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EP27 - Holidays: Where did they come from? · Oh And One More Thing

• 0:10
  Some old friends facing our fears, laughing through the
• 0:13
  chaos and drinking some beers. So here's to the laughs, the
• 0:16
  crumbs and the cheers. All the awkward moments and
• 0:19
  we're still here 'cause in the end, we're just doing our thing.
• 0:22
  It's our crazy life. 01 more thing.
• 0:25
  One more thing. Welcome to Oh and one more
• 0:33
  thing, a podcast where 2 long time friends try to figure out
• 0:36
  what the heck is going on with this crazy thing called middle
• 0:38
  age. It's a mix of stories of how we
• 0:40
  navigate our lives and maybe some questionable.
• 0:43
  Advice. Some days we're wise, other days
• 0:45
  we're just trying to remember where the heck we left our
• 0:47
  phone. So join us as we laugh, groan,
• 0:49
  and maybe even learn a little something about surviving in the
• 0:52
  second-half of life. Oh, and one more thing.
• 1:04
  Hey, I'm Brian and welcome to. Oh, and one more thing.
• 1:07
  Hey. I'm Rob everyone.
• 1:08
  Thanks for tuning in. How was how was your week,
• 1:11
  Brian? It was good what you do.
• 1:13
  I clipped the end of my finger off.
• 1:15
  Let's talk about that. What?
• 1:18
  I was preparing dinner and the knife got a little too close to
• 1:20
  the edge of the finger, and a whoop.
• 1:22
  There it went. Not the whole digit, OK, just
• 1:25
  the fleshy part and part of the fingernail.
• 1:27
  Sure, sure. So another reason why I don't
• 1:28
  cook. Now come on now, it was just a
• 1:31
  misplaced, oh, first of all, sharpened knife and then a
• 1:34
  misplaced knife, that's all. Sure.
• 1:36
  I had a much heel. Yeah, yes, he will.
• 1:38
  But I had a much more eventful weekend.
• 1:39
  What happened? It's right up your alley.
• 1:41
  OK, awesome. So Sunday, beautiful day.
• 1:43
  So start it with a wonderful shopping trip.
• 1:46
  Where? We went to Costco.
• 1:47
  Oh, of course it's your favorite store.
• 1:49
  So OK, I believe it or not I'm not a shill for Costco, but I am
• 1:52
  trying to get them as a sponsor. Yeah, you keep working on.
• 1:55
  All of them. So here's the deal, though.
• 1:57
  So, you know, their hours open at 10:00 and then on Saturdays
• 2:00
  open at 9:30, right. But, but if you're an executive
• 2:03
  member, they open at 9:00 every day.
• 2:05
  Yeah. And Sunday at 9:00 AM.
• 2:07
  You know how I know? Have you been there?
• 2:08
  I'm an executive member. Have.
• 2:11
  You been there at Sunday at 9:00 AM.
• 2:12
  No. It's a flipping ghost town.
• 2:14
  It is gorgeous. The best time to shop?
• 2:16
  'Cause, you know, the parking lot normally is the 7th level of
• 2:18
  hell, as we mentioned on a previous podcast.
• 2:20
  Yeah, it was parked right up front, right next to the car.
• 2:22
  Corral walked right in, got her stuff, got right out.
• 2:24
  Nobody in our way, nobody had a fight with a cart or a car or
• 2:27
  anything. It was.
• 2:28
  Awesome. It was amazing.
• 2:29
  So they. Started out great, then we came
• 2:31
  home at Raptor that beautiful sunny at fall afternoon.
• 2:34
  Broke out the mower, begged a whole bunch of leaves for a
• 2:36
  couple hours, got my exercise in.
• 2:38
  Sounds great, Rob. Phenomenal.
• 2:39
  Then after that finish that, had a little snack and then sat down
• 2:42
  and watched some F1 in Mexico City.
• 2:44
  Yeah, I watched that too. Yep.
• 2:45
  And after that when ran to the wild game.
• 2:47
  Ohh. Amazing.
• 2:48
  And then went ran to the Timberwolves game.
• 2:50
  A lot of sports for. You.
• 2:51
  Oh my God, it was gorgeous. I I would have been beside
• 2:54
  myself. And the only thing would have
• 2:55
  been better was also a Vikings game.
• 2:56
  But they played Thursday and they got their asses.
• 2:58
  Kicked. So yeah, I was.
• 2:59
  Actually happy not to watch full.
• 3:00
  Not very good. Yeah, they sucked.
• 3:01
  So. So you know the holidays are
• 3:04
  coming up. Yes, I do.
• 3:06
  Yeah, I. What do you call an elf with
• 3:07
  sings? I don't know, what a rapper.
• 3:12
  That's kind of funny, right? So next week is Thanksgiving.
• 3:15
  Can you believe it? That's unbelievable.
• 3:17
  It's here already. 2025 is almost.
• 3:18
  Over. I know, right?
• 3:19
  So do you have a favorite holiday, Rob?
• 3:21
  I do, it is February 9th. What is that?
• 3:24
  National Pizza Day. Come on, that's not a real
• 3:26
  holiday. Well, it's a holiday in my
• 3:27
  world. Yes, of course I have a favorite
• 3:30
  holiday. It's Saint Patrick's Day.
• 3:32
  Oh. Well, of course.
• 3:33
  Well, it's. My wife's birthday.
• 3:34
  It's your wife's birthday. So of course, that's my favorite
• 3:36
  holiday. What's your favorite holiday?
• 3:37
  Oh gosh, I think Thanksgiving would be my favorite holiday.
• 3:40
  Why? And it's the food.
• 3:42
  Well, yes, there's. That so I love food to begin
• 3:44
  with and then why do we only make certain foods certain times
• 3:48
  of the year it's like my biggest beef you only have Turkey on
• 3:51
  Thanksgiving why I. Love Turkey?
• 3:53
  You only have pecan pie on the holidays.
• 3:55
  Yeah, I love pecan pie. And that's what.
• 3:57
  You know, and we purposely make extras on Thanksgiving so I can
• 3:59
  have leftovers. Right.
• 4:00
  Why aren't we making this all year long?
• 4:02
  I don't. Wouldn't be special.
• 4:03
  Well then. Also the fact that's 8000
• 4:05
  calories every time you make. That come on, you'll walk that
• 4:08
  off doing your. Leaves, right?
• 4:10
  Yeah, as you're taking your Coleman app after lunch.
• 4:13
  So doing this podcast has really gotten us into some topics that
• 4:17
  I would have never thought we would have discussed, especially
• 4:19
  on the air. Yeah, we've done like
• 4:21
  superstitions. We had a trivia contest.
• 4:23
  Which I won. Somehow you won Cheer
• 4:26
  interviewed Mitchell Hall, talked about her favorite snacks
• 4:29
  and so much. More, so much more.
• 4:31
  So it's Thanksgiving and that got me thinking about the
• 4:33
  holidays and where or maybe even how they came to be a holiday
• 4:37
  that we celebrate. Yeah, that's a great way to run
• 4:39
  out the year. And I say that because we will
• 4:41
  be taking some time off the next few weeks, so you guessed it,
• 4:44
  the holidays. So if any of you are keeping
• 4:46
  track, we'll be back in the new year on January 8th with all new
• 4:49
  shows. So that's great, Rob.
• 4:52
  We will be back. But today we're talking about
• 4:54
  holidays. So many of our holidays that we
• 4:56
  celebrate today began as holy days or originally religious
• 5:00
  observed observances. Can I say the word?
• 5:03
  Observances. Yeah, and have evolved to
• 5:06
  include secular commemorations. Many modern holidays have roots
• 5:10
  in ancient festivals, while others, like the US Federal
• 5:14
  Holidays established in 1870, were created to mark national
• 5:18
  events or even famous figures. Today, holidays serve a variety
• 5:21
  of purposes, from religious and civic celebrations to commercial
• 5:25
  and cultural traditions. That's interesting.
• 5:27
  You know, and another tidbit, back in the Roman Empire, they
• 5:30
  developed infrastructure like and restaurants and even
• 5:32
  produced guidebooks, creating the foundation for what we know
• 5:35
  today called vacations. Really.
• 5:38
  Yeah, that's where the vacation came from.
• 5:40
  Right. Isn't that?
• 5:40
  I never knew that. I didn't either.
• 5:42
  That's pretty cool. That's fascinating.
• 5:43
  But I love going on vacations. Oh, God, yeah.
• 5:45
  It's always fun if you're full of anticipation and excitement.
• 5:48
  So we've been on a couple of vacations together.
• 5:51
  Do you remember all of them? Sorry, I think we've done.
• 5:55
  Or 4. That's not right, North
• 5:57
  Carolina. Puerto Vallarta, Nashville,
• 6:00
  Vegas. Was there any more Portland, Oh
• 6:03
  Portland I forgot about? Portland.
• 6:04
  That's 555. Wow, We've vacationed a lot
• 6:06
  together, right? Yeah.
• 6:08
  We are due for another. One.
• 6:09
  Yes, we are. Yes, I know which one was your
• 6:11
  favorite. Oh, they're also great.
• 6:13
  I don't know how can I quantify that.
• 6:15
  Oh, I can in a heartbeat. Yes, and it is.
• 6:17
  Nashville. Nashville, OK, that was good.
• 6:20
  That was good, and maybe not only 'cause it was Nashville and
• 6:22
  I've never been there before. I'm not a huge country fan, but
• 6:24
  really, it turned to me. That was the weekend before
• 6:26
  COVID. Yeah, it was a freaking ghost
• 6:28
  town. It was awesome.
• 6:30
  Because you don't like people. I hate people.
• 6:32
  And, and literally, we literally closed the place out like Sunday
• 6:34
  night, like we were the last ones on Broadway.
• 6:36
  And then on Monday, it was closed.
• 6:38
  That was kind of weird. It was weird, but I mean, and
• 6:40
  and everybody, they were so grateful that we're so glad
• 6:43
  you're here and we're happy to have you here.
• 6:45
  Tourists. And they were so happy we were
• 6:46
  there spending our money, right. I mean, why wouldn't?
• 6:48
  I mean, there are normally, but that was such a weird time in
• 6:50
  our country. Then it was just fun.
• 6:53
  We had so much fun. And we were partying and.
• 6:54
  We were partying at full time. Yeah.
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  All right, so let's get back to the holidays.
• 6:57
  So, Thanksgiving, I'm sure we all know why we celebrate it,
• 7:00
  right? No.
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  Do we all know? Did you pay attention in history
• 7:03
  class? Heck no, that's that's what took
• 7:05
  most of my naps. But so in case you were like me
• 7:07
  and not listening. So Thanksgiving originated in
• 7:10
  1621, right? OK, there's a harvest fee shared
• 7:13
  by Plymouth colonists and the Wampang Dong people.
• 7:16
  I'm still saying that wrong, right?
• 7:19
  Wan Penang, Wan Penang, Wan Penang.
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  Go with that. I'm going to go with that.
• 7:22
  All right. But it did not become a national
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  holiday until President Lincoln proclaimed it in 1863 during the
• 7:27
  Civil War to promote unity. Really.
• 7:29
  Yeah. See, now watching all the
• 7:30
  peanuts, you know Thanksgiving, I could have sworn it was back
• 7:32
  when the Pilgrims came over. Right, I thought it was right
• 7:35
  away. Yeah, I didn't realize it was
• 7:36
  until Lincoln declared it a holiday, right?
• 7:39
  I had no idea. So it was officially established
• 7:41
  as the 4th Thursday of November by Congress in 1941 after
• 7:44
  President Franklin D Roosevelt briefly moved it to a different
• 7:47
  date in 1939 to lengthen the Christmas shopping season.
• 7:50
  No, really. Right.
• 7:52
  I mean, he moved the date to the second last Thursday to boost
• 7:54
  the economy by creating a longer holiday shopping season.
• 7:56
  Well OK, I understand that's why we would do that, but seems odd.
• 8:00
  Seems odd, right? And after some states didn't
• 8:02
  comply, Congress passed a resolution in 1941 and Roosevelt
• 8:05
  issued the proclamation in 1942, making the 4th Thursday of
• 8:08
  November the official date for the national holiday.
• 8:11
  Well that OK, that's good because it kind of feels normal
• 8:13
  to be the 4th hot Thursday of the month, you know, that's just
• 8:17
  what we've known all our lives. Right.
• 8:19
  And do you do you know where the term Black Friday comes from
• 8:21
  because of that? I do, actually, but I'll let you
• 8:23
  tell. Us so because I worked retail
• 8:25
  for many, many, many, many, many, many, many many years.
• 8:27
  Was it many years? Rob, many years and Black
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  Friday, that's the day that all the retailers are.
• 8:32
  They're in the red up until Thanksgiving Day.
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  And then that Friday, they are in the black because they get to
• 8:36
  finally start selling a ton of crap.
• 8:37
  Yeah. So it's where they make their
• 8:38
  year at. Huge discounts.
• 8:41
  It's the only time of the year to buy ATV.
• 8:43
  Is it? Well, no.
• 8:44
  You can buy ATV anytime. Oh, the Super Bowl.
• 8:47
  Yeah, those, those are the two days of ITV when they're really
• 8:49
  cheap. But see the problem with that
• 8:51
  though, It's all Asters models that are really cheap.
• 8:52
  So if you want the new fancy stuff, you get them.
• 8:54
  And you have to have all the new stuff right away.
• 8:55
  I'm not something like that. I can wait phones.
• 8:57
  I don't have to have all the new stuff.
• 8:59
  Yeah, phones. Yes, TV's.
• 9:00
  I can wait. No phones, you just wait till
• 9:01
  they don't no longer service them, then you get a new one.
• 9:03
  No, that doesn't happen. But before we go too deep into
• 9:06
  the holidays, let's take a short break to hear from our favorite
• 9:09
  sponsor, Spring Green. So it is the holidays, and one
• 9:15
  thing that often gets forgotten, especially up here in Minnesota,
• 9:18
  is the gift of lawn care. What?
• 9:20
  Yeah. Yeah, so we, we a few customers
• 9:23
  once a year who they'll call in, they want to buy a gift for
• 9:25
  their their kids just bought a house and you want to give them
• 9:27
  this for the season. But this one of the things that
• 9:29
  kind of gets forgotten. That's an easy gift to give for,
• 9:32
  you know, a few 100 bucks. We can take care of your
• 9:34
  family's yard for the entire year.
• 9:35
  You don't have to think about. It so that's awesome, yeah.
• 9:37
  So we get the holidays, don't forget about us here over at
• 9:39
  Spring Green, or happy to take care of you for the whole rest
• 9:41
  of the year. I think I'm getting a gift card.
• 9:43
  I think you should. Thanks, Brian.
• 9:49
  Let's talk about Christmas now let's do it.
• 9:50
  Christmas is celebrated on December 25th and is both a
• 9:53
  sacred religious holiday and a worldwide cultural and
• 9:57
  commercial phenomenon. For two millennia, people around
• 9:59
  the world have been observing it with traditions and practices
• 10:02
  that are both religious and secular in nature.
• 10:05
  Christians celebrate Christmas Day as the anniversary of the
• 10:09
  birth of Jesus of Nazareth, and some popular customs include
• 10:13
  exchanging gifts, decorating Christmas tree, attending
• 10:16
  church, sharing meals with family and friends, and of of
• 10:19
  course, waiting for Santa Claus to arrive.
• 10:22
  But these weren't always the customs.
• 10:24
  Yeah, the middle of winter has long been a time of celebration
• 10:27
  around the world, Centuries before the arrival of Jesus,
• 10:30
  early European celebrated light and birth in the darkest days of
• 10:33
  winter. Many people rejoice during the
• 10:35
  winter solstice, when the worst of the winter was behind them,
• 10:38
  and they can look forward to longer days and extended hours
• 10:41
  of sunlight because there's no daylight savings.
• 10:44
  The end of December was the perfect time for a celebration
• 10:47
  in most areas of Europe. At that that time of year, most
• 10:50
  cattle were slaughtered so they so they would not have to be fed
• 10:54
  during the winter. For many, it was the only time
• 10:57
  they had a supply of fresh meat. In addition, most wine and beer
• 11:02
  made during the year was finally fermented and ready for
• 11:05
  drinking. Let the celebrating comments.
• 11:08
  Right, alright. In the early years of
• 11:11
  Christianity, Easter was the main holiday.
• 11:13
  The birth of Jesus was not celebrated.
• 11:15
  In the 4th century, church officials decided to institute
• 11:18
  the birth of Jesus as a holiday. It is commonly believed that the
• 11:21
  church chose the state in an effort to adopt and absorb the
• 11:24
  traditions of the Pagan Saturnalia festival, 1st called
• 11:27
  the Feast of the Nativity. The customs spread to Egypt by
• 11:30
  432 and England by the end of the 6th century.
• 11:33
  By holding Christmas at the same time as traditional winter
• 11:36
  solstice festivals, church leaders increased the chances
• 11:39
  that Christmas would be popularly embraced, but gave up
• 11:44
  the ability to dictate how it was celebrated.
• 11:47
  By the Middle Ages, Christianity had for the most part replaced
• 11:51
  Pagan. Religions.
• 11:52
  Darn pagans. The pilgrims that came to
• 11:55
  America in 1620 were even more orthodox in their beliefs.
• 11:58
  As a result, Christmas was not a holiday in early America.
• 12:01
  From 1659 to 1681, the celebration of Christmas was
• 12:05
  actually outlawed in Boston. What it took until 1870 for
• 12:09
  Christmas to be declared a federal holiday in America.
• 12:12
  Wow, did I not pay attention in school?
• 12:15
  Yeah, I. Didn't know any of.
• 12:15
  That maybe they didn't. Teach us in school, maybe.
• 12:17
  And I'm trying to think back to all my Catholic Wednesday
• 12:20
  nights, and I don't remember hearing half of this there
• 12:23
  either. Right.
• 12:23
  Yeah. Yeah, I don't know.
• 12:25
  It's kind of crazy. That's a lot of history with
• 12:27
  Christmas. Right, A ton of it.
• 12:28
  And I did not expect that. And there's only one line about
• 12:30
  Santa. You oh so sad.
• 12:33
  For you, right? I know.
• 12:35
  I have to go watch The Grinch. But Santa is not Christian.
• 12:39
  But it's Santa. I know he brings presents.
• 12:42
  I know we love Santa. What's your What do you want to
• 12:45
  get for Christmas this year? I want World Peace.
• 12:53
  A great answer, right? Yeah, all.
• 12:57
  Right. How about New Year's and New
• 12:58
  Year's Eve? Those are fun.
• 13:00
  I know, right? So the origin of New Year's
• 13:02
  dates back to ancient Babylon, over 4000 years ago.
• 13:05
  Well, that's a long time, all right.
• 13:06
  When? It was celebrated in late March,
• 13:07
  late March during the spring equinox.
• 13:10
  OK, I get understand spring equinox and what the importance.
• 13:13
  Yeah, that makes sense. Yeah.
• 13:14
  So the date was moved to January 1st in 46 BC by Julius Caesar
• 13:18
  when he created the Julian calendar to line with the sun's
• 13:21
  passage. Oh, OK, that.
• 13:22
  Makes sense. Now wait a minute.
• 13:23
  It's called the Julian Calendar. You didn't know that?
• 13:25
  I did not know that. Really.
• 13:27
  Yeah, the calendar we followed on Julie.
• 13:28
  Yeah, I knew that. I honestly though I didn't know
• 13:30
  it was tied to Julius Caesar. Though, No.
• 13:32
  Right. But that's what I'm saying,
• 13:32
  yeah, it's all. Interesting.
• 13:34
  Yeah, I didn't know that the new day was also a tribute to Jonas,
• 13:37
  the Roman God of beginnings. The Gregorian calendar, which
• 13:40
  most of the world uses today, was established in 1582 and
• 13:44
  continued the tradition of celebrating on January 1st.
• 13:47
  That's cool. Do you like only New Year's Eve
• 13:48
  parties? I I did.
• 13:52
  And now I. Don't think I get out.
• 13:54
  I don't. I go to bed at 10, right?
• 13:55
  Earlier I to me personally I I love New Year's in my 20s but
• 13:59
  honestly since then it's like that is the dumbest holiday.
• 14:02
  It's a lot of fun if you're having it's fun.
• 14:05
  But okay, I it just, you stay up late and you just hoot and
• 14:09
  holler and drink just to go yay New Year's.
• 14:12
  Time to go to bed. And time to go to bed.
• 14:14
  Just. How about that kissing thing?
• 14:15
  So how did that tradition of kissing someone at the beginning
• 14:18
  of the New Year's start I. Don't know, but we just kind of
• 14:20
  do that and sing that old saying line song.
• 14:23
  What the old, the old forgot. I don't know the damn lyrics.
• 14:29
  You sing it once a year and I just kind of hung along and
• 14:31
  waved my glass back and forth and go an old saying line,
• 14:35
  whatever it is, right? It's odd.
• 14:37
  It's odd AUD saying long. Is that what it is?
• 14:41
  Okay, so here's what it actually is, dumbass.
• 14:43
  Now. All delaying sign is about
• 14:47
  reminiscing with old friends and good times, and bidding farewell
• 14:50
  to the past year to welcome in the new one.
• 14:53
  Oh, that makes sense then. Yeah, no, the title.
• 14:55
  Translate to old long sense or for old time's sake.
• 14:59
  So basically raising the glass to the past year and wishing
• 15:03
  good things in the new year, right?
• 15:05
  Totally makes sense. Totally makes sense once you
• 15:07
  explain it. See.
• 15:08
  I mean, it took us this long to figure out what the hell we're
• 15:09
  singing. Every New Year's Eve, we just
• 15:11
  sang that and song, 'cause everybody else is singing it
• 15:13
  right. Yeah, but now we have the
• 15:15
  question of why do you kiss? Oh, so people kiss on New Year's
• 15:18
  as a tradition rooted in the superstition that the first kiss
• 15:21
  of the New Year predicts the romantic fortune for the year
• 15:24
  ahead. Romance.
• 15:27
  Budding romance like voodoo. The practice is to believe is
• 15:31
  believed to originated from German and English folklore,
• 15:33
  where the first person you encounter determines the tone
• 15:36
  for the next 12 months. And has.
• 15:39
  Since evolved to strengthen existing relationships or start
• 15:43
  new ones, the act is a way to ensure good luck and love for
• 15:46
  the coming year. And not kissing someone can
• 15:48
  believe to lead to loneliness. Oh no, I better start kissing
• 15:52
  people. I mean, just my wife, right?
• 15:53
  OK, that's a lot of pressure. Like if you're single and you're
• 15:57
  trying to find a date for New Year's, then you got to kiss
• 15:58
  them. That's a lot of pressure.
• 16:00
  Right. So.
• 16:02
  If you believe in that sort of thing.
• 16:03
  So I my wife, my wife and I started dating.
• 16:06
  Our first date was like 5 days after Valentine's Day.
• 16:10
  It could have easily been Valentine's Day and I opted out
• 16:12
  of it because I flat out said that's a lot of pressure
• 16:15
  because. You didn't want to be too
• 16:17
  romantic on your first. I didn't.
• 16:18
  Want a first date to be on Valentine's Day.
• 16:19
  I'm like, that's a lot of pressure.
• 16:21
  But it it turned out well. Oh.
• 16:22
  No. Great.
• 16:23
  But what would happen if it would have been on Valentine's
• 16:26
  Day and it would have been a lot of pressure and then who knows?
• 16:28
  Because. Right.
• 16:29
  That's a lot of pressure. She would have saw the true you.
• 16:31
  Exactly. OK, so that leads us into the
• 16:35
  next one. You know why do we celebrate
• 16:37
  Valentine? Yeah, why do we celebrate that?
• 16:39
  Well. Let me tell you, Rob, we
• 16:41
  celebrate Valentine's Day to honor St.
• 16:43
  Valentine, a Catholic priest who lived around 270AD.
• 16:48
  OK, I think I knew about the Saint Valentine part, but I
• 16:50
  didn't know he was a. Priest.
• 16:51
  I didn't realize that either that.
• 16:52
  Doesn't make sense as he's a St. Sure, there's that, Hence in the
• 16:56
  name, right? Valentine.
• 16:58
  The holiday evolved to celebrate romantic love, friendship and
• 17:01
  admiration. Becoming a cultural tradition
• 17:05
  where people express affection through gifts, cards, and
• 17:07
  spending time together as acts of kindness, compassion, and
• 17:11
  defiance for love established him as a memorable figure around
• 17:16
  the Middle Ages. The Catholic Church designated
• 17:18
  February 14th, his suspected day of passing, to honor him.
• 17:23
  OK, so it wasn't created by greeting card companies and
• 17:26
  heart-shaped candy companies as a holiday.
• 17:28
  No, but that's how it's evolved. Completely as evolved.
• 17:32
  Oh, so the tradition of sending cards and exchanging gifts of
• 17:34
  flowers and chocolates grew throughout the 15th through the
• 17:37
  19th century centuries, especially with the invention of
• 17:40
  mass produced Valentine's card. See.
• 17:42
  See, I'm very premonition about my Valentine's Day.
• 17:45
  If you remember correctly, wasn't there a historical
• 17:48
  massacre on Valentine's Day? Why yes, Brian, there was in
• 17:51
  1929 the Valentine's Day massacre where seven men with
• 17:55
  ties to the gangster George Bugs Moran were killed in a shootout
• 17:59
  in Chicago. The attack was the work of rival
• 18:01
  gangster Al Capone. See I always heard stuff about
• 18:04
  that but I didn't know really the details so I was looking it
• 18:07
  up for this. I guarantee there's a movie
• 18:09
  about it somewhere. Oh, for sure there is.
• 18:11
  Which you'll find that. Yeah, I know.
• 18:12
  Let's watch it after this. All right, so now let's talk
• 18:14
  about Saint Patrick's Day, the next one in line.
• 18:16
  It's. My favorite holiday.
• 18:17
  I know it is. Why is it your favorite?
• 18:18
  Holiday. That's my wife's birthday.
• 18:19
  Of course it is. It is celebrated on March 17th
• 18:22
  and it commemorates the death of Saint Patrick, OH.
• 18:25
  Maybe it's not my favorite holiday.
• 18:28
  He's the patron St. Of Ireland.
• 18:30
  Originally the religious feast day in Ireland, the holiday has
• 18:33
  evolved into a global celebration of Irish culture,
• 18:36
  largely due to the Irish immigrants who brought the
• 18:39
  traditions to America. Key aspects of this holiday
• 18:43
  include Saint Patrick's mission to convert the Irish to
• 18:46
  Christianity. Interestingly, the first parade
• 18:49
  honoring Saint Patrick's Day and the Irish heritage originated in
• 18:53
  America in 16 O one. That sounds like something we
• 18:55
  would do. Yeah, right.
• 18:57
  So do you have any fun Saint Patrick's Day traditions?
• 19:00
  Well, traditions, no. And it's funny because, you
• 19:02
  know, it is my wife's birthday. As I mentioned three times
• 19:03
  already. 3 * I. Know you really wanted to get
• 19:06
  that in there? I did, yes.
• 19:07
  At brownie points for me, but we typically honestly don't do
• 19:10
  anything or go anywhere because it's kind of an S show like
• 19:13
  restaurants and bars and we really don't go anywhere on that
• 19:17
  day. Like we'll go someplace before
• 19:18
  or after. But if I can say dumb ass, you
• 19:20
  can say shit show. It's a shit show.
• 19:22
  So, so normally we don't go anywhere, but I do have a fun
• 19:25
  Saint Patrick's Day story for you, though.
• 19:27
  This is it on this is years and years and years ago, I was at a
• 19:30
  up surprise at a bar on Saint Patrick's Day and we're they're
• 19:33
  watching Johnny Home. We love Johnny Home.
• 19:34
  Johnny Home band. Yeah, right.
• 19:36
  And local band. Local band.
• 19:37
  And I was up front and having a good old time and had a many,
• 19:40
  many beers in my in my body and great balls of fire, you know,
• 19:44
  the Jerry Lee little song came on.
• 19:46
  Yeah, yeah. So Johnny pulls me up on stage
• 19:48
  and has me start singing it. And you could sing it.
• 19:51
  Oh hell. No, I was so drunk.
• 19:52
  I was staring at Johnny the entire time.
• 19:54
  Like one of the lyrics. I don't know how to sing this.
• 19:57
  I know the chorus of Great Balls of Fire.
• 19:59
  That's where it ends. So it was.
• 20:01
  Somewhat embarrassing but Eilish 3 sheets of the wind so I didn't
• 20:04
  care. I want to be there.
• 20:05
  That would have been fun. It was like, all right, so some
• 20:08
  from Saint Patrick's Day. I think the next big holiday is
• 20:10
  Easter. Yeah.
• 20:11
  OK. That makes sense.
• 20:12
  So Easter celebrates a Christian belief in the resurrection of
• 20:15
  Jesus Christ, occurring 3 days after his crucifixion, and marks
• 20:18
  the end of the Lenten season. Many traditions like eggs and
• 20:22
  bunnies have Pagan origin, symbolizing fertility and new
• 20:25
  life which Christians later integrated into the holiday.
• 20:28
  There's a lot of pagans in these.
• 20:29
  Holidays, there's a lot of Pagan everything starts then.
• 20:31
  I didn't realize that. And then Christians adopted.
• 20:34
  It yeah, we may have to go to a podcast on pagans.
• 20:36
  OK all. Right, you want to write that on
• 20:38
  it. The association of the Easter
• 20:43
  Bunny with Easter originated with the 18th century German
• 20:47
  tradition of the Easter hare, which was said to bring eggs to
• 20:52
  children. O Many Easter traditions that we
• 20:55
  know today were absorbed from the Pagan celebrations of
• 20:57
  spring, which marked the renewal of life after winter.
• 21:00
  The custom of decorating and eating eggs was also a symbol of
• 21:03
  rebirth and new life. Well, that seems odd.
• 21:06
  Why does it seem odd? Well.
• 21:08
  It's a spring holiday, but you're everything's starting to
• 21:11
  grow your new life. I know, but eating eggs you're,
• 21:14
  you're destroying the new life. Oh come on now, that's a.
• 21:18
  That's a little literal. I know, but it's what kind of
• 21:20
  what you're doing. But you remember always
• 21:21
  colouring eggs with your kids and.
• 21:23
  Yeah, and you had to hide the Easter bass.
• 21:25
  Oh yeah, all that stuff. It was fun when they're.
• 21:27
  Little, Yeah, when they're little.
• 21:28
  We spent many Easter running around in the cold winter hiding
• 21:31
  eggs outside. Yeah, us too.
• 21:33
  Yeah, and. Then we learned real quick to
• 21:34
  use the plastic eggs. No real eggs outside.
• 21:38
  The real eggs did turn into problems when it's cold outside.
• 21:40
  Did you ever find some eggs later in the summer?
• 21:42
  Oh God, yeah. They promptly went to the
• 21:45
  garbage. But did you know this?
• 21:48
  What Memorial Day began after the Civil War as Decoration Day,
• 21:52
  A day to honor the fallen soldiers by decorating their
• 21:55
  graves with the first nationally observed day on May 30th, 1860.
• 22:00
  Eight. I did not know that.
• 22:01
  No, I didn't either. That's why it's hard for me to
• 22:03
  read. Overtime, the holiday evolved to
• 22:07
  honor all Americans who have died in the military service.
• 22:10
  It wasn't officially declared a federal holiday until 1971, and
• 22:15
  now it's observed as the last Monday of May at. 71 Really.
• 22:19
  Yeah, I know. I was six years old.
• 22:20
  Yeah, I was like a month old. OK, you're young or like like 2
• 22:23
  weeks. I mean within our with our
• 22:25
  lifetime, it was just became a national holiday.
• 22:27
  I just, that's so surprising. I know, right?
• 22:29
  Kind of thought it was around forever, right?
• 22:31
  Yeah, that's interesting. So the next one then probably
• 22:33
  doesn't need a lot of background, but July 4th or
• 22:35
  Independence Day. So I think we all know this this
• 22:38
  this part of history class. I do remember, right.
• 22:40
  Yeah. July 4th, 1776, the Continental
• 22:43
  Congress formally adopted the Declaration of Independence, a
• 22:45
  document primarily drafted by Thomas Jefferson, which
• 22:48
  announced the colony separation from Great Britain.
• 22:51
  Yay. The 1st anniversary of
• 22:53
  Independence Day was celebrated in Philadelphia on July 4th,
• 22:56
  1777 with a spontaneous celebration that included a
• 22:59
  banquet and fireworks. Today, of course, July 4th is a
• 23:02
  national holiday celebrated with patriotic traditions such as
• 23:05
  fireworks, barbecues, parades and festivals across the nation.
• 23:08
  Do you celebrate? Yes and no.
• 23:12
  I mean, obviously we all have a day off from work, which is
• 23:14
  awesome. Yeah, he doesn't like that.
• 23:15
  And we'll usually try and get it's summer trying to get on the
• 23:18
  boat or I. Figured you'd go on a lake you.
• 23:20
  Guys probably go to the cabin. We're always at the cabin.
• 23:23
  Really. And now the kids are older, we
• 23:24
  really don't do the fireworks anymore.
• 23:26
  We don't either. We stopped in that long time
• 23:28
  ago. Too many people.
• 23:29
  Yeah, right. And my, I hate people.
• 23:31
  So what? What?
• 23:32
  Yeah, we've. Established that Rob doesn't
• 23:34
  care for a lot of. People just crowds and crowds
• 23:37
  not people I like, like person I love you.
• 23:40
  I love hanging out with. My friends, I hate the State
• 23:43
  Fair. 200,000 people in the city block right?
• 23:45
  That's what I hate. But do you have any like
• 23:47
  specific traditions you like to do then on the 4th of July?
• 23:50
  Not really. I mean, we'll be on barbecue and
• 23:52
  that sort of thing. And just where you cannot be
• 23:54
  more just, you know, like, like American wear red, white and
• 23:57
  blue, have a couple beers, right, and grill.
• 23:59
  So for for years the cabin we used to do a a little food
• 24:04
  contest with our neighbors and it was called Beers and Balls.
• 24:08
  Excuse me? So you'd have to create some
• 24:11
  sort of food dish in a ball shape and then pair it with a
• 24:15
  beer. That was one year food contest,
• 24:17
  and we had different food contests each for quite a while.
• 24:20
  Well, we recently just started that up again this last summer.
• 24:24
  Oh. What?
• 24:24
  Did you make sip and stick? Sip and stick.
• 24:29
  What is SIP and? Stick, sip and stick.
• 24:31
  It was anything that on a stick paired with anything you could
• 24:35
  sip. OK, so we had lots of foods on
• 24:37
  sticks and lots of drinks to go with it.
• 24:39
  It was amazing as fun. So give me some examples of what
• 24:42
  with this. OK, so there was a salad on a
• 24:45
  stick. A salad.
• 24:46
  Yeah, it was amazing. My kids made it.
• 24:48
  It was really good, actually. OK, there was.
• 24:51
  Can we elaborate, 'cause I think salad and I think how the hell,
• 24:54
  like it had been like a leaf of lettuce, right?
• 24:56
  It's not like. Well, a couple of leaves, but
• 24:58
  they were coiled up, you know, so they could stick a stick
• 25:01
  through it. Gotcha.
• 25:02
  And then there was tandoora, which is that Indian, a spice
• 25:06
  chicken. It was delicious.
• 25:08
  There were some shrimp dishes. There were some appetizer things
• 25:12
  on a stick. There were great drinks.
• 25:17
  We had some. Yeah, a delicious beer.
• 25:18
  Yeah, see, more importantly, what were we drinking?
• 25:20
  Yeah, some some really strong drinks.
• 25:23
  They were good. And then there's some really
• 25:25
  good beers. Yeah, those sort of thing.
• 25:27
  Fun fun were there. We made a sangria.
• 25:30
  Oh yeah. And we had a a meatball.
• 25:32
  We did a meatball, back to the beers and balls.
• 25:34
  But we just did a meatball and then had a dipping sauce with
• 25:37
  it. It was on a stick and we had a
• 25:39
  sangria with it. And who won?
• 25:41
  Our neighbors did and they they got a trophy, so hopefully the
• 25:45
  travelling trophy now will move along every year, whoever wins.
• 25:48
  What and what was the winning? Dish.
• 25:50
  Oh it was. Oh, this was amazing.
• 25:53
  It was breakfast on a stick, so it was French toast, eggs and
• 25:57
  sausage. All on a stick.
• 25:59
  It was so good. Yeah, no, of course she won.
• 26:00
  It was amazing. Yeah, right, of course.
• 26:03
  Were there any hot dogs on a stick?
• 26:04
  We didn't have any hot dogs on a stick.
• 26:06
  What? Why?
• 26:07
  Well, I know it's 4th of July, yeah.
• 26:08
  It's a tradition. Right.
• 26:10
  But no, we didn't have any hot dogs.
• 26:11
  Oh my gosh. Right.
• 26:12
  Well. Fail.
• 26:14
  Fail. There, Sure, right.
• 26:16
  Did you know what? That there are over 150 million
• 26:19
  hot dogs consumed on July 4th. No.
• 26:22
  OK, so half those hot dogs are eaten on Coney Island.
• 26:25
  Yeah, during the hot dog eating contest by Joey Chestnut.
• 26:29
  Dude, did you see his last? I'm.
• 26:31
  I'm looking up right now. It's last year.
• 26:32
  In 2025, he ate 70 1/2 hot dogs. How do you?
• 26:35
  Eat that much? Right.
• 26:36
  And where do they go at the? End almost.
• 26:38
  I would vomit. Well, you can't vomit or you
• 26:39
  lose like they kick you out well.
• 26:40
  I know you'd be disqualified, but Oh my gosh.
• 26:42
  But I can't imagine the other side way.
• 26:44
  I mean, I could pack away maybe three of them, right?
• 26:47
  But that's about it. But 70 1/2 and 10 minutes.
• 26:49
  No way I. Can't do 3 all day, but anyway,
• 26:52
  moving on. So President Calvin Coolidge was
• 26:55
  the only U.S. President to be born on the 4th
• 26:57
  of July. Oh, that's cool.
• 26:58
  And he's a president, Yeah. And there's something written on
• 27:00
  the back of the Declaration of Independence.
• 27:02
  And no, it isn't a treasure map written in invisible ink by
• 27:05
  Nicolas Cage. Right or.
• 27:08
  Or the Masons. So according to The History
• 27:11
  Channel, a simple message is written upside down across the
• 27:14
  bottom of the signed document that reads Original Declaration
• 27:17
  of Independence dated 4th July 1776.
• 27:21
  So that makes sense. So yeah, I suppose when they
• 27:22
  rolled it up, they had to be able to see what it was, right?
• 27:25
  Yeah. And to fit in the tube to take
• 27:27
  with them on little adventures. Right, just like on, you know,
• 27:30
  Nicholas Cage did on that movie. What was it called?
• 27:32
  National Treasure. National treasure.
• 27:34
  Thank you. National treasure too, I.
• 27:35
  Think you might have just said that?
• 27:38
  So the last holiday we're going to talk about today is Labor
• 27:41
  Day. Labor Day originated in the late
• 27:44
  19th century during the Industrial Revolution as a way
• 27:47
  to celebrate and recognize the social and economical
• 27:50
  achievements of American workers who faced long hours and unsafe
• 27:54
  conditions. The 1st celebration was a parade
• 27:56
  in New York City on September 5th, 1882, organized by the
• 28:01
  Central Labor Union. The holiday was officially
• 28:04
  established as a federal holiday after the violent Pullman Strike
• 28:08
  in 1894. I didn't know anything I didn't.
• 28:11
  Know anything about that? Yeah.
• 28:12
  Leading President Grover Cleveland to sign legislation to
• 28:16
  mend ties with the labor movement, Huh.
• 28:19
  So I guess, I guess in the back of my mind, I knew Labor Day had
• 28:22
  something to do with unions and you know.
• 28:24
  I know it had to do with the workforce.
• 28:26
  Right, but I. Never put that together.
• 28:28
  I didn't either. Yeah, and interesting so and OK.
• 28:31
  But it all kind of makes a little more sense though.
• 28:33
  But, you know, it does a sort of recognize the official end of
• 28:35
  summer for, you know, for all the kids who go to the school
• 28:39
  and right, it is the end of summer.
• 28:40
  Memorial Day is a start, Labor Day is the end, and then July
• 28:42
  4th is the middle, even though it's not.
• 28:45
  Right. That's kind of.
• 28:46
  How it feels, though? It feels, though, it totally
• 28:47
  does, right? Yeah, do.
• 28:49
  You do anything special for Labor Day?
• 28:51
  So that's usually the last weekend we get the boat on the
• 28:53
  water. OK.
• 28:54
  I mean, we try to go a little bit longer.
• 28:56
  But I mean, again, in Minnesota, it's all up and down and just
• 28:58
  sketchy. And we also have to winterize
• 29:00
  our boat and it just, it's just, it's a process, you know, it's
• 29:03
  just, it's a thing. So usually every day we try and
• 29:06
  get all three days and just kind of enjoy the weather.
• 29:08
  One last hurrah for everything. And we, we're always at the
• 29:11
  cabin and we, you know, we use that weekend to close it down.
• 29:14
  But as of late lately, we've been leaving it open now
• 29:16
  because, you know, we aren't rushing home to get kids just.
• 29:19
  Great. Yeah.
• 29:20
  So we have more time as adults to go up there in late fall.
• 29:23
  Yeah, you should. Really nice you.
• 29:24
  Should enjoy your old age. Right.
• 29:25
  Thank you. I will, Rob.
• 29:27
  Thanks. Thanks for pointing that out.
• 29:30
  So that's kind of a little bit on all the major, yeah.
• 29:34
  Holidays. We didn't talk about February
• 29:36
  9th pizza day though. Do you want to talk about
• 29:38
  February 9th pizza day? Are we going to have pizza on
• 29:40
  February 9th? Well, we are now OK so committed
• 29:43
  ourselves to it. So we shouldn't talk about our
• 29:45
  favorite pizzas then whenever we're close to February 9th?
• 29:48
  Oh, you don't talk about them now?
• 29:49
  You go. What's your favorite pizza?
• 29:51
  All of them. No, it's not.
• 29:53
  I don't think you like olives. No, you're sneaky.
• 30:00
  Hang on, hang on. There you go.
• 30:02
  That was good, That was good. That was that was that was rim
• 30:04
  shot worthy. So I have a few if I go down the
• 30:07
  list. OK, so Chicago, are you gonna be
• 30:10
  surprised when I say the Chicago pizza?
• 30:11
  It's not Chicago deep dish. No, because that's way too much.
• 30:14
  It's. Not Giordano's.
• 30:15
  I love the sauce. That's why I like pizza.
• 30:16
  OK, a little place called Vita Bella.
• 30:18
  Say it again, Vita. Bella Vita.
• 30:20
  Bella Vita, Bella Little, just a little like 2-3 store restaurant
• 30:23
  in in the suburbs W suburbs of Chicago.
• 30:25
  OK, excellent pizza, excellent sauce.
• 30:26
  One of my favorites from a long time ago, which they're hard to
• 30:28
  find. There's only one in Minnesota,
• 30:30
  but there's a whole bunch of Wisconsin.
• 30:31
  Yeah. Rocky Rococo.
• 30:32
  Oh, I've been to Rocky. ROCO Yeah, there's one in
• 30:34
  Brooklyn Park. We may have to make a trip up
• 30:36
  there. We used to have one in Mankato.
• 30:38
  Yeah, just have like a dozen in the state that's only left in
• 30:40
  Minnesota is in Brooklyn Park. OK.
• 30:42
  They actually a new story a couple weeks ago and they've had
• 30:44
  a surge of business. All the people like rediscovered
• 30:46
  them. Yeah, I used to live like 5
• 30:48
  minutes from them used to go. There all the time.
• 30:49
  They're good. It's good pizza.
• 30:50
  Very good. But locally, look, I don't
• 30:54
  probably don't have a local favorite pizza.
• 30:57
  Our take home pizza, like the best would honestly be from
• 31:00
  quick trip. Really, really they make it
• 31:02
  really good that not the frozen one.
• 31:03
  They have a fresh in the fresh case.
• 31:04
  They have good really good take home pizzas and they're
• 31:06
  relatively cheap. How about you?
• 31:07
  Well, I do prefer a good sausage pizza.
• 31:09
  Yeah, it's one of my favorite toppings, but it comes to a a
• 31:13
  pre made pizza. I do like, you know, put
• 31:16
  anything and everything on a pizza for me, like a garbage
• 31:18
  pizza. Sure, one of my favorites.
• 31:19
  OK, so I I love that. Now you make excellent pizzas at
• 31:22
  home because you have a wood and gas fired stove.
• 31:26
  Yeah. Outside I do.
• 31:27
  We're still trying to perfect the the crust, but we're getting
• 31:29
  pretty good at. Yeah, yeah.
• 31:31
  We haven't had that for a while. Just just just throwing that out
• 31:33
  there. OK, So what you're saying is I
• 31:34
  should have you over for pizza? There you go.
• 31:36
  Follow the train. All right.
• 31:37
  Yes. Picking up what you're.
• 31:39
  Putting down, there you go. Now I do want to plug 1 pizza
• 31:43
  joint though I found to be my favorite souffer ever in Rome.
• 31:47
  Oh, OK, I. Recommend going to Dar Poeta.
• 31:50
  Oh OK. Very good pizza, OK.
• 31:52
  That's about all I can say. I'm going to take your word for
• 31:54
  it. You know, the one time we did go
• 31:55
  to New York, the very first thing we did when we got off the
• 31:57
  subway was we went to found a pizza joint.
• 31:59
  Yeah. I mean, New York pizza just is
• 32:00
  different. It's is it OK?
• 32:02
  I haven't had New York pizza, so I don't know.
• 32:03
  It was excellent. It was actually, I mean, it's
• 32:05
  always very thinny. It's very, it's huge slice.
• 32:07
  You got to fold it over, you know, like a like sandwich
• 32:09
  almost. But that's kind of fun.
• 32:10
  Yeah, but it's just excellent. I think we had three different
• 32:12
  kinds of pizza and they're all phenomenal.
• 32:14
  Cool. Yeah, it's kind of a whole
• 32:15
  different world out there, so. OK, so well, that's the end of
• 32:18
  our holidays, I guess so, right? As always, please follow us on
• 32:21
  the socials at 011 More Thing Pod on Facebook and Instagram
• 32:24
  for highlights and news of our upcoming shows.
• 32:26
  And if you have any show ideas for us or just want to give us a
• 32:28
  feedback or just want to say hi cuz we love you, shoot us an
• 32:32
  e-mail olaonemorethingpod@gmail.com.
• 32:34
  Plus, we have merchandise, T-shirts and caps.
• 32:37
  If you're interested, just send us an e-mail.
• 32:38
  Oh, and one more thing. Well, actually that's a wrap,
• 32:41
  and I'm not just talking about the presents.
• 32:43
  See ya, we'll be back in 2026. Bye everyone.
• 32:46
  Hey, Rob. What you get me for Christmas?
• 32:48
  Nothing.