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Transcript

Happy Hour #200: Christmas Traditions · Stuff Mom Never Told You

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Hey, this is Annie and Samantha. Welcome to stuff I
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: never told you production of My Heart Radio and Hello
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: listeners coming at you from the future, kind of the
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: past or the past, we don't know, And that's kind
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: of what happened immediately in this episode. As you will hear,
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: this was a very special happy hour. We did it
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: in the office with super producer Christina and executive Rusumaya.
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: We hadn't seen each other for a while. Samantha and
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: I were both flustered because we haven't done a studio
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: recording for a while. So this did become a two parter.
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: Yes, of course it was going to be. I feel
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: like it was going to be inevitably, just because there's
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: four of us having a conversation and we haven't been
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: around each other in a long time and kind of
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: catching up on life.
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: But as this, if you're listening to it the day
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: it drops, it is Christmas. Yes, so if you celebrate,
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: Merry Christmas, happy, whatever you celebrate or don't celebrate, we
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: hope that you're all doing well. But if you're slightly
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: confused at the intro, it's because we didn't intend to
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: talk about Christmas traditions, but we ended up doing that.
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: Yes, it got fascinating because everybody had such different traditions
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: that I was not prepared. And also, as you will hear,
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: our executive producer just had a baby at the end
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: of last year. So when you're old and when you
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: have a child and Christmas traditions, there's so much added
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: to this. And it was just a fascinating conversation to
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: have with Maya as well, and I just have no filter.
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: Well, it was a wonderful conversation and so we did
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: split it in two. But that's why you might be
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: a little thrown by the intro, because we did not
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: intend to do that. But in this one we're focusing
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: on Christmas traditions and then stay tuned. On New Year's
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: Day we'll have one about New Year's traditions. Yes, so
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: please keep an ear out for that. Hope that all
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: of you are well, and let's get into it.
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: And welcome to a very special happy hour. Not only
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: are we in the studio for the yearly visit I
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: feel like now, but we're also joined by our super
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: executive producer Maya as well as our amazing producer. Over here,
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: I'm pointing like people can see me Christina.
• 2:40
  Speaker 3: Hello, I'm over here.
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: I'm pointing at people or like making this a tradition.
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: I think so it's a tradition today. Yes, we are
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: so excited to have your own for this amazing happy hour.
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: Just as a reminder, if you are doing anything happy
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: hour ish, do so responsibly because we love you and
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: we need you to stick around. Also, if we are
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: talking specifically about any products currently not being sponsored by
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: those products, maybe that will change in the future. Things
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: change a lot. We'd love sponsors to the good ones.
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: That is right, and that's what keeps the show going.
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: But yes, and that's correct. And our amazing executive producer
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: brought in some drinks for us. Can you tell them
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: what you brought in?
• 3:24
  Speaker 4: We have two drinks today. The first one is by
• 3:28
  Speaker 4: Spiritless I think is the name of the brand.
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: Oh, we love Spiritless group. We love them.
• 3:35
  Speaker 4: Dark like woody, you know, Ellie fancy. You know it
• 3:40
  Speaker 4: gives you the real vibes of an alcoholic cocktail. But
• 3:45
  Speaker 4: about the hangover, right, Yeah, so that's an espresso martini.
• 3:50
  Speaker 4: Everybody loves an espresso martini.
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: So good, it's so yummy right now.
• 3:54
  Speaker 4: But we also added a little bit of tonic water
• 3:56
  Speaker 4: in there, so it gives it that effervescence that like fun, a.
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: Little bright kick. I've been watching a lot of top
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: chefs recently, not a sponsor of they should, and every
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: time I get a chance, I'm like, get that little acid,
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: a little acid and heat, yeah, but acid.
• 4:12
  Speaker 4: And then the other one is tiled in cocktails, ready
• 4:16
  Speaker 4: to serve drink that has the flavor profiles of bright orange, tart, cherry,
• 4:23
  Speaker 4: a little oak in there, and some ginger. And the
• 4:27
  Speaker 4: name of that specific drink is Tandem. So you can
• 4:30
  Speaker 4: find that like any of your cocktail bar type places
• 4:34
  Speaker 4: that have spiritless drinks available. Actually, Total Wine has a
• 4:41
  Speaker 4: really great section of non alcoholic drinks and they're expanding
• 4:46
  Speaker 4: and I've even found just like regular grocery stores are
• 4:50
  Speaker 4: expanding their offering of non alcoholic drinks, especially beer. I
• 4:54
  Speaker 4: feel like is one that is like pretty accessible, a
• 4:57
  Speaker 4: lot of people can find them. I've I was out
• 4:59
  Speaker 4: in Louisiana, this like tiny town in pretty much the
• 5:03
  Speaker 4: middle of nowhere, and I found some non alcoholic beers
• 5:06
  Speaker 4: and I was really surprised. So it's becoming more and
• 5:09
  Speaker 4: more accessible to just like everyday people. It's not as
• 5:14
  Speaker 4: niche as it was even last year. I feel like,
• 5:17
  Speaker 4: so that's really exciting. But here in Atlanta there are
• 5:20
  Speaker 4: some really great locally owned spirit free just shops that
• 5:26
  Speaker 4: only sell spirit free drinks. So the new one where
• 5:31
  Speaker 4: I got these drinks was it is called Soberish and
• 5:34
  Speaker 4: that's in Kirkwood, Okay, And it's one of my new
• 5:37
  Speaker 4: favorite places to go because they just have like so
• 5:41
  Speaker 4: many offerings, wine, cocktails, ready to serve, you know, canns,
• 5:47
  Speaker 4: all everything you could possibly imagine. They have it.
• 5:51
  Speaker 2: Yes, I love that.
• 5:53
  Speaker 4: Let's give it a taste. Yeah, yeah, it has even
• 5:55
  Speaker 4: the bitters, so that orange bitter flavor it gives. It
• 6:00
  Speaker 4: has like on that back note, like even maybe a
• 6:02
  Speaker 4: little bit of like herbaceousness a little bit.
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: Oh, you've definitely been watching some Top Chef yep, yep.
• 6:09
  Speaker 4: You know here and there.
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: I like.
• 6:10
  Speaker 4: I love Tom. I love a good Tom.
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: Kristin Cash coming on as.
• 6:16
  Speaker 4: Oh my god, she's so good, so.
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: Much she's adoptee I love them too.
• 6:23
  Speaker 4: Oh my gosh, No, I really love her. I feel
• 6:26
  Speaker 4: like she's elevated the show, like taking it into the
• 6:28
  Speaker 4: new era.
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: Yeah, as much as I love Pedma, which I love
• 6:31
  Speaker 2: Paedma love you, please come on the show, please see me.
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: But yes, if they had to change it over, Kristin
• 6:38
  Speaker 2: was a fantastic cantect. Annie, I need you to jump
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: on the top chef board.
• 6:42
  Speaker 4: Please please.
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: Make me nervous competition stress.
• 6:49
  Speaker 4: Yes, yeah, I get stressed out.
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: Yes, I have definitely jumped on board the mock tel
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: slash non alcoholic drinks because I am a very sleepy
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: girl and since we've been doing our happy hour episodes,
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: I have to keep alert so I'm not yawning the
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: entire time. And now that you've given me this caffeine
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: caffeind version, I feel like I'm ready to go.
• 7:11
  Speaker 4: Oh yeah.
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: I love that I'm sitting this close to you any
• 7:14
  Speaker 2: because usually we're doing this on zoom, so that the
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: fact that I've get to make icon fact. It's fantastic Anyway,
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: real awkward, but one of the favorite things we do
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: Towards the end of the year. We love to have
• 7:27
  Speaker 2: either year in reviews or talk about what's coming up.
• 7:30
  Speaker 2: But what we want are some of our traditions. At
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: one point we were talking about our favorite holiday watches
• 7:37
  Speaker 2: as in like TVs or movies, and we've even talked
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: about traditions that we grew up with. So since we
• 7:43
  Speaker 2: actually get to sit with you Maya as well as
• 7:46
  Speaker 2: you Christina, we thought we would take this time to
• 7:49
  Speaker 2: let the listeners know a little bit more about you
• 7:51
  Speaker 2: and what your traditions are. So Maya, can you give
• 7:55
  Speaker 2: us a look at what is happening in your household
• 7:58
  Speaker 2: during this holiday slash New Year's traditions?
• 8:01
  Speaker 4: Yeah, so for the holidays, my husband and I feel
• 8:04
  Speaker 4: like we've tried to create our own traditions since buying
• 8:09
  Speaker 4: our house a few years back. I think it's just
• 8:13
  Speaker 4: fun to like make things that are just you. You know.
• 8:16
  Speaker 4: Of course you probably bring some things in from your upbringing.
• 8:20
  Speaker 4: But some of the traditions that we have established in
• 8:23
  Speaker 4: our own home is cutting down our own trees. So
• 8:26
  Speaker 4: we go to a tree farm that it just has
• 8:31
  Speaker 4: trees as far as the eye can see. And of
• 8:33
  Speaker 4: course in Georgia, maybe different parts of Georgia, like more
• 8:36
  Speaker 4: North Georgia, you have like the traditional Fraser fur and
• 8:40
  Speaker 4: Douglas fir. But we're a little bit further south still
• 8:45
  Speaker 4: North Georgia, but a little further south, so we have
• 8:48
  Speaker 4: here Cyprus and Cedar.
• 8:52
  Speaker 2: And I love that you have very specific types of trees.
• 8:55
  Speaker 2: And you know about this because in my head, I'm like, whoa, yeah,
• 8:58
  Speaker 2: Like I'm like, I know, I know those types. I'm
• 9:01
  Speaker 2: not that off board, like I know tree things kind
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: of and I know there's specific types of trees. But
• 9:10
  Speaker 2: I love that you actually know our region, in our
• 9:13
  Speaker 2: state what is available.
• 9:15
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I really I really like to like give back
• 9:17
  Speaker 4: to the local agriculture, you know, tap in with the
• 9:21
  Speaker 4: farmers here of course. So those are the ones that
• 9:25
  Speaker 4: you typically find that are grown in this region, and
• 9:28
  Speaker 4: so they're they don't have the same smell and the
• 9:31
  Speaker 4: same look. They still have that evergreen, you know, traditional
• 9:35
  Speaker 4: Christmas tree look, but the pines are a little bit different.
• 9:39
  Speaker 4: They're a little more full, less of that like straight
• 9:42
  Speaker 4: pine needle that you'll find on a Douglas for a
• 9:44
  Speaker 4: fraser for and the scent is a little bit different.
• 9:47
  Speaker 4: It's a little more woody, a little less like Christmasy,
• 9:50
  Speaker 4: but it still has a really nice like fresh tree
• 9:54
  Speaker 4: scent that you get in your house. And I really
• 9:57
  Speaker 4: enjoy that. And I just also like the idea of
• 9:59
  Speaker 4: going and cutting down your own tree. Although sometimes people
• 10:03
  Speaker 4: are like, oh, you're cutting down the trees but you know,
• 10:05
  Speaker 4: I've talked to the farmers there and it actually, you know,
• 10:08
  Speaker 4: as you cut down the trees, you can they of
• 10:11
  Speaker 4: course plant hundreds of trees every single year, and that
• 10:15
  Speaker 4: environment has set been set up for that, so they
• 10:19
  Speaker 4: say it's not really taking away from the environment that
• 10:22
  Speaker 4: it continues to Instead of like bringing trees in, right,
• 10:27
  Speaker 4: you know, from other states, you're actually you know, just
• 10:30
  Speaker 4: having a natural kind of cut from that area. So
• 10:35
  Speaker 4: that's what they say. I'll believe it. I guess, right,
• 10:38
  Speaker 4: if you're going to get a real tree, you might
• 10:40
  Speaker 4: as well do the labor to cut it down yourself.
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: At the work end, I will say, as the owner
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: of ten thousand trees in my backyard that are all
• 10:48
  Speaker 2: like one hundred and fifty thousand feet tall, we have
• 10:51
  Speaker 2: a lot of trees like. That's the one thing, especially
• 10:54
  Speaker 2: when it comes like pines, I don't know what kind.
• 10:57
  Speaker 2: I'm gonna have to come and let you come over
• 10:58
  Speaker 2: and you're tell me what kind of pines got back there.
• 11:01
  Speaker 2: But I'm sure they because it has been a business.
• 11:04
  Speaker 2: I know, growing up in North Georgia, they would have
• 11:06
  Speaker 2: literal Christmas farms everywhere, and then when they kind of
• 11:09
  Speaker 2: went low. They would turn the ground over and the
• 11:12
  Speaker 2: start again and it would take years, but it was
• 11:14
  Speaker 2: a whole thing, and it gave a lot of like
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: small towns, business place and tourism, which is a lot
• 11:21
  Speaker 2: of people coming through. But I need to know. So
• 11:24
  Speaker 2: do you know what is the best type of tree
• 11:27
  Speaker 2: to hang the ornaments on? Because that is important?
• 11:29
  Speaker 4: Yes, yeah, so I definitely have found So this year
• 11:34
  Speaker 4: we have a cypress tree, and I've found that between
• 11:41
  Speaker 4: the thickness of the branches and how sturdy they are,
• 11:46
  Speaker 4: I found that the cypress is better than a cedar
• 11:49
  Speaker 4: in terms of being able to uphold all the lights
• 11:53
  Speaker 4: and the ornaments, especially in comparison to if you're comparing
• 11:57
  Speaker 4: it to a traditional like Frasier for dug glass fur,
• 12:01
  Speaker 4: I would say that has the closest strength branch strength
• 12:05
  Speaker 4: to what you're used to. They're even like a within
• 12:09
  Speaker 4: the cypress and cedar family, they're like different varieties. So
• 12:13
  Speaker 4: there's like a sapphire blue, there's a they're all of
• 12:16
  Speaker 4: these different kinds.
• 12:19
  Speaker 2: Yes, yeah, that's like limon smells. You know.
• 12:22
  Speaker 4: I've never had that one, So I can't.
• 12:24
  Speaker 2: Say I'm not an.
• 12:29
  Speaker 4: Arborous, but I do know you know. I'm also like
• 12:31
  Speaker 4: a hobby gardener, so I know a little bit about
• 12:35
  Speaker 4: our local you know terrain.
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: Okay, Christina, do you have a tree? I do? Is
• 12:41
  Speaker 2: it real?
• 12:42
  Speaker 3: No? So it's the first year. This year, I bought
• 12:45
  Speaker 3: a mini tree. So I travel back home to Pennsylvania
• 12:52
  Speaker 3: every year, and I wanted to have something for the month,
• 12:55
  Speaker 3: so I bought like a small tree, like three feet maybe,
• 12:59
  Speaker 3: but it's nice to have. Never, yeah, I never really
• 13:01
  Speaker 3: got into like the local spirit because I spend a lot.
• 13:04
  Speaker 4: Of the month here.
• 13:05
  Speaker 3: I just go home like at the end of December.
• 13:07
  Speaker 3: But yeah, it's been nice and it lights up and I,
• 13:11
  Speaker 3: you know, have ornaments on it.
• 13:13
  Speaker 5: And I wish I should put my Edward dolls in there.
• 13:26
  Speaker 3: Oh he should be. Yeah, there's there's a big Santa
• 13:29
  Speaker 3: head as the star, which is a little on traditional.
• 13:33
  Speaker 3: I kind of like, did d I y ornaments because
• 13:35
  Speaker 3: I don't really have any collection of ornaments this first
• 13:38
  Speaker 3: year of having a tree in Atlanta, So it's kind
• 13:41
  Speaker 3: of like a food theme. I like had all these
• 13:45
  Speaker 3: like Ikia brand dog toys for little dogs, but they're
• 13:50
  Speaker 3: all like shaped like food, and I've always thought it
• 13:52
  Speaker 3: was so funny. I never had a U sport, so
• 13:55
  Speaker 3: I put ribbon on them, and now it's like ornaments.
• 13:57
  Speaker 3: It's like a strange tree.
• 13:59
  Speaker 2: That is amazing. Actually, idea as a party who hates
• 14:03
  Speaker 2: Christmas and does not have a tree, that's me. I
• 14:06
  Speaker 2: have a collection of ornaments any and I talked about
• 14:09
  Speaker 2: this previously, that my parents would give us and hopes
• 14:11
  Speaker 2: that I would grow into an adult and have a
• 14:14
  Speaker 2: family and be what quote unquote would be an ideal
• 14:16
  Speaker 2: of normal with the children by now, and I would
• 14:19
  Speaker 2: have these. I'm like, no, thank you, I don't like
• 14:20
  Speaker 2: any of this. But all of my ornaments were literal
• 14:23
  Speaker 2: plastic Mickey Mouse toys, and I'm like, this is one
• 14:27
  Speaker 2: of four twelve year old would use for their troops.
• 14:30
  Speaker 2: So I'm like, I mek it was.
• 14:32
  Speaker 3: I have an aunt who would have like the ant
• 14:35
  Speaker 3: that had like five trees in your house, and she
• 14:37
  Speaker 3: had a whole Disney themed tree. You know, so that
• 14:41
  Speaker 3: sounds like that.
• 14:42
  Speaker 4: She must have an incredible storage. Yeah, that's the part
• 14:45
  Speaker 4: of that, because to have all of that Christmas stuff,
• 14:48
  Speaker 4: it's just like sitting in one part of your house
• 14:52
  Speaker 4: or the year and you take it out to put
• 14:55
  Speaker 4: it all on your tree. Year within your house, and
• 14:57
  Speaker 4: it does. It takes years to build all that collection.
• 15:00
  Speaker 4: It's like a literal collection. Like we've just pulled out
• 15:05
  Speaker 4: some stuff because with a baby, it takes so much
• 15:08
  Speaker 4: more time to do anything, like double your time to
• 15:11
  Speaker 4: do anything. So somehow we're like just pulling down all
• 15:15
  Speaker 4: of the decorations. So we have the tree and we
• 15:18
  Speaker 4: have like a garland up and a in a wreath.
• 15:21
  Speaker 4: Right now, that's pretty much it, and we're like, okay,
• 15:24
  Speaker 4: finally we'll put the ornaments up and I'm pulling everything out.
• 15:27
  Speaker 4: I'm like wow, like we've actually accumulated like a good
• 15:31
  Speaker 4: number of things that we like, you know, like pulling
• 15:34
  Speaker 4: together your own Christmas collection is like wow, it's it's
• 15:39
  Speaker 4: an effort. Like every year maybe get like one thing
• 15:42
  Speaker 4: or two things to add to your collection, and then
• 15:46
  Speaker 4: it's like twenty years later that it's like, kids take
• 15:50
  Speaker 4: my Christmas collection.
• 15:52
  Speaker 2: So do you have a theme this year?
• 15:55
  Speaker 4: Yeah, this year it's kind of Christmas, especially because my
• 15:57
  Speaker 4: daughter's birthdays three days after Smith, so it's like Christmas
• 16:02
  Speaker 4: is very different this year. Like a lot of them
• 16:05
  Speaker 4: brain power going to Christmas is also going to like
• 16:08
  Speaker 4: thinking about her birthday, so it's different. It's it's definitely
• 16:13
  Speaker 4: changed how I think about Christmas now.
• 16:25
  Speaker 2: I bypassed the whole part of we haven't seen you
• 16:28
  Speaker 2: in a year, what's been going on in your life?
• 16:30
  Speaker 2: And jumped into the holidays. But can you tell the
• 16:33
  Speaker 2: listeners and then listen what's been going on in your life?
• 16:36
  Speaker 4: What's been going on in my life? Well it's a
• 16:37
  Speaker 4: good segue. Actually, So last time we were here, I
• 16:43
  Speaker 4: want to say, I think I don't know. I don't
• 16:46
  Speaker 4: remember if I was pregnant. I can't even remember.
• 16:47
  Speaker 2: When last time we knew.
• 16:49
  Speaker 4: Yeah, maybe I had just gotten pregnant.
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: I don't know.
• 16:52
  Speaker 4: I don't I definitely had not announced.
• 16:54
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 16:54
  Speaker 4: Yeah, so I've had a baby, had a baby, had
• 16:56
  Speaker 4: a whole human. Yea, yeah, she's very cute. Yeah, so
• 17:04
  Speaker 4: I've had a human. I've tried to heal from having
• 17:08
  Speaker 4: said human. It takes a really long time, a really
• 17:12
  Speaker 4: long time to I don't you know. I don't think
• 17:15
  Speaker 4: you ever go back. You definitely don't go back. I
• 17:19
  Speaker 4: was thinking yesterday, like sitting on the floor with her, like,
• 17:22
  Speaker 4: oh my god, you've changed so much that you actually
• 17:27
  Speaker 4: forgot how much you've changed, Like does that make sense? Like,
• 17:31
  Speaker 4: have you ever had like a moment where you're like,
• 17:33
  Speaker 4: I'm so far removed from the person I was before
• 17:36
  Speaker 4: that I can't remember what actually has changed about me,
• 17:40
  Speaker 4: Like I can't even see It's like whoa, Like that's
• 17:43
  Speaker 4: how much it has changed in the last year that
• 17:45
  Speaker 4: I don't even know.
• 17:46
  Speaker 2: Do you have the memories of like I used to
• 17:48
  Speaker 2: do this and it pops up to being like, oh,
• 17:50
  Speaker 2: that was not that long.
• 17:51
  Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, I do, but it feels like a different
• 17:56
  Speaker 4: like person in a way. It's like it definitely was me,
• 18:01
  Speaker 4: but it feels like alternate reality me in a way. Yeah.
• 18:08
  Speaker 4: So that's mostly what's changed in the last year is
• 18:11
  Speaker 4: that I become a mom.
• 18:13
  Speaker 2: That's a huge change.
• 18:14
  Speaker 4: Yeah, super huge change. And yeah, her birthday is a
• 18:18
  Speaker 4: couple days after Christmas, so our whole last year everything
• 18:23
  Speaker 4: Christmas was leading up to baby baby, excepecially because the
• 18:27
  Speaker 4: baby was supposed to have already been born by Christmas. Wow,
• 18:30
  Speaker 4: and she wasn't. And everybody's like where's the baby, like
• 18:35
  Speaker 4: staring at me on Christmas Day, like, so, when are
• 18:38
  Speaker 4: you gonna have this baby? I'm like, I would like
• 18:40
  Speaker 4: to know. I have no idea. I would have thought
• 18:43
  Speaker 4: I already had this baby by now, so yeah, that
• 18:46
  Speaker 4: was a lot of fun. It's definitely changed the way
• 18:49
  Speaker 4: the holidays look for us completely, And I'm like hell
• 18:52
  Speaker 4: bent on not creating a kid who feels like their
• 18:57
  Speaker 4: birthday was ignored because of Christmas. So I maybe have
• 19:01
  Speaker 4: become like oppositely very obsessed with making a perfect birthday
• 19:08
  Speaker 4: season time. Yeah, so that she doesn't feel like it
• 19:12
  Speaker 4: was a mush together thing, right, Like, I'm very hell
• 19:18
  Speaker 4: bent on like making sure she doesn't have that trauma
• 19:21
  Speaker 4: for the rest of her life.
• 19:22
  Speaker 2: I was going to ask, my sister actually was born
• 19:25
  Speaker 2: the day after Christmas. Yeah, so we have to make
• 19:28
  Speaker 2: sure that after our celebrations with Christmas presents and all
• 19:31
  Speaker 2: of that, that we actually have a separate time where
• 19:33
  Speaker 2: we bring out a cake, Happy Birthday and have an
• 19:36
  Speaker 2: additional presence. Yes that's not Christmas related.
• 19:39
  Speaker 4: And how did that work out for her?
• 19:41
  Speaker 2: As an adult? She has kind of just let it go.
• 19:43
  Speaker 2: I think, you know, when you get older, you're like
• 19:46
  Speaker 2: the birthday. I don't care. But I think as a kid,
• 19:49
  Speaker 2: if I remember correctly, I don't remember celebrating our birthday,
• 19:53
  Speaker 2: Oh my god, as much. This could be absolutely mainly
• 19:56
  Speaker 2: because I was also full of trauma coming into a
• 20:00
  Speaker 2: household that celebrated Christmas. In my like origination, I was
• 20:04
  Speaker 2: from South Korea, that wasn't a thing. So I was
• 20:07
  Speaker 2: just like, so you have this like multi factor of
• 20:10
  Speaker 2: like teaching the new edition me Christmas stuff and making
• 20:15
  Speaker 2: that joyful instead of very confusing because I'm like, some
• 20:17
  Speaker 2: dude comes in and leaves me guess what the hell is happening,
• 20:20
  Speaker 2: versus celebrating my sister who also loves like playing mom.
• 20:25
  Speaker 2: She loved playing mom because she significantly older than me,
• 20:27
  Speaker 2: about ten years older than me, so she was in
• 20:29
  Speaker 2: her late teens where she was, you know, loving the
• 20:32
  Speaker 2: babysitting thing and all that. So I was kind of
• 20:33
  Speaker 2: the extra you know toy. Yeah, she didn't treat me
• 20:36
  Speaker 2: that way, but you know what I mean in that
• 20:38
  Speaker 2: trying to baby me, so like she also enjoyed that.
• 20:40
  Speaker 2: So maybe that's why it's so overshadowed. But I feel
• 20:45
  Speaker 2: like as a hit later people realize, Okay, we need
• 20:49
  Speaker 2: to celebrate her a little more appreciate her. Literally when
• 20:53
  Speaker 2: she became a mom, it was interesting because they couldn't
• 20:55
  Speaker 2: differentiate either. This is that whole like level of like
• 20:59
  Speaker 2: when she was married to her ex now ex husband.
• 21:02
  Speaker 2: He was just awful, Like his like level of what
• 21:05
  Speaker 2: we call the weaponized and competence was that high. So
• 21:09
  Speaker 2: because they were doing Christmas, he just be like bypass
• 21:12
  Speaker 2: all of that. That's a whole different story. All of
• 21:14
  Speaker 2: that to note, it is like I wonder with newer
• 21:18
  Speaker 2: parents and understanding these things because like our generation, you're
• 21:21
  Speaker 2: a little younger than me, but like especially those who
• 21:23
  Speaker 2: are raised by boomers, not seeing the okay, So like
• 21:30
  Speaker 2: those level of parents not seeing these sometimes not seeing
• 21:33
  Speaker 2: the importance because that type of timeframe was kids are disciplined,
• 21:37
  Speaker 2: they're loved, but they need to be straightened out first
• 21:40
  Speaker 2: before anything else. So it's a different level of what
• 21:43
  Speaker 2: we see in parenting today and being like, no, but
• 21:45
  Speaker 2: they have their own personality. We want to help share
• 21:47
  Speaker 2: and make sure that they are special, but also understand
• 21:49
  Speaker 2: they need empathy. So I was wondering, Yeah, how are you,
• 21:52
  Speaker 2: how are you doing the separating it out?
• 21:55
  Speaker 4: Well, yeah, I mean it's easy right now. She's still
• 21:58
  Speaker 4: a baby, so that helps. We have a little bit
• 22:01
  Speaker 4: of time to figure it out. So I feel like
• 22:03
  Speaker 4: these first like two years were like you know, testing
• 22:07
  Speaker 4: out different scenarios, right, like, Okay, how are we going
• 22:10
  Speaker 4: to do this? How is this going to work? Before
• 22:12
  Speaker 4: she really cares or knows how it is. I grew
• 22:16
  Speaker 4: up in a family that, like Christmas was a really
• 22:19
  Speaker 4: big deal and my parents did, Like now that I'm
• 22:22
  Speaker 4: an adult and like whoa, oh my god, they did
• 22:25
  Speaker 4: a lot to make Christmas like magical and like we
• 22:29
  Speaker 4: had no presence under the tree until Christmas morning and
• 22:33
  Speaker 4: like everything like you wake up and like, oh my god. Like,
• 22:36
  Speaker 4: so I grew up in that kind of family. So
• 22:39
  Speaker 4: and my husband did not know. Yeah, he like his
• 22:42
  Speaker 4: family's not Christian, but his mom was Catholic, so like
• 22:47
  Speaker 4: she was a convert, you know, but they still celebrated Christmas,
• 22:50
  Speaker 4: but it was like it was more like secular Christmas
• 22:55
  Speaker 4: and so like a deal but not a big deal.
• 22:59
  Speaker 4: And so he's like married into this family where it's
• 23:01
  Speaker 4: like Christmas is a big deal and my dad's like,
• 23:04
  Speaker 4: you must continue on the magic for our grandchild. But
• 23:09
  Speaker 4: like I've taken on most of that weight. So I'm like,
• 23:11
  Speaker 4: you know, no no pressure, but yeah, it feels it
• 23:17
  Speaker 4: does feel like an over a little bit of an
• 23:19
  Speaker 4: overwhelming task, you know. It's like so many pieces of
• 23:23
  Speaker 4: the puzzle that have to like fit together perfectly. But
• 23:26
  Speaker 4: one thing I do kind of think I want to
• 23:28
  Speaker 4: do is like after Christmas is over. Which is a
• 23:30
  Speaker 4: benefit of the birthday being after Christmas and not before,
• 23:33
  Speaker 4: is that like afterwards you can say like, Okay, great,
• 23:36
  Speaker 4: Christmas is over. Now it's birthday, which I think makes
• 23:39
  Speaker 4: it a little bit easier. So that will of course
• 23:42
  Speaker 4: go into like a new tradition, right, you know, like
• 23:45
  Speaker 4: that's a new tradition of bringing her into the family
• 23:49
  Speaker 4: and what her birthday looks like in addition to the holidays,
• 23:53
  Speaker 4: because it's like smack dab in between Christmas and New
• 23:56
  Speaker 4: Year's y you know, and New Year's. Like I guess
• 24:00
  Speaker 4: my family just loves holidays because my mom used to
• 24:04
  Speaker 4: like throw this big party New York's Day and like
• 24:07
  Speaker 4: invite the whole neighborhood over.
• 24:09
  Speaker 2: Your family was social social, yeah, okay.
• 24:12
  Speaker 4: But only around the holidays. It's like not the rest
• 24:14
  Speaker 4: of the year. Just took holidays and like she would
• 24:17
  Speaker 4: cook gumbo, which takes like hours and hours. My dad's
• 24:21
  Speaker 4: family is from Louisiana, so that was like a big deal.
• 24:24
  Speaker 4: We do like the red beans and rice and the
• 24:27
  Speaker 4: collar greens, like very traditional, So that was like another
• 24:31
  Speaker 4: tradition that I kind of have taken on. Like I
• 24:34
  Speaker 4: don't invite a whole bunch of people over, but I
• 24:36
  Speaker 4: do like the cooking. I do like the collar greens
• 24:38
  Speaker 4: and the black eyed peas. I do like to cook
• 24:40
  Speaker 4: top chef.
• 24:41
  Speaker 2: Oh, I love top chefs. I'm not cook. I don't
• 24:45
  Speaker 2: know how to how to explain this, So I do
• 24:57
  Speaker 2: have questions because any have we talked about this before?
• 25:00
  Speaker 2: So in your tradition, y'all didn't do a Christmas Eve
• 25:03
  Speaker 2: gift opening like one you can't pick out one gift?
• 25:05
  Speaker 4: No, never heard exactly.
• 25:10
  Speaker 2: He came to your house early, so we would have
• 25:12
  Speaker 2: no because like we would also give each other gifts.
• 25:15
  Speaker 2: So I had so our siblings, would you know when
• 25:18
  Speaker 2: you're younger, of course it was a parent's buying for us,
• 25:20
  Speaker 2: but like you know, the adult siblings because again we
• 25:23
  Speaker 2: had a pretty good age gap, so we would have
• 25:25
  Speaker 2: some presents underneath. So we could choose one friend because
• 25:28
  Speaker 2: I was very excited about gifts. I love giving gifts
• 25:32
  Speaker 2: and all the giving gifts, so so we So am
• 25:35
  Speaker 2: I the only one.
• 25:36
  Speaker 4: I've heard of this?
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: I've heard of it I just won one time, just once,
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: but I remember it because it was cool. My dad
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: took me to Toys r s on Christmas Eve and
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: let me pick out a gift. But notably, all of
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: our gifts weren't from Santa. They were from mom.
• 25:54
  Speaker 2: So you had no Santa.
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: We had Santa, but that would be like the random
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: things that showed up the next day.
• 26:01
  Speaker 4: Yeah, it's interesting how people do Santa.
• 26:04
  Speaker 2: Yeah, definitely. Yeah, so all your gifts were from Santa.
• 26:09
  Speaker 3: I mean, I think it's somewhere from my parents, but
• 26:11
  Speaker 3: they just bunched it in with Santa.
• 26:13
  Speaker 4: Yeah, it was like ninety percent Santa. And then they're
• 26:16
  Speaker 4: like it was like the opposite where like there'd be
• 26:18
  Speaker 4: like one or two gifts from mom and dad, and
• 26:20
  Speaker 4: then of course like aunts and uncles. Right in my family,
• 26:24
  Speaker 4: my mom had a bunch of siblings, so like one
• 26:27
  Speaker 4: ant or uncle would be assigned a kid. Yeah, so
• 26:31
  Speaker 4: they get like one gift from one of your aunts
• 26:34
  Speaker 4: and uncles, yes, and then like grandparents, but everything else
• 26:37
  Speaker 4: was Santa.
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 26:38
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 26:38
  Speaker 2: We did a whole name drawing because we were so
• 26:41
  Speaker 2: large of families, so we would draw names and or
• 26:44
  Speaker 2: play really silly games like the white elephant. I love games, love,
• 26:48
  Speaker 2: so I didn't get that later in years. Yeah, so
• 26:51
  Speaker 2: were your presence rapped or unwrapped by Santa?
• 26:54
  Speaker 3: I also had siblings, and I wanted to say that
• 26:57
  Speaker 3: we did not give each other gifts. Okay, so maybe
• 26:59
  Speaker 3: that's a big difference here too, But I think my
• 27:03
  Speaker 3: my parents, my mom, you know, it was totally my
• 27:06
  Speaker 3: mom's chore to wrap everything. I have three other siblings,
• 27:11
  Speaker 3: so at some point it turned into gifts in a
• 27:13
  Speaker 3: big bag. It's a festive I reminded it. I mean
• 27:20
  Speaker 3: I think some were wrapped. I also have like we
• 27:22
  Speaker 3: call them godparents. I mean I guess they are godparents
• 27:25
  Speaker 3: and their aunt and uncle gifts and those are wrapped,
• 27:28
  Speaker 3: and grandma and grandpa gifts like those would be wrapped.
• 27:31
  Speaker 4: But yeah, bag, all gifts were wrapped. Under of gifts
• 27:36
  Speaker 4: were wrapped, except for there were a few Christmases I
• 27:39
  Speaker 4: think maybe around the age like nine ten, when I
• 27:42
  Speaker 4: feel like that's like peak Christmas time, when it's like
• 27:45
  Speaker 4: you're very engaged in the whole idea of having a list,
• 27:49
  Speaker 4: you know what you want, and then you're excited the
• 27:51
  Speaker 4: toys magazine.
• 27:53
  Speaker 2: Yes, okay, so a sears or the toy I had
• 27:56
  Speaker 2: to did you.
• 27:59
  Speaker 3: The best thing ever?
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: I didn't even know.
• 28:01
  Speaker 2: If you don't know, I would get a catalog and
• 28:06
  Speaker 2: we would have to pick out all of our gifts
• 28:09
  Speaker 2: through that with what page? I don't know.
• 28:11
  Speaker 4: That's very efficient.
• 28:12
  Speaker 2: Yeah, my mother because she was not going to guess
• 28:15
  Speaker 2: what we would go overboard at the time. But like
• 28:17
  Speaker 2: Sears Christmas catalog. Do you all know what I'm talking about?
• 28:21
  Speaker 2: So it was a tradition that it comes in and
• 28:23
  Speaker 2: every all the kids just.
• 28:24
  Speaker 3: You're supposed to do it that way, right, Like there's
• 28:26
  Speaker 3: Mark like squear.
• 28:28
  Speaker 2: They have the specific things. How did so did your
• 28:30
  Speaker 2: parents pick out guests lists? You would do?
• 28:34
  Speaker 4: I would do like you.
• 28:35
  Speaker 3: Would you do the list or the toys? It would
• 28:40
  Speaker 3: just tell them what I wanted. Yeah, they knew I
• 28:42
  Speaker 3: always wanted something. I was obsessed with toys.
• 28:45
  Speaker 4: I I was an extended Santa kid. I was like
• 28:49
  Speaker 4: that kid that still believed in Santa.
• 28:50
  Speaker 2: Like did they do like the bills? STA? Did you do.
• 29:01
  Speaker 4: So cute?
• 29:02
  Speaker 2: So my parents did that one time. I think it
• 29:05
  Speaker 2: was very quick because I did not believe in Santa
• 29:07
  Speaker 2: from jump because this doesn't make sense, so they try
• 29:09
  Speaker 2: to do it for me once or twice, I was like.
• 29:12
  Speaker 4: Yeah, wow, I'm a little conflicted. I think it's like
• 29:16
  Speaker 4: I love the idea of it, but like now in
• 29:19
  Speaker 4: practice thinking of it, it's like, oh my god, of
• 29:21
  Speaker 4: course you know there's some whimsy like you have to
• 29:24
  Speaker 4: have like the magic of it all. But it's like,
• 29:26
  Speaker 4: at what point are you I don't know, are you
• 29:29
  Speaker 4: continuing on like a lie? I don't know. I'm still
• 29:32
  Speaker 4: not quite sure how we're gonna introduce it or if
• 29:36
  Speaker 4: it's just gonna be there, because like we do listen
• 29:39
  Speaker 4: to Christmas music and like all that kind of stuff
• 29:41
  Speaker 4: is very much like around But I don't know, I do.
• 29:44
  Speaker 4: I do feel slightly conflicted, only because I was very
• 29:48
  Speaker 4: sad once I realized, yeah, it did. Like I still
• 29:54
  Speaker 4: remember the Christmas morning where I was like, something's not
• 29:58
  Speaker 4: the same. No, literally, that's actually how I felt, and
• 30:04
  Speaker 4: it was like very sad.
• 30:06
  Speaker 2: It was. Did you have that moment, Chrisina.
• 30:08
  Speaker 3: I couldn't even tell you when I realized he was
• 30:11
  Speaker 3: not real. But my family, I have a huge family,
• 30:14
  Speaker 3: and we have a giant family Christmas party, and there's
• 30:18
  Speaker 3: always an uncle or a cousin who dresses us Santa
• 30:21
  Speaker 3: and comes in, and I have a million like little
• 30:24
  Speaker 3: cousins and little kid cousins, and I was one of
• 30:26
  Speaker 3: those at one point, and there would always be like
• 30:28
  Speaker 3: one gift we all get. It's like the most fun
• 30:32
  Speaker 3: Christmas memory for being a kid. But we all believed
• 30:35
  Speaker 3: in Santa for a while too. But I couldn't tell
• 30:36
  Speaker 3: you when I do remember a kid who believed in
• 30:40
  Speaker 3: Santa really late in that that poor kid Brian.
• 30:44
  Speaker 4: He he got bullied.
• 30:47
  Speaker 3: He got bullied for it, and I feel bad about that.
• 30:55
  Speaker 4: So when did the Santa come in? Was it Christmas Day?
• 30:59
  Speaker 3: No? So we it's I guess it's hard to plan
• 31:02
  Speaker 3: with so many people. So our party would be like
• 31:05
  Speaker 3: sometimes even in January, oh wow, maybe early December, mid December.
• 31:10
  Speaker 3: It's never like on the day or anything. I think
• 31:13
  Speaker 3: we would all like eat and do like godparent gifts
• 31:16
  Speaker 3: there and Santa would come in.
• 31:19
  Speaker 4: It was a big fun So it was just like
• 31:21
  Speaker 4: a Santa appearance.
• 31:23
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I believed it. I mean he came early just
• 31:27
  Speaker 3: to come to this party.
• 31:28
  Speaker 4: I mean, I guess it's the same as like pictures
• 31:31
  Speaker 4: with Santa, because it's like why is he here? You know,
• 31:34
  Speaker 4: when you're a kid, you don't think about that.
• 31:39
  Speaker 2: I've heard that explanation. I worked for him, so it's.
• 31:44
  Speaker 4: Not the real Santa. He's just like a Santa's friend.
• 31:48
  Speaker 2: Yeah, he's helping. Did you believe in Santa Claus?
• 31:52
  Speaker 1: Annie years old?
• 31:54
  Speaker 2: Okay, okay, So your parents did try to start with
• 31:58
  Speaker 2: Santa stuff.
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: I know, but they own they try. I could have
• 32:03
  Speaker 1: been very much on my own. I was a very
• 32:06
  Speaker 1: imaginative kid. They tried to foster the belief that they
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: would do things. But the funniest thing they ever did,
• 32:14
  Speaker 1: in my opinion, is I really wanted a swing set
• 32:17
  Speaker 1: one year, and they're just not going to give me
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: a swing set. It's just not going to happen. So
• 32:21
  Speaker 1: Santa sent me a note. It was a picture of
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: a swing set, and it was like maybe.
• 32:27
  Speaker 4: One day.
• 32:30
  Speaker 2: Taunting.
• 32:30
  Speaker 1: It was handwriting, and I remember thinking like it writes
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: like my I didn't put it together.
• 32:38
  Speaker 4: That's actually kind of funny, like a note from Santa
• 32:42
  Speaker 4: being like, you know, I didn't forget, but not this year.
• 32:47
  Speaker 2: Rather than a promise, well did you ever get it?
• 32:50
  Speaker 4: No, they knew I wasn't like one of those big
• 32:54
  Speaker 4: swing set two swings and a sign. Yeah expensive, Yeah,
• 33:01
  Speaker 4: I shouldn't.
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: They were right to be like right.
• 33:07
  Speaker 2: Like I want a horse, and they're like, we live
• 33:09
  Speaker 2: in New York, so we can't. That's not going to
• 33:12
  Speaker 2: be a thing.
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: That brings us to the end of this Christmas Tradition
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: episode Happy Hour. As mentioned, we do have a second
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: part where we're going to examine New Year's traditions with
• 33:24
  Speaker 1: Christina and Maya as well, so that's going to be
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: really fun. We would love to hear from you listeners,
• 33:30
  Speaker 1: any traditions that you might have. We didn't even get
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: into one I want to ask, which is my grandparents
• 33:36
  Speaker 1: used to be really superstitious that you had to take
• 33:40
  Speaker 1: down all the Christmas decorations before New Year's. Oh wow, yes,
• 33:45
  Speaker 1: they had to be gone before New Year's or else
• 33:47
  Speaker 1: this New Year's cursed. Yes, So we would love to
• 33:52
  Speaker 1: hear from you if you have any traditions like that
• 33:54
  Speaker 1: around any holidays. So if you would like to contact us,
• 33:58
  Speaker 1: you can. You can email us that hell what stuff
• 34:00
  Speaker 1: one never told you? You can find it's on Blue
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: Sky at mom Stuff podcast or on Instagram and TikTok
• 34:04
  Speaker 1: at stuff We Never told you. We're also on YouTube,
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: but we have some new merchandise at com Hero and
• 34:09
  Speaker 1: we have a book wherever you get your books. Thanks
• 34:11
  Speaker 1: as always to our super producer Christina, our executive Rusa,
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: and our contributer Joey. Thank you and thanks to you
• 34:17
  Speaker 1: for listening stuff never told you. Procure I Heeart Radio
• 34:19
  Speaker 1: for more podcast from my Heart Radio, you can check
• 34:21
  Speaker 1: out the heart Radio app Apple Podcast wherever you listen
• 34:23
  Speaker 1: to your favorite show.