July Christmas Party - 5 Months Until Christmas 2026 (LIVE from Bramble Fest 2026)

[00:00:01] Yeah, I know how to do this is a Bramble Jam Podcast. Live from the North Pole, it's time for Christmas Morning, the daily show where every day is Christmas. Here are your hosts, Brand and-

[00:00:39] Welcome to another very exciting live Christmas morning live Scotty from Bramble Fest 2026.

[00:00:47] Yeah! It's a fantastic- Good crowd. It's early on a Saturday morning. That's right. We have the diehards here. These are the Christmas morning people that are here ready to party. The real ones. Yeah, for those listening online, it is a jam-packed overflow capacity. That's true. And this is amazing. It's standing room only. We had to add another room next door. Really cool stuff. A lot of people were here since last night already. They just slept. Spill over into the baseball stadium. Honestly, they were in their PJs last night.

[00:01:17] So might as well just slept in this room. Let's pull back the curtain. A lot of people here drank a lot of Founders Day punch. That's true. And to make it again, we really appreciate it. Yeah, I think Chad actually sabotaged the show. Yeah. Intentionally. Yes. But he's here. Well, yeah, but he wants to- He wants his pod to be the game. That's the long game. Yeah, that's right. He doesn't want people to know that it's him, but it's him. Also, we have Alonzo here today. Alonzo. Hi.

[00:01:42] Glad to be here. Merry Christmas. Now, I will say, are you feeling intimidated next to Chad's sweater? I mean, Chad in general is an intimidating force, but yeah, that sweater is next level. That is a great sweater. I have a lot of Christmas sweaters. You might have me beat. Thank you. I thrifted it. I found that it was not- When did you thrift it? In 1973. Very good. So at that point, it was new. It was, yeah. Which is nice.

[00:02:10] If you want to feel worse about yourself, just be next to Chad. 100%. Everything about it. Oh, I thrifted it? Yeah, while I was helping animals. Yeah. While we're feeling bad about ourselves, what size is it? It's a 2T. 2T. Very good. Yeah. I could have eyeballed that. I should have done it. Scotty, hello. Good morning, Brandon. How are you? It's great. We made a sleigh ride down from the North Pole today. That's where we slept. We slept in the North Pole last night because it just felt like we needed to. Did you introduce Chad?

[00:02:40] Chad, though? It's Chad. It's Chad Cousins. Hello, everyone. Merry Christmas, everyone. This is exciting because we have, except for Joe Fulton, who couldn't be with us because he's in prison. We miss you, Joe. He gets out in three minutes. We have this rap, Joe. We have everyone that has ever hosted with us, I believe. Yeah. Yeah. Except Shannon's supposed to be here, but maybe she overslept.

[00:03:07] I mean, she's all fancy with her book talk and all. That's true. But hold on, hold on. Do you guys hear something? Hello, boys. Helga? Oh, no. Is it Helga? Hello, everyone. One for you. And one for you. I didn't know she came out in the summer. Oh, happy Halloween, everyone. I thought she was defrosting. And for you.

[00:03:36] And for you. Oh, so sorry, Cece. Oh, there you go. Oh, it's not even PSL season. And here she is. And one for you. Hello, Helga. And one for you. I'm intimidated by you. Oh, thanks. And you. And none for you, Gretchen winners. That's a line from Mean Ghouls.

[00:04:03] I'm on Broomway, which is actually here in Greenville. Helga, have you seen Shannon anywhere? Who's she? She's your manager. If you remember the Lord. Yes, my lovely Lord. Yes, she's slept in, I think, this week. Oh, very good. Too much punch. Yes, too much punch. All right, well, welcome, Helga, I guess.

[00:04:30] Helga, I do want to ask, why are you here? I was wondering the same thing. I said I'm on Mean Ghouls on Broomway here in Greenville. Get in, loser, we're going hexing. Yeah. I hear you saying a lot of things. Well, I'm not a regular witch, I'm a cool witch. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. Yeah, I guess that explains it. I'm famous now.

[00:05:00] We're three minutes in and I've lost complete control of Halloween. Right, right, exactly. Absolutely. So you heard Christmas morning. You asked for it. You heard we're doing a Christmas morning show and you figured this is the time for a wedding. Well, boys, you also celebrate Christmas two months before. We celebrate Halloween two months before. Right. So it is the countdown to Halloween. Oh! Spooky season. Are you doing another, what was it, Halloween evening or whatever the year? I hope not. Oh, of course, boys.

[00:05:29] We're going to do a full week. That's true. Oh, nice. That's true. There is talk of a full week. All right. Sorry, Helga. Sorry. You mentioned that we're counting down to Halloween. We're actually not going to do that today, but we should count down to Christmas brand. Yeah. I think we should. I think I know what the number is. Is it? Okay. Yeah. Everyone be cool. This many.

[00:06:09] Three months until Halloween? I believe so. That's correct. Wow. Three months and change. Sure. One, one, the crowd loves the snow. One, one handful of months. Yeah, that's it. I feel terrible for the people up front with their coffee and the snow blowing machine. Well, yeah. You got to cover your drinks at Bramble Fest, but for a different reason. You signed a waiver. That's right. That's exactly right. Scotty, this is a Christmas party episode.

[00:06:39] Which is our monthly get together where we have people come on the show, talk about anything they want to, as long as it involves Christmas, traditions, memories. Or Halloween, I guess. Or Halloween. Do we not do the October 1st countdown on the party episodes? I mean, go ahead. Try to keep up, Chad. Okay. No, we don't do that. I love that. That's my favorite part. Sorry, Chad. Sorry. You got to tune in weekly for that. But we do have some special guests today. We have so many guests today. Oh, wow. I love party episodes because it's the least amount of work.

[00:07:09] Absolutely. But we have a full deck, so why don't we get to... Let's get to it, Scotty. Our first guest is Laura. Laura. Laura. Ain't no party like a Christmas morning party because on a Christmas morning party, the guests do the work. That was nice. That was good. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I am going to be playing a hidden immunity idol on Bran. Oh! Finally!

[00:07:37] Where were you yesterday? Oh, that's right. Stabbing me in the back. I had to do it. I understand. Laura, welcome. Happy Halloween. Thank you, Helga. It's a pleasure to meet you. Pleasure. So I put the call out, well, Bran put the call out, we both did, and said, hey, who wants to present anything? Who's got something interesting to say about Christmas? And Laura has an interesting story about, was it a bungee jumping Santa that you destroyed?

[00:08:16] Bungee jumping Santa. The decoration by one of her college friends. They would do like a Christmas exchange, and this was like her favorite decoration. She loved it. My brother and I managed in the course of a few years to break it not once, but twice. Yeah. So it would hang from like our... Can you bring the picture back up? Yeah, bring it back up. Yeah. See? I don't know why you took it away. All right. Tell me where it broke, and how did you guys bust this thing up?

[00:08:45] So the first time, it would hang like off in our foyer, like off this ceiling, and we had a habit of trying to... We were volleyball players. We would practice our approach in the hallway. As you do. As most families do, right? And so I think my brother was capable... The one that got it the first time. He was swinging, and down goes bungee jumping Santa. Now, did the whole thing come down? Did just Santa...

[00:09:13] So the first time, just Santa came down, and my mom was able to glue him back together. Great. Her favorite ornament is saved. What was your thought when Santa plummeted? It was traumatizing. Oh, no. It was traumatizing. You know... No one wants to see that, but we did... It did survive. She glued it back together. A few years later, my brother and I decide it's a good idea to start throwing socks at each other from the stairwell, as you do. As you do. As you do. Snowball fight style.

[00:09:43] Yeah, basically. There we go. Exactly. Good thing bungee jumping Santa wasn't here. Oh, yeah. But, yeah. So we definitely hit it with one of the socks, and down he goes again, and it was not savable. The Santa was ruined. Oh. But what was your mom's initial reaction? My brother claims that he got in trouble both times, and that I got away scotch-free the second time, which is fair. I'm the youngest, so I never really got in trouble.

[00:10:12] But she... I think she was okay with it. Like, she was upset that it was ruined, but I don't think she was mad at us. Laura, we have a surprise. Your brother's here to confront you. Come on out. Is this going to turn into therapy? Was bungee Santa ever replaced, or... So that's the funny story. So every year since, and like the past five years, I have searched online for the exact

[00:10:38] one that we had, wanting to surprise her at Christmas with a new one as like a story for what we did as kids. And finally this year, I was able to find it online, which is where that picture came from. I called her a night before I left for Bramble Fest and was asking her what her memory of all of this was. And she just so happened to have it out in the living room with her because she was trying to... She had gotten a new Santa that she was going to try and attach to the bottom of the thing

[00:11:07] so that she could put it up again. And so literally, it was like 10 feet away from her when I called. We hadn't talked about it in years. Wow. And so just by happenstance, it was right there. That's so cool. Okay. So did you receive it? Did you buy it this year? Was it a previous year? No. So I just found it like a few days ago. But now she's fixing the old one. So I think we're good. Are you going to keep the new one? I think we're good. I might. We might also destroy the third one. Who knows?

[00:11:35] You lived with the guilt all these years and she could have just repaired it. So this is on her. Well, I mean... Yeah, it's on her. Yeah, 100%. Are you going to put it up in your house? I should 100% get a new one and put it up. Okay, will you send us pictures this year? Yeah, I will. For sure. I love it. It did look like it was connected via Tiny Slinky of sorts. It was, yeah. Was that hard not to just yank and play with? Oh, for sure. Because that's what you do in the house.

[00:12:03] I mean, it was begging to get destroyed, right? Once again, it is on your mom. Like, this is just... It's not for the kids. It's catnip. If they didn't want us to wreck it, they shouldn't have made it so much fun to play with. Exactly. Yeah, for sure. 100%. You guys will post a photo of this on the Instagram account? Absolutely. I have a bungee jumping cat, also attached by a slinky. It's a real cat. I would never destroy a Halloween ornament. No, of course not. Ornament decoration.

[00:12:32] My cat loves to destroy Halloween ornaments. Okay, it's a real cat? It is my real cat, yes. Yes. She loves to bungee jump. And what's the cat's name? Catnip. So catnip is attached or slinky? That's only one of my cats. You're saying you have a cat hanging from your ceiling? No. It hangs from a slinky. Which hangs from the ceiling? It's from a branch in my house. Oh, that would be cruel otherwise. Yes, of course. A branch in your house? Yes, of course, Bran.

[00:13:01] Don't you have Christmas trees? I have branches. Yeah, I guess that's fair. Can your cat get out? As seen in the hit film Obsession. My cat loves it, okay? Don't worry about it. It does sound fun to hang from a slinky all day. It is fun. Have you tried it? Not yet. All right. The day is young. Oh, my goodness. Okay, Laura, thank you so much for sharing that with us. Thank you, Laura. And please make sure you send us the photos. I will. All right.

[00:13:30] Next up is Shelby, who's going to tell us about her family reindeer game. Oh, I love a reindeer game. Woo, Shelby. Woo. Woo. Hello, Shelby. Hello. Hello. Thank you so much. You know, I went shopping with Shannon the other day, and we found Reese's pumpkins. So it's amazing, Helga, that you were able to get them as well. Yes. Thank you, Shelby. We already have the lead there.

[00:13:59] Pumpkins are back for Reese's. Oh, yeah. No, they're at the CVS. They are. That's great. At the CVS up the street. They don't have any drinks, but they do have Halloween pumpkins. Nice. And the Kit Kats have Count Chocula on them. Yes. Wow. I always like the pumpkins because it's like, it's a circle. Great. We did a circle. That's your perfect shape. We did a circle. They did a special circle. Yeah. It's a special circle. It's different than the other Reese's circle. It's a little wide.

[00:14:29] The Easter circle. It's the Halloween. The football ones are ovals. Yeah, right. Right. You can't eat an oval. Absolutely not. It's a little stem if it's not a little bit melted. This is not pumpkin talk. Shelby, you wanted to tell us about the reindeer games in your family. Did you say you were the captain of the reindeer games? I am the commissioner. Yes. Wow. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Sorry. It's very important. Didn't mean to undersell your title. Yes. I am the originator and commissioner of the Watwood family reindeer games.

[00:14:58] So some important things to know about my family. I'm the oldest of 10 children. 10 children. Yes. Yes. I have eight brothers and one sister, six of whom are married at this point. So I have sisters-in-law. And then I have like 11 cousins and then their families as well. So we divide up into three teams. And every year I choose a different method. You rent a ballroom? No. How does this work? My parents live on 40 acres. So we just do this outside because I'm from Alabama. So Christmas is like 75. All right.

[00:15:28] Do they all have iPhones? We need ratings and reviews. If you can ask them. Some of them have iPhones. I will say we are an Android family. So there is that. A family of Androids? Sounds like my family. Yes. Yes. So we divide up into three teams. And they play minute to minute style games. And basically this is my opportunity to get them to do ridiculous stuff.

[00:15:53] So getting my uncles who lovingly traumatized me as a child to get Oreos from their forehead to their mouths. Phenomenal. Seeing how well their geography skills are. Of our home state, by the way. Is also phenomenal. Because one of my cousins is seven years old. And they were like, you just went through Alabama history. And he was like, I didn't pay attention.

[00:16:22] I slept through that. So, you know, it's really fun stuff. But I came up with everything the first year on a plane ride. Because they were like, we want to do something special for Christmas. And it came to you in a dream. Yes, exactly. It came to me in a dream on a plane. And I planned the whole thing out. And so then we did it the first year. And then we just kept doing it. My sister-in-law, who was married to my brother, she was the captain of one of the teams one year.

[00:16:52] And she said she did not choose her husband on her team. And she said, and I quote. I thought you meant she didn't choose her husband. No, no, no, no. She didn't choose. She didn't choose. She didn't arrange marriages in LA. No. Just them or everybody in the family has the arranged marriages? Just them. Because my mom set them up. Oh, very good. Yes. They do have an arranged marriage. Wow. They did technically choose. But they did choose to follow what my mom told them to do. So, you know, there's that.

[00:17:23] She has 10 kids. She wants to marry them all off. Like, she's got a lot of work to do. But yeah, so for her, she was the captain. And she could choose anyone in my family. And she did not choose her husband because, and I quote, I want to win. So we're very committed to this. And she has my nephew. And then my niece will be born later this year. And she's supposed to be born on Christmas, which is really fun.

[00:17:52] And she was like, oh, I will be participating in reindeer games no matter how pregnant I am. So we're very committed to this. Even the in-laws are committed. And she did win without my brother. So there's that. I would hope she could go into labor during the reindeer. Could you wrap that into the game somehow? I hope not. That's cheating. But, you know, we'll see what happens. We'll have an umbilical cord tying contest. Tied into a ribbon. There is a present wrapping contest.

[00:18:21] And my mom wins most of the time. Tell us about some of the most memorable. Yeah, so the present wrapping is really great because I got told that I gave them inferior boxes to wrap. Wow. What did you give them? I gave them Amazon boxes that I had taped back shut. So I don't know what they were looking for. That's tough. I didn't even give them weird shapes. And are you based on, are you judged on speed or like artistic? Artistic.

[00:18:46] So there was a speed component, but it was really about the actual goodness of the wrapping. But yeah, there's a three-legged race. I mean, that's Christmas. Yeah, exactly. There's the present wrapping. There's Christmas charades. Nice. And every year I try to like gas it up a little bit. It's a movie. It's a movie. Television. Television. Okay.

[00:19:16] You're so good at this. Pumpkin. This makes great audio. Rossi the Snowman. Rossi the Snowman. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Very good, Brad. I got this. Yes. You might want to invite Brad. I'm coming to Reindeer Games next year and I'm going to blow them out of the way. We should do a live Christmas morning for Reindeer Games. Oh, yes. I mean, this basically is a Hallmark movie. I mean, it is. It is. And so when we watched the movie a couple years ago that was like Reindeer Games or something. It was the day before Christmas? Yes. And I was like, guys, this is not Reindeer Games.

[00:19:45] You didn't actually compete. You called shenanigans. Yes, exactly. So there needs to be a lot. Are you suggesting a Hallmark Christmas movie is not accurately portraying reality as we know it? You know, it is surprising. But no, they didn't portray reality. That's messed up. It's not what my family's like. Do you all get together on the farm, like together on Christmas Day? It's actually Christmas Eve because growing up. It's Christmas Eve. Yes.

[00:20:11] My great grandfather, he would, we would get together with him at the truck stop because roll tide. And so we've always gotten together on Christmas Eve. And so then we just kept that after he passed. And so then we get together on Christmas Eve. Is it like all decorated, like the entire farm decorated? No, because it's 40 acres. I mean, the parks are going to be around. And so this was a different great grandfather owned this land before and it was 300 acres.

[00:20:40] So it's all family around. And no, we don't decorate the whole thing, but we do decorate a decent amount of it, despite the fact that literally no one except for family is going to see it because my parents' driveway is 1.2 miles. So more. How many people show up at Christmas Eve? That's a great question. 50 plus somewhere in there. Because like I said, my brothers are getting married and having children and then my cousins are getting married and having children. And then, you know, there's just a lot of people.

[00:21:10] And then some of my siblings were adopted and therefore their biological families also come. So it's, it's a very expansive group of people. So you won't mind if we come next year? No, absolutely not. Literally no one will notice if there's extra people. All right. Very good. Very good. Is there ever any bad blood from the results? Oh yeah. Oh yeah. My, my sister-in-law's team won it twice, two years in a row and everyone was like, this is rigged.

[00:21:38] They thought maybe there was a, a, a rigging of her being the captain multiple years in a row, despite the fact that I did it different each year. So we saw the bag of ballots. We know what's going on. Exactly. So this next year I've got to come up with a new way to choose who's going to be the team captains to divide up the teams so that I'm not rigging it as they think that I am. You could have an apple bobbing contest.

[00:22:04] You know, I have wondered some new ways we could incorporate different things. So maybe an apple bobbing is a great way. Whoever gets the poison apple wins. Yes, exactly. Exactly. And I mean, I think it'd be really fun to watch my cousins and brothers all bob for apples because I think that'd be great. That'd be great. Yeah. You should consult, Helga. Absolutely. Yes. We do this every year with the elves actually. And we do all sorts of things.

[00:22:34] And I have also a massive family and we also live on a farm, but all my sisters are not getting married and they're having cats. That's me. I'm the one who's not getting married and having cats. Perfect. I don't blame you with that many brothers. Oh, yeah. No. People are like, oh, are you going to have children? And I was like, no, I have eight brothers and one sister. Oh, yeah. I can relate. You can come live in my coven with me. Sounds wonderful. I can't wait. I do have one more question. What do you do about gift giving? Because you can't give to every sibling.

[00:23:05] We give to the children who are less than 12. After that, it's lovely to see you again. And here's maybe a baked good. High five. We couldn't possibly gift to everyone. That's just not. No one has that kind of financial means. That's fair. You could use witchcraft. You could use witchcraft. Yeah. Don't encourage it, please. The thing is, it's really hard because my family doesn't believe in witchcraft.

[00:23:35] So there's that. Well, invite Helga and they'll believe, right? This is so true. This is so true. Exactly right. Shelby, thank you so much. Thank you, Shelby. Thank you. All right. It's the moment we've all been waiting for, Bran. It's our annual music performance. Oh, here we go. Cece. Yes. What up, Cece? We love Cece. She's a big fan. This is always very exciting.

[00:24:03] You know, I will say this. I played recorder in the fifth grade. I was required to. I thought you played the tuba. Required to. I did play the tuba in middle school, but in the fifth grade, I played recorder. And I like to think I was pretty good. But no match for Cece. Right. Cece. I'm pretty good. Cece could school me. All right. Let's give the back story real quick here. Is this your third year? Yes. All right. So three years ago, Cece said, I'm going to teach. Tell me if I'm wrong.

[00:24:33] Three years ago, you made a mistake on your podcast. I make lots of mistakes. You said. I made a mistake starting. That Lynn Austin brought her family's set of recorders. I thought they were kazoos. They were kazoos, but you said recorders. So I wrote you a smart-ass email and said, if it's a recorder you want, it's a recorder you will have. All your emails are smart-ass. Oh, yeah. That's just. All my thoughts are smart-ass. All my words are smart-ass. So, yeah, I was like, if it's a recorder, you want to write. And then I was like, oh, man, now I got to do this.

[00:25:03] And so I ordered a recorder. And the rest is history. And you're self-taught. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because I can't. I was telling someone yesterday. Prodigy, I think is the word. I can't figure out. I played music for my whole life as a child. And I can't figure out the fingering chart when I look at the. So I just like. There's only eight holes, though. Yeah. I figure out the first note and then I just do it by ear. You play it by ear. Mozart didn't need lessons either. And that's why I always mess up. So what song did you bring for us this year?

[00:25:33] Oh, Holy Night. Oh, perfect for the record. It's like a squeaky. Are we going straight to chorus? We got full verse. Oh, we're just. It's just, you know. Okay. Just fall on your knees. I play very small snippets. All right. I have to leave you wanting more. Sure. Let's fall on our knees. All right. Here we go. We're already starting off. Oh, yeah. Here we go.

[00:26:22] Brian, I've never seen Yo-Yo Ma in concert, but now I know how it feels. Yo-Yo Ma performs a spooky night at our Christmas party every year. Wow. Yes. Any other celebrities? I just want to say something. All of them. Frankenstein, Dracula. I just also want to tell Helga, I am a huge fan. I knew it. I was very jealous when you just offered to have someone else join your coven. So, I mean. Oh. I'm in. You get some of these. Thank you. Yes. Happy Halloween.

[00:26:52] You get to the performance. Cece, thank you so much. And I'm looking forward to next year. Yeah. Maybe next year I'll practice. Wow. Get Matt in next year on it. All right. He's going to beatbox. I'll be in that first for autographs. All on your knees. Oh, hear the angel voice. So spooky.

[00:27:26] When Christ was born.

[00:27:55] That's the men's quartet plus Helga. Yes. All right. Next up is our friend Kate. Helga, were you singing the right words? I was singing my version. I thought you might have been. I wish to go holy night was wild. It's a spooky night. Rehearsed. All right. Next up is our friend Kate, who's going to tell us about her family's tradition of the king of Christmas. Oh. Happy Halloween. Welcome, Kate. Thank you. Kate is a new double-decker, I believe. First year, right? Correct.

[00:28:25] Wow. So am I. How about that? Aren't you like 700 years old, though? 702. Oh, sorry. Oh, happy birthday. I missed that. Thank you. That's amazing. Scott, you never ask a lady her age. That is true. That is true. I'm young. But Kate has fit in like she's been here for a decade, so it's wonderful. Oh, well, thank you. All right. So you wanted to tell us about your family's tradition, and you called it the king of Christmas

[00:28:54] in your email to me, and I was floored by this. So please tell us about it, and we're going to have questions. Okay. Okay. So my family, we have a lot of traditions, and one of the traditions that we have is that we always have appetizers on Christmas Eve. We have... Is that in lieu of a full dinner? Yes. It's just kind of like roaming food? Yeah, I mean... Not the food is roaming, but people are roaming. We're at the table. We have like meatballs and mini weenies, spinach dip.

[00:29:23] I love mini weenies. Well, you'll love this story. It's a grazing occasion. Dynamite drop, Helga. And when my brother-in-law entered the family about 25 years ago, I was like 20. My brother was 18. My sister was 22. And so we all had pretty good metabolisms at that time, two and a half decades ago. Sure, sure. We all did.

[00:29:53] And I'm pretty competitive. My brother-in-law is pretty competitive. And my brother was 18 years old, and so he could just eat a lot. So we just started to talk about how much food we could eat and wanted to have a competition for it. And so we called it the King of Christmas. And basically, you had to count how many meatballs you ate or mini weenies.

[00:30:22] And the person who ate the most meatballs or mini weenies, one, they were the King of Christmas. And then the next day on Christmas morning, they got to hand out the presents or choose the order. But more importantly, they got to choose the jester of Christmas. Oh. Oh. And the jester of Christmas had to clean up all of the wrapping paper. Nice. Oh. Is there a time frame to eat the meatballs and or weenies?

[00:30:50] Well, basically as long as people were at the table. The last person at the table. Is there a record? I want to say it's like 30 meatballs. That's pretty good. Wow. That's pretty good. And did you get sick or are you disqualified? We never physically got sick. Okay. But, I mean, we felt pretty sick pretty much every time. That meatball coma hits different.

[00:31:20] Is a meatball and a mini weenie worth the same? Are they... No. Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no. Of course not. That's a stupid question, Scott. A meatball is... One meatball. It's one and a half mini weenies to one meatball ratio. Makes sense. Who usually wins? Well, it was really kind of a toss-up each year between me and my brother-in-law a lot of the times. But then they started having kids and then their kids could eat a lot when they were teens.

[00:31:48] And then my brother started having kids and his little kids are now eight and six. And they try to compete. We can eat a lot less than we used to be able to. But it's real a toss-up at this point. So what do you do? Do you go to Costco and just fill up the back of the SUV with frozen meatballs? Who's responsible for this? We all sort of take turns in the kitchen and cooking and whatnot. Are they sauced? Yes. What sauce are we talking?

[00:32:18] It's like a jelly. Yeah, the grape jelly. With eye of mute and spicy. I did not see that coming. That changes everything. Once you said mini weenie, I assume that's what we were talking about. Brian, my problem with this is if I ate that many meatballs, well, first of all, I wouldn't be king of Christmas. I'd be king of the bathroom. But the next morning, I would be in no condition to be... Ainty loves that one. That's right. Ainty loves that one.

[00:32:46] I would be in no condition to be handing out presents or being jolly or anything. Has anyone ever felt the repercussions the next day? No. I mean... Wow. Your family's built a different stuff. Well, we're from Wisconsin and my... Of course. My brother's 6'10". My sister's 6'5". Whoa! That's a lot of meatballs. And you're tall yourself. Yeah. Yeah, that was pretty good. You should meet up with Shelby's family.

[00:33:17] Are there rules? When I watched a hot dog eating contest on the 4th of July, sometimes they dunk it in water to help with the digesting. Have you all ever thought about dunking it? But I'm assuming these are... That's the end of my question. These are naked weenies, though, right? They're no buns or anything. Dunking is for the bun, but is it a breaded meatball? You don't bread meatballs, Brian. Sometimes you do. You could. Who breads meatballs? I do. A lot of people. A lot of people bread meatballs. They're not breaded.

[00:33:47] Inside, yeah. Eggs, milk. Absolutely. Everyone knows this. There are breadcrumbs in a meatball, but not surrounding a meatball. Hey, guys, let me do what I want to do with my meatballs. God! You probably like your wings breaded, too. No, I'm not a monster. That's stupid. Well, exactly. AT can attest to this. I think the ghost of Christmas present in A Christmas Carol would sign off on this. Right. You know, when he shows up with the barrels of oysters and great joints of meat. Cornucopia.

[00:34:16] I think they left out the, you know, tables full of meatballs and mini weenies. And the mini weenies. Imply. I will say, if I'm just thinking strategically, I like my chances with the weenies. I do, too. I like my chances with the weenies, too. Yeah. Lee Hodo. So, the out of context clips this year are going to be wild. Joe Fulton just woke up. I said what I said and I meant it. Anything else about the king of Christmas?

[00:34:44] Do you have any photos that you could share with us? Or maybe this year? No. Because what I want to see is I want to see a plate that's just mounded with meatballs. And I want to see someone almost green from it. Ooh. Well, I could show you a picture of that. But I've done it. You can both share. Is there a crown? Yes. Oh, okay. And... Is it made of meatball? Yeah, yeah. The king gets to wear a crown. And also... The jester? And the jester wears a little cap.

[00:35:14] Oh, love it. I have a collection of... Wait, a crown? Yep. Kate, we do this. We do this every year at my family as well. And there's a mound of meatballs and Frankenstein and Dracula and the elves are all there. And actually, you mentioned the ghost of Christmas present. I know him personally. And he would definitely sign off on the weenies. And who usually wins? Wild revelations to them. Frankenstein. As well, yes.

[00:35:43] Don't think too hard about it, Kate. Kate, thank you so much for sharing your tradition with us. You, Kate. Next up, we have our favorite photographer, Holly, who wants to tell us about Mickey's very... Is it very Christmas party? Very something Christmas party? Mickey's Christmas. Very Mary. I knew there was an extra... All right, Holly. Woo! Mickey. And the Mickey. And the Minnie. And the Disney. Do we have some of Holly's photos? No, I couldn't get them.

[00:36:13] Oh, well, this is going to be awkward then. I mean, I could go out on real quick. I didn't have access. Remember I said... Oh, was I supposed to forward them to you? Dropping the ball again, Scotty. Theater of the mind. A thousand words it is. Do you need the pictures? Exactly. Or do you want to explain? What do you want to do? I mean, the pictures are fun, but whatever. Do we have someone else that can come first and then we set up the pictures? You know what I mean? Do we have a... I don't care. But then I have to edit the episode. Yeah. No, you don't. No one wants that, Jill. I'm always a problem.

[00:36:42] Let me see what I can throw up real quick. I did text the ball. We need these. I didn't get them. All right. Okay. Chad, ma'am, please. Would you like me to do some of my one-liners? Oh, okay. Helga, your parties sound amazing. And the revelations of the ghost of Christmas past and present. Yes. I got it. I'm not telling any lies. I don't do that. All of my friends, they are mythical creatures.

[00:37:10] But we're very involved with Christmas people as well. Really? Uh, Santa, Mrs. Claus, uh, the elves. Have you met Mrs. Claus? She was here last year. Of course. We're best friends. Really? Yes. Well, I get together with her and we bake cookies, but I make different kinds of cookies. You know, more witchy stuff, if you will. I'm glad you guys get together. That gives me hope for the world. It is very hopeful, yes. Yes. Um, I had some of your Founder's Day punch last night, Chad. You did?

[00:37:40] Yes. And how'd that go? Oh. Was it like one of your potions? You know, I added a little bit of my potion in there, so that's why you all feel like a little bit of fun here today. That's why the seats are half empty this morning. It got Elizabeth fast. We need to interview her about that. That was great. Did you all enjoy the Founder's Day punch? Everyone who tried it? I thought it was pretty good. Thank you. And everyone woke up feeling okay? No. All right. We'll try harder next year. We will try harder next year. I heard you under-bourboned. I did. Yeah, because I look out for everybody.

[00:38:10] Next year we will over-bourbon, though. Never under-bourbon. And those are Larry the Elf's favorite sayings. Never under-bourbon. Right? Right, Larry? Larry. Is Larry here? Okay. For the sake of time, I'm just going to kind of read my email that I originally sent Scott. But yeah, I wrote to you guys back in October for the Halloween party episode telling about

[00:38:37] my experience attending Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween party in Disney World for the first time. I concluded that letter by saying that my boyfriend and I decided to return just a few months later to attend the Christmas parties as our Christmas gifts to each other. Now, let me interrupt you. If I remember right, he suggested it, right? Yes. That was part of the big deal of this. So you didn't feel like you were burdening him with this. I finally had somebody that wants to do things with me. Oh, we got some photos, too, here. Yeah.

[00:39:06] So where did we go? All right. So you suggested it. You went. I said I would report back on how that went. I said we went. It was amazing. Life is crazy. I never wrote in. And now it's July. But I did want to finally write in and tell you and show you some pictures. So the party we attended on our first night was Mickey's Very Merry Christmas party in the Magic Kingdom. And what was the date? I think it was actually November 30th. Okay. So after Thanksgiving. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:39:35] This party features a special Christmas parade complete with snow falling on Main Street, a special Christmas firework show, holiday stage shows, rare character meet and greets, ride overlays, unlimited cookies and drinks. Unlimited cookies, Brian? Unlimited cookies, yeah. And my favorite as a photographer, lots of special photo ops. My favorite ride overlay was Space Mountain. The lights on the ride were red and green and Trans-Siberian Orchestra Christmas music was blasting.

[00:40:05] Wow. That's awesome. And then similar to the trick-or-treat stops during the Halloween party, there are cookie stops all throughout the park. And most have hot chocolate, hot cider, or some fun drink with them as well. They're free and unlimited. The Christmas parade was definitely a highlight for me. While we watched on Main Street, I noticed this huge crane boom. And I was like, what's going on there?

[00:40:30] And the next day, I found out that Travis and Lacey were there filming the Hallmark Christmas movie. Legally, I'm not allowed to comment on that. But it sounds... Right, Scotty. That's for the best good. I didn't think of you. So that was super fun to learn that's what that was all about. They were filming the Christmas movie there. So cool. Yeah. The second night, we attended Jollywood Nights in Hollywood Studios.

[00:40:59] While the Very Merry Christmas Party has a more laid-back vibe, many people wear PJs and stuff like that, Jollywood is all about the Hollywood glam. I love a theme, so you don't have to tell me twice. We decided to go 1920s glam, and I wore a flapper dress. It was really fun to get all dressed up. Hollywood Nights, or Jollywood Nights, is definitely geared more towards adult and features lots of music, dancing, shows, festive food and drinks available for purchase, more rare character

[00:41:28] meet and greets, and of course, lots of amazing photo ops. The Twilight Soiree at the Tip Top Club at the Hollywood Tower Hotel featured live music and dancers. Since we were dressed for the part, the dancers actually found us in the crowd and pulled us to the front to dance with us, so that was fun. We later enjoyed a more kid-friendly dance party in Pixar Place with characters like Sadness, Frozone, Mike Wazowski. And while I didn't do any character meet and greets in Magic Kingdom, I decided to stick

[00:41:57] it out in line to meet Bing Bong from Inside Out while at Jollywood because he's one of my favorites, and I knew that that was a rare opportunity. And then our last day, at the recommendation of my friend and travel agent, we spent our last day in Epcot to experience the International Festival of the Holidays. Lots of amazing decorations, traditions, food featured throughout World Showcase, and we got to experience all our favorite spots and rides, some of which were, you know, all dressed

[00:42:27] up for the holidays. And of course, lots of photo opportunities. Haunted Mansion is in Magic Kingdom. Oh, I don't know these things. A major highlight at Epcot was the Candlelight Processional. The Candlelight Processional is a retelling of the nativity and story of the first Christmas, which features a live orchestra, choir, and narration by a celebrity guest.

[00:42:55] Jordan Fisher was the celebrity narrator when we were there. So yeah, I just kind of concluded my email by saying, walking out of Epcot that night, I was both so happy and so sad all at the same time. I finally got to experience one of my absolute favorite places during my favorite time of year. It was amazing. I was sad that our trip was over. It's definitely not in the cards to get back there this year, but I'm hoping that sometime in the near future I get to do it again because it was amazing. That was going to be my question is, as someone who's attended it now, would you go back?

[00:43:25] And it sounds like the answer is yes. Yes. Yeah. How about your boyfriend? Yeah. Are you going to have to drag him or did he really have a good time? I really don't think so. It's funny because he kind of looked at me and was like, because we knew, my daughter is so upset with me that I've now gone to Disney twice without her. Yeah, he looked at me, he's like, when do you think we're ever going to be able to do the next time we're going to be able to do this, just the two of us? And I said, yeah, it's going to be a while. But he seems all about it. Oh, that's awesome.

[00:43:53] Do they charge a premium for the above? Yeah. They charge a premium for everything. A dumb question. Exactly. The two parties are like specially ticketed events. Like, it's not like you go into the Magic Kingdom for the day and you can just stay for the party. If you're at the Magic Kingdom that day and don't have a ticket to the party, you've got to leave by like four o'clock. Disney charges extra for something. Imagine that, huh? That's nuts. I know. Now, I've been to some of the holiday stuff at Disneyland, which is a lot more dialed down.

[00:44:21] But one of the things they've had in California Adventure is like this sort of row of kiosks where you can get different kind of international food options. And then a rarity for the park is that they have adult beverages. Does the world go that way or no? So, less so in Magic Kingdom. Definitely in Epcot around the world. And I think, yeah, we had drinks in Hollywood Studios as well. Yeah.

[00:44:49] So, I would say kind of like with the parties. Like, the Magic Kingdom is definitely more like family friendly and the Hollywood Studios is more geared toward adults. Yeah. Very cool. Wow. Thank you. Thank you so much. Exciting. All right. Brand, you want to take a quick break? And then we will play a video from Joe. Sure. Yeah, I can do that. This is a podcast, remember? Yeah. All right. Oh, I don't have that button on here. Are you? Add it in post. Ba-da-da-da-da.

[00:45:20] Welcome. Ba-da-da-da-da-da-da. Welcome back, everybody. It's Christmas party episode. And I understand Joe couldn't join us in person, but he didn't want to be left out? No, and I believe Matt requested the He-Man and She-Ra Christmas special. Oh, my God. So, Joe delivered, and any children here? Well, we got little, little children there. Okay. There's a couple parts that are a little blue in Joe's video. Yeah, from what I hear, anyone under 30 turned the radio off for about six minutes.

[00:45:49] Yeah, if you're in the car with the children, you might want to skip ahead. Let's see, it was like four minutes and 37 seconds. All right, here we go. The Masters of the Universe learned the true spirit of Christmas, and it gets kind of weird. Nostalgia is a hell of a drow. Here's my review of the He-Man and She-Ra Christmas special from 1985. Eternia's royal palace is preparing for the big day.

[00:46:16] No, not Christmas, but the celebration of the twins, Adam and Adora's birthday. Meanwhile, Adam isn't helping with decorating. He's working with Man-at-Arms on the new Spy Sky space shuttle. Always curious, or Ghost Sneaks inside, playing around with the controls, and accidentally takes off. I'm in big trouble. Skeletor pursues the Sky Spy ship, but is stopped by He-Man and She-Ra, punching a hole in the side of the shuttle. Orgo uses a magic spell to transplant and crash land on Earth.

[00:46:46] He befriends two children, Miguel and Alicia, who are searching for their family's Christmas tree. You said you were looking for a Christmas tree? What's that? They explain Christmas to him, including Christmas trees and Santa, but just as they are about to go on a Charlie Brown line of speech on the true meaning of Christmas, the special transitions safely back to Eternia. Listen, if you really don't know about Christmas, we'll tell you the whole story. A long, long time... I've got it. Man-at-Arms tracks the Sky Spy coordinate,

[00:47:16] which Queen Marlena recognizes as her home planet of Earth. Man-at-Arms to transport the ship with Orko, along with the children, Miguel and Alicia, back to Eternia. When the children hear Man-at-Arms mention it may take a few days to recharge the crystals before he can send them home, they begin to panic. The children tell everybody about Christmas, and this inspires Bo to lean up against the trees, strum his Aetherian mandolin, and sing his new Christmas song about love and caring. It's a banger.

[00:47:59] Meanwhile, Horde Prime summons Skeletor and Hordak. He's concerned that the Christmas spirit could stop his rise to power. He orders them both to capture the two Earth children. There they are! Get the tractor beam ready! In his ship, Horde Prime tracks down the children. Oh my god, it looks like a huge... Private! We have reports of an unidentified flying object! It is a long, smooth shaft, complete with two balls! What is that?

[00:48:30] That looks just like an enormous... Willie! Yeah. What's that? Oh, it looks like a giant. Hordak uses a tractor beam to capture Miguel and Alicia, taking Orko with them. They don't get too far as the monstroid literally takes things into his hands. You're trying to grab more than you can handle. They put the kids into a cell, where the Manchines show up to rescue them with the help of He-Man and She-Ra, only to be taken hostage by Skeletor.

[00:49:01] Troublesome tots! Skeletor begins to feel kindness and protects the kids and the dog Relay from the cold. As a thank you, Relay gives him kisses on his skull. Stop licking my face, you gratted dog! Horde Prime, Hordak, He-Man, and She-Ra track down Skeletor and the children. Hordak repels Skeletor's magic, bouncing back and knocking him out. A giant battle begins with robots fighting He-Man and She-Ra, who easily bowl them down. Meanwhile, Horde Prime attempts to use a giant claw to grab the children.

[00:49:31] Relay lets Skeletor awake, who comes to the realization he must save the children, disabling Lord Prime's ship. He-Man and She-Ra lift the ship and throw it out into space. In the end, Skeletor saved the children, and for the first time, felt the Christmas spirit. Well, I think you're feeling the Christmas spirit, Skeletor. It makes you feel good. Well, I don't like to feel good. I like to feel evil.

[00:49:57] Back at the palace, just like Jesus, the twins' birthday is celebrated on Christmas. Snout Sprout uses his elongated trunk to put the star on the tree. Fisto, yes, this guy's name is Fisto, offers Moss Man a treat within his giant fist. And Prince Adam dresses up as Santa Claus. He gives Miguel and Alicia a flying belt each before using the transport device to send them home to their parents. Or is it their parents? I mean, look at her father.

[00:50:24] There is no way that this Captain Lou Albano-looking guy is the father of Alicia. Hear me out. Look at Alicia's hair. It's identical to He-Man's bright yellow Prince volume. It really makes me question if the family needs to appear on Mori for a DNA test. Everyone welcome Adam. When it comes to Alicia and Adam, you are the father.

[00:50:53] At the end of the special, Prince Adam, Adora, and Orca wish us a Merry Christmas. So, final thoughts. The residents of Eternia find the Christmas spirit, including Skeletor. We get a great new Christmas song, a possible reunion of a father and daughter, and learn that Hordak's ship looks like a giant wiener. Any of you kids want another wiener? I give this episode an A. Not because it's good, but because I can't believe it exists good.

[00:51:22] Well, that's my review of the He-Man and She-Ra Christmas special. Thanks to Matt Stroll for recommending it. What Christmas episode should I review next? Well, let Scott know if you have any recommendations. And for all of you watching this video live at Bramble Fest, may I wish you a Merry Christmas. I'm the Christmas aficionado, and remember, stay off the night list. Look at that hair. Perfect hair, perfect segment. Joe killed it. No notes. That's very good.

[00:51:51] Joe, thank you for doing that. If you're not following Christmas aficionado on YouTube, please do. And we're going to try to get him here next year. Fantastic. Next up is Jane, who's going to tell us about her family's white elephant parties. Welcome, Jane. Thank you, thank you. So, white elephant. Hi, Jane. Hi, Brian. Good to see you. You too. You get a white elephant in your house? I have hundreds of white elephants. Oh, hundreds. It's also known as the Yankee Swap.

[00:52:20] It's also known as Dirty Santa. Dirty Santa? I've never heard that. Dude's squirrely. We call it Dirty Frankenstein. That's fitting. Wow. So, my family would play it back when I was in high school and college. And then after I got married, my husband had never heard of it before. And so, once we got married, our first Christmas together. You said you want to play the Dirty Santa to your husband? Well, hey. We were newlyweds. Sorry. Joe's got me squirrely there from that video. Lame job.

[00:52:51] But I asked him if he wanted to play a white elephant game. And he had never really heard about it before. Well, when we got married, I moved from Virginia to New York. So, I really didn't know anybody. We had been married about eight months. And I said, well, this is a great way for me to get to know your friends even better. And invite some people that I've met and really try and build community. So, we hosted our first annual party. And the food was like frozen bagel bites and pigs in a blanket and that kind of deal. Well, cut to 30 years later.

[00:53:18] It's now the party of the year amongst all our friends. We've had people skip out on wedding receptions in order to come to our party for the food and the game. We've had people rearrange vacations. They'll reach out in July. Do you know what date it's going to be? Because we want to know. Wow. Yeah, it's a big deal. How come we haven't been invited? No kidding. Helga, you're officially invited. But it's a lot of fun.

[00:53:46] And, you know, the first few years, people, we kept trying to tell them you need to bring trash. We want trash gifts. People would bring nice things. And I'm like, no, no, no, no. So, I finally came up with a list of these things are not allowed to keep people from. What kind of things are on this list? So, things that are not allowed to be like candles, you know, like pretty candles and nice ceramic pottery. No, I want what I brought as an example of something that has showed up in our party.

[00:54:16] Oh, I wonder where this stuff came from. Okay. Now it's all making sense. There's a game called Wrap Your Crap also. Yes. So, here's something that appeared recently. And since this is an audio medium for most people listening, I will describe it. It is a hideous bull. Who's calling it hideous? I am. I would love this. And it's covered in mirrors. And it's clad. It's attached to a slinky, which is really cool.

[00:54:45] Yeah, and we don't know. A golden bull, let's be clear. It has some weight to it also. Well, it not only has weight to it, but it came with this sign that says wash balls here. And the reason why is if you look at the back of the bull, you'll see it's fully intact. Wow. Which is wild. And I thought Joe brought the level of discourse down today. Nope, it was Jane. But we, my husband and I, we all spent the whole year searching for gifts.

[00:55:15] And I remember back in 2016, we were in New York with a family visiting. And, nice. And we happened to walk by this dumpster on the street, and we saw something sticking out of the top of the dumpster. And my husband said, what is that? It was a disco ball. Like a full-size disco ball that somebody was throwing out. And it was in great condition. So, we pulled it from the dumpster, took it back to South Carolina, and put it in that year's game. And it got stolen very quickly.

[00:55:44] I did that. Yeah. Yeah. So, we've had a lot of great gifts. This year, I got a three-foot-long plastic pickle. Don't know what I'm going to do with that. But we, my husband and I specifically will keep the gifts we get for like four or five years. And then put them back in the game. And so, we have a lot of things that if they don't show up, people get upset. Like, where's the arm blaster? The arm blaster is this 1970s Lou Ferrigno, like, workout.

[00:56:14] Yes, I had one. That's in the original 1970s box. Wow. That's cool. People get mad when that is not in the game. We had a mannequin head that hung out for about 10 years. Has Brian seen it? Would he lose to it eight days a week? Yes, he would. We were so upset. We had invited somebody new to the party one year, and she ended up with a mannequin head and didn't realize that it was like a repeat gift. And she took it home and gave it to her granddaughters.

[00:56:43] And we were so upset that the mannequin head was no longer in play. It's messed up. But it's a fun night. And my husband and I, we've moved on from bagel bites and pigs in a blanket to really making gourmet food. We'll make 16 or 17 hors d'oeuvres that we serve for two or three hours to everybody. People know, don't eat before you come because you will be full by the end of the night. And it's a fun, fun time. But we've done it 30 years.

[00:57:11] Have you ever thought about having a King of Christmas quest on this? I might do reindeer games for sure. I think that would be an amazing component to add to the White Elephant game. I do like the King of Christmas. Yeah, it sounds great. Now, is it possible this year you could send us some photos of maybe just a few of these things that you might be holding in reserve? Sure. Absolutely. I would love this. It would be like an advent calendar for me. Absolutely. It's fantastic. Jay, thank you.

[00:57:39] No, you're keeping things out of the landfill. Absolutely. Yeah. And I guess if you can't find some time. So if anyone comes across a mannequin head in a thrift store. And then the result of this party. I'll send it to you. Perfect. I'll give you my address after the show. Okay. But I do collect White Elephants now. Because it started as a gag where people would bring like little ceramic White Elephants. And then people would leave them on my doorstep. And then my family would see them and they'd buy them.

[00:58:05] And the result is that I have the top of my piano is covered in White Elephants. I also had to buy a cabinet for the White Elephants. And then they range from three feet tall to, you know, like one inch. Wow. But I have a massive White Elephant collection. Jane, do you like routinely check that dumpster? Because to find a disco ball. Now if I'm passing something, I'm looking to see what I might be able to grab. We need video of that too. Constant dumpster diving is key, Jane. It is key to find a dumpster. You get your ingredients.

[00:58:36] Absolutely. Absolutely. I have a giant dumpster outside my house. And I just go back every now and then to get things. That's where we blended the Founder's Day punch. That's exactly it. That's right. I gave you the ingredients. Oh, man. Jane, thank you so much. Thank you, Jane. It was so much fun. And Scotty, I think we got one more. All right. Our last guest today is someone everyone here knows. It's Lenora Gilbert, the Christmas freak on the streets from Arizona.

[00:59:08] Big deal. Hello, Lenora. Happy Halloween. Hey, everybody. It's Lenora here from Arizona. Your Christmas freak. It's on the street. Wow. Oh. Ooh. Oh. He he he he he. Am I allowed to open now? Wow. Happy Halloween. Thank you. Thank you. All right. And Lenora has prepared another Christmas quiz for us. So how do we want to do this? Who's going to be on whose team today? I'm with Alonzo. Okay.

[00:59:37] I will be with Chad. I'm with me. I'm with me. Chad and. Chad, Helga and Scott. And then Alonzo and Brand. Yes. Because Alonzo's kind of a ringer for some of these things. So he counts as like 1.5 people. Sure. In so many ways. Sure. Sure. Sure for racing. If the one on the end of your pen doesn't work. Okay. All right. I can't guarantee we'll do anything. So how many questions do we have today? We have 10. We have 10. 10 questions. Who's going to keep score? Questions. 18.

[01:00:07] You want to keep score? All right. Cece, will you keep score for Brand's team? Oh. And Bethann, will you keep score for us? I'm ready. Okay. All righty. Here's the first question. Are we going to do all the questions and then all the answers? Or are you going to do question, answer, question, answer? I think we should do a question and then write your answer down and ask the audience what they think it's going to be too. Okay. So we will resolve the answer to the question. Okay. I think that's the way to do it. Okay. Sounds good. Okay. Here's the first question.

[01:00:36] The word eggnog is old English for what? And these are multiple choices, so this makes it easy. Old eggs. A is alcoholic egg. B is drunk egg. C, egg in a little cup. Or D, egg drink. You were fast to that one. I don't know if that's right, though. What do you guys think? The word eggnog is old English for what? All right. Oh, my God. We got a sidebar going on over here.

[01:01:06] I know, really. Just pick a letter, guys. It's not that serious. It doesn't really count for much. It's okay. Chad, you don't take anything seriously. No. No. Certainly not. Tossing in the towel. That's right. Yeah. I don't take much seriously up here. I've got a witch next to me. I've got to wash your balls on my lap. It's all right. Right. I don't see the problem. You guys ready? We're ready. Okay. Do we want to put it to the audience? Yes, we do. All right, audience. What is the correct answer? All right. Okay. All right. All right. What was the answer, Lenora?

[01:01:36] The answer is C. Yeah. A little cup. All right. Ten points for us. All right. So much for not taking things seriously, Chad. What did you guys have? We did D. Okay. Because I listened to Bran. All right. We are. Yeah. That'll always get you. All right. Team Helga is off to an early lead here. Let's go. Ten points. All right. Question number two. Leaving cookies for Santa became popular in the United States during what era? A. The Civil War.

[01:02:05] B. World War I. C. Great Depression. Or D. Roaring Twenties. Ooh. A. Civil War. B. World War I. C. Great Depression. Or D. The Roaring Twenties. All right. You guys writing the wrong answer yet? Can you run those choices again? I can. A. The Paleolithic era. A. The Civil War.

[01:02:34] B. World War I. C. Great Depression. D. Roaring Twenties. Would you like to phone a friend? C. And this is Leaving Cookies for Santa became popular in the United States during what era? Yeah. All right. All right. Okay. The Great Depression is what you'll feel after you lose today. All right. Audience. When did Leaving Cookies for Santa become a thing? I didn't do it. Audience. You're getting it wrong. It's C. During the Great Depression. Yeah. Wow. That makes no sense. Yeah. That makes no sense.

[01:03:04] Yeah. We did not get that one. Because you give sacrificially, okay? Not out of excess. All right. So you guys, we have 10 points. You guys have two. That was a two-point question. Okay. What's the next question? Moving on. Yeah, really. Okay. What was the first department store to have an extravagant window display? The first. A. Macy's. B. Bloomingdale's. C. Marshall Fields.

[01:03:33] Or D. Neiman Marcus. Go for it. Go for it. A. Macy's. B. Bloomingdale's. C. Marshall Fields. D. Neiman Marcus. Okay. The first department store. There's only been two. All right. This is compelling audio brand, so. Would you like me to do some one-liners? All right. Okay. Sorry. Yes. We're ready to go. Were you able to look it up, boys? All right. Yeah, we looked it up.

[01:04:00] Audience, what do you think was the first department store to do the extravagant window display? Marshall Fields. Yes. C. Everybody got it right. Yes. All right. We got it. We did not. All right. All right. Team Helga. Back in the lead here. Yeah. And that was also, if you're keeping score, that was a hundred point question. Yes. Yes. All right. Next question. Next question. Yeah. 110. Why did Victorians kiss under the mistletoe? A. To bring wealth. B. To propose marriage.

[01:04:31] C. For luck. Or D. To protect against illness. Protect against illness? Victorians kiss under the mistletoe. Wouldn't that spread illness? Right. Under the Christmas tree or the mistletoe? Mistletoe. Mistletoe. Oh, okay. Do you know it? We just eat mistletoe. What are the choices again? A. To bring wealth. B. To propose marriage. C. For luck. Or D. To protect against illness. What was A again? To bring wealth. B. What was C?

[01:05:00] B. To propose marriage. C. For luck. Or D. To protect against illness. Yeah, they would. Yes. B. To kiss before marriage. Oh, now this is good on it. Are you admitting you kissed before marriage, Scott? I used to kiss frogs in the Victorian era. I met my wife at a kissing booth. Really? I bet you did. I had to pay a lot to go to kiss before. All right. Whatever you think. All right, audience.

[01:05:30] It is C. It was for luck. I told you. We got it. They didn't want to listen to Helga. Yes, we did. All right. It's always about luck. Next question. Lenora. Next question. Which actor won an Oscar for his role as Santa Claus? Wait, Alonzo's on this stage. Alonzo Duraldo. You get this. We're down a thousand points. That's true. Relax, Louise. This is only a three-point question. Here's your choices. A. Ed Asner in The Elf in 2003.

[01:05:58] B. Richard Attenborough, Miracle on 24th Street in 1994. C. Mickey Rooney, Santa Claus is Coming to Town in 1970. Or D. Edmund Gwen in Miracle on 34th Street in 1947. C. I think C. In my peripheral, I saw Alonzo's arm move. I don't know. Ed Asner is A. B. Is Richard Attenborough. C. Mickey Rooney. Or D. Edmund Gwen.

[01:06:28] I think Mickey Rooney. Really? Because I saw Alonzo go like this. But there's also a curve in the D as well. I know, but they didn't say T. But Alonzo was trying to throw you. It could be, yeah. It was a fake. Right, okay. In the biz. I'm living rent-free in all your heads. He does that. All right. Audience. I like how all of you are not even taking into consideration what I think about this. Bram, you're the expert, aren't you? Good. All right. That's true. It is a black and white movie. There's no chance Bram saw it.

[01:06:58] All right. Audience. And it is D. I told you, Chad. Good, Alika. I said D. All right. Question six. Mickey Rooney was a TV show. You guys should bring that back to 25 weeks where you sent each other movies. Can you imagine a black and white Christmas movie with subtitles for Bran? Not a chance. You guys would lose without me. Are you going to do that again? I am open to it. I'm open to it. I like this. No, you're open to it, Alonzo.

[01:07:28] I just know that I'll show Bran these movies and a year later he has no memory that he ever showed them again. Yes, show them again. That's a me thing, not a you thing. I got a question and then I think Helga might know. Oh. We'll find out. All right. I don't know. Italian children wake up to gifts on Epiphany. Yes. Not Christmas. And the presents aren't left by Santa. Who does bring them? Yes. A, Striga the Witch. B, La Bafana the Old Witch.

[01:07:56] C, The Three Magi. Or D, Thyrus the Dragon. I wish it was Thyrus. A, Striga the Witch. I like that. B, La Bafana the Old Witch. I think Alonzo knows this as well. C, The Three Magi. Or Thyrus the Dragon. But you know these people personally. Yes. Everyone knows this. Doesn't that dragon wreck your house? We won't talk about that. Oh, okay. All right. You good? All right.

[01:08:27] It's B, La Bafana the Old Witch. Yes. I even wrote it out. See? I think Helga just started writing La Bafana before she even said it. Before she even said it. Everyone knows this. All right. Question seven. Next question. You will know the answer to this if you listen to the Christmas Morning Podcast. Oh. Okay. I hope some of you do. Yes. Oh, dear. We're going to find out. Catalan nativity scenes traditionally include a kaganer. What is this figurine?

[01:08:58] A, the cow whose manger holds the baby Jesus. B, a person defecating. C, the collection of gifts from the Magi. Or D, the devil who is shown weeping. Bran, have you ever heard this podcast? Dude, I don't remember this. No. Bran, do you even do this podcast? Catalan nativity scene. Didn't you send in an audio about this? Traditionally include a kaganer. Of course she did. Yes. I remember this one. A, a cow.

[01:09:28] B, a person defecating. C, collection of gifts from the Magi. Or D, the devil who is shown weeping. B. Yeah. Yeah. It's all about that pooper. It's the pooper. It's the big pooper. It is the Christmas pooper. Yes, it's the person defecating. He's pooping. He's pooping. Who's winning so far? All right. Couple more to bring it home. Question eight. This is a fun game, Lenora. Thank you. You're welcome.

[01:09:56] Before Christmas trees became more common, what did people in Greece traditionally decorate on Christmas? Tree branches. No. A, wooden shoes. B, wreaths. C, miniature ships. D, statues of St. Nicholas. You're talking about Greece the country, not the play, right? Greece the country. Okay. Yes. It's a big difference because I was going to say it. Repeat the question. Repeat the answers, please. A, wooden shoes. B, wreaths.

[01:10:25] C, miniature ships. Or D, statues of St. Nicholas. St. Nicholas. You're from Turkey. All right. We're ready. Audience? Audience? Uh-oh. I know the ships out there. I heard of ships, and it is C, miniature ships. Whoa! I guessed it was St. Nicholas because he's from Mira. This is Scott's fault. I thought it was shoes. I knew it wasn't shoes. All right. Number nine. All right.

[01:10:54] If you're going to take this long to answer a question, Scotty, maybe we need some recorder to fill in the blank. Oh, yeah. Right? Do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do. I've been offering to do my one-liners, and no one has taken me up on it. All right. Number nine. Number nine. How does a person traditionally light a Yule log? A, with an advent candle. B, with a piece of last year's Yule log. C, with a branch of holly. Or D, all of the above. E. Poop. Come on.

[01:11:24] Make them hard next time, Lenora. Okay. Reading again. A, with an advent candle. B, with a piece of last year's Yule log. C, with a branch of holly. Or D, all of the above. We're ready. Audience? Audience? I thought it was just the last year's piece of Yule log. Yeah, it's B. You're right. Oh. All right. That's messed up. That's dirty. Okay. That one I knew somehow. All right. Last question.

[01:11:52] Not that it matters, but last one. Okay. How old is the average Christmas tree once it's harvested and sold? A is one year. B, three years. C, seven years. D, 15 years. Repeat again. A, one year. B, three years. C, seven years. D, 15 years. All right. We're ready. You got it?

[01:12:21] Yeah, we're ready to audience. Yeah, it's just seven years. Audience is right. It is seven years. I got C. Yay. All right. So final score is Team Helga, eight. Team losers is four. Oh, wow. Is this proof you've lost your Christmas spirit? I like to think I had a handicap. And Bran thought he was on the winning team. Well, I- I'm sorry, Alonzo. Yes, but I didn't take into consideration me.

[01:12:51] That's on me. Alonzo didn't let me say that. Lenore, thank you so much. Everybody here at Bramble Fest, thank you so much. And until next time, Merry Christmas. You're about to hear some ads that help keep the lights on here in the old studio. Thanks for listening or don't listen. It's really up to you at this point. It's at the end of the show.

[01:13:21] I mean, you're listening to me. Hi. But here they come. I promise they're coming. Yep, here they are. Happy day.