah, use it whenever. But that's Jack for you. That's Jack for you. I always love the poems. There's more Christmas poems

[00:31:30] Than I could have ever imagined. Absolutely. And I don't know why that's surprising to me. It is surprising to me. I can tell you that. And then finally, We have our travel segment From Ernie Delasanti, Our travel dad. And he sent us a Christmassy place to visit. It's the Blue Mountains of Australia this month. And like the poem from Jack, Ernie sent us this in July for Bramble Fest. And we were hoping he was going to be able To do it in person. But then he had to go to Hawaii. Very tough. So we couldn't fit it in.

[00:32:00] So he does mention Bramble Fest And Christmas in July. But that's on me, folks. It's not. On Ernie. Let's give it a listen. Hey, Christmas morning people. Travel dad. Ernie Delasanti here. In each party episode, I'll be bringing you a Christmassy place Worth putting on your list as Santa. And since this is Christmas in July And we're hanging out at Bramble Fest, I figured we should celebrate By visiting one of the few places in the world Where Christmas in July isn't just a fun idea. It's a full-blown tradition.

[00:32:28] Let's head to the Blue Mountains of Australia. Now, before you say travel dad, Australia for Christmas, Stay with me. See, while we're sweating through July, Australia is right in the middle of winter. Back in the early 80s, A group of Irish travelers staying in the Blue Mountains Started feeling homesick. They missed having a cold Christmas, Complete with roast dinners, Fireplaces, And all the cozy traditions that they grew up with.

[00:32:56] So they asked their hotel if they could have a traditional Christmas dinner. The hotel said yes. Other hotels noticed, And just like that, The Yule Fest was born. Today, The entire Blue Mountains region celebrates Christmas in July, And honestly, It sounds like the Hallmark movie we all wish they'd make. Historic hotels decorate the grand dining rooms, Ballrooms come alive with live bands playing Christmas music, Carollers wander the halls, Pipe bands perform, And if the weather cooperates,

[00:33:26] You might even wake up to a dusting of snow. Many of these beautiful historic hotels offer multi-night Yule Fest packages, Where you can settle in for a few days, Enjoy traditional Christmas dinners, Afternoon tea by a roaring fireplace, And even add experiences like exploring the famous Janolan Caves. Now, as a dad, I love this part. Some of these hotels proudly display collections of hundreds of antique teapots. Hundreds!

[00:33:56] Which prove two things. One, Australians take tea very seriously. And two, Somewhere there's a collector looking at teapot number 436 and saying, You know what? We need one more. I respect that level of commitment. And all while that's happening in the Blue Mountains, Head a couple hours east to Sydney, And the Rocks Precinct completely transforms. For two weeks, every July, One of Australia's oldest neighborhoods

[00:34:25] Becomes a European-style Christmas village. Wooden chalets line the streets. Snow machines send flakes drifting through the air. Fire pits invite you to toast marshmallows. The smell of melted raclette cheese poured over hot potatoes fills the air. You'll find handcrafted gifts, Christmas ornaments, Giant walk-through snow globes, And steaming mugs of mulled wine. It's like someone picked up a Christmas market from Germany,

[00:34:54] Flew it 10,000 miles, And dropped it right beside Sydney Harbor. And because it's Australia, Don't be surprised if karaoke breaks out And everyone starts singing Six White Boomers. If you've never heard it, Imagine Rudolph taking the night off While Santa delivers presents behind six giant kangaroos. Trust me, You'll be singing the chorus before dessert. I think that's why I love Christmas in July so much. Nobody's trying to replace Christmas, They're just finding another reason to celebrate it. And honestly,

[00:35:24] If Bramble Fest has taught us anything, It's that Christmas people don't need an excuse to celebrate. We just appreciate a really good one. And if Hallmark's looking for its next Christmas in July movie, I think I've got the title. You had me at Yule Fest. You've got an American travel writer Who accidentally gets stranded in the Blue Mountains, A charming innkeeper who insists Christmas should be celebrated twice a year, A misunderstanding over a secret Santa gift,

[00:35:51] A karaoke contest where everyone sings Six White Boomers, And somehow, There's still time for a happy ending And one perfectly timed kiss before the credits roll. Hallmark, You can have that one for free. And that's this month's Christmassy place. I'm your travel dad, Ernie Della Santi. I hope it's one putting on your list to Santa. Have a great Bramble Fest, And I'll see you next month. Thank you, Ernie. Appreciate you sending this in each month. It is always great to hear from you. Always.

[00:36:21] Listen, if I have to go, I have to go. There's a, Yeah. My hands are tied. It's for the show. I know. What can you do? For research. I would love to go to Australia. I would too. It'd be pretty awesome. You guys ever have a desire to be in a kangaroo pouch? No, because I heard they're slimy. Oh, they're slimy. Yeah. What do you mean you heard they're slimy? Who got in one that knows that? Well, Bart Simpson did when he went to Australia.

[00:36:50] But listen, I've learned a lot of things from the Simpsons over the years. And other diehard fans will know that. I can see Alonzo Duralde just rolling his eyes. Okay, fine. If you're familiar with kangaroo pouches, and they're not, in fact, slimy on the inside, let me know and I'll issue a retraction. But until then, I'm going to keep operating under the assumption that it's mucousy and slimy. I don't think that's right.

[00:37:15] LiveScience.com says the inside of the pouch is the texture of the kangaroo's skin, but hairless. Thank you. It's soft and comparable with the skin on the inside of a person's wrist. I don't know what the inside of my wrist feels like though. You should. The pouch is very warm. And slimy? The same as the mom's body temperature, 105 degrees Fahrenheit. But not slimy? Because of that, it can get sweaty in there. Okay, so I'll issue a half retraction. I guess there isn't mucus,

[00:37:44] but it sounds like it's more moist than I want it to be. The pouch also contains four teats. Oh yeah, see, this whole thing is a disaster. I can't wait for Joe to put this. so Bran, to answer your question, no, I don't think about getting into a kangaroo's pouch. Yeah, no, I'm all in. I'm all in on that. Sounds fun. All right, next, next Bramble Fest, I'll work with cousin Chad. We'll get a live kangaroo. In the dunk tank. That's large enough, in the dunk tank, that's large enough to fit you. And,

[00:38:14] and you're a tall boy. So this is going to be quite the kangaroo. I don't got to fit all the way. Just a leg or two. I'm picturing this, Shannon, and I want this to happen so badly. I have no desire. They, they, they do punch you though. Like, they're pretty like, I have seen actual video, non cartoon of that. So it sounds, you know, dude, I don't know what it says about me, but I love a kangaroo fight. Is that bad? All right, listen, is that bad?

[00:38:44] Before we get canceled, why don't we wrap this episode up? Because that's all of our content today. You know what? If I get canceled for enjoying kangaroo fight videos, then so be. As long, as long as it happened, organically and people didn't put the kangaroos up to fighting. Cause that's not okay. Of course. I'm not, I don't want a kangaroo fight club. That's not what I'm saying. Two kangaroos that happen to pass each other and have a little bit of a beef with each other all on their own. Dude, if they got beef and we record it,

[00:39:13] there's nothing that I can do about that. Okay. Next Bramble Fest for all wearing kangaroo costumes, we'll have a boxing ring and we'll just have a fight and we'll see who wins. Oh, I will wear a kangaroo suit to the next Bramble Fest. Just remind you. There's no way we're remembering this bit in a year. There's no way. Let's put it down. Write it down. I'm writing it down somewhere. Someone's going to remind us. Put a bit in that. Scribble, Scribble, Scribble. Shannon, thank you for coming and joining us this month. It was great to have you back.

[00:39:41] And I need to know as Helga's manager, she going to be available? Is she getting excited? Is she getting ready? Oh, Helga already. I mean, she tried to show up today. Oh, Helga. Helga. She tried to show up today and I said, no, it's not quite Halloween, but she's all in on Summerween. Bran, we heard her at the very end of the last episode too. A little, a little flying around outside. That was wild. Did you? Oh my gosh. It was good. Yeah. This is the, this is the Halloween, uh,

[00:40:11] you know, early spooky miss that, uh, Doc was asking us about. Yeah. Spooky miss. Now the Halloween creep makes sense because it's already scary. It's already scary. I don't like Christmas creep. Christmas creep. Not great. Christmas creep is canceled, but I'm not. I'm fine. Yeah. Everything is good here. Why don't you take us home, Bran? Okay. This has been a lot of fun. Thank you all so much for submitting stuff. We're very excited. We only got two more of these left before we go daily. Can you believe that Scott? Uh,

[00:40:40] that just hit me when you said that, like, Oh yeah, that's right. Your eyes got so big when I said that. Yes, but September and October. Uh, so, you know, start, go ahead, start sending some stuff in. We'd love to hear from you. Um, and of course we're going to be back tomorrow with our normal, regularly scheduled Christmas morning episodes. So coming back for that until then, Merry Christmas.

[00:41:10] You're about to hear some ads that help pay for our trip back and forth to the North pole. Feel free to listen, feel free to bail now, but either way, thanks for being here. Ho, ho, ho. ho.