Hello from Bear and Curadh, a podcast from the Land of Awes Information Services.
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I love you Curadh.
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I love you Bear.
This is episode 84 of the Bear and Curadh podcast.
We're going to talk about Christmas traditions.
These are common Christmas traditions that people do.
Okay.
So, when you want to start doing, we can talk about that, I guess.
Okay.
All right, I guess the first one is watch a Christmas tree lighting ceremony.
I have never, ever done that in my entire life.
Um, even on TV?
Not that I can remember.
I think I've watched the one that Rockefeller Center
getting lit up on TV a few times.
Hmm.
But that's about it.
I've never been like alive.
Your family doesn't do that.
Yeah.
My family doesn't either.
Yeah, my family doesn't really do many traditions.
So, this might be, uh, yeah, I watch the one that they have
in the Rockefeller down in downtown in Manhattan.
I've seen that on TV.
I imagine it's a lot of musicians that want to promote their Christmas
albums and stuff like that.
Yeah.
It's pretty much that's exactly it.
And of course, they have the rockets there and doing their thing.
And, I mean, it's, it's kind of neat.
It's, I don't know, New York looks like, to me, would be a lot of fun during Christmas
time.
I mean, the whole city seems to really get behind it and every movie you ever watch is always
based in New York around Christmas time.
So, I think New York will be a lot of fun to visit during Christmas.
Speaking of the rockets, do you know the difference between the rockets and a magic act?
No, but I'm sure you're going to tell me a magic act is a cunning array of stunts.
Okay.
And the rockets are stunning.
Yeah, we don't need to finish that.
Go to a fancy restaurant.
So, I guess so, I guess, we think it was never a tradition in my family.
But a lot of companies that I've worked for have done that.
They've gone to Scotch and Sirloin or whatever and taken all the employees instead of giving
them a bonus.
Yeah, I guess, I guess I've done that and yeah, I look like Christmas parties for work,
type of thing.
Yeah.
Didn't you take me to one once?
Yeah, I was going to say that was for a friend of mine's birthday.
Her birthday's on the 24th.
And we went to one thing.
That's pretty rough, isn't it?
Yeah, she hates it.
She absolutely hates it.
She says that no matter what your birthday gets overlooked, everyone will say this is your
birthday and your Christmas gift.
Exactly.
So, and they try to combine it too.
So, that must suck as a being a little kid.
Especially.
I mean, as you get older, I don't think it matters much.
But it's still, you can still tell that bothers are quite a bit, but I'm like, I'm, you're
competing with baby Jesus.
I can't stop laughing to that.
She doesn't think that's very funny, but I do.
So.
Oh well.
But okay, bacon decorate cookies.
We have done that.
We've done that.
Yes.
Was it Christmas cookies specifically?
They were sugar cookies then we decorated them with sprinkles and with Christmas tree sprinkles.
And I don't see why we can't do that again.
We just take some more insulin.
Yeah.
I enjoy the cookies.
Well, since we have an oven that works.
Yeah.
I would like to do that.
And now I have a sink that works too.
True.
So.
We don't have any money, but we have a sink that works.
Yeah.
But it's, it's about moving needed it.
So, but now we have, we've done that a few times.
I think we've done this in the last two years.
My family never did that that I could remember.
My mom bakes cookies every year.
She makes chocolate chip cookies, oatmeal cookies, oatmeal raisin, I should say, pizzels.
And I can see her making them from scratch and not from goes that you squeeze out of a tube.
Yeah.
She mixes it all in, does it all, yeah, from scratch.
I mean, I think the chocolate chip cookies should just use as the toe house recipe on the
back of the chocolate chip bag, but they're really good growing up, I don't care.
And then, yeah, she gets the whole pizzel, you know, what pizzel is.
No, I don't.
It's a pizzel.
It's a thin Italian cookie.
It looks like a snowflake, they're round and they're flat.
They almost taste like licorice or peppermint.
That doesn't sound very good.
I always love them or they hate them, I was never a big fan of them, they're not a very
strong flavor at all by any means, but yeah, she loves, you know, you have to have a press
to do it.
And well, yeah, so she used to do it.
I don't know if she doesn't anymore, but yeah, my favorite was her oatmeal raisin cookies.
And then every once in a while, every year, she would come up with a new cookie to make.
So, one of my fond, fond childhood memories, being a diabetic.
If my mother ever made Christmas cookies, it was probably for the altar society at the
church.
So, we probably only got one of them.
Yeah.
Yeah, my mom made for me pins of them, just trays and trays and trays of them.
So, go to a holiday market and never did that.
I think maybe I did only because I was working for companies that does the tickets at this
civic center.
Okay.
And I was working the door selling tickets and taking tickets.
And when you do that, you got whatever show it was, you got to go for free.
Okay.
And I think there was a Christmas thing, but I don't think I would pay to go to a holiday
market.
Well, your mom and your sister, actually, put them up if it wasn't there is a church somewhere.
I think it has a big one, all summer long, they go to garage sales and buy people's Christmas
stuff that they don't want anymore, oftentimes people just give away their old Christmas stuff.
Anyway, they'll buy it and they'll make reeds and all kinds of Christmas things and then
in the fall, they go to this big show and they'd sell them all.
Okay.
That's a good point to make some extra cash.
Yeah.
I mean, it seems like your mom gets really into the holidays.
Yes.
She decorates.
I mean, it looks like the North Pole threw up in your house.
Well, she always liked that as even as a kid.
Probably.
Yeah.
I remember we had a white, flocked aluminum tree with one of those lights with the spinning
colors.
Like a disco ball?
No.
Like a fountain light like you'd have in a water fountain.
But it had a wheel in front of it that would turn and change the tree different colors as
it turned.
Hmm.
So, you guys never had like a natural tree that you watered in here enough effort that I
can ever revalue, or no?
Yeah.
We always...
I remember one of...
Well, it won't probably come up a little bit later in this.
But we always had a natural tree until my dad died and then I remember when we got our
first fake tree in my sister about that fit.
And I was...
I was already at a college.
I've already moved down and I was just visiting home and my mom's like, "Let's stop and get
a tree on my own."
And we went and picked up a fake tree and my sister came home and she was not happy, but she
got over it.
So...
Well, a lot of those trees look stunningly real.
Oh, yeah.
And like, our tree looks like a big green toilet brush.
Yeah.
So, we don't put it up anymore.
It's a huge tree.
It was in a store window when I got it.
So, it's like...
But 12, 15 feet wide and 12, 15 feet tall.
Yeah.
It's big.
When you have a house like ours with 20-foot-tall ceilings, you need a little tricky five-foot
tree.
It doesn't do it.
No.
You need a big tree.
Yeah.
I mean, having a real tree is nice, but it is more maintenance.
Mm-hmm.
He's got lots of needles in the carpet.
You've got to...
You've got to water it and, you know, and you bring it home before you put it in the house.
You've got to make sure that there's no vermin in it.
So...
Because, well, that's if you go out into the wilderness and chop down a tree, which you really
shouldn't do.
Well, we did that as a kid.
I remember doing that with my dad and I can see your dad doing that.
Yeah.
He was too cheap to go out and buy one.
So...
But you have...
I remember being a little kid and finding a bird's nest in there and getting all upset.
And when your dad's like, "There's no birds in it."
Why do you upset about it?
You know, he's finding some sort of bird's nest and there may not be birds in it, but there
will be bugs in it.
Yeah.
But I mean, normally he was cold enough and then they started spraying the trees.
So, when you bought them inside, they would smell.
So, we stopped doing that before.
We found that out before here and we never had experienced that, but some of the trees
they would spray.
Well, that's a fire retardant, I think.
So that your tree, the lights don't catch the tree on fire?
Well, it smelled God awful, but it was a way for people not to go down and chop trees now
and believe it was.
Oh, they would spray the trees in the park.
In the park?
Whatever, yeah.
Yeah, I've heard of that.
Yeah.
So, we never learned that the hard way.
So, thank God.
Good.
And go ice skating.
To that I recall, I don't think I've ever been ice skating Christmas or not.
I think I did it as a little So, kid.
I think maybe I did too, and I don't remember it.
Yeah, after reading this, I know I did it as a little kid that used to be an ice rink
back home.
We lived in Massachusetts for a while and everybody had an ice rink.
It's real big on the east coast.
And I believe I remember seeing child-sized skates in the basement, but I have no memory
of it.
Yeah.
So, you're thinking about it, but not sure.
There might even be pictures or movies somewhere, but no, I have no memory of it.
Yeah, ice skating is not very fun if you're not good at it, because it hurts when you fall.
If it's like water skiing, then I wouldn't be any good at it either.
Yeah.
Make real hot chocolate.
No, the only hot chocolate I've ever made was Swiss mass.
With the packet.
With the packets?
Yeah.
I believe I have done that many times, but not necessarily for Christmas tradition.
How do you make real hot chocolate?
You just warm up milk and you put chocolate syrup in it.
Okay.
So, you don't get like chocolate cubes or anything like that?
Cubes of chocolate?
Um, no.
You probably could.
I don't know how you would keep the chocolate from seizing, though.
Yeah, that's what I was wondering.
Hershey's chocolate syrup is a lot easier.
Oh, okay.
Yeah, I've...
No.
I'm not a real big hot chocolate pan.
I mean, when I have it, I love it.
It's...
But it's never something that I think about.
I know that you like getting it when it's cold.
Mm-hmm.
We have a quick shift to three down the street.
And that's not the same.
That's almost like the Swiss mass packets.
Mm-hmm.
Now, you start a taste-free game So,
[laughs]
Okay.
Do an advent calendar.
Uh, again, I don't really remember doing this, but I am sure we did it in parochial school.
I think we did it in school, too.
That's where you count down the days, right?
Yeah, but I don't think it's the days till Christmas.
It's like the days till I don't know.
There's some kind of a week or two weeks or something.
Uh, I don't remember.
Okay.
I've tried to push out all the horrible memories of parochial school.
That's cool.
I don't blame you.
Yeah.
I've never done it.
Me and you talked about it a little bit.
We've seen the calendars looking while we're shopping, but, you know, never know.
Yeah, we never acted on it.
I suppose our Christmas experiences would be different if we hit children.
Yeah.
I think when I would go back home and visit, I was never in the Christmas spirit until I
got home.
And then, you know, I don't call them and visit anymore.
Mm-hmm.
You know, my sister's down in Florida and my mom's back up in New Jersey.
Then my mom goes down to Florida, but I haven't had the opportunity to go now there.
And with my niece and nephews, you know, it's easy to get there.
There's a good age.
Well, Reagan's kind of aging out of it right now, but when you're around little kids, it's
easy to get an experience through their eyes.
It's through their eyes.
And it makes a difference.
I mean, it's really does.
It's to see how excited they get and everything.
It's neat.
It's fun.
Mm-hmm.
So, make Christmas dinner for the family.
No, I mean, I've helped.
Um, well, I don't think this necessarily means you as a person.
I think they're saying I have a Christmas dinner for the family as a tradition.
Oh, yeah.
Our family always does that.
Yeah.
Well, we have a bunch, but kids' dinner, you know what I mean?
Yeah.
I mean, we've always had.
I don't think I've missed one Christmas dinner.
There's always, there's always a nice dinner.
It's kind of like a little Thanksgiving, we've, yeah, it's a lot of Thanksgiving.
You always have to have a really nice, that's part of Christmas.
It's like opening gifts in my opinion.
I can't imagine not having.
And it's a good way to make sure people don't linger at dinner because they want to open
those presents.
Yeah.
So, yeah, that's pretty, pretty unanimous.
My family, it's always been lunch.
It's never, never supper.
Yeah, see, we used to have supper, so, but now, last time I think I went to Florida,
we would have, like, when I was in Florida, my sister would have Christmas breakfast, shooting
make up a big breakfast, and then we would have that.
And then, well, like a brunch, it wasn't like, you know, around 10 in the morning, because
it was, you'd get up, open up all the gifts, and then we'd have breakfast, and then we'd
have a late lunch, probably about three in the afternoon, three, four clock in the afternoon.
So, and then everyone would start drinking after dinner.
Well, it was a good way to put up with the family.
Well, it was, it was kind of like the reward.
It was kind of like having the drinks, and like, I'm Christmas Eve, everyone would have
drink Christmas Eve after the kids went to bed, because you put together all the toys,
and some of those toys could get pretty frustrating, because you were going to be up for, wow, I
mean, that's the one thing, you need to get them to sleep, because you're up to three or
four o'clock in the morning, putting together toys for the kids.
And then they get up at six.
And above, there was a rule they were allowed out of the room until 7 o'clock in the morning,
but 7 o'clock in the morning, there was, Uncle Billy, it's time, it's time, and yeah, so,
I mean, it's worth it, though, so, I wish I could go back for Christmas, but I think everyone
has done this.
Decorate a Christmas tree.
Everyone except us the last two years we haven't had a Christmas tree.
But I mean, growing up, you did, and we've done it before.
Oh, yeah.
So, that's one of my fond memories as a kid, decorate the tree.
And we haven't done it, because I'm not, I just wasn't physically capable of dragging
that huge tree up from the basement.
Yeah.
There's something like seven of those double rubber-made boxes that the branches come in.
Yeah, it's not hard to do, they just sort of drop in place, but getting them up from
the basement.
This is the hard part.
So, but we still, we decorate the mantle.
Yeah, we have a decorate it now.
Pretty fancy.
Nobody sees but us.
Yeah.
And then we decorate it around that tree, up around, we put up a wreath on the door, another
mantle.
It kind of worked with a little trick, so that we started this game, Christmas Candles.
Yeah, I guess so, because we want to have that pine scent.
And then I guess the new thing that we've been trying to do is get to those, the Christmas
flowers.
Yeah, the emeralds.
Yeah, emeralds.
Yeah.
We've done that the last three years.
And those are a little expensive, but they're so easy, you don't have to do, you have to
water them.
Yeah.
You just set them in a spot, and they bloom and grow.
And they're pretty.
I think they're really pretty when they do bloom, so.
I don't think we got to this year.
Yeah, and actually about three, and I took one to work, and I hope nobody complains about
pollen work.
Yeah.
Oh.
Screw them.
And they get upset about it, and tum, and bunch of scourges.
So.
You can always just bring it home.
Yeah, I suppose.
Make a special Christmas breakfast.
I've never done that.
Yeah, we've done that back home.
So, I mean, it's normally a casserole, some sort of a quiche, something that you prepare
the night before, putting the refrigerator, and when you get up in the morning, when everyone's
open the gifts.
I'll put it in the oven while everyone's opening gifts.
Bingo.
And it works out really, really well.
My sister made this one thing.
It was really good.
It was like a cinnamon and sugar with blueberries.
That's a quiche.
No, no, no.
It's one of the better.
I don't like quiche.
I can't stay.
Thank you.
Don't care for it too much.
It's corals.
It's a big bag.
Well, but no, it was like a, what she did, it was almost like a stuffing, but it was like
bread pudding.
Oh, bread pudding.
But it was like blueberries in it, and there was like cinnamon and sugar, and it was
really, really good.
It was like, I need to get that recipe.
I want you to have her come over and make it for us tonight.
Yeah, but I could get that recipe, and we can do that on Christmas, if you want.
But yeah, we've done that before.
Post a holiday photograph.
We've done that.
We have done it a couple of times.
We've set up the timer on the phone and picture, send it out to people.
Yeah.
Haven't done it lately though.
No.
I've never done the whole Senate on a postcard thing, or we're not that gay.
Don't have that many friends.
Yeah.
And really, I guess my sister sends one every year, probably with, with the kids, with
a letter summarizing the year.
She never sends a letter, but that annoys me kind of people who do that, like, I don't
know, it seems kind of self-righteous, like, look at us, but I'm not out of it that way.
Yeah, I don't know.
It is a little annoying, because most of those letters are very brachidocious, like, don't
get very many, so I can't say.
Yeah.
So, thank God, I don't get them anymore.
So, send Christmas cards.
We do not do that.
No.
Maybe Christmas emails.
I don't even do that.
I haven't done that in a while, user.
Yeah.
Not since the last time we took a picture.
Yeah.
Nope.
I think we sent them out as, my mom, when I was a kid, but I don't remember, to be honest.
We never did the family picture thing; it sent those out.
And also, it seems like a rich person thing, when it's family photo.
Yeah.
Somebody who can hire somebody to do their Christmas cards.
Exactly.
Celebrate center clause.
What the hell is center clause?
It is, it's a European Christmas tradition.
I think it's early in December, like December 1st, where they tell the kids, "If you're
not good, center clause will eat you," or something like that.
So, is it like Krampus?
Yeah.
Yeah, I think so.
Okay.
I'm not certain about that, but I think so.
Yeah.
I've never, never did that.
It's just another way to bribe kids into behaving.
That's one of the good things about Christmas, the kids will be brave, generally.
So, but no, no, that's, you can probably tell by my question, "Oh, what that was, center
clause."
No, I've never done that.
Hmm.
Have you?
No.
Oh, certainly not, not in parochial school that, I mean, that was a heathen holiday.
Okay.
You wouldn't dare to do that.
Okay.
Pick out a new tree topper.
We have done that, but we don't do it every year.
Yeah.
I can see families doing that as a tradition, not that I can really remember.
Yeah.
No, we always, I think we always have the same tree topper going up as an angel with some
sword.
So, we never got a new one every year.
We've got new ornaments every year.
Sometimes one of your, one of my gifts for Christmas was a new ornament.
So, interesting.
Have a Christmas movie marathon.
We've done that.
Yes, we have.
How do you like to watch Elf every year?
Yeah.
Enough to wear.
I think we bought the movie, so we don't have to keep printing it every year.
Yeah.
Well, now it's on all the streaming things.
Yeah.
Now that we bought it.
Yeah.
Now that we bought it, it's everywhere.
It's on Mac.
It's on Netflix.
It's everywhere.
But still, I don't know.
I think I've already watched the ones already this year.
Hmm.
I like to watch every version of a Christmas Carol that I can find.
There are a lot of them.
Yeah.
I don't know how you do that.
This year, I don't think I've watched any of them.
Hmm.
You should like it.
Maybe I would.
A couple of them.
The ones that have the hot Father Christmas with the Harry Chess, so I might watch those
first.
(laughs)
A Christmas Carol was considered like the first science fiction story.
Really?
It was considered science fiction because it was, it was, it was spirits and in those
times, you know, having sails and things like that was a new thing.
Hmm.
That's interesting.
I never thought that.
Visit a Christmas tree farm.
I want to say, yeah, the kid we did that, we had to go out and pick out our tree.
I've never done that.
Yeah.
Oh, back home, there's a lot of Christmas tree farms anyway.
Oh, yeah, I can see that.
So.
Yeah.
There are some here, I think, but I've never been to one.
Yeah.
This is the big farm with a bunch of trees, it's a bunch of different Christmas trees.
It's about a small, big, tiny, they're just all lined up in the rows already cut and everything.
No, no, no, no.
They're growing and then, you know, when they're cut, it's really don't have looking over
there because it's just stumps.
Hmm.
But now it's, it's just rows after rows of Christmas trees all grown up.
And so is the case of turning a holiday into an industry.
Yeah.
And then you go over to the areas, there's a bunch of little saplings that aren't grown
up enough to cut down and point home yet, so.
And I imagine they have carols and hot cider and everything to make it into an experience.
Oh, yeah.
It's, yeah.
It's a money-making machine, so.
Just like everything on this list.
Yeah, I guess.
If you think about it.
Yeah.
Oh, from the shelf.
I don't think, I think maybe I'm old enough that that was, that I'm before that time.
Yeah, I'm before that time.
It's a big thing now.
Yeah.
I've experienced it with my sister and her family.
So, it's cute.
It's a cute idea.
But.
Another way to get kids to behave.
Kid.
Yeah.
And I guess we should say what it is, so people who don't have any idea would know.
Okay.
So, you describe elf on the shelf.
elf on the shelf is basically a story of the elf who comes down from T-Works or Santa.
And he comes down and he keeps an eye on the little kids.
And then he reports back every morning or every night he goes and visits Santa to reports back
to Santa's film as you've been good or bad.
And then he moves when he comes back in the morning.
He's in a different spot in the house.
But you can't touch him because if you touch him, it takes away his magic where he can't
go and talk to Santa again.
So, in the morning, it's the kids have to go find and see where he's at because he's always
up to something.
He's very much to this and I'll do things around the house because he's an elf.
But the big thing is don't touch the elf on the shelf because if you do, he loses his
magic and he can't report to Santa.
That's the gist of it from what I understand.
It's a cute little doll.
Some parents go crazy over the different things to do.
My sister, you know, leaving footprints on the floor of him getting into something were
eating cookies, that sounds like a lot of work.
It's a lot of work for like my sister was relieved after Christmas was over because you have
to do something bigger and better every year.
But it's hilarious because I remember my niece in that view in the thin Christmas behaving
and raking ran into the other room and there's that the elf always has a name.
They come up with a name and she's talking to him like he's real.
He's been riding out because he was bad and Finn was having a complete meltdown because
he thought the elf was going to go back to Santa and tell him that he's been bad.
So, they'll use it against each other and it's hilarious.
But you have the ultimate thing is you don't touch the elf because if you do, he'll disappear
and he might not come back.
So, I remember the one time one of the kids touched him and he was gone for three or four days
and every morning they came out looking for him and then it was terrible because they would
get so upset about it.
He's not back and finally my sister had enough and put him back but it was like they never
touched him again that year but at least once a year he would get touched and have to go
back to the North Pole for a few days.
So, it's kind of cute though.
I mean it's neat if you have kids but it is a lot of work.
He's a nutcracker.
I think they're talking about the fancy nutcrackers.
You say the store?
Well, the ones you see at the store are decorative.
They're not meant to be used as nutcracker.
They're actually quick nuts with.
My grandparents raised chestnuts and they had several chestnut trees and it was a big
deal to roast them and eat them and whatever.
So, you can even tell this?
So, I do remember that.
That is a tradition that they had.
Okay.
No, I've never done that.
No.
It's kind of neat though.
Well kind of like making cookies it's fun at first and then it's boring.
Yeah.
Since then, I'll let her.
Pretty sure.
My sister and I did that.
Did you?
I think it's a little kid we might have done it in grade school.
Oh, I can see that.
I can remember one year my sister and I asking my mother or my father I don't remember
which to help us write a letter because neither one of us knew how to write yet and they
said something like well just scribble to us Santa can read scribble writing.
It was like we don't have time for you kids.
Oh wow.
Yeah.
That's fun.
I don't really know why that sticks in my head but it's dramatic.
That's why.
Oh my gosh it's hilarious.
I'm sorry that's too funny just scribble you can understand this.
Get out of our hair.
That's good that's a fun that's a funny thing every long time.
Oh my gosh.
I think my sister will probably back me up on that and she remembers everything from childhood.
Yeah.
I mean I think your sister remembers coming out of the womb the way she talks so does your
mom.
By an ornament to come up right to year.
Never did that but it sounds like your family did.
Yeah, we would buy one and then it's go up every year and you said something about getting
an ornament every year.
Yeah.
I mean a few years it wasn't every year but a few years we would get them you know what I mean
generally, my mom would find them at craft shows and think they were really neat and I think
you might as a gift so she went to Christmas markets.
Yeah.
She did a lot of craft shows when I was a kid.
Did a lot of what?
Crafts shows.
Oh, craft shows.
Okay.
But yeah, we did that.
A lot of times you see ornaments that you can buy that have the year on it so I guess to make
sure, that you bought one day here.
Yeah.
So, I like my mom still has all those ornaments.
I don't know.
I don't think she reminds of a tree or puts up a tree anymore.
I'd be really surprised if she did.
I seem to have some kind of memory of doing that in school going from one class to another
but it's a very fake memory.
Yeah.
I've never done that.
No.
I don't.
I don't remember anybody ever going like house to house to do caroling either.
It seems very troll thinking ask.
Yeah.
And I would have to, it would be a lot of work to boil enough oil to throw on them when they
came.
Yeah.
I just know.
I'd have you ever had some come to your house carol?
Never.
No.
I don't.
For some reason I would say I did date but I.
I could see it much more prevalent in your town you grew up than mine.
Yeah.
But I'm not sure to be honest with you.
It could be, I might just be confusing it, seeing it in a TV show or something like that.
But no.
I remember one of my old roommates who used to watch Lifetime Christmas movies every from
Thanksgiving on every night until he went to bed.
That was annoying as all frickin' get out because he would watch them from dinner time until
he went to bed.
So, it wasn't just one movie, it was like numerous movies a night.
He would watch them all on Lifetime or the Hallmark channel.
That's what it was, the Hallmark channel.
So.
Oh.
That was horrible.
And you know me with sports and stuff like that and I just spent a lot of time in the bars.
I'm here.
Sorry.
Kind of went on a tangent there.
I had to pickle in the Christmas tree.
Never heard of this before until I asked you about it yesterday.
It is an actual thing.
What's the significance of it though?
Oh, kind of like hiding the elf on the shelf.
It's just something that people did.
Okay.
And you actually hide a pickle?
Well, you can buy pickle ornaments.
Okay.
Oh, okay.
I've seen those before.
Yeah.
And I always wondered why people were buying, they must have really like pickles.
So no, pickle in your tree.
Okay.
It's a pretty obscure tradition that people, some people do it.
There's a lot of really obscure traditions around Christmas time.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
No.
And I would say they're probably favored by companies that sell pickle ornaments.
Yeah.
All right.
Visit with the neighbors.
God, why would you ever want to do that?
We did that.
One neighbor, one mom's good friend, whatever Christmas party every year, about a week for Christmas.
So, Christmas parties, type of stuff like that, you never did any of the Christmas parties.
Maybe for church.
Really?
Yeah.
Nobody in the neighborhood, we were growing up, it was a very gentrified neighborhood.
We were the only kids on the block.
Okay.
Huh.
No, yeah.
We would go visit families and stuff like that, and then, as I got them.
We can't do that here.
The neighbor next door to the south moved out.
And we don't speak Spanish, so we can't talk to the neighbors on the other side.
Yeah.
We would go visit the neighbors back home, so, but I mean, they were like family friends
and stuff like that.
Well, since your father was a police officer, he probably knew everyone in the neighborhood.
Oh, he knew everyone in the whole freaking town, it was brutal.
Yeah.
Couldn't get away with anything around there.
Okay.
This one we definitely do, open one present on Christmas Eve.
I guess we do, I didn't think of it as a tradition, but I guess it really is.
Did you do it as a kid?
I don't think so.
I don't think we did as a kid either.
I mean, as we got older, my mom would allow us to open one gift.
She would go pick it out and bring it down and give it to her.
But was that just to get you to quit bugging her?
No.
She just started doing it.
It just, here you go.
Here's one gift.
But I remember seeing friends of mine, they would get a gift.
And I remember begging my mom to go, "Can we do that?
Nope.
You're able to wait till Santa gets here."
Even after we both...
The gift?
Family is famous for opening their gifts.
You know, I'm famous for opening gifts early.
I'm famous for opening gifts early.
Okay.
So, no, my sister and all my mom and all the way, they're not me, but I'm willing to know.
So, the moment the package arrives, it's opened.
No, I mean, my sister's sent stuff here before and I have an opening that I've been waiting
till you've made it open.
Because I've made you...
Make me wait.
Yes, it's a kid, you know, but a box.
Okay.
An honor, a loved one.
After my dad died, we would go out to the...
I would go out there and see his grave.
And that's...
At Christmas time.
My Christmas time.
Yeah.
So, my family had nothing like that.
Right.
Yeah.
Go out there and say hi.
Say hi to pop.
My mom wouldn't go out.
Modeling my mom's been out there for years.
I've been out there for years.
Like, somebody was out there when you came and visited with me, but, yeah, I used to go out
there every Christmas.
Me and my sister.
Yeah.
That's a good tradition to have.
Yeah.
It's kind of sad, but you know what I mean?
It's just something we did back there, so...
Make a special Christmas dessert.
Never did that.
Does Christmas cookies count?
Well, I guess so.
So...
I never made one for Christmas like after dinner.
We just...
Well, we love dessert.
We make it.
It doesn't matter what time of year it is.
Yeah.
Give back.
It's silent.
Well, I'm trying to...
It seems to me like that was drilled into us in school.
Okay.
It sounds like it wasn't for you.
Mmm.
I think they preached it, but I don't think we've ever really went out and did anything.
I remember going out and giving things up for Thanksgiving, meals and stuff like that,
but I never...
Never around Christmas time.
I remember there was a...
There was a minister in town who did a lot of work with the poor and hungry.
And like on Super Bowl, they'd have a dinner.
They called it the supper bowl, I think.
Okay.
They would have a...
He would have this campaign, every Thanksgiving telling people that people are hungry all year
long, not just on Thanksgiving.
Mmm-hmm.
Yeah.
Singaporean.
Build a generic bread house.
Never done that.
Never did that, either.
We looked into it kind of this year.
Not really.
I think we've looked at it a couple of times.
But I didn't want to...
And from what I hear, it's a pain in the butt and...
Yeah, it does sound like a lot of work, and they're not edible.
It's the ones, the free package ones.
It doesn't look like...
We have pets.
Yeah.
Yeah, probably not the thing for us.
No, no.
I think a kitty has a hairball.
Stop it.
I think someone wants attention, that's what it is.
Set out Christmas dishes.
Like for dinner?
Yeah.
Yeah, we...
My mother does that.
There's a set of dishes just for Christmas.
Yeah.
Yeah, we did that going up back home.
We haven't done that.
We don't have any specialty dinner dishes or anything.
Yeah, well, we don't have dinner here.
We have it over there.
No.
Pess on family air looms.
You guys done that?
Yeah, my mother does that.
Yeah.
We never did that.
Do you even have any family air looms?
Not really.
No, I think my mom got rid of all of them.
So...
Well, last year I not only got a quilt, I think I got a quilt rack too.
That, and you got a plate with a guard on it.
With a what on it?
A guard.
What's a guard?
The fish.
Oh.
Um, whatever happened to that.
You might as well probably in the basement somewhere.
I really don't remember.
Yeah, you and your sister were not very thrilled about that.
Your mom was so excited.
And I think that it was a serving dish.
But she...
Okay.
There's pain in it.
But I think yours going.
She gave you a chip.
But yeah, when we got home, the look on your face was priceless.
So, it's probably in the pantry with all the other serving dishes.
Yeah.
I probably haven't looked at it since.
Probably.
Yeah.
The look up to the...
Yeah.
I'm sorry.
I hope your mom doesn't listen to this podcast.
Yeah, but both of you and your sister both got them when you both were like, "Okay."
Like, "Could it get this one?"
Well, and then you got the quote, "Rack" because your sister...
I think your sister was in the house.
It wouldn't be a good idea to leave.
No.
It was out.
No.
They turned in discretion post.
Well, then you, before you got a really nice pocket watch, then you...
Oh.
Now, yeah, I was...
I was very touched by that.
Yeah.
That was my grandfather's...
Pocket watch?
Yeah.
It was...
It was very special.
Yeah.
No, I could tell when you got it.
He really...
He really was touched by that.
Mm-hmm.
We're matching Christmas pajamas.
What are pajamas?
Pajamas?
You don't know what pajamas are?
I'm sorry.
Are you serious?
I don't sleep in pajamas, no.
Yeah.
Okay.
But you know what they are.
Yeah.
Okay.
No.
I don't have any pajamas of any kind along Christmas pajamas.
And you have pants?
Jamie pants?
Yeah, but I don't sleep in them.
No, no.
No.
They're too...
I don't even sleep at all.
I'm sleeping gym shorts.
But no, my sister's family does this.
I can see that.
Yeah.
It's cute.
But they look like candy canes in the morning when they come out.
It's all this is going to stop soon, anyway.
Because I mean, Reagan's a teenager now.
He's gonna think it's going to be a teenager, so unless they, you know,
the youngest one will probably do it.
So, but I don't know.
It really depends on how long until they want to rebel.
Yeah, they're just coming age.
Yeah.
I remember distinctly when my sister told my parents,
I don't believe in Santa anymore.
And I'm going X-N-A-X-N-A on the Santa A.
Yeah.
Because I knew Santa was not real.
But I knew we got extra presents from Santa.
So, I wasn't going to say nothing about that.
Yeah, you were smart.
I wanted the extra presents.
Yeah.
That's funny.
How old were you when you figured out Santa wasn't real?
Oh, I don't know.
Two.
Maybe eight.
Yeah.
Yeah, I can't remember when I figured it out.
Have you ever grilled a prime-member ham?
No, but there are people who do.
And making prime rib is not easy.
Yeah.
Now, a hand meat party is pretty much cooked.
You just have to warm it up.
Warm it up.
Yeah.
Making a prime rib is a big deal.
Yeah, I think most prime ribs are smoked, aren't they?
Are they baked?
They're grilled.
No, they're grilled.
They're grilled, okay.
Yeah.
Yeah, I've never done that.
It seems like a lot of work.
It does.
So.
And if it doesn't come out good, you've just spent a lot of money for nothing.
Yeah.
And I'm not a big prime rib person anyway.
No, I don't think I've ever seen you eat prime rib.
No, too fatty.
And restaurants around here typically only have it on Friday and Saturday night.
It would be a waste of time for me because I cut out all the fat.
It would be on the side, so that's why in half of it it's still be on the plate.
Yeah.
That's why most of the steak is just like, so I can just eat it all and not worry about fat on it.
So, I eat it all and fat included.
Well, it just turns my stomach just thinking about that.
Well, thank you.
Read the night before Christmas.
No.
I don't know my family never did that.
Either I probably saw it on TV a few times.
Yeah.
That's about it for us.
There was like Santa's workshop.
It was a local show and some guy of celebrity, a local celebrity.
He would dress up as Santa every year.
I would read it.
It was like a daily show after school.
But Christmas Eve, when they would broadcast that, when he would read that story.
So, I've saw it on, you know, I'm familiar with the story.
Yeah.
So, I don't TV, but nobody in my family ever did that.
Isn't that the night before Christmas, I don't see the house, I don't see the house.
I don't see the house; I don't see the house.
I don't see anything in the house.
Yeah.
Okay.
Yeah, never.
I just...
We may have even had that as a story book.
But we didn't...
There was no tradition to read it.
Yeah.
Same here.
Okay.
Make eggnog.
No.
We drank eggnog, but we never made it.
We made it.
Yeah.
It's a kind of a dangerous thing to make.
Why?
If you don't put the alcohol in it.
Okay.
I mean, you've got raw eggs in there.
Well, and you want to drink the alcohol?
My family didn't drink alcohol for much.
No.
And your mom does now.
Yeah.
She was telling me that she just had eggnog or...
Was it eggnog?
I don't know.
When I was talking to her last week, she was talking about having eggnog or something.
But maybe it was hot cocoa with dailies or hot cocoa with Kalua.
I don't know.
I'll be Kalua.
Yeah.
She likes Kalua, apparently, now.
Was it you that your dad didn't drink her?
Yeah.
Both of them.
Neither one of them, really.
Okay.
We didn't have bucks to wine or anything like that.
Okay.
Yeah, my dad drank.
My mom really.
I never drank occasionally, but it's never really anything else.
But my dad drank constantly.
Well, I like eggnog, but not the kind with where I'm in it, just the plain.
I don't think I've ever even had eggnog because the whole idea of eggs and...
Yeah.
Oh, they have eggnog ice cream, which I like.
Yeah.
Then we won't give them for that the other day.
It's a nice flavor.
Okay.
We're in ugly holiday sweater.
It seems to me like my sister got us ugly Christmas sweaters last year.
I guess we're expected to wear them this year.
Was it last year or a few years back?
I know the one I have was like a cat on it, so I've worn them before, so I plan on wearing them this year.
So, it's a tradition that was sort of imposed on us, I guess.
Kind of.
Yeah, it's a cute idea.
When you make them, I think it's always better, but who has the time to do that?
Yeah, not me.
No.
Be a secret Santa.
I don't think I've ever done that.
Not even at work.
Well yeah, I guess so at work we've done it.
Everybody puts their name in a hat and you draw out somebody else's name.
You get them a gift.
Yeah, I think so.
It's been a long time though.
In various places where I've worked, we've done that.
Okay.
And then put a limit on the money that you spend on it as I recall, you know.
Yeah.
Yeah, I think we've done that before.
Okay, pick a gift scene.
What does that mean?
It's like a scene like everyone buys each other ornaments, ornaments, um, um, is this a family
thing?
It could be or could you work thing, but no, no, never done that.
Yeah.
That was easy.
Show gratitude.
Well, everyone should do that every day.
Not just Christmas.
Yeah, let's show.
Yeah.
Let's complain.
Okay.
It's a good tradition to have.
I guess.
Yeah.
Order, take out.
That doesn't sound like a Christmas thing to me.
Maybe people who don't, but, you know, remember when you were a kid and going to McDonald's was a
big deal.
I could see, you know, if you're a family that doesn't eat out very often ordering, take out,
I guess would be a special thing.
It reminds me of the show, the movie, The Christmas Story.
Oh, yeah, when the So, the buses the hounds eight there. It's turkey so they had to go to
a Chinese restaurant. Yeah, he needs a duck. But yeah, no, never did that. We always had
a cup of beer. We would take it whenever we wanted. Yeah, just like Christmas thing. Yeah. Play Christmas games. I don't know what that is. Just board games. Oh, just, I thought...
Yeah, I thought it was like a special game that was just for no secret. Oh, okay. Oh, yeah, we probably did that. I don't recall. Yeah, I think we did too. I can see my parents saying, oh, go get out the monopoly board and leave us alone. Yeah, who have to you scribble on your letter at his hand?
Yeah, I think we did it as a kid or I remember friends of mine their families would do it. I was picking their house.
All right, the last one. Making New Year's resolution. I suppose I've done that many times. I don't. It's not a thing that I'd like to do. Yeah. I won't think I've ever said a New Year's resolution.
It's a good way I suppose to commit to something and publicly commit to it so you can get called on it if you don't.
But most, don't most of New Year's resolution fail. I would think, yeah. Yeah, so yeah, I've never done it. But I guess if you want to humiliate yourself, you can do it that way.
All right, well, that's the list. So, what is your favorite joke right now? Do you know why I always tell people I hate jingle bells? Why? Why do you hate jingle bells?
I like to troll the ancient Yil-Tide carom. It's okay. That's actually pretty good. All right. We hope you've enjoyed episode 84 of the Bear and Curadh Podcast. This is Bear. This is Curadh. Goodbye. Goodbye.
You have been listening to the Baehr and Curadh podcast, a production of the Land of Awes
Information Services. We can be contacted via email using the address podcast@awes.com
and Awes is spelled A-W-E-S.
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