September Christmas Party - 3 Months Until Christmas 2026

[00:00:02] [SPEAKER_07] This is a Bramble Jam Podcast.

[00:00:05] [SPEAKER_09] Live from the North Pole, it's time for Christmas Morning, the daily show where every day is Christmas. Here are your hosts, Bran and...

[00:00:32] [SPEAKER_07] Well hello everybody, welcome back to another Christmas Morning episode, but not just any Christmas Morning episode, because if my calendar is correct, it is the 25th, which means it's a Christmas party episode, and there's no way that I could possibly party without my good friend Scott. Scott, Merry Christmas, buddy.

[00:00:52] [SPEAKER_06] Merry Christmas, Brandon. Long time no see.

[00:00:54] [SPEAKER_07] I know it. Very good to see you again, and excited to celebrate another month closer to Christmas.

[00:01:01] [SPEAKER_06] Yeah, especially when the numbers of months get really low, like where we're at now. I don't want to spoil the countdown, but we're getting real close.

[00:01:10] [SPEAKER_07] Yeah, it's exciting times indeed, Scotty.

[00:01:13] [SPEAKER_06] Speaking of the countdown, let's get right into it because we have so much content today, I don't know how we're going to fit it all in.

[00:01:20] [SPEAKER_07] Alright, let's do it.

[00:01:21] Go!

[00:01:26] [SPEAKER_07] 3 Months Until Christmas! 3 Months...

[00:01:32] [SPEAKER_06] Can that be right? Is that right?

[00:01:33] [SPEAKER_07] Yeah! That can't be true. That can't be true.

[00:01:36] [SPEAKER_06] I did have to check because my math skills are poor.

[00:01:39] [SPEAKER_07] October, November, December, yeah.

[00:01:41] [SPEAKER_06] We were just at 99 days until Christmas, you know, about nine days ago-ish. So yeah, the numbers check out. They don't lie. The math is mathing.

[00:01:51] [SPEAKER_07] The math is mathing. It passes the finger test, so I guess we're good to go.

[00:01:56] [SPEAKER_06] Oh my God. Clip that one, Joe.

[00:01:58] [SPEAKER_07] You know, one, two, three. I don't know. Joe, I don't need it from you. I don't need it from you. We do get a jam-packed show today. A lot of people very excited about how close we are now to Christmas. Let's open up that mailbag. Well, we don't really open up the mail. It's all mailbag.

[00:02:14] [SPEAKER_06] It's all mailbag and nobody is more excited than Mike Big Spectacle TrueLock. I can believe it. But I think we know that, right?

[00:02:20] [SPEAKER_07] Yes, of course.

[00:02:22] [SPEAKER_06] Who did he harass this month? So the first email is from Mike and he says, Merry Christmas, Bran Scott, and the rest of the Christmas morning, Merry Crew. Well, Big Spectacle Mike has struck again. This time it was in Wisconsin Dells, the city, not the resort. My wife and I were doing some shopping while on vacation. We walked around Broadway where there were some interesting shops and we came across a window with a polar bear inside, stuffed of course. But what caught my eye were two words written on the window, forever Christmas.

[00:02:52] [SPEAKER_06] So I went inside the nearest door open to the public. Now this didn't look like a Christmas store at all. So I asked the lady behind the counter how to get to Christmas forever. Come to find out it was only accessible by the store we were in. So with officially being inside the Christmas store, I looked at my wife and I said, I gotta do it. And she said, I'll be over here. And as she was heading to the far counter of the store, I grabbed my phone and played the countdown from that morning's podcast. That was September 9th.

[00:03:20] [SPEAKER_06] The lady behind the counter started laughing and she says, this is the kind of stuff she loves at an all year Christmas store. She showed me the room the store was in and that best describes it. It was a small room that had various Christmas knickknacks, nothing large, perfect to put on shelves. I went with the unusual, bought some coaster for my car's cup holders. Pictures are included until big spectacle strikes again. I wish you all a Merry Christmas. And he sent some photos. I put them on our Instagram.

[00:03:48] [SPEAKER_06] It looks like a fun, cute little store, a bit like a closet.

[00:03:52] [SPEAKER_07] It's a store within a store. I like, but you know what? The sign works without the sign. Big Mike spectacle would have never gone in. So maybe more stores should have an all year Christmas closet for freaks like us that otherwise wouldn't go into said store.

[00:04:10] [SPEAKER_06] I love the red carpet. I mean, it's screams Christmas to me.

[00:04:13] [SPEAKER_07] The red carpet's great forever. Christmas the polar bear. It's all working.

[00:04:17] [SPEAKER_06] It's all working. So good job, Mike. I think you're not going to turn quite as many heads if you're doing it at this time of year, like, you know, April, that's a different time, but, uh, that's true, but I support whenever you want to do this.

[00:04:29] [SPEAKER_07] I also think location matters to like big Mike, are you going to go into a, like a men's bathroom at a truck stop and start yelling about how close actually pretty good idea, Mike, if you could go.

[00:04:42] [SPEAKER_06] Yeah, go do that and make sure your wife records it. Cause I want to hear how this turns out.

[00:04:46] [SPEAKER_07] Do it in, uh, and do it in February. Sounds good.

[00:04:49] [SPEAKER_06] I have an email from Lenora Gilbert and she sent us an audio clip about her favorite kind of Christmas lights, bubble lights. Let's give it a listen.

[00:04:58] [SPEAKER_04] Hey everybody. It's Lenora here. Your Christmas freak on the street from Arizona, where it's finally getting cool enough to go outside at night. Today, I'm here to talk to you about my favorite kind of Christmas lights, the bubble light. I remember vividly a brief encounter with them as a tiny child while visiting an elderly person's house with my mother, pointing them out on the Christmas tree where they resided with figural and other large colored bulbs.

[00:05:23] [SPEAKER_04] I had a stern warning from my mom not to touch them because she told me they had poison inside. Not sure if this fact made them more fascinating, but I was mesmerized. Not only are they beautiful to look at, but they make this amazing gentle bubbling sound. For those that aren't familiar with them, bubble lights consist of a set of lights on a string, usually seven to nine bulbs. The lights consist of an inside bulb concealed by a plastic covering, which holds a thin pointed

[00:05:53] [SPEAKER_04] tube of liquid. It can be an oil, but most commonly contains a solvent called methylene chloride. This liquid has a very low boiling point and is activated by the heat of the bulb, causing it to boil, making that bubbling effect. Bubble lights were invented in 1938 by a fellow named Carl Otis, who was an accountant for Montgomery Ward. His inspiration was an earlier Christmas bulb called Glow Light Candles and by the Bubbler Jukebox.

[00:06:22] [SPEAKER_04] After an initial successful production test run and a delay due to war, Noma started selling them in 1946. The plastic was round and domed. It was a biscuit shape and it was held to the tree by alligator clips. The box had the iconic Noma girl on the front and many of these lights still exist today. In 1948, Noma remodeled the shape into a flatter biscuit, but these only lasted for one year as the two small coverings melted with the heat from the bulb.

[00:06:51] [SPEAKER_04] And then they returned to the original shape. Competitors emerged with Raylight Electric developing their set called Crystal Snow, with oil in the tube, which produced a slower champagne-like bubbling. Their plastic base was more angular and was called the Deco base. Royal Light Electric was also a major competitor in the 1940s and 50s, and they were called Sparkling Royal Lights. The plastic bases were distinctive in that their top and bottoms of the bases were each a different color.

[00:07:21] [SPEAKER_04] The popularity of bubble lights through the 1940s to the 1970s finally gave way to the less expensive fairy lights, which were less heavy on the tree, cooler to the touch, and used less energy. And they also did not contain any toxic chemicals. So if you find yourself in a room this year with a tree with the bubble lights on, turn up all the other sounds and listen to the sound of the bubbling. Happy Christmas party everybody!

[00:07:49] [SPEAKER_06] Thank you, Lenora. It's always good to hear from you. Bran, have you ever had bubble lights?

[00:07:54] [SPEAKER_07] I have had bubble lights. In fact, I have been gifted bubble lights a couple years ago because we were talking about them on the pod. And I love bubble lights. I think bubble lights are so fun. And I wasn't aware of like the different shapes, I guess, that bubble lights can come in and the provided pictures that she sent in. Like the one on the right is like what I kind of think of when I think of bubble lights.

[00:08:20] [SPEAKER_06] Yeah. The stem at the top and kind of a bulbous at the bottom. But the one on the left... Different altogether. So I like that. And I didn't know they were originally filled with toxic chemicals. That's pretty interesting. I think I've only ever held kind of a fake bubble light. It was modern and it was probably LED and I think it just had a bubbler inside of it. It wasn't activated by heat or anything like that.

[00:08:42] [SPEAKER_07] Listen, if it's not a fire risk, I'm not interested.

[00:08:45] [SPEAKER_06] Exactly. Okay. Thank you, Lenora. Great to hear from you. I have an email from Joe Fulton. Now this is not from the Christmas aficionado. This is from Joe Fulton. And Joe says, A few months ago, you guys were talking about the Miser Brothers blow molds. I had seen them online and decided I wanted to buy a set. I found a listing on Walmart for two 32 inch blow molds for around $60. So I immediately snatched them up. A few days later, I checked the status of my order and noticed they weren't scheduled to arrive for several weeks.

[00:09:15] [SPEAKER_06] I clicked back on the listing and discovered Walmart had removed it. Oh boy. Shortly after I received an email saying my order had been refunded. Apparently, the listing had been created by a third party seller and Walmart had been notified and removed the seller. I didn't think about it until last week when a package arrived from China. Inside were my Miser Brothers blow molds. Sort of. They weren't 32 inches tall. They were only 12 inches. The sculpt actually looked pretty good, but the paint job was, well, let's just say quality.

[00:09:45] [SPEAKER_06] The paint control was not part of the production process. They light up via USB and once illuminated, you can see really how rough the paint job is. The moral of the story, don't get so excited about a Christmas decoration deal that you forget to check who's actually selling it. Always make sure to pay attention to those third party sellers. Knowing is half the battle. And Joe included photos. Yes. That I put on our Instagram. The first one is, are the Miser Brothers unlit.

[00:10:15] [SPEAKER_06] And it looks not bad. But then when you start looking at the lit up, whoo, it looks like a kindergartner painted it.

[00:10:22] [SPEAKER_07] Yeah, it is tough. But you know what? They're kind of cool. I got to kind of respect the hustle here by whoever knocked these off. They saw the Miser Brother blow molds and they thought to themselves, well, might as well make a little money off of this. Making miniature versions of them that light up with USB is actually a pretty cool idea. I like the idea of these and I don't hate the way that they look unlit.

[00:10:51] [SPEAKER_07] So I wouldn't be upset about getting it.

[00:10:53] [SPEAKER_06] And if I understand the email correctly, they were free.

[00:10:56] [SPEAKER_07] Right. And I mean, that's the thing. He got these two for $60. I feel like that should have been the giveaway that it might've been a little bit of a sketch job because I feel like these are like 40 or 50 bucks. A piece as just as one. So that would have been a pretty good deal.

[00:11:14] [SPEAKER_06] You'd be you'd be shocked at how much I'll appreciate something free.

[00:11:17] [SPEAKER_07] Yeah, absolutely. I'm really but also seeing these pictures reminded me how I'm excited. I am to put out my little Debbie Christmas cake blow bolt this holiday season.

[00:11:26] [SPEAKER_06] Oh, yeah, because there's one in the background. So go to Instagram and check that out. I have an email from Jade. Now, do you remember Jade? She sent us in an email to one of our party episodes and her little niece. Grace was a baby and was squeaking in the background of their concert. Do you remember this? Yes, I remember this. Well, Jade's story was so interesting. I emailed her and said, hey, you know, you mentioned that you're blind. And we had an email from Cassie talking about this.

[00:11:55] [SPEAKER_06] And I said, would you mind sharing your experience of what it's like to celebrate Christmas as a blind person? And she wrote back and said, let me start off by saying that I am a Christmas nut. The holidays have been my most favorite time of the year for as long as I can remember. My excitement for Christmas starts building in September when choir practice starts again. We need to make sure our Christmas songs sound just right for the big concert at the beginning of December. When people tell me it's too early for Christmas songs, I just tell them it's because of my choir.

[00:12:25] [SPEAKER_06] I really start getting into the holiday spirit right after Halloween. I'll be honest with you. Halloween is not exactly my cup of tea, but I still get excited because after Halloween is when the fun really begins. I love to drink hot chocolate and watch Christmas movies with my mom. If I have a candy cane, I'll break it into little pieces and put them in my hot chocolate to give it peppermint flavor. I like that idea, Brent. Yeah, I love that. I also love watching The Great Christmas Light Fight. They give detailed descriptions of each display and I find it very interesting.

[00:12:52] [SPEAKER_06] I enjoy watching in the living room while holding my pet guinea pig, Gizmo, who was given to me as a Christmas present back in 2021. He's the best present I've ever received. Speaking of Christmas lights, I have a special tradition when we put up the tree. When the lights are turned on for the first time, I stand near the tree, look at them and make a wish just like you would on a star. I have a little bit of vision so I'm able to see the lights. I wish for something that I want to happen in the new year. Of course, I don't tell anyone or the wish wouldn't come true. Of course.

[00:13:22] [SPEAKER_06] And you can't think too hard about what do you want to wish for or force a wish to come to you in that moment because that messes with the magic. Oh, okay. You have to wait a bit and let the wishes come to your mind and whichever one speaks to you the loudest is the one you use. Wow. This started three years ago and so far my wishes have all come true. Whoa! Ho, ho, ho! The other thing I really enjoy about Christmas is making tactile cards and little ornaments that I give to other people. Our Christmas tree is usually full of ornaments that I've made over the years.

[00:13:51] [SPEAKER_06] Angels are my favorite ones. I'm sorry this is such a long and drawn out email, but I hope it gave you a good idea of what Christmas is like for me. Well, first, no apology necessary. This is exactly what I wanted to know. And it's fascinating. I love the idea of tactile cards and ornaments brand. That sounds so cool.

[00:14:11] [SPEAKER_07] Yeah, very cool. And also, apparently I've been doing wishes all wrong. Oh, completely wrong. I mean, I knew about the don't tell anybody thing, but this is a, who knew wishes were so complicated, but it sounds like we, if we're ever going to make a wish, we need to follow these steps because she's three for three, which is pretty good when it comes to wishes.

[00:14:32] [SPEAKER_06] I'm going to try it. I like this idea of sitting and almost in a meditative kind of state and letting the wish come to you versus I have an idea in my mind and I'm going to go bring it to the tree. So thank you for that, Jade. Really, really interesting. And if you ever want to email us again, I love these. Thank you so much.

[00:14:50] [SPEAKER_07] Very cool indeed. Yeah.

[00:14:51] [SPEAKER_06] I have an email from Ernie Delasanti and Ernie sent us an audio clip with this month's Christmassy place, which is Santa Claus, Indiana. Let's give it a listen.

[00:15:01] [SPEAKER_00] All right. Hey, Christmas morning people. Travel dad Ernie Delasanti here and each party episode, I'll be bringing you a Christmassy place worth putting on your list to Santa. But this month I started with a question. Where exactly does Santa go in September? December, I understand. I mean, the men's triple booked, but September, I mean, I guess the elves are still in preseason. The reindeer probably are stretching.

[00:15:28] [SPEAKER_00] Santa should be somewhere wearing cargo shorts and pretending he doesn't have a deadline coming. Well, apparently I can find him in Indiana. So this month we're going to Santa Claus, Indiana. And here's the funny thing. The town didn't originally set out to be Santa Claus. The community was once known as Santa Fi. But when residents tried to establish a post office, they learned there was already another Indiana community with a similar name.

[00:15:57] [SPEAKER_00] So they needed a new one. Local legend says that during a town meeting on a cold December night, a gust of wind blew open the church doors. Sleigh bells were heard outside and a child yelled out, Santa Claus. And in 1856, Santa Claus, Indiana officially got its name. Which makes this possibly the greatest municipal rebranding campaign in American history. Because they didn't just rename the name the town Santa Claus. They committed to it.

[00:16:26] [SPEAKER_00] There's Christmas Boulevard, Candy Cane Lane, Mistletoe Drive, Christmas Lake, and more than 20 Santa statues scattered around town. At that point, you don't live in Santa Claus, Indiana. You work for Christmas. And then you get to the Santa Claus Museum and Village. Where you'll find the historic church of the town. The original post office.

[00:16:52] [SPEAKER_00] And an enormous 22 foot Santa Claus statue from 1935. That's right. 22 feet. That's less Santa, I'd like a bike, and more. Or Santa, please don't step on my house. But underneath all the fun is my favorite part of the story. The letters. Children have been sent in letters addressed to Santa Claus, Indiana for generations.

[00:17:18] [SPEAKER_00] The museum preserves letters going back to the 1930s and every Christmas season. Volunteers known as Santa's elves answer thousands of new letters from children all over the world. And I love that. Because somebody could have looked at all those letters years ago and said, Well, alright. That's cute. Instead, people in this little Indiana town said we should answer them. And because apparently we haven't reached maximum Christmas yet, there's also Santa's candy castle.

[00:17:48] [SPEAKER_00] It's a castle filled with candy in Santa Claus, Indiana. At this point, I'm pretty sure an eight year old designed the town. Or maybe brand. The candy castle dates back to 1935 and today you can find handmade candy, old fashioned sweets, and even frozen hot chocolate. Yep. Frozen hot chocolate. And I don't understand or need to know how that physically works.

[00:18:14] [SPEAKER_00] All I know is it has chocolate in its name and I'm in. And that's why I think September is actually a great time to talk about Santa Claus, Indiana. We're getting close. The Hallmark schedule has been released. And this Christmas season is starting to peak around the corner. We're not quite ready to pull out the decorations yet. That, well, normal people aren't. But I know who I'm talking to.

[00:18:40] [SPEAKER_00] And this little town is a reminder that somewhere Christmas never gets packed into a box and carried up to the attic. And that's why I'd like to visit. Not just for the giant 22 foot Santa. Or for the frozen hot chocolate. Not even because I desperately need a selfie on Candy Cane Lane. I'd go because there's a little town in Indiana where, for generations, children have mailed letters to Santa and somebody still takes the time to write back. And that's pretty Christmassy to me.

[00:19:10] [SPEAKER_00] So that's this month's Christmassy place. I'm Ernie Delosanti, your travel dad. And I hope it's one worth putting on your list to Santa. I'll see you next month.

[00:19:20] [SPEAKER_06] Thank you, Ernie. There were some things in there, Brand, I did not know about Santa Claus, Indiana. Like, especially how it got its name. Yeah. And all that. And a 22 foot Santa statue is amazing.

[00:19:31] [SPEAKER_07] I gotta be honest. I kind of always assumed that, like, Santa Claus, Indiana was kind of like Christmas, Florida, where it's like mainly Christmas and name only. Like, there's a little bit of Christmas. But Santa Claus, Indiana sounds like they're doing it up good.

[00:19:43] [SPEAKER_06] It sounds awesome. Thank you, Ernie. And Ernie has agreed to give us a short, like, 45 to 60 second clip once a week during the dailies.

[00:19:54] [SPEAKER_07] Oh, all right. A little weekly dose of Ernie.

[00:19:58] [SPEAKER_06] Yeah. So we're talking. So he and I are conversing about what it should be. I asked if, like, holiday travel tips might be something that's interesting. So if you have anything that you might want to know from Ernie, I'm sure he'd be willing to give you that info. He has a ton of knowledge about travel.

[00:20:14] [SPEAKER_07] I love that. Maybe the top 10 travel tips for the holidays or something.

[00:20:18] [SPEAKER_06] Something like that would be really cool.

[00:20:19] [SPEAKER_07] I like it.

[00:20:20] [SPEAKER_06] I have an email from our friend Elizabeth Cullen, who runs Bramble Fest with her husband Martin and does an absolutely amazing job. What a wonderful human being. The best. Well, Elizabeth says, hello, Scott Brand and the Christmas morning people. I wanted to reach out and thank Christmas morning listener Lance, who wrote in about an adorable bakery in Maryland called Christmas Sweets. Yes. As luck would have it, my husband and I went on vacation just 30 minutes from there. So we had to check it out. Lance was right.

[00:20:48] [SPEAKER_06] The decor is a delight. And while there weren't any candy cane crush cinnamon rolls for us to try, we were able to get Santa's favorite, the caramel pecan sticky bun, along with a decidedly delicious milkshake. Oh. It's a small shop, but packed with charm and a big hit of Christmas cheer. I'm so happy to have other Christmas people find and share these little gems. And she sent a couple pictures to us. So now Elizabeth actually texted you and me, Brand, before she went and said, hey, this is what I'm planning to do.

[00:21:18] [SPEAKER_06] I said, oh, I got to know all about it.

[00:21:20] [SPEAKER_07] Absolutely. I will say if I went to the Christmas sweet shop and the candy cane crush cinnamon roll was not available, I'd be pretty, I guess, lack of better words, crushed myself. Because, I mean, that's the whole ballgame there. So what I want to know is were they unavailable because of time of day? Like were they sold out by the time you got there? Oh. Or do they not have them on certain days? I would need to know this.

[00:21:46] [SPEAKER_06] Was it a lack of candy cane or something? We need to know, right?

[00:21:50] [SPEAKER_07] I mean, these are the important questions. Elizabeth, if you could go back and ask these questions, that'd be really great.

[00:21:57] [SPEAKER_06] Brand, do you think you could buy candy canes year round? Like online? I have to imagine you can at this point.

[00:22:02] [SPEAKER_07] Online, you absolutely can. Yeah, 100%. What's the point of the internet if you can't buy candy canes?

[00:22:08] [SPEAKER_06] That's what the internet was created for. That's right.

[00:22:10] [SPEAKER_07] That's what it was for. Yes. Absolutely. We still got plenty to get to, but I think we should take a break, catch our breath, and then come back and see what else we got.

[00:22:18] [SPEAKER_06] You just want to go think about cinnamon rolls.

[00:22:20] [SPEAKER_07] Just let me do what I want to. Welcome back, everybody. It's great to be here. I did spend that break thinking about cinnamon rolls, and now I'm ready to power through. We've got some more stuff from the people to help celebrate this 25th of September. Scotty, what else we got?

[00:22:40] [SPEAKER_06] I should have also mentioned that Shannon's not here today because of scheduling conflicts that are mostly my fault.

[00:23:14] [SPEAKER_07] Yes. We've got to figure it out. So go ahead and start sending in some Halloween stuff. We'd love to hear from you.

[00:23:20] [SPEAKER_06] So I have an email from the aforementioned Lance Garman, and Lance said, Good Morning Christmas Morning Confectioners. It's hard to believe it's time for my fourth annual eggnog prep email. Yeah. Those years just keep marching on, don't they?

[00:23:33] [SPEAKER_07] They sure do.

[00:23:34] [SPEAKER_06] I know everyone's eggnog journey is unique, including those who avoid the stuff for dietary reasons. Hello, sugar-free Scotty. But my personal routine requires that I start making homemade eggnog in August. I like to have some eggnog at Thanksgiving, and I prefer to let mine age in the fridge for at least three months. So August is go time for me. An easy reminder in my case is that when I no longer need to store sugar water for the hummingbirds in the fridge, when they leave us for warmer climates, it's time to replace that mixture with a batch of egg sugar and liquor.

[00:24:03] [SPEAKER_06] I usually make a double batch, but after looking at my latest A1C numbers, I decided to stick with the original amount and sip it slowly from Thanksgiving through Christmas Day.

[00:24:12] [SPEAKER_07] I guess that's important.

[00:24:13] [SPEAKER_06] A quick refresher. If you let this mixture age in the refrigerator for at least three weeks, the liquor makes the raw egg safe to eat, and the sugar mellows out the flavor of the liquor. Leaving it there longer than just three weeks improves the flavor in my opinion. I'm attaching a few photos of the process this year, including one with all the ingredients displayed and the obligatory image of raw eggs in a white bowl. Do you remember when it looked like a toilet that year, Brand?

[00:24:36] [SPEAKER_07] Yeah, I remember. It's hard to forget that image.

[00:24:40] [SPEAKER_06] I'm also including a couple of pictures from last year's batch when I got to drink out of mugs my sister-in-law bought me at a real German Christmas market. A quick recap of the recipe and the process I use. One, mix together a dozen eggs, one and a half cup sugar, and one and a half cups of your preferred liquor. With an asterisk. We'll get to that. Place it in the back of the fridge for at least three weeks, then add six cups of milk and one half cup of cream and garnish with nutmeg and enjoy.

[00:25:05] [SPEAKER_06] And the note here is, for the second year in a row, I'm sticking with the traditional options of rum, brandy, and cognac. I'm nothing if not a traditionalist. It's nice to think about how this show has become part of my annual Christmas tradition. The weekly episodes truly put a smile on my face and keep the spirit alive all year long. Now on to the daily episodes starting October 1st. No, no, we're not doing October 1st. I don't know why everyone is thinking that's happening.

[00:25:32] [SPEAKER_07] I mean, if everybody's thinking that.

[00:25:34] [SPEAKER_06] Well, then everybody can come here and do it themselves.

[00:25:36] [SPEAKER_07] Okay, there you go. I'm here for it. I did make this last year, and I intend to make this one. I'm going to make it again for my wife. I am especially into these mugs that he got from the German market. Those things are sweet.

[00:25:52] [SPEAKER_06] I'm pretty sure I put these on our Instagram as well. And those mugs are really cool.

[00:25:57] [SPEAKER_07] You got to run over to the Instagram and check out those glasses. Very cool stuff.

[00:26:01] [SPEAKER_06] Yeah, very cool. Thank you for the reminder, Lance, and for the photo of the Santa Pez dispenser in the background. Of course, I love it. Of course. I have an email from Jack Unverfurth, and Jack sent us a reading of the poem, The Christmas Holly by Eliza Cook.

[00:26:17] [SPEAKER_02] The Christmas Holly by Eliza Cook The holly, the holly, oh twine it with bay, come give the holly a song. For it helps drive the stern winter away with his garment so somber and long. It peeps through the trees with its berries of red, and its leaves of burnish green, When the flowers and fruits have long been dead, and not even the daisy is seen.

[00:26:41] [SPEAKER_02] Then sing to the holly, the Christmas Holly, that hangs o'er peasant and king, While we laugh and carouse neath its glittering bows, To the Christmas Holly we'll sing. The gale may whistle, the frost may come, To fetter the gurgling rill. The woods may be bare, and the warbler's dumb, But holly is beautiful still. In the revel and light of princely halls, The bright holly branch is found,

[00:27:10] [SPEAKER_02] And its shadow falls on the lowliest walls, While brimming horn goes round. The gale may whistle, the frost may come, To fetter the gurgling rill. The woods may be bare, and warbler's dumb, But holly is beautiful still. In the revel and light of princely halls, The bright holly branch is found, And its shadow falls on the lowliest walls, While the brimming horn goes round.

[00:27:39] [SPEAKER_02] Then sing to the holly, the Christmas Holly, That hangs o'er peasant and king, While we laugh and carouse neath its glittering bows, To the Christmas Holly we'll sing. The ivy lives long, but its home must be Where graves and ruins are spread. There's beauty about the cypress tree, But it flourishes near the dead. The laurel the warrior's brow may wreathe, But it tells of tears and blood.

[00:28:06] [SPEAKER_02] I sing the holly, and who can breathe Ought of that that is not good. Then sing to the holly, the Christmas Holly, That hangs o'er peasant and king, While we laugh and carouse neath its glittering bows, To the Christmas Holly we'll sing.

[00:28:23] [SPEAKER_06] Thank you, Jack. I appreciate you doing that. And, Brian, Jack said in his email, If you don't feel like using this, that's fine. What? Come on, Jack. Of course I'm gonna use this. Jack's doing this for him. He just wants to read the Christmas poems, okay? And I love it. I love it. Every month it's my little moment of zen. Thank you, Jack.

[00:28:41] [SPEAKER_07] Absolutely. Very nice.

[00:28:42] [SPEAKER_06] I have an email from Catherine, and Catherine says, This message is for Scott. I'm happy to report that my third annual summer trip to the glorious Christmas joy shop in Chatham, Massachusetts, in the heart of Cape Cod. If I remember correctly, Scott visited this shop on vacations as a kid, and I imagine if you went in today, you'd find that nothing has changed. I've attached a few photos of the outside and inside of the store, as well as some very Cape Cod-esque Christmas ornaments.

[00:29:08] [SPEAKER_06] I ended up taking home both a delicate brass ornament depicting a beach scene, as well as a cheesy seagull ornament adorned with a tiny Santa hat holding a string of Christmas lights in its beak. The store is exactly what listeners would expect from a beachside tourist town like Chatham. It's got ornaments depicting Santa at the beach, on a lobster boat, riding a shark, etc. There are those seagulls with Santa hats, whales with wreaths around their neck, and an Adirondack chairs with Sharpie written Cape Cod 26 across the back.

[00:29:37] [SPEAKER_06] It's kitschy but perfect. And there is a section of more serious ornaments and pieces for those who are looking for a more elevated experience, complete with Dickens Village pieces and religious scenes of the manger. In short, my annual trip to Christmas joy was just that, as joyful as can be. I hope you'll get to go back someday, Scott, and otherwise, thank the Christmas Morning Podcast team for inspiring that same Christmas joy all year round. And I put these on our Instagram brand, and this is exactly what I remember.

[00:30:06] [SPEAKER_06] I mean, almost down to the carpet that I'm looking at here. And I would say these ornaments that say Cape Cod are delightfully tacky. Yes. You know, the lobster sitting here, and it says Cape Cod. It just, it's the kind of weird stuff I wanted as a kid, and now I still want it as an adult.

[00:30:25] [SPEAKER_07] Absolutely. That's fantastic. This looks like a great shop.

[00:30:28] [SPEAKER_06] Yeah. Thank you, Catherine. I really appreciate that. And when I put it on our Instagram brand, I tagged Christmas joy. So maybe they'll ask us to come do a live episode or something. Who knows?

[00:30:38] [SPEAKER_07] Oh, very nice. Wouldn't that be great? Absolutely. What are you waiting on?

[00:30:42] [SPEAKER_06] I have an email from Jessica Trinidad, and Jessica sent us an audio story about the time grandma lost the presents and her mom kicked the kids out of the house. So let's give that a listen.

[00:30:51] [SPEAKER_07] Okay.

[00:30:52] [SPEAKER_05] Merry Christmas morning, people. This is Jessica Trinidad. And I want to tell you about the year that my grandma lost the presents and my mom kicked us out of the house. So every year when I was a child, we would go to my grandparents' house on Christmas Eve and then come back home and hang our stockings and then go to bed and have Santa at our place on Christmas morning. And for several years during my childhood, my mom would warn us on the way to my grandparents' house,

[00:31:20] [SPEAKER_05] Well, now this year, grandpa's business didn't do quite so well, so don't be expecting a lot of gifts. And we nod and say, okay. And then every year, we arrive at grandma and grandpa's house and there was Mount Everest of presents underneath the tree. Except this one year when my younger sister and I were about, I would say, 9 and 11 years old. And we got the same speech on the way to grandma and grandpa's house and we, you know, nodded sagely and said, of course, blah, blah, blah.

[00:31:47] [SPEAKER_05] We arrive at grandma and grandpa's house and lo and behold, there was a small little hill where Mount Everest used to be. And we choked back our disappointment and smiled and greeted my grandparents and we had our Christmas Eve and we opened our gifts and we thanked my grandparents for their kindness and generosity. And all was well until Bridget, my younger sister, spilled the beans.

[00:32:17] [SPEAKER_05] She went to my grandma and she said, how come there aren't that many presents this year? And my mom was mortified and the rest of us scolded her. Bridget, don't talk like, don't say that, stop, no. And everybody kind of went down, jumped down her throat. And she's like, what? I'm just asking. And my grandma looked puzzled and she looked around at all of our gifts and she said, no, there's a lot of things missing here. And we're thinking, I don't know, is grandma getting older? I don't know.

[00:32:46] [SPEAKER_05] And grandma's like, no, I know there are things that I got that are missing. I don't know what's going on. And we didn't know. So we, you know, had the rest of our evening and then we went home and held our stockings and then had our Christmas morning and our presents. And after we opened our presents on Christmas morning, we have a big breakfast. And my grandma and grandpa used to come to that breakfast.

[00:33:11] [SPEAKER_05] Well, grandma comes in with two giant garbage bags full of wrapped Christmas presents. And she said, I wrapped them and grandpa hid them up in the attic rafters storage space. And I didn't know he had done that. And that's where the rest of your eyes' presents went. So woohoo! We dove in and opened the rest of our presents. Bridget and I, needless to say, were freaking stoked.

[00:33:37] [SPEAKER_05] So among those presents was a piggy bank gumball machine and a like quart sized carton full of gumballs. And that sent Bridget and me over the moon, of course. So we start, you know, chewing the gum and then typical gumballs lose their flavor in about 25 seconds. So we just keep popping more gumballs and more gumballs. And now each of our mouths are full of like a dozen or more gumballs. And we start getting a serious sugar high, right?

[00:34:05] [SPEAKER_05] We're like spiked full of sugar and we start just getting the giggles. We are hyper. We are giggling and laughing and just setting each other off. And my mom keeps coming out and telling us, quiet down. You're being too noisy. You're being too silly. Quiet down. Quiet down. And we just couldn't. We're just laughing and giggling. And we couldn't stop. And then finally my mom comes out to where we were playing together. And she says, you are too loud and you are too silly.

[00:34:35] [SPEAKER_05] Get out. Go outside. And so we went outside and we got on our bikes and we're kind of like riding down the street, slightly sullen and extremely puzzled because Bridget and I used to fight a lot and we were constantly getting in trouble for fighting. But this time we were getting along and we couldn't understand why a mom was so irritated with us for getting along. And we were just grumbling to each other. Wait, she's mad at us when we fight. She's mad at us when we get along. What in the heck?

[00:35:06] [SPEAKER_05] All these years later, now that I'm a mother, I understand that now. But those are stories for another day. That was the year that my grandma lost half the presents and my sister and I got kicked out of the house. Merry Christmas, friends.

[00:35:22] [SPEAKER_06] Thank you, Jessica. I love Jessica's stories, Bran. She can spin a yarn.

[00:35:27] [SPEAKER_07] Absolutely. I love that. And it's so great to hear from you.

[00:35:30] [SPEAKER_06] Thank you for doing that. And please keep them coming. I just, I want them every month. I have an email from Eve, Richard and Corey in the UK. Do you remember them, Bran? Remember the ornaments? And we were talking about the Disney. Yes. At the bottom of the picture. Yeah. Well, the email says, Merry Christmas, Scott and Bran. Thank you so much for the shout out in the August party episode. By complete coincidence, we were on the very same annual English countryside road trip where Richard first introduced us to the Christmas morning podcast.

[00:36:00] [SPEAKER_07] Wow.

[00:36:00] [SPEAKER_06] We ended up listening to the August party episode in the car while driving through the Cotswolds again. Perfect timing. The decorations you spoke about on the party episode are Swarovski crystal. And you were correct. There were Disney ones at the bottom that were very cute. We are lucky to have a few in our tree, a tree that no one in capital letters is allowed to touch. I mean, that's fair. You can see them in the photos I have sent. Yeah. I had the, you are not allowed to touch this tree in my house too growing up.

[00:36:28] [SPEAKER_06] Our summer road trip has been happening for about 13 years. Each time when we visit a little village called Burton on the water, imagine cottages, tea shops, and quaint gift shops with a stream running through the middle of the village. There's a cute little Christmas shop that's open all year round, which we always visit and pick up a decoration to remind us of our trip. We thought you might like to see pictures of the shop and this year's decorations. This year we picked a Wallace and Gromit ornament and a little snowman.

[00:36:54] [SPEAKER_06] And they also left us a review brand because they listen on Spotify or another one and didn't know where they could leave a review. So I'm going to try to remember to put that in our next episode so we can read it.

[00:37:06] [SPEAKER_07] Nice. I love that. Fantastic.

[00:37:08] [SPEAKER_06] And Eve included some photos here that I put on our Instagram. I love the crystal ornaments brand. How beautiful.

[00:37:15] [SPEAKER_07] They are really cool. I would be stressed, I think, at my current stage of life. We've got three dogs, two cats, two kids under 10. It's just not happening. Not right now.

[00:37:30] [SPEAKER_06] Nope. You put those in a special box that's labeled some other day.

[00:37:34] [SPEAKER_07] Yeah. And honestly, the fact that I've never had, to this point, I've had pretty good luck when it comes to my ornaments. But I know I put these suckers on my tree. They're going. They're goners. They're goners.

[00:37:47] [SPEAKER_06] Don't you have a year-round Christmas tree in the office? Maybe you could put them on there.

[00:37:51] [SPEAKER_07] There you go. Now you're thinking.

[00:37:52] [SPEAKER_06] But sometimes you bring the dog, though, I think.

[00:37:55] [SPEAKER_07] Occasionally. I think that, no, that's not a bad idea, though. If I do this, that's probably where I would put them. Yeah.

[00:38:00] [SPEAKER_06] So thank you for that, Eve. Go check out the photos. The second-to-last one with the outside of the Christmas shop brand looks so adorable. I mean, good gosh.

[00:38:09] [SPEAKER_07] I want to go to the UK.

[00:38:11] [SPEAKER_06] It's perfect. It really is perfect.

[00:38:13] [SPEAKER_07] It's like an ideal, idyllic Christmas shop.

[00:38:17] [SPEAKER_06] And then finally, we have an email from the Christmas aficionado. Not Joe Fulton, who emailed us earlier. This is from the Christmas aficionado. Of course. Different. Joe sent us, or Christmas aficionado, sent us a TV review for the Netflix Little House on the Prairie episode called Peace on Earth. So let's give that a listen.

[00:38:38] [SPEAKER_03] Will the new Netflix version of Little House on the Prairie be as boring as the original from the 70s? Well, let's see if we all want to take a nap and check out the Christmas episode Peace on Earth. Winter has arrived with Christmas approaching. The weather is keeping the Ingalls confined to the cabin, so the family is looking forward to having a quiet Christmas. Laura hangs stockings and sings Christmas songs, while Mary, she's just annoyed.

[00:39:03] [SPEAKER_08] Maybe he'll bring me a better slingshot and bring Mary some old book. She'd love that. Or maybe we'll get lots of toys.

[00:39:15] [SPEAKER_03] Christmas isn't just about presents.

[00:39:17] [SPEAKER_08] I know. It's also about food.

[00:39:21] [SPEAKER_03] Laura's excited about what Santa may bring and argues with her sister when Mary tries to dampen her excitement. You see, the Ingalls have been struggling financially, but luckily Charles comes home with a rabbit for the Christmas Eve feast. With the snowstorm preventing their guests from arriving, Christmas is looking pretty boring, filled with book reading and fiddle playing. To liven up the Christmas Eve celebration, Carolyn suddenly goes into labor. She's a few weeks early, and with the snowstorm going strong, the doctor won't be able to be there very quickly.

[00:39:53] [SPEAKER_05] Girls.

[00:39:54] I...

[00:39:56] [SPEAKER_05] Ma?

[00:40:01] [SPEAKER_03] The baby's coming. Trapped in a single cabin room, Charles helps deliver the baby, and the Ingalls welcome a baby girl that they name after her mom, Carolyn. Laura initially worries that Charles might be disappointed because he wanted a son, but Charles assures her that he is the luckiest man to have daughters, and that the baby is Santa's Christmas gift to the entire family.

[00:40:28] [SPEAKER_08] Yes, Santa couldn't find us this year. You wanted a boy?

[00:40:34] [SPEAKER_01] Not at all.

[00:40:44] [SPEAKER_03] I will too. The next morning, the stockings are empty, but Mr. Edwards, played by a very gruff-looking Hallmark star, Warren Christie, arrives with presents, claiming Santa sent him to deliver them. You saw Santa?

[00:40:57] [SPEAKER_01] I did. Yeah, he was delivering presents all with the help of his trusty bison. I spent all day yesterday taking him to every homestead on his list. He says to me, do you know two girls named Mary and Laura? Of course I do. So, Santa, ask me, please deliver these presents myself.

[00:41:15] [SPEAKER_03] Dr. Baker also arrives and examines the baby, who is in good health. Laura declares it her favorite Christmas ever. John brought the family's mail when Carolyn received a letter with money from her sister Eliza to buy a train ticket to return to Wisconsin and get off that prairie. Instead, Carolyn and Charles decide to use the money to buy a plow, calling it their Christmas miracle. My sister sent us the money we need for the plow.

[00:41:43] [SPEAKER_01] I guess magic's real at for all.

[00:41:45] [SPEAKER_03] So, final thoughts. The episode focuses on the family's financial problems. A snowstorm, sibling rivalry, premature labor, and empty stockings leading to Santa disappointment. The episode didn't put me to sleep, and I kind of enjoyed the series. The real question, though, is can you imagine being trapped in the room while your mom is giving birth? Merry Christmas. I give the episode a B. Well, that's my review of the Netflix series Little House on the Prairie episode, Peace on Earth.

[00:42:13] [SPEAKER_03] What Christmas episode should I review next? If you have a suggestion, well, let Scott know. I'm the Christmas aficionado, and remember, stay off the naughty list.

[00:42:25] [SPEAKER_06] Brian, I need the obligatory snore noise, please. Excellent.

[00:42:29] [SPEAKER_07] But I will say, I will say, I've heard good things about this Netflix reboot, and this was nice. This was a nice Christmas aficionado, so I'm not upset about it.

[00:42:42] [SPEAKER_06] Yeah, you're going to have to enjoy it for me, because I was forced to watch Little House on the Prairie as a kid, and I hated it.

[00:42:48] [SPEAKER_07] Yeah.

[00:42:49] [SPEAKER_06] And I just don't think that's ever going to leave me at this point. So, you know, I'm glad that there is a show for other people to enjoy. It's not all about my taste.

[00:42:58] [SPEAKER_07] Absolutely. There's stuff for everybody. Just like this show, Christmas Morning. It's not for everybody. Not everybody, believe it or not, Scotty, is interested in a Christmas party episode in September. But we are, and so are our listeners, and this episode is a celebration of those people that rock with us all year long, Scotty.

[00:43:18] [SPEAKER_06] There are people that don't like to listen to us.

[00:43:19] [SPEAKER_07] I know. I know.

[00:43:22] [SPEAKER_06] It's crazy. They can go fart in a phone booth for all I care. Absolutely. I love the people who do listen, and we did it again, Brian. We had an incredible episode, and I love these because it's all about the listeners, and it's almost like an episode made for us, for you and me. It's shared back, and it's so much fun. I loved all the photos. I loved all the stories, the poem, everything. So thank you, everybody who contributed this month. And we kind of have one more party episode.

[00:43:51] [SPEAKER_06] It's going to be the Halloween evening episode, but I think we have enough people who love Halloween that they put up with it. And then we're going to have the dailies. So we're not really going to have a true Christmas party episode again until January, but we're all going to need it at that point.

[00:44:07] [SPEAKER_07] That's right. Don't fear, though. We still need your emails because we've got a lot of episodes between now and the end of the year. And so feel free to continue to send in all of this good stuff. We love it, and it keeps the show alive. Without the people, Scotty, it's a pretty short show. It's just us counting down.

[00:44:24] [SPEAKER_06] It would be a pretty short show.

[00:44:25] [SPEAKER_07] Reading the TV guide and some songs. So the people keep the show alive, Scotty.

[00:44:30] [SPEAKER_06] They sure do. And thank you for everybody who contributed. And we're coming close to the dailies. It will be November 1st. October 1st. Got it. That's not a couple days. Very excited about that.

[00:44:40] [SPEAKER_07] Come on back on Wednesday. We will celebrate the end of September. I believe it's going to be the final day of September. So we'll say goodbye to September and do a big October 1st countdown. It's going to be a lot of fun. So come on back for that. Until then, Merry Christmas.

[00:44:54] [SPEAKER_06] Merry Christmas. You're about to hear some ads that help pay for our trip back and forth to the North Pole. Feel free to listen. Feel free to bail now. But either way, thanks for being here.

[00:45:13] [SPEAKER_08] Ho, ho, ho.