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

[00:00:00] Hello everybody, this is TV Scotty. Before we get going I want to point out that the audio for today's party episode was recorded live at Bramble Fest this year.

[00:00:10] Recording a show with audience participation is really tough and we had a couple challenges.

[00:00:16] You're going to notice the audio breaks up sometimes when it gets a little loud and also sometimes you can hear the audience and sometimes you cannot.

[00:00:25] There's a point where you'll hear us interacting with Daniel Thompson who's offstage and you really can't hear what he's saying.

[00:00:33] It's not going to make sense but just know we're going with the bit that he hates Christmas.

[00:00:37] Also, during the musical segment I did a really lousy job holding the microphone properly under the instrument and you can't hear the ending.

[00:00:45] I promise you she nailed it. So with this out of the way enjoy the show.

[00:00:49] Alright, it's Christmas morning time.

[00:00:54] This is a Bramble Jam Podcast.

[00:00:56] Live from the North Pole, it's time for Christmas morning.

[00:01:09] The daily show where every day is Christmas.

[00:01:14] Here are your hosts, Bran and Scotty.

[00:01:27] Welcome everybody.

[00:01:33] Welcome, welcome, welcome to Christmas morning.

[00:01:39] I know.

[00:01:40] Welcome everybody to our live Christmas morning party for Christmas in July.

[00:01:47] Live from Bramble Fest.

[00:01:51] Bran, I am here obviously with my co-host Scotty.

[00:01:55] Scotty, how are you?

[00:01:58] We're fine. All lights on.

[00:02:04] All lights on are good.

[00:02:06] Where were you when the lights went out?

[00:02:08] Scotty, how are you?

[00:02:10] It's not the North Pole.

[00:02:12] We normally do this at the North Pole.

[00:02:14] Everyone knows that.

[00:02:15] We decided to come to one of the hottest cities in the country to celebrate Christmas in July.

[00:02:20] But the good news is, as we both have now, Bran got a snow machine.

[00:02:25] For those of you listening at home, Bran bought a snow machine and I will be buying one too.

[00:02:31] This is fantastic.

[00:02:33] Everyone should have one of these. They're giving them away.

[00:02:35] They're giving them away.

[00:02:37] It's going into people's coffees. Have we confirmed it's non-toxic?

[00:02:40] No.

[00:02:41] Okay.

[00:02:43] We will find out.

[00:02:45] The good news is, is if you start choking...

[00:02:48] I can save you. I can save you.

[00:02:50] We are also here with two special guests, Alonzo.

[00:02:52] It wouldn't be Christmas in July without you.

[00:02:54] Hello, my good friend.

[00:02:56] Merry Christmas.

[00:02:57] Merry Christmas to you.

[00:02:58] Hello Alonzo.

[00:02:59] Hello, sir.

[00:03:00] What's your favorite thing about Christmas in July?

[00:03:02] Oh gosh. I mean, I see.

[00:03:04] Witnessing the splash zone here with the snow machine is definitely moving to the top of the list.

[00:03:11] But you know, I kind of, I think that for, for, look, the Christmas year round freaks like you and I and Scotty are, you know,

[00:03:19] July allows us to sort of like peek out a little bit and pretend like, oh, this is perfectly normal.

[00:03:23] Yes.

[00:03:24] Yes it is.

[00:03:25] We also have the Queen of Sparkles herself, Jax.

[00:03:28] That's right, baby.

[00:03:31] I'm not the only Queen of Sparkles in the house today.

[00:03:34] I'm seeing some sparkles.

[00:03:36] I see Whitney right up front there.

[00:03:37] What's that promo code?

[00:03:41] They don't give them to me anymore.

[00:03:45] The sparkle people have gotten more play out of this.

[00:03:48] Their promo code has been revoked.

[00:03:51] We didn't expect it to go this well to sell so much product.

[00:03:55] We're very excited today, of course, with Christmas party episodes we rely solely on the people, Scotty, the people.

[00:04:03] That's right.

[00:04:04] Every week, Bran and I do our thing.

[00:04:07] We bring Christmas to the people.

[00:04:09] And then once a month we like to let the people bring Christmas back to us.

[00:04:14] That's right.

[00:04:15] This is why I wanted Alonzo and Jax here.

[00:04:17] They've both participated multiple times in our party episodes.

[00:04:20] Shannon as well.

[00:04:21] Shannon couldn't be here because of work obligations, but she's here in spirit.

[00:04:25] Everyone say hi to Shannon.

[00:04:27] Hi, Shannon.

[00:04:28] We miss you.

[00:04:31] That's her spirit.

[00:04:32] That's her spirit.

[00:04:33] Wow.

[00:04:34] Yeah, her spirit is scary.

[00:04:36] Scary spirit.

[00:04:38] The party episodes are about the people.

[00:04:40] Let's try it.

[00:04:41] Bran and I put it out there every week.

[00:04:44] This is how we get back.

[00:04:46] It's amazing to hear the stories.

[00:04:49] It's heartwarming.

[00:04:51] I just love it.

[00:04:52] This is probably my favorite time of the month.

[00:04:55] It's one of my favorite things that we do.

[00:04:57] We've got a bunch of people who want to share some memories today.

[00:05:00] That's right.

[00:05:01] We've got a musical guest.

[00:05:02] Oh, my gosh.

[00:05:03] At the end this is going to be something.

[00:05:05] And we've got email and we've got something from our Christmas freak as well.

[00:05:09] We've got an audio clip.

[00:05:10] On the street?

[00:05:11] Yeah, but we should probably start as we always do with the countdown.

[00:05:15] Hold on.

[00:05:16] We should probably let everybody in on the countdown.

[00:05:18] What if I give a silent how many months it is till Christmas that everyone can participate?

[00:05:23] I like that.

[00:05:24] I like that.

[00:05:25] Yeah, it is.

[00:05:26] It is.

[00:05:27] It's fine.

[00:05:28] All right.

[00:05:29] Wait.

[00:05:30] After the show, I'll talk to you about what silent means.

[00:05:34] Oh.

[00:05:35] It's fine.

[00:05:37] No one heard it.

[00:05:38] It's like no one here.

[00:05:40] Yeah.

[00:05:41] That's as Shannon spirit.

[00:05:42] All right.

[00:05:43] I'll give you the guys to clue or the queue, not the clue.

[00:05:46] Here we go.

[00:05:47] I already gave the clue.

[00:05:48] Was there a big place?

[00:06:03] They're getting bigger.

[00:06:05] They're getting bigger.

[00:06:07] Yeah.

[00:06:08] Yes.

[00:06:09] Do they sting your eyes?

[00:06:11] Okay.

[00:06:12] You got goggles on.

[00:06:14] You're good to go.

[00:06:15] No problem.

[00:06:16] Raincoats.

[00:06:17] Five months.

[00:06:18] Stan.

[00:06:19] Only five months till Christmas, buddy.

[00:06:21] Only.

[00:06:22] I know.

[00:06:23] Thank God indeed.

[00:06:24] Daniel has been celebrating since probably April though, right?

[00:06:27] He's the biggest.

[00:06:28] He was putting up decorations this weekend.

[00:06:30] That's why he's late than this.

[00:06:32] He was too busy putting the decorations up on his house.

[00:06:35] Scotty.

[00:06:36] Yo.

[00:06:37] What's up first?

[00:06:39] Oh, probably I should read what we have.

[00:06:43] I was just thinking about how after the fourth of July, even for Christmas freaks.

[00:06:49] Yes.

[00:06:50] It really feels like somewhat acceptable to start thinking.

[00:06:54] Thinking about Christmas.

[00:06:56] I think it does.

[00:06:58] You know, I obviously have no shame in general.

[00:07:03] It's about Christmas.

[00:07:05] I don't have any shame about celebrating Christmas all year, but I do feel a bit better about

[00:07:10] it come July.

[00:07:11] I feel like people, people, people don't judge me as much.

[00:07:17] That's how I feel.

[00:07:18] That's how I feel.

[00:07:19] Okay, I'll let you wake up.

[00:07:23] I believe up first we have our one and only email that we are going to read.

[00:07:29] Correct, Scotty?

[00:07:30] Yes.

[00:07:31] That seems unnecessary.

[00:07:34] We'll do TV listings, Dan, if you don't believe me.

[00:07:37] Oh yeah, yeah.

[00:07:38] Here are your Christmas TV specials for the next couple of days.

[00:07:41] Courtesy of mostlychristmas.com.

[00:07:42] That's right.

[00:07:43] No, sitting here reading an email is not going to be quite as much fun as having

[00:07:48] people up, but I've been sitting on this email for a while.

[00:07:51] And I think after you hear it, you'll understand why I wanted to bring it.

[00:07:55] And I will say, I think maybe if Jax reads it, it'll really, it'll make,

[00:07:59] it'll make it feel a lot more fun.

[00:08:01] Do you want to read it, Jax?

[00:08:02] I'd be happy to.

[00:08:03] All right here.

[00:08:04] Okay.

[00:08:05] This is cold read here.

[00:08:06] I haven't seen this before.

[00:08:07] I just, everyone knows.

[00:08:08] Your sides.

[00:08:09] And yeah, you're, you're the, the kind of the scenery around it is it's

[00:08:13] Christmas time.

[00:08:14] Okay.

[00:08:15] You are big city girl, but you've gone back to small town and.

[00:08:19] Ew, big city.

[00:08:20] You're really excited about it though.

[00:08:22] I love it.

[00:08:23] Do I say who it's from first?

[00:08:24] Yes.

[00:08:25] Okay.

[00:08:26] From Mike Trulok.

[00:08:27] Good morning, Brandon Scott.

[00:08:29] And everyone else.

[00:08:30] And everyone else.

[00:08:31] And Merry Christmas.

[00:08:32] I want to let you guys know about my wife.

[00:08:35] Oh.

[00:08:36] Her name is Son.

[00:08:38] And she's the greatest.

[00:08:40] I remember you guys talking on an earlier episode and asking if there

[00:08:44] are others that do Christmas things on their birthdays.

[00:08:47] Well, my birthday is June 1st.

[00:08:50] And for the past three birthdays as part of my birthday present,

[00:08:54] my wife has paid for trips to various Christmas themed locations

[00:08:58] that we got to visit.

[00:09:00] In 2022, we went to Castle Noelle,

[00:09:03] which was truly worth going to the owner,

[00:09:06] the owner, Mark and the rest of his staff are truly awesome and

[00:09:09] full of Christmas spirit.

[00:09:11] I cannot believe how much Christmas movie memorabilia they have on

[00:09:14] display.

[00:09:15] Also on that trip since it was close,

[00:09:17] we stayed the night at a Christmas story house museum.

[00:09:21] I didn't even know that was a thing.

[00:09:22] That's amazing.

[00:09:23] We took the tour.

[00:09:24] It was true.

[00:09:25] No, I did.

[00:09:26] And no, I mean, I've heard it the movie.

[00:09:28] I just didn't know they had a museum.

[00:09:30] We took the tour and it was truly incredible.

[00:09:33] We actually stayed at the Bumpas' House next door to Ralphie's

[00:09:37] house.

[00:09:38] It was set up in a 1940s decor.

[00:09:42] Last year, she took me to Frankenmouth, Michigan,

[00:09:46] Frank-Muth, thank you.

[00:09:49] Let's try to get from the top.

[00:09:50] Last year.

[00:09:51] Back to one, back to one.

[00:09:53] She was done show prep.

[00:09:54] Have some fun with it.

[00:09:57] Last year, she took me to Frankenmuth, Michigan,

[00:10:00] to visit Bronners, the world's largest Christmas store.

[00:10:04] I got to spend the whole day allowing myself to get lost in all of

[00:10:07] the decorations and villages and ornaments and lights and trees.

[00:10:11] It was truly a bucket list moment.

[00:10:14] The whole city of Frankenmuth was amazing.

[00:10:16] I highly recommend a visit.

[00:10:19] Then this year, she took me to Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.

[00:10:23] That's right.

[00:10:26] There we saw the Inn at Christmas Place, a hotel that's

[00:10:30] decorated for Christmas 365 days a year.

[00:10:33] It was a beautiful sight.

[00:10:35] Then across the street was a store called the Incredible

[00:10:38] Christmas Place.

[00:10:39] Let me tell you, it lives up to its name.

[00:10:42] It was truly incredible.

[00:10:45] And to top it off, a few miles away from there, we found

[00:10:48] a little shop.

[00:10:49] This is adorable.

[00:10:50] We found a little shop called Santa's Closet.

[00:10:55] I think the name is awesome.

[00:10:57] It's a shop that was him, not me that was saying the name is

[00:11:00] awesome.

[00:11:01] It's a shop that is owned by the gentleman that is known for

[00:11:04] his role at, I need help with it, Gateland's famous Santa

[00:11:08] Closet.

[00:11:09] The staff there was much into the Christmas spirit and takes

[00:11:12] pride in the items that they sell.

[00:11:14] All of these incredible places that I mentioned, I would

[00:11:17] have never been to without the dedication that my wife

[00:11:20] puts into making sure that I have a great birthday.

[00:11:24] I really hope he does the same for her.

[00:11:26] This isn't the main reason.

[00:11:28] Did you add that?

[00:11:30] Yeah, that commentary.

[00:11:32] Exactly.

[00:11:33] That's mine.

[00:11:35] This isn't the main reason I married her, but it shows how

[00:11:38] much she loves me with all her heart.

[00:11:40] And I return.

[00:11:42] Oh yeah.

[00:11:43] So now he's saying what he does.

[00:11:44] I love her with all of mine.

[00:11:45] I'm truly grateful for her.

[00:11:47] Thanks for allowing me to brag about my wife for a

[00:11:49] little while.

[00:11:50] Merry Christmas to all, especially you guys at Christmas

[00:11:53] this morning.

[00:11:54] Let's give it up for Shawn, Mike's wife.

[00:11:56] How about that?

[00:11:57] Oh gosh.

[00:11:59] I wonder when she's going to bring him to Bramblefest,

[00:12:02] the most Christmasy place I think in the world.

[00:12:05] I think so, yeah.

[00:12:06] I mean we got snow.

[00:12:08] It was a little bit.

[00:12:11] It was a little bit.

[00:12:13] Jacks, I have a feeling if he went out of his way to

[00:12:15] send us this email, he probably does do it right

[00:12:18] for his wife.

[00:12:19] Yeah, I think so too.

[00:12:21] That's something.

[00:12:22] Thank you, Mike.

[00:12:23] I really appreciate you sending that in.

[00:12:25] That's why I wanted to read it.

[00:12:26] Everybody will start with a nice heartwarming.

[00:12:28] It was very nice.

[00:12:29] It was very nice.

[00:12:30] Yeah, absolutely.

[00:12:31] What's that, Scotty?

[00:12:32] Hashtag squad goals.

[00:12:34] Nice Alonzo.

[00:12:36] Next we have an audio clip from our Christmas

[00:12:38] Freak on the Streets.

[00:12:40] Lenora Gilbert, she wanted to wish us all a

[00:12:42] Happy Christmas in July.

[00:12:44] All right, here we go.

[00:12:45] Hello all you Christmas party people.

[00:12:47] Happy Christmas in July.

[00:12:49] It's Lenora here, your Christmas Freak on the

[00:12:51] Street from Arizona.

[00:12:52] And I'm here today to tell you about a

[00:12:54] Christmas tradition that we have here in

[00:12:56] Phoenix.

[00:12:57] It is called Camelback Santa.

[00:12:59] It all started in December 2013 when

[00:13:02] all of a sudden Santa was present on top

[00:13:05] of one of our local Phoenix Mountains.

[00:13:07] We had this big mountain in Phoenix that's

[00:13:09] called Camelback due to the camel hump

[00:13:12] shape of the mountain.

[00:13:15] Two difficult trails ascend this

[00:13:17] mountain up 1200 feet to the summit.

[00:13:20] The trail is not very long.

[00:13:22] It's about a mile and a half, but it's rated

[00:13:24] double black diamond.

[00:13:25] It's extremely difficult from the top of

[00:13:28] the mountain.

[00:13:29] There's 360 degree views of Phoenix and

[00:13:31] the outline cities can be seen as well.

[00:13:34] So in December starting the weekends

[00:13:37] and then every day the week before

[00:13:40] Christmas Santa was hiking up the

[00:13:42] mountain early in the morning and then

[00:13:45] he was staying up there until the

[00:13:47] afternoon handing out candy canes and

[00:13:49] taking photos with the folks that climb

[00:13:51] up.

[00:13:52] He also brings up a real Christmas tree

[00:13:54] and it's decorated with bird seed

[00:13:56] decorations and other nature friendly

[00:13:58] decorations.

[00:13:59] In the early days Santa would bring

[00:14:01] it up himself, but now Santa has elves

[00:14:04] to help him out with bringing up the

[00:14:06] tree and taking photos.

[00:14:08] The first year I went up it was kind

[00:14:10] of a rainy day without many people.

[00:14:12] I'd finally struggled my way up

[00:14:14] there to the top and Camelback Santa was

[00:14:17] up there.

[00:14:18] I'm not sure what prompted him, but Santa

[00:14:20] turned to me and said,

[00:14:22] I love you.

[00:14:23] The look on my face must have been quite

[00:14:26] strange and Santa looked into my eyes

[00:14:28] and said, Santa loves you.

[00:14:31] I'd never really thought about it before,

[00:14:33] but it just dawned on me at that

[00:14:35] moment that I had never wondered why

[00:14:37] Santa shares all his magic with us.

[00:14:40] But now I knew it was because not

[00:14:42] only do we love Santa, but Santa

[00:14:44] loves us.

[00:14:46] Many years have gone by now and I've

[00:14:48] been up to see Camelback Santa numerous

[00:14:50] times, but none of them touched my

[00:14:52] heart as much as that first visit.

[00:14:54] Happy Christmas in July everyone.

[00:14:57] Lenora is just better than all of us.

[00:15:00] Happy Christmas in Jalan.

[00:15:02] It's a weird show.

[00:15:04] It's a weird show.

[00:15:06] It's not a cult, Dan.

[00:15:08] It's a cult.

[00:15:10] It's always pretty weird.

[00:15:16] Yeah.

[00:15:17] Thank you, Lenora, for that a couple

[00:15:19] notes.

[00:15:20] Yes.

[00:15:21] That's weird.

[00:15:23] I want to just,

[00:15:25] Scotty, let's say that you did this

[00:15:27] and get to the top of a mountain

[00:15:29] and a guy dressed in a Santa costume

[00:15:31] looks you square in the eyes

[00:15:33] and says,

[00:15:35] I love you.

[00:15:37] Stranger danger.

[00:15:39] Look, Santa, I love you, but I'm

[00:15:41] not in love with you.

[00:15:43] That's right.

[00:15:44] You can love Santa.

[00:15:46] Right, Santa.

[00:15:47] Lenora is just better.

[00:15:49] She took that weird experience

[00:15:51] and like really thought about it.

[00:15:53] Yeah.

[00:15:54] Took the best parts.

[00:15:55] That's right.

[00:15:56] A couple other notes here.

[00:15:57] Arizona.

[00:15:58] Yeah.

[00:15:59] Hot.

[00:16:00] Yeah.

[00:16:01] This guy is standing there in a

[00:16:03] full Santa costume.

[00:16:05] I love you.

[00:16:07] It's not a dry heat.

[00:16:09] It's like 116 there.

[00:16:11] And he hauled a tree up the very

[00:16:13] difficult path.

[00:16:14] Yeah, Brian, you're a big hiker.

[00:16:16] One of the things I know about you.

[00:16:18] You all laugh too quickly.

[00:16:20] There might be an opportunity.

[00:16:23] There might be.

[00:16:24] There might be.

[00:16:25] Maybe that'll get me into the hiking

[00:16:27] spirit.

[00:16:28] I should start lugging Christmas

[00:16:29] trees up mountains.

[00:16:31] Santa doesn't quite fill out the

[00:16:33] costume either.

[00:16:34] He did not.

[00:16:35] No.

[00:16:36] He's a little on the amniated

[00:16:37] side.

[00:16:38] Yeah.

[00:16:39] But he loves us.

[00:16:40] He loves that hike every day.

[00:16:42] I think it's going to knock

[00:16:44] your tummy.

[00:16:45] That's right.

[00:16:46] Yeah.

[00:16:47] So in general, not the Christmas

[00:16:48] job for me, but I'm glad somebody

[00:16:50] else is doing it.

[00:16:51] Absolutely.

[00:16:52] Absolutely.

[00:16:53] Thank you so much to Lenora

[00:16:54] for sending that in.

[00:16:55] And you're just, you're the best.

[00:16:57] Lenora.

[00:16:58] You are the best.

[00:16:59] Thank you for wishing us a happy

[00:17:00] Christmas in July.

[00:17:01] Lenora never lets us down.

[00:17:02] That's the other thing.

[00:17:03] That's right.

[00:17:04] I don't even have to ask.

[00:17:05] She just sends.

[00:17:06] Hey, Lenora.

[00:17:07] I'm so grateful.

[00:17:08] It's great.

[00:17:09] We love you.

[00:17:10] Love you.

[00:17:11] Love you.

[00:17:12] Scottie, what's up next?

[00:17:14] Okay.

[00:17:15] Now we're going to bring some

[00:17:16] guests up.

[00:17:17] Yeah.

[00:17:18] Christmas traditions and

[00:17:19] Christmas memories.

[00:17:20] The first one, you don't know

[00:17:22] this yet.

[00:17:24] We now have the special

[00:17:25] council to Christmas morning.

[00:17:27] I don't know what that means.

[00:17:29] Whitney, she's our lawyer.

[00:17:31] Yes.

[00:17:32] She's agreed to be, she's

[00:17:33] agreed to be our special

[00:17:34] council.

[00:17:35] Great.

[00:17:36] And she was appointed legally.

[00:17:38] I can tell you that.

[00:17:39] Oh, absolutely.

[00:17:40] Always on the up and up.

[00:17:41] Yeah, that's right.

[00:17:42] Always on the up and up.

[00:17:43] So give it up for Whitney.

[00:17:44] Whitney.

[00:17:47] This whole segment falls under.

[00:17:49] Adorable fashion icon.

[00:17:51] Yeah.

[00:17:52] For you.

[00:17:53] You're much more.

[00:17:54] Come on.

[00:17:55] Yeah.

[00:17:56] Amazing.

[00:17:57] Guys, I will take a photo

[00:17:59] of this amazing outfit and put

[00:18:00] it on our Instagram.

[00:18:01] Yes.

[00:18:02] Yes.

[00:18:03] I have to say this is

[00:18:04] inspired by Jax because I

[00:18:05] saw her amazing sparkles

[00:18:07] and I wanted something similar.

[00:18:09] So I bought the much less

[00:18:11] expensive version on Amazon.

[00:18:13] I can provide the link.

[00:18:15] I will need that.

[00:18:17] No, no, it's not.

[00:18:19] I'm not getting paid at all for

[00:18:20] this.

[00:18:21] Queen of sparkles is not

[00:18:22] sending me any more things.

[00:18:23] So I'll need the link too.

[00:18:24] So yeah, we can really be

[00:18:25] twin.

[00:18:26] Okay.

[00:18:27] Sounds good.

[00:18:28] That's great.

[00:18:29] Your own queen of sparkles.

[00:18:30] That's right.

[00:18:31] Exactly.

[00:18:32] So Whitney, you had a tradition

[00:18:33] that you do in your family

[00:18:34] that you wanted to share

[00:18:35] with your family.

[00:18:36] You wanted to share with us

[00:18:37] and you want us to do it.

[00:18:38] That's my understanding?

[00:18:39] Yes, absolutely.

[00:18:40] My competitiveness,

[00:18:41] it might have come from

[00:18:42] my family.

[00:18:43] So on Christmas night,

[00:18:45] we have started playing games

[00:18:47] and these games are pretty

[00:18:49] cutthroat, I have to tell you.

[00:18:51] So the first one I'm going

[00:18:52] to pass down is guess

[00:18:54] what's in the stocking.

[00:18:56] Okay.

[00:18:57] So there's an item, a household

[00:18:58] item that is in the stocking

[00:19:00] that you would definitely

[00:19:01] recognize if you saw it,

[00:19:02] but the game is to feel

[00:19:05] it through the stocking and

[00:19:06] guess what the item is.

[00:19:08] I'm good at feeling things.

[00:19:09] Can you hold this for a second?

[00:19:12] Scotty, bye.

[00:19:15] So I love you.

[00:19:18] Do you want us each to answer

[00:19:20] or do you want us to all give

[00:19:21] it a feel for us?

[00:19:22] I want you to all feel it

[00:19:23] first and use contact clues.

[00:19:26] I'll wait my turn.

[00:19:27] No, that's one's mine.

[00:19:29] Okay.

[00:19:30] Can you explain what you

[00:19:31] were feeling, Scotty,

[00:19:32] for the listeners at home?

[00:19:34] It's somewhat rectangular,

[00:19:36] but on one side of it

[00:19:38] something is raised

[00:19:40] and you're going to have to

[00:19:41] feel it.

[00:19:42] It felt like the letter H

[00:19:43] if I just had to guess.

[00:19:44] Wow.

[00:19:45] But I don't think it's an H.

[00:19:46] All right.

[00:19:47] Can I just say,

[00:19:48] a couple minutes ago

[00:19:50] I was watching Higbones

[00:19:52] feel around on it

[00:19:53] and he was just in like

[00:19:54] a meditative state.

[00:19:55] He was like...

[00:19:58] In his zen place.

[00:19:59] It was great.

[00:20:00] And I love it.

[00:20:01] And I was like, yeah.

[00:20:03] That's just Higbones default.

[00:20:05] I can feel it with one hand.

[00:20:07] You're able to do it with just one hand.

[00:20:09] I don't need both hands.

[00:20:10] Oh my gosh.

[00:20:12] I need both my hands.

[00:20:13] Jax, let us have one show.

[00:20:16] It's actually more difficult

[00:20:20] than you would think it is.

[00:20:21] It is very hard.

[00:20:22] This is just one of the games we play.

[00:20:24] We involve...

[00:20:25] The fun thing about the games

[00:20:26] on Christmas night

[00:20:27] is it involves every level

[00:20:29] of the family.

[00:20:30] So we make the littlest ones

[00:20:31] be the elves

[00:20:32] and they're in charge of the games

[00:20:34] and they go around

[00:20:35] and give the stocking to everybody.

[00:20:37] There's a guess how many game.

[00:20:39] There's a drawing game

[00:20:41] where you put a plate

[00:20:42] on the top of your head

[00:20:43] and you have to draw

[00:20:44] a Christmas scene as described.

[00:20:46] I'm really bad at that.

[00:20:47] Oh, tracks.

[00:20:48] You have to draw it on the plate

[00:20:50] or you have to draw it

[00:20:51] while balancing the plate.

[00:20:52] So you put the plate

[00:20:53] on the top of your head.

[00:20:54] You take the pen

[00:20:55] and you need both hands for this.

[00:20:57] I have a microphone.

[00:20:58] Even Jax.

[00:20:59] Oh, I got you.

[00:21:00] You know what I mean?

[00:21:01] You have to put your hand

[00:21:02] to draw the scene as described.

[00:21:04] All right.

[00:21:05] Let's make our guesses.

[00:21:07] Alonzo, do you have any guess?

[00:21:09] I'm going to say it's like...

[00:21:11] It's rectangular and it's flat on one side

[00:21:13] and then it has what feels like an embossed

[00:21:16] dog-dishoo toy on the other side.

[00:21:18] So I'll say like a fridge magnet.

[00:21:20] Okay.

[00:21:21] That's a good guess.

[00:21:22] That's really good.

[00:21:24] I thought it was like

[00:21:26] a light switch cover.

[00:21:28] No, that's wrong.

[00:21:29] You should use both hands.

[00:21:31] You should retry.

[00:21:32] I don't know.

[00:21:34] To me, it felt like a baby toy.

[00:21:37] The shape of the letter J.

[00:21:41] I know.

[00:21:42] I'm going with some sort of toy car.

[00:21:44] Okay.

[00:21:45] Wow.

[00:21:46] All right.

[00:21:47] What?

[00:21:48] The stocking!

[00:21:50] Oh, she's got to untie it.

[00:21:51] Yeah.

[00:21:52] See what we got here.

[00:21:53] This is very exciting.

[00:21:54] Drum roll.

[00:21:55] Yeah, you tied it too tight.

[00:21:57] That's good.

[00:21:58] You were really a vet.

[00:21:59] Wait, hey bones, did you ever guess of what it was?

[00:22:01] Because I saw you really,

[00:22:02] when you were really going for it,

[00:22:03] did you think you knew what it was?

[00:22:07] Okay, amazing.

[00:22:08] All right.

[00:22:09] Torpora.

[00:22:10] Yeah.

[00:22:11] Okay.

[00:22:12] What do we got?

[00:22:13] What is it?

[00:22:15] Oh, come on!

[00:22:16] It's a cell phone stand.

[00:22:17] I love that.

[00:22:18] I love that.

[00:22:19] Okay.

[00:22:20] I was pretty close with toy car.

[00:22:22] No, you said that I definitely didn't have it

[00:22:25] with light switch cover

[00:22:26] that I should use both hands

[00:22:28] and I think I was a little bit closer than you was.

[00:22:30] That's true.

[00:22:31] That's true and I used my whole ass.

[00:22:33] One of the keys to the game is figuring out

[00:22:35] how to manipulate it

[00:22:36] and this one moves,

[00:22:37] which a couple of our double-deckers got

[00:22:39] when I was handing it through the audience

[00:22:41] but nobody was able to guess what it was.

[00:22:43] Okay, so what's the...

[00:22:44] Oh, so they knew that it,

[00:22:45] they knew it had movement.

[00:22:46] Okay, that's,

[00:22:47] good job you guys.

[00:22:48] Have there been any memorable items?

[00:22:50] This was pretty memorable.

[00:22:51] This was really hard.

[00:22:52] I won this one last year.

[00:22:53] So this is pretty...

[00:22:54] You figured it out.

[00:22:55] Okay.

[00:22:56] All right.

[00:22:57] Who chooses the item?

[00:22:59] My Aunt Robin.

[00:23:00] Okay.

[00:23:01] So if you had a filthy aunt,

[00:23:03] it could be really something.

[00:23:04] Remember that was...

[00:23:05] Remember the name of the game

[00:23:07] is it involves everybody.

[00:23:09] Oh yeah, the children.

[00:23:10] The children.

[00:23:11] This is the 10 p.m. game.

[00:23:12] I got you.

[00:23:13] Yeah.

[00:23:14] Okay.

[00:23:15] That's it.

[00:23:16] But well played

[00:23:17] and thank you so much for having me.

[00:23:18] Thank you for having me.

[00:23:19] Now I can read your name.

[00:23:20] Thank you.

[00:23:21] Thank you, Whitney.

[00:23:22] That was awesome.

[00:23:23] One more.

[00:23:25] That was hard.

[00:23:26] That was hard.

[00:23:27] That was hard.

[00:23:28] I'm gonna be off.

[00:23:29] Who knew?

[00:23:30] Who knew that feeling stuff through a...

[00:23:32] See, fabric was tough.

[00:23:33] I didn't know it.

[00:23:34] I didn't know it.

[00:23:36] Scotty.

[00:23:37] All right.

[00:23:40] Up next.

[00:23:41] Laura Shinner.

[00:23:42] Laura, are you here?

[00:23:43] Laura.

[00:23:44] Laura Shinner.

[00:23:47] Dot dot.

[00:23:48] Laura Shinner.

[00:23:51] Great.

[00:23:52] That was really well done.

[00:23:54] Hi, Laura.

[00:23:55] We practiced that last night.

[00:23:57] It was a lot of fun.

[00:23:58] I'm loving the Hallmark Hunk's shirt.

[00:23:59] Yes.

[00:24:00] I had to.

[00:24:01] I had to.

[00:24:02] Yeah, I got it.

[00:24:03] All right.

[00:24:04] So you have a fun tradition that you wanted to share with us.

[00:24:06] It's about cookie decorating?

[00:24:07] It is.

[00:24:08] All right.

[00:24:09] Now you've got brand's attention.

[00:24:10] Is it about cookie eating?

[00:24:12] We do occasionally eat the cookies as well.

[00:24:14] Okay.

[00:24:15] Brand's been known to eat one or two.

[00:24:16] So tell us about the tradition.

[00:24:18] So this started when me and my brothers were young.

[00:24:21] We make these almond cutout Christmas cookies.

[00:24:24] And one of them is in the shape of like a large gingerbread man about

[00:24:29] the size.

[00:24:30] And we would each get to decorate one each year.

[00:24:34] And so we would only use three colors of frosting.

[00:24:38] You had to use red, green and white.

[00:24:40] Cookies in the shape of a gingerbread man.

[00:24:42] Yeah, it's weird.

[00:24:43] This is new ground brand.

[00:24:44] This is crazy.

[00:24:45] Amazing.

[00:24:46] I tried to explain it.

[00:24:47] It's not a gingerbread cookie.

[00:24:48] It's just in the shape.

[00:24:49] And so...

[00:24:50] It's totally different.

[00:24:51] Yeah.

[00:24:52] It's very confusing.

[00:24:53] But so when we were younger,

[00:24:54] we would just have my dad vote at the end of the contest

[00:24:57] to see which one was the best, which was always fun.

[00:25:00] Because he didn't want to hurt anyone's feelings.

[00:25:03] But...

[00:25:04] Then as we got older and Facebook became a thing,

[00:25:07] we started posting it on Facebook to have friends and family vote.

[00:25:11] And a lot of people got really into it.

[00:25:14] They would ask us when it was coming up each year.

[00:25:16] It got more intense.

[00:25:18] And we started creating rules on what you could and couldn't do.

[00:25:22] There were many fights.

[00:25:23] We ultimately had to make my mom the commissioner.

[00:25:26] And she got to approve or disapprove of rules.

[00:25:29] So like one year, my brother wanted to put another cutout cookie on top of the gingerbread man cookie.

[00:25:36] Oh no.

[00:25:37] That was a ruled legal.

[00:25:38] That was a ruled legal.

[00:25:39] So we had to go with it.

[00:25:41] Wait, Scotty, what is this?

[00:25:42] The commissioner is smoking Scotty.

[00:25:44] Wow.

[00:25:45] Wait, what was your problem with that?

[00:25:47] Like it really seemed like it sucked his core.

[00:25:49] It's like a doggy cookie.

[00:25:50] You can't do that.

[00:25:51] It was a terrible design.

[00:25:52] He did not win that year.

[00:25:53] He should have won.

[00:25:54] It was not good.

[00:25:55] There's been pandering some years.

[00:25:57] I'm from Wisconsin, so one of my brothers did like a Yanis jersey cookie one year.

[00:26:01] And it was not well designed.

[00:26:03] Who judges it?

[00:26:04] Your dad?

[00:26:05] Well, this, yeah, that was back when my dad was judging.

[00:26:08] So can you put like I heart dad on the cookie as pandering?

[00:26:10] Is that allowed?

[00:26:11] I must have, but maybe I should.

[00:26:12] Yeah, you should try that.

[00:26:13] It's a little tip from Christmas Scotty.

[00:26:14] I'll start like in October trying to come up with design ideas because like we are very competitive.

[00:26:19] We take it very seriously.

[00:26:21] And the past three years, each of us has won once.

[00:26:24] So, yeah, so yeah, that's our tradition.

[00:26:28] So if it's Wisconsin, could you do like a cookie in the shape of one of those cheese hats?

[00:26:32] Oh, I mean, state pride.

[00:26:35] Yeah, that's great.

[00:26:36] We have limited resources that we're allowed to use.

[00:26:39] Oh, so is that all on a table?

[00:26:42] Like that's all we put like barriers in between ourselves and the kitchen table so no one

[00:26:47] can see what the other person is doing.

[00:26:49] And I tell you, we take this seriously.

[00:26:51] You can't like import truffles or something from Bulgaria and use.

[00:26:55] Nope.

[00:26:56] Nope.

[00:26:57] And it all has to be approved by the commissioner.

[00:26:58] She'll go out and like get sprinkles and stuff.

[00:27:00] And then those are allowed to be used.

[00:27:02] But yeah, we started this when we were maybe like I was five and we're in our 30s now

[00:27:06] and we're still doing it.

[00:27:08] So what's the prize?

[00:27:10] Pride.

[00:27:11] You get to, my brother does like the post every year and he says everyone else's

[00:27:15] will be ruined for the rest of the year if they do not win.

[00:27:18] What does the commissioner say about the votes from Facebook?

[00:27:23] Are they allowed?

[00:27:25] Votes for Facebook allowed.

[00:27:27] There's been a lot of debate about if like, if someone that you know has kids or

[00:27:33] like someone that you know is like aunt wants to vote and do we allow that?

[00:27:37] Or is it just a podcast post?

[00:27:39] Well, okay.

[00:27:40] So the past two years I posted it to the double-decker Christmas group and

[00:27:44] we've determined that if there's ever a tie, the win goes to whoever the

[00:27:48] double-decker is voted.

[00:27:50] Wow.

[00:27:51] What power we have.

[00:27:53] Don't let it go to your head, speed.

[00:27:55] Oh yeah.

[00:27:56] Well when it's posted it's anonymous.

[00:27:58] They don't know which one of you it is.

[00:28:00] No they don't know.

[00:28:01] It's a one, two, three.

[00:28:02] It's a blind one.

[00:28:03] And they'll be like our Christmas parties we go to like relatives.

[00:28:06] They'll be like who's this who's and we're like you can't tell you like.

[00:28:10] I wish I last year Alonzo voted in the contest on Facebook and I told my

[00:28:15] brother that an actual critic voted for him.

[00:28:18] And he was very honored.

[00:28:20] Phil critic, cookie critic.

[00:28:21] Fall in my purview.

[00:28:23] You added that to your resume in fact.

[00:28:25] So this year would you please tag me in that one so I don't miss it?

[00:28:29] I want to participate.

[00:28:30] It's always Christmas Eve.

[00:28:32] That's when we are all together and we post it around like one or two

[00:28:36] and it stays up until Christmas evening for votes.

[00:28:41] Now you said you've been doing this since you were like five?

[00:28:43] Yeah.

[00:28:44] How do you all only have one win then?

[00:28:46] Okay the past three years each have a win.

[00:28:49] No, the past three years each was his one was.

[00:28:52] I used to win all the time when we were younger

[00:28:55] and then my brothers were like we can't let that happen

[00:28:58] and so they've been upping their game each year and...

[00:29:02] Is there trash talking?

[00:29:03] Oh yeah.

[00:29:04] So in 2024 it's personal is what you're saying.

[00:29:08] I need to get back in the game.

[00:29:10] I need to like come up with a really good idea.

[00:29:13] I was like, I tried to practice last year beforehand.

[00:29:16] I can't let them one-up me.

[00:29:18] That's right.

[00:29:19] Why aren't you practicing right now?

[00:29:21] Yeah no kidding.

[00:29:22] Go!

[00:29:23] Go!

[00:29:24] And you're allowed to do multiple layers.

[00:29:25] You should make a gingerbread house, you know kind of thing.

[00:29:28] Like the commissioner said do it.

[00:29:29] That's true he said she did say so I don't know.

[00:29:32] Gingerbread house made out of gingerbread.

[00:29:35] Man.

[00:29:36] Yeah it's a man house.

[00:29:38] Interesting.

[00:29:39] I wonder if she would let me use more than one of the gingerbread cookies.

[00:29:43] I think you could do it.

[00:29:44] All right.

[00:29:45] I'll tell her the prerogative.

[00:29:46] Yeah, if she picks up the rules for your brother she can bend the rules for you.

[00:29:49] Laura thank you so much this is wonderful.

[00:29:51] Thank you.

[00:29:52] Thank you.

[00:29:53] Oh crap.

[00:29:54] Might need to start doing that.

[00:29:58] Might need to start doing that.

[00:29:59] It's very very very very very very very fun.

[00:30:03] Scotty?

[00:30:04] All right we've got two more people.

[00:30:06] Great.

[00:30:07] The last one is a musical guest but before that we have Steph Prichelle.

[00:30:10] Wow.

[00:30:11] It's exciting.

[00:30:12] Jax are you good at um do you have ever decorated cookies?

[00:30:16] No I guess I'm really really bad at it when I used to be a babysitter we would

[00:30:24] make the gingerbread houses and they were always like just a nice little thing.

[00:30:29] Alonzo do you and Dave do a lot of decorating?

[00:30:32] No I mean I make cookies but the aesthetic is probably the least.

[00:30:38] Okay yeah it's more about putting it into my mouth.

[00:30:42] Yeah I got it.

[00:30:43] All right what do we got?

[00:30:45] I just had a momentary panic attack because I've been practicing Steph's last name for

[00:30:49] the last 15 minutes and then as soon as it was time to say hi.

[00:30:53] I completely blanked.

[00:30:54] Ah but it looks like I pulled it off.

[00:30:56] He did it again.

[00:30:57] I mean she came up here so.

[00:30:58] Yeah exactly yeah the wrong person didn't show up.

[00:31:01] All right so Steph you have a family tradition kind of a game right that you

[00:31:05] want to share with us?

[00:31:06] Yeah some more recent tradition.

[00:31:08] All right tell us about it.

[00:31:09] Okay so when my nephews were really little my sister and I wanted to start

[00:31:13] a new tradition um so now we have a new generation and we're going to

[00:31:17] start a Christmas scavenger hunt.

[00:31:20] Christmas scavenger hunt.

[00:31:23] You know what you were doing?

[00:31:25] I don't mess around when it comes to this.

[00:31:27] So serious business.

[00:31:29] For sure so when we started they were too little to be

[00:31:33] a little bit more serious about it.

[00:31:35] So I'm going to start with the Christmas scavenger hunt.

[00:31:38] Okay so I'm going to start with the Christmas scavenger hunt.

[00:31:42] So serious business.

[00:31:44] For sure so when we started they were too little to be able to read

[00:31:48] so they each got to have a grown-up with them and so at each stop they got

[00:31:54] to pick up a bag of puzzle pieces and so as they went they got all their

[00:31:59] puzzle pieces and then they would come together and put a Christmas puzzle

[00:32:02] together at the end.

[00:32:04] Unfortunately though while they had fun doing it I got a lot of

[00:32:10] just a lot of words about you know it was fun but we had to work

[00:32:15] really hard to finish.

[00:32:18] To finish and to be able to win even though the whole point was just

[00:32:22] to have fun and do something together.

[00:32:24] So last year I did not do a puzzle and thought you know what we'll

[00:32:29] just have them get like a little gift at the end and then they

[00:32:33] were really upset that I ruined the tradition last year.

[00:32:37] They learned their lesson huh?

[00:32:39] Right in your mouth you're not getting it.

[00:32:41] Yeah so well there will definitely be puzzles again this year in the

[00:32:44] scavenger hunt.

[00:32:46] Don't they'll side it.

[00:32:48] So can you give me an idea of some of these puzzles or like an idea

[00:32:50] of what kind of stuff you've got.

[00:32:52] Are we talking physical puzzles or like decode kind of things?

[00:32:56] Oh like jigsaw puzzles.

[00:32:58] They're putting like a little Christmas jigsaw puzzle together at

[00:33:01] the end.

[00:33:03] And are there clues or are they just hidden like Easter eggs?

[00:33:05] Oh I actually brought up because I...

[00:33:08] We have props.

[00:33:10] All right we got here.

[00:33:12] So some are Christmas themed, some are not.

[00:33:14] So I thought I could read a couple.

[00:33:16] Yeah yeah please do.

[00:33:18] So one from last year was will this be the year that Dylan and

[00:33:20] Miles get coal?

[00:33:22] Check these that hang and see what came from the North Pole.

[00:33:25] Stockings.

[00:33:27] Yeah that's pretty good of her.

[00:33:29] Well rhyming is critical.

[00:33:31] We all know that.

[00:33:33] Stockings.

[00:33:35] Correct.

[00:33:37] I don't need chat GPT to solve that one.

[00:33:39] I got it.

[00:33:41] What site do you have like the hardest one?

[00:33:43] Like the hardest clue what would you say is the hardest one

[00:33:45] that took the longest to figure out?

[00:33:48] I just put you on the spot.

[00:33:50] Well it is important to mention they are 10 and 7.

[00:33:52] They're still young so they're...

[00:33:54] Oh not bad.

[00:33:56] Yeah right on my level.

[00:33:58] Let's see.

[00:34:00] This one was a little bit harder last year.

[00:34:02] It's not Christmas themed.

[00:34:04] But it's based off...

[00:34:06] These take place in my parents house so it's about finding

[00:34:08] random things in my parents house.

[00:34:10] So for its maiden voyage it served thousands of drinks

[00:34:13] but it hit an iceberg.

[00:34:15] Hurry before it sinks.

[00:34:17] It's a little dark.

[00:34:19] They're 10 and 7 they have to know this.

[00:34:22] Titanic.

[00:34:24] Correct.

[00:34:26] Do your parents have a model of the Titanic?

[00:34:28] Well so my nephews did like a Lego Titanic thing

[00:34:31] with my parents and it's in...

[00:34:33] Like it's up in my parents house.

[00:34:35] Oh cool.

[00:34:37] Intact or like half...

[00:34:39] Oh!

[00:34:41] Yeah half cap size.

[00:34:43] There's got to tell me there's not a Lego set

[00:34:45] where that thing is that boats not vertical.

[00:34:47] It is intact.

[00:34:49] Mainly be...

[00:34:51] And I don't think it's ever coming down because my mother is like

[00:34:53] that was the most like

[00:34:55] patient testing experience

[00:34:57] with my nephews so.

[00:34:59] Steph, thank you so much.

[00:35:01] Thank you so much.

[00:35:05] I just recently rewatched Titanic

[00:35:07] for the first time in a long time

[00:35:09] and it stressed me out.

[00:35:11] You didn't know what was going to happen again.

[00:35:13] Apparently...

[00:35:15] Apparently not a good movie if you can't swim.

[00:35:17] It's pretty stressful.

[00:35:19] You know I thought about you when I was on my cruise

[00:35:21] two weeks ago as I was staring out into the abyss.

[00:35:23] No land anywhere.

[00:35:25] You even kind of got to me.

[00:35:27] I was thinking of you buddy.

[00:35:29] Surprisingly it was pretty chill on my cruise.

[00:35:31] You went on one?

[00:35:33] I would have lost that bet.

[00:35:35] I went on a cruise with Andrew Walker and Chris Palaja

[00:35:37] and it was fine.

[00:35:39] Listen

[00:35:41] I'm a globe trotter

[00:35:43] and I'm a celebrity

[00:35:45] and so...

[00:35:47] And a forgetter of movies.

[00:35:49] And a forgetter of movies and I'm sorry, okay?

[00:35:51] I'm sorry.

[00:35:53] Hello everybody this is Scotty coming to you

[00:35:55] from the future during editing

[00:35:57] we had a problem with the recording

[00:35:59] of the audio for the next segment

[00:36:01] and we had to go extract it from the video

[00:36:03] so it's not going to sound the same

[00:36:05] at all

[00:36:07] but it's a really great segment

[00:36:09] and I hope that doesn't take away from your enjoyment of it.

[00:36:11] Who do we have Scotty?

[00:36:13] Okay so we have friend of the show

[00:36:15] wonderful friend of the show Jessica Trinidad

[00:36:17] and she has this beautiful story

[00:36:19] about her blended family

[00:36:21] so Jessica can you tell us about this?

[00:36:23] So my mom and step

[00:36:25] my mom and stepdad got married in 1973

[00:36:27] and at that time

[00:36:29] this was an unusual thing, a blended family

[00:36:31] like the radio bunch exists because of that premise

[00:36:33] that it was unusual at that time, right?

[00:36:35] So my mom brought in

[00:36:37] four daughters from

[00:36:39] my mom and my dad, real dad's marriage

[00:36:41] and then

[00:36:43] my stepdad had two daughters

[00:36:45] from his first marriage

[00:36:47] and then

[00:36:49] so when they

[00:36:51] got...

[00:36:53] like 15 months old when they got married

[00:36:55] so to me

[00:36:57] my reality, my childhood is

[00:36:59] three parents and six sisters

[00:37:01] it's not like step half whatever

[00:37:03] we visited my dad on weekends

[00:37:05] and my mom and dad

[00:37:07] had no roadmap of how to go about doing this

[00:37:09] now there's tons of books written about

[00:37:11] but at that time no roadmap

[00:37:13] but they're both junior high teachers

[00:37:15] and very organized people

[00:37:17] so they have this very deliberate thing

[00:37:19] to go about creating our family

[00:37:21] that I was born into so I reached out to my mom

[00:37:23] and my sisters recently and was like

[00:37:25] what did you do to make this happen

[00:37:27] and my mom and dad, my mom said

[00:37:29] well to us it was really important

[00:37:31] that we were a family

[00:37:33] and not like mixed

[00:37:35] not a blend, we were a family

[00:37:37] and so to that end

[00:37:39] they created a lot of traditions

[00:37:41] just invented traditions for us

[00:37:43] so this is a picture from

[00:37:45] this must be like 75

[00:37:47] because that's

[00:37:49] this is five of us

[00:37:51] my two older sisters were like too cool

[00:37:53] for Christmas and Asian Antigones

[00:37:55] but you can see all the Christmas stockings back there

[00:37:57] my mom knitted all of those, my mom does not knit

[00:37:59] and she made the four

[00:38:01] for the four of us not knowing she was going to meet my dad

[00:38:03] they got married in November

[00:38:05] and she made two more stockings of the same exact pattern

[00:38:07] and she hated doing it

[00:38:09] but she wanted to make sure we all had them

[00:38:11] and then also that

[00:38:13] that first Christmas

[00:38:15] a present that they gave to all of us

[00:38:17] and it was like the one last present

[00:38:19] and my sister wrapped it in a pair of booties

[00:38:21] because she was pregnant with Bridget

[00:38:23] I love a sister

[00:38:25] so one of the things they did

[00:38:27] is my parents have this huge collection of nativity scenes

[00:38:29] and one of the things

[00:38:31] was they kind of assigned one to each of us

[00:38:33] and so when we decorate together we all did everything together

[00:38:35] for the first years

[00:38:37] everything, all of us did everything together

[00:38:39] all nine of us everything

[00:38:41] and so we decorated together

[00:38:43] we all each had our own like nativity scene

[00:38:45] that was ours, this one was mine

[00:38:47] that we would

[00:38:49] we were in charge of setting up

[00:38:51] and they had like the write out little reasons for it and everything

[00:38:53] the stockings

[00:38:55] she made us all like matching outfits

[00:38:57] you know she made everybody a dress

[00:38:59] from Christmas

[00:39:01] it was like our dress up Christmas dress

[00:39:03] and that was every year she did this for all of us

[00:39:05] and then as the girls got older

[00:39:07] too old for them she still kept doing it until

[00:39:09] I think I was maybe

[00:39:11] Bridget and I were maybe like

[00:39:13] the last time she made us Christmas dresses

[00:39:15] so that was one of the things

[00:39:17] and then

[00:39:19] let's see, so this was our Christmas card

[00:39:21] for all the years that I was growing up

[00:39:23] my dad

[00:39:25] learned to silk screen to do this

[00:39:27] my mom and dad learned how to make paper

[00:39:29] and so that's the background paper

[00:39:31] that's another thing they did is they made sure that they had together time

[00:39:33] so they had a set up time

[00:39:35] ten minutes over dinner every night

[00:39:37] they closed their door and like have a cocktail together before dinner

[00:39:39] and it was like you were not to knock on that door unless

[00:39:41] the house was burning down

[00:39:43] like there was no nothing

[00:39:45] so they had mom and dad

[00:39:47] time and then they would take

[00:39:49] night classes and stuff that they wanted to learn to paper

[00:39:51] and then if you can see it

[00:39:53] the trees all of our names

[00:39:55] and then

[00:39:57] the bottom is my mom and dad Jim and Heather

[00:39:59] and then it's not word

[00:40:01] or it's not like birth order it's the shape

[00:40:03] link of our names right

[00:40:05] I only noticed just now that

[00:40:07] Elizabeth is spelled wrong

[00:40:09] he learned to make

[00:40:11] paper it's okay

[00:40:13] but they're teachers

[00:40:15] whoops

[00:40:17] and

[00:40:19] and

[00:40:21] they were always mom and dad

[00:40:23] it was like never like mom and Jim

[00:40:25] or dad and Heather was

[00:40:27] always mom and dad

[00:40:29] and the first

[00:40:31] oh Chris

[00:40:33] 3 Kings Day, January 6th

[00:40:35] right is 3 Kings Day and

[00:40:37] they kind of invented our own way

[00:40:39] of celebrating that most countries that celebrate 3 Kings

[00:40:41] Day have some sort of tradition of a hidden

[00:40:43] thing instead of a dessert thing right

[00:40:45] so mom and dad

[00:40:47] yeah exactly

[00:40:49] so my dad

[00:40:51] was half German and so then

[00:40:53] we had it they always called it draconics

[00:40:55] tug and not 3 Kings Day

[00:40:57] just forever forget what that was when I was a kid

[00:40:59] that was our thing draconics tug and they're like no

[00:41:01] no

[00:41:03] so they made this like poppy seed cake

[00:41:05] that you make it in Germany

[00:41:07] but my mom made them into little cupcakes

[00:41:09] and then enough charms for everyone

[00:41:11] in the family to get one

[00:41:13] and then they like created like

[00:41:15] they created a fortunes for them

[00:41:17] they're like oh if you get the thin bowl it's a

[00:41:19] productive year if you get the penny

[00:41:21] it's a prosperous year everybody wanted the penny

[00:41:23] and

[00:41:25] like they just like sat down together and invented

[00:41:27] all these tokens and charms

[00:41:29] and everything

[00:41:31] and yeah she put like marked

[00:41:33] and had the charms in them so we didn't show them

[00:41:35] I feel like the crappiest parent in the world

[00:41:37] right

[00:41:39] yeah I don't really

[00:41:41] either yeah so

[00:41:43] Scott what's your piece of the epiphany dessert

[00:41:45] I'm still looking up

[00:41:47] what that even means

[00:41:49] I'm blown away by that

[00:41:51] and then the first

[00:41:53] time they had us do family portraits every year

[00:41:55] and the first one they had

[00:41:57] this is one of the big stories

[00:41:59] where we were telling around it always just chokes me up

[00:42:01] so my dad was showing it

[00:42:03] and it was my parents were never in the pictures

[00:42:05] there was pictures, there's seven of us

[00:42:07] so that's plenty of people in one picture

[00:42:09] and my dad was

[00:42:11] showing it to his friends at work

[00:42:13] and one of them asked which ones are yours

[00:42:15] and he said all of them

[00:42:17] ohhhh

[00:42:21] alright thank you so much

[00:42:23] Jessica you know one of the harder things

[00:42:25] about getting older is that our photos

[00:42:27] from when we're kids look like archival footage

[00:42:29] from the Smithsonian

[00:42:31] some of you out there were like

[00:42:33] that doesn't look like a photo what is that

[00:42:35] what do we have next

[00:42:37] we have our musical guest

[00:42:39] we had a musical guest last year

[00:42:41] Lynn helped us with our kazoo concert

[00:42:43] and it was so

[00:42:45] was kazoo right did I get it right this time

[00:42:47] yeah to call it a musical performance last year

[00:42:49] is generous and that's not

[00:42:51] Lynn's fault

[00:42:53] that was an art installation

[00:42:55] let's say that

[00:42:57] that's right

[00:42:59] are you here

[00:43:01] alright

[00:43:04] this is very exciting

[00:43:06] she is

[00:43:08] bringing on the stage

[00:43:10] some sort of long

[00:43:12] slender objects

[00:43:14] in a case

[00:43:16] not from your aunt

[00:43:18] okay so there's a little bit of an origin

[00:43:20] story to this one

[00:43:22] when I mentioned probably about a month

[00:43:24] ago that we did the

[00:43:26] kazoo thing last year I accidentally

[00:43:28] said recorder

[00:43:30] I just blanked at the moment

[00:43:32] and like even right after I was like

[00:43:34] that doesn't seem right how dare you

[00:43:36] mistake one awful instrument for another

[00:43:38] yeah

[00:43:40] and surprisingly I got emails

[00:43:42] calling me out on it I can't believe

[00:43:44] that I was shocked as well

[00:43:46] so Cece emailed and said hey

[00:43:48] I am inspired

[00:43:50] and you had not

[00:43:52] played the recorder before right this is a

[00:43:54] brand new instrument for you yeah I

[00:43:56] went on Amazon

[00:43:58] that day and got a

[00:44:00] fine instruments right

[00:44:02] got a recorder I tried to find

[00:44:04] because I

[00:44:06] was never good at the recorder

[00:44:08] so I was trying to find like an adult size

[00:44:10] recorder there is no such thing

[00:44:12] there's only child size recorders but

[00:44:14] I think at that point I just

[00:44:16] becomes like a saxophone or something

[00:44:18] that speaks for itself in a lot of ways

[00:44:20] and I got a little book

[00:44:22] of easy Christmas

[00:44:24] songs for children that Matt's holding up

[00:44:26] and

[00:44:28] Matt's holding it up

[00:44:30] to set this aside until

[00:44:32] a couple days ago

[00:44:34] had about three weeks to practice and

[00:44:36] didn't do it until I got to Greenville really

[00:44:38] did you practice on the plane

[00:44:40] I didn't take the plane but

[00:44:42] I drove and I did not practice while I was

[00:44:44] yeah that's probably for the best so you're doing this without the sheet music

[00:44:46] you've got it memorized

[00:44:48] I've only I know jingle bells

[00:44:50] and to say it's memorized

[00:44:52] this is

[00:44:54] grab her microphone

[00:44:56] so this is live without a net here

[00:44:58] this is something

[00:45:00] oh it's pink

[00:45:03] alright

[00:45:05] now I've never

[00:45:07] mic'd such a funny musical instrument

[00:45:09] before but I'm gonna give it my best go

[00:45:11] this might be the second time today Scott

[00:45:13] helps someone who's choking

[00:45:15] yes

[00:45:17] she got jokes y'all

[00:45:19] alright

[00:45:26] go girl

[00:45:28] thank you brown buffess

[00:45:51] you don't grow any home

[00:45:55] amazing

[00:45:57] so here's what I was noticing

[00:45:59] brand I have a

[00:46:01] child who just graduated fifth grade

[00:46:03] this is the kind of stuff that you're

[00:46:05] if y'all got kids

[00:46:07] this is what you're gonna deal with

[00:46:09] I was on the edge of my seat to see if she

[00:46:11] was gonna land the plane

[00:46:13] like oh it's go last

[00:46:15] snow was so wonderfully

[00:46:17] just kind of

[00:46:19] it was perfect

[00:46:21] it was like a blue note you know like she

[00:46:23] she coasted into it

[00:46:25] and now three verses

[00:46:27] that's right

[00:46:29] amazing do you have another song

[00:46:31] I do not

[00:46:33] okay

[00:46:35] I will play another one

[00:46:37] I will prepare something for next year

[00:46:39] alright thank you so much

[00:46:41] there is no way I would have attempted that

[00:46:43] we've done hundreds of episodes

[00:46:45] I would never try something like that

[00:46:47] especially live

[00:46:49] I give you a ton of credit

[00:46:51] fantastic

[00:46:56] brand I had one more idea

[00:46:58] oh wow it's really really quick

[00:47:00] but we

[00:47:02] we never have Dan around

[00:47:04] Dan was on one episode

[00:47:06] oh Christmas morning

[00:47:08] you know I love Dan but the problem is

[00:47:10] he doesn't have enough Christmas spirit

[00:47:12] that's true so I was hoping

[00:47:14] on the count of three we could wish Dan

[00:47:16] a Merry Christmas collectively

[00:47:18] I like that

[00:47:20] is that the end

[00:47:22] or do we have a

[00:47:24] do you want to play the Christmas Efficianata video

[00:47:26] oh do we have one

[00:47:28] we have one

[00:47:30] before we wish Dan a Merry Christmas

[00:47:32] that will be the ending everybody think about it

[00:47:34] in practice

[00:47:36] we have a movie review

[00:47:38] from the Christmas Efficianata

[00:47:40] thank you brand

[00:47:48] we have one recap with the friends episode

[00:47:50] the one with the holiday armadillo

[00:47:52] starting now

[00:47:54] the episode begins with Chandler telling Monica

[00:47:56] that he made reservations for a fancy dinner

[00:47:58] and tickets for the music man to celebrate

[00:48:00] their first Christmas as a couple

[00:48:02] Phoebe comes in and places her mother's skull

[00:48:04] on the kitchen table

[00:48:06] yeah no she used to put it out every Christmas

[00:48:08] to remind us that even though it's Christmas

[00:48:10] people still don't

[00:48:12] and you can put candy in it

[00:48:14] Ross tells everybody

[00:48:16] he got Ben this year for the holidays

[00:48:18] and wants to teach him about Hanukkah

[00:48:20] Joey suddenly appears coming out of the bathroom

[00:48:22] of a newspaper

[00:48:24] nobody knew he was in there since they got home

[00:48:26] a half hour ago

[00:48:28] how long have we been home

[00:48:30] about half an hour

[00:48:32] lovely

[00:48:34] skew the theme song sing and clap along

[00:48:36] no one told you that

[00:48:38] was gonna be this way

[00:48:40] Phoebe finds out

[00:48:42] that the renovations to her apartment

[00:48:44] are finally finished after the fire

[00:48:46] but she's afraid that Rachel's having too much fun

[00:48:48] living with Joey and won't want to move back

[00:48:50] she gives Joey gifts

[00:48:52] to drive Rachel away including a drum set

[00:48:54] and a tarantula but neither gift worked

[00:48:56] Phoebe then admits to Rachel

[00:48:58] that she's afraid she will lose her

[00:49:00] as a roommate but Rachel's

[00:49:02] excited to move back together

[00:49:04] they discover that the apartment has been

[00:49:06] turned into a single bedroom place

[00:49:08] meaning that only one of them can stay there now

[00:49:10] so Rachel decides to stay at Joey's apartment

[00:49:12] while Phoebe takes the apartment for herself

[00:49:16] meanwhile Chandler and Monica must wait nearly an hour

[00:49:18] for a table and will miss the music man

[00:49:20] if they don't get seated

[00:49:22] Monica suggests that Chandler tip the hostess

[00:49:24] after all that's what Richard did

[00:49:26] Chandler trying a few times to tip

[00:49:28] but nothing seems to work out right

[00:49:30] Ross asks Ben

[00:49:32] what holidays coming up

[00:49:34] Christmas

[00:49:36] and you know what other holidays coming up

[00:49:38] Christmas Eve

[00:49:40] yes but also

[00:49:44] Hanukkah

[00:49:46] he then says

[00:49:48] instead of celebrating Christmas this year

[00:49:50] they celebrate Hanukkah instead

[00:49:52] Ben hates this idea

[00:49:54] and instantly thinks that he's been bad

[00:49:56] realizing

[00:49:58] that he's going to fight a losing battle

[00:50:00] Ross tries to rent a Santa suit to surprise Ben

[00:50:02] but they have none left to rent

[00:50:04] so he takes the only costume they have

[00:50:06] I'm the holiday armadillo

[00:50:08] I'm Santa's representative

[00:50:10] for all the

[00:50:12] southern states

[00:50:14] and

[00:50:16] Mexico

[00:50:18] he begins to tell Ben

[00:50:20] about the story from years and years ago

[00:50:22] through these people called the Maccabees

[00:50:24] Chandler though

[00:50:26] suddenly appears at Santa to help out Ross

[00:50:28] Merry Christmas

[00:50:30] the holiday armadillo is afraid

[00:50:36] that Santa will not get Ben excited about Hanukkah

[00:50:38] and Chandler makes the excuse

[00:50:40] that if Santa and the holiday armadillo stay in the room for too long

[00:50:42] the universe will implode

[00:50:44] however Ben protests

[00:50:46] and insists that Santa say

[00:50:48] Chandler agrees

[00:50:50] but only if Ross tells them the story of Hanukkah

[00:50:52] it is then

[00:50:54] Joey shows up

[00:50:56] dressed as Superman

[00:50:58] the armadillo finishes the story of the Maccabees

[00:51:00] and the miracle that this little bit of oil

[00:51:02] that should have lasted just one day

[00:51:04] burned for eight days

[00:51:06] my favorite part was when Superman

[00:51:08] flew all the Jews out of Egypt

[00:51:10] the armadillo was actually

[00:51:12] not so thrilled about that part

[00:51:14] the rest of the gang arrive as they are about to light the Hanukkah candles

[00:51:16] and Phoebe remarks

[00:51:18] I understand why Superman is here

[00:51:20] but why is there a porcupine at the Easter Bunny's funeral

[00:51:22] so final thoughts

[00:51:24] but one of the holiday armadillo is absurd

[00:51:26] but that's why it's so funny

[00:51:28] it's also filled with Christmas feels

[00:51:30] including the struggle of Ross

[00:51:32] trying to get his son excited about

[00:51:34] the holiday armadillo

[00:51:36] Ross trying to get his son excited about the Jewish heritage

[00:51:40] I give this episode an A plus

[00:51:44] to all of you celebrating

[00:51:46] Grandma Fest this weekend watching this review

[00:51:48] I hope you have a great time

[00:51:50] sorry I couldn't be there but let me wish you

[00:51:52] a Merry Christmas

[00:51:54] I'm the Christmas of Ishinado

[00:51:56] and remember stay off the Nile List

[00:51:58] very nice

[00:52:02] Joe Fulton everybody

[00:52:04] thank you Joe for doing that

[00:52:06] I wish he was here

[00:52:08] search for Christmas of Ishinado on YouTube

[00:52:10] Joe always goes out of his way

[00:52:12] to give these to us before he puts them on his channel

[00:52:14] and I did tell Joe

[00:52:16] it would be great to have you do this in person next year

[00:52:18] and he said try to make it happen

[00:52:20] fingers crossed

[00:52:22] fingers crossed

[00:52:24] can we get back to the thing

[00:52:26] because I was so moved by the musical concert

[00:52:28] the music moved me

[00:52:30] and I still want to teach

[00:52:32] the Grinch the true meeting

[00:52:34] of Christmas in July

[00:52:36] on the count of three can we do a

[00:52:38] Merry Christmas in July

[00:52:40] Daniel we're using his proper

[00:52:42] wow okay

[00:52:44] I will say Daniel stack Thompson

[00:52:46] okay we can just do Daniel

[00:52:48] okay we'll do it works better

[00:52:50] on the count of three

[00:52:52] give us a countdown brand from three or from one

[00:52:54] go three two one

[00:52:56] three two one

[00:52:58] Merry Christmas

[00:53:00] Merry Christmas

[00:53:02] I don't think it worked

[00:53:04] y'all

[00:53:06] Merry Christmas everybody

[00:53:08] Thank you

[00:53:10] Thank you Brandon I love you buddy

[00:53:12] Thank you Bramblefest