Suggestible - Let It Snow Christmas Special

Episode Date: December 23, 2020

Suggestible things to watch, read and listen to. Hosted by James Clement @mrsundaymovies and Claire Tonti @clairetonti.This week’s Suggestibles:Recipes on Claire's InstagramGreen SauceChristmas CrackHam is the WorstPaw Patrol Christmas SpecialLet it SnowThe HolidayHoliday Movies that Made UsDolly Alderton's BooksJane Harper's BooksBecoming by Michelle ObamaTrinny LondonMidnight ChickenTiffany Heart CharmKlausThe SamiChoose LoveEmma Thompson & Greg Wise's Choose Love VideoThe Weekly Planet's Jingle All the Way CommentarySend your recommendations to [e-mail], we’d love to hear them.You can also follow the show on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook @suggestiblepod and join our ‘Planet Broadcasting Great Mates OFFICIAL’ Facebook Group. So many things. Merry Christmas. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Introducing Uber Teen Accounts, an Uber account for your teen with enhanced safety features. Your teen can request a ride with top-rated drivers, and you can track every trip on the live map in the Uber app. Uber Teen Accounts. Invite your teen to join your Uber account today. Available in select locations. See app for details. Hello James Hello Merry, merry Christmas to you Now to everybody listening to this, they were like, what a festive opening I know

I look over, you're just smiling to yourself like a maniac. And I can't hear any of the music. So for me, that was just 30 seconds of silence while Claire stared into the middle distance smiling. Let me play you some more. I can't hear it. So I don't know. Oh, love it. So I don't know. Duh, duh. Oh, love it.

Everyone getting the Christmas food. This is the Best Food Podcast and we are about to be sharing with you our Christmas favourite. I think that. Can I fade the music out again? Absolutely. Off it goes and done. I think that very much like represents our feelings on Christmas. Like you're saying magic in the air and you're like, you've got a feeling that like, that I don't have. And I'm just like, I don't get it.

Yay. Okay. I'll stop fading that in. I've only just discovered that tech on our thing. I shouldn't have told you. I shouldn't have told you I could do that. I'm going to, I'm going to end up doing all kinds of cool things. West Desperate Pod, we recommend you things. I'm Claire, James Cyril, so we're married. Merry Christmas, everyone. And let's get into it. Bring the Christmas spirit. That's right. Off we go.

Last year I really did my dash with all my favourite Christmas things. Yeah, Claire was really, she had an existential Christmas crisis all week because she came in so hot last year. Oh, my God. You listen to that episode. It's just me listing thing after thing after thing. It's like everything you could possibly recommend. And I also came in and I did all Christmas horror movies and things like that,

which I don't really have this. I didn't do that this year. Good. Because I will do it again. You scared me with your bloody scary serial killer Christmas recommendations. I did start a serial killer Christmas movie and I'm like, you know what, this fucking sucks. So I turned it off.

Look, I think if 2020 is sort of anything, it's that where you could find a tiny skerrick of joy, bloody get that shit up you and in your ears, which is what we're doing today. Can I start off first? Yes, you can. Excellent. All right. Okay. So first up, I thought, let's just talk about Christmas food joy.

Just listed all my favorite recipes that I like to make at Christmas time. Oh, my God, I'm so excited. So the first thing I've done, making gingerbread, best thing ever. Margaret Fulton's recipe specifically and there's also a special recipe for icing. Look, I'm going to put these all on my Instagram just for all of you out there. But it's one cup of icing sugar to one egg white. You whip it up until stiff peaks form.

I love it. A whippity whip. Then you put your favourite food dye in, whatever colours. I like to separate it out into little bowls and then dye red and green and blue and sometimes leave it white and then have little silver ball decorations as well. And then Bob's your uncle. It's a magical Christmas joy time.

Yeah, yeah, it's very good. Also choosing your favorite cookie cutters. Delightful. Not everybody has cookie cutters, you know what I mean? That's right. Go to the shop. They're super cheap. It's like $2 of joy.

I'm trying to find things that are like cheap and full of joy. Oh, cool. That is one. Also, I talked about this last time, Christmas crack. You know Christmas crack, don't you? Can't talk about it because you already did it. No, I can. No doubling back.

I'm just going to suggest it again. It's so bloody good. It's just salada biscuits, caramel, chocolate, cranberries and pistachios on top. Let it set. It's a delight. It's really good. And it's so good, right?

It's crazy. It's really good. Always a massive hit and people always ask you for the recipe. Yeah. It's from Annabelle Crabb's book, Special Guest, but it's on the internet everywhere. And you can add whatever fun, festive things you want on the top of it.

Silver balls, again, I love it. Other things I'm making for Christmas. Do you want to know? Yeah, yes. Okay. Oh, God, he's such a bloody Grinch. I mean, you could surprise me on the day, but no, let's do it. No, let's do it.

I want to tell the listeners. Okay, so as I've talked about before, spiced sweet potato, pie lentil and rocket salad with honey roasted walnuts. James is like shaking his head and it's fine. I just don't give a fuck about describing food. Like it's like, it's not even a picture. It's just like naming

food. I could do that. A sandwich. A delicious sandwich. No. Scrambled eggs. Shut up. I get emails from people all the time saying thank you for the salad recipes. People love eggs. Shut up. I get emails from people all the time saying thank you for the salad recipes. Okay. People love this shit. Well, I do. So stop it. You're going to have to listen. It's Christmas. Get some joy into your cold, cold heart. Okay. Honey roasted walnuts are the most delicious things in the world and they're from Community, which is Hedy McKinnon's excellent

cookbook I've talked about before. I love it. Now, two other things I'm going to talk about. One, if you have vegans coming for the old lunch. You know why you also don't care about these? Because you just don't really care about food. Oh, here we go again with this shit. You just take a tablet and be done. Here we go. Anyway.

Claire doesn't think I like food for some reason. She's got it in her head that I don't like food. You just ordered cereal. You've ordered three different types of disgusting low-carb cereal. I'm keeping it low-carb, mate. Don't worry about it. You spent $60 on a box of cereal. It was many boxes of cereal.

I'm still thinking about that. It's many boxes of cereal, actually. Oh, my God. It's so ridiculous. Anyway, moving right along. This vegan salad green sauce is a thing of legend and will make you a fan if you have a vegan coming and you don't know what to cook for them and you think,

well, they can just have the roast veg. This sauce on whatever you like, for instance, roasted broccoli, sweet roasted sweet potato and chickpeas with fresh cherry, tomatoes and rocket will send your vegans up the wazoo happy for Christmas. They'll love it. So 5-Minute Magic Green Sauce from pinchofyum.com. It's got avocado and all kinds of things in it. I'm going to put the link for you in the show notes.

But, yeah, it's a delight. On a side note, also, if you're not a vegan, roast pork with crackle is a delight at Christmas. It's so good. Your dad's making ours. He's been popping into our house all this week giving me tips being like, I'm on the hunt for one on the bone, a pork leg shoulder on the bone. He's loving it.

He's loving it. We've got lots of different types of meat in our fridge. I didn't think you're really a roast pork person though, are you? No, you've sold me on it because I never had it as a kid but it's like nostalgic for your family. What were you doing as a kid? We always had roast chicken and ham, like the Christmas ham. I mean you can't go past the Christmas ham.

Christmas ham is highly overrated. All right. Okay. We've had this whole debate before about how you think that ham is the worst of the meats and I've always said that Christmas ham is the best of the meats and is a delight. You cannot say it's the best. It's so good.

You know the secret of the Christmas ham is that after Christmas you have all these extra ham and then you can make cheese and ham toast sandwiches, which is also the traditional food of Boxing Day in my house. Yeah, it's interesting because most of the good food would get eaten on Christmas and yet the ham. No, it's because you have so much. And yet the ham stays in the fridge for a month until you end up throwing it out like you're a dog.

No, that is so not true. We all eat every skerrick of that delicious Christmas ham. Okay, other two things and then you can talk about whatever sad, depressing Christmas thing you want. Yeah. Punch. Now, I shared a story recently on my Instagram about how my dad, who I love dearly, who passed away,

always used to make our punch in a specific bowl and the recipe is always up for debate in our household. So it never quite tastes exactly how Dad used to make it. And I know if someone out there has lost a relative or a really close friend and they make a specific recipe at Christmas and they're not there anymore, it bloody sucks. So instead of recommending my Dad's Christmas punch, though I do recommend it, I'm instead recommending

or reckoning my beautiful brother's Elden Flower Punch, which I think is full of lovely things and kind of a little bit like a throwback to my dad's punch but I think kind of even more delicious in a way because it's a bit more boozy. So it's got two bottles of champagne, one-third bottle of St. Germain, which I didn't really know what it was. I think it's like some kind of liqueur. Amazing. One cup fresh lemon juice, two cups cranberry juice,

or two cups ginger beer, or two cups lemonade, depending on the stage of the party, he's told me. Whoa. Then taste and add soda, water as necessary. And this is my favorite bit. This is added at the end. Serve with lemon slices and frozen berries and a brave, I'm hosting a party and it's okay face.

And that's it. That's the elderflower hosting a party and it's okay face. And that's it. That's the elderflower punch. So now it's your turn. All right. This is actually our son's recommendation because one of his friends said to him, have you seen the Paw Patrol Christmas special? They're having a conversation. I love it.

He's like, no, I haven't seen it. And then he watched it and he's like, this is pretty good. I didn't watch it. He seems into it. So I just thought it's worth mentioning that Paw I haven't seen it. And then he watched it and he's like, this is pretty good. I didn't watch it. He seems into it. So I just thought it's worth mentioning that Paw Patrol has a Christmas special. But what I would like to talk about and something that we could talk about together because we watched it last night was Let It Snow. Ooh, yes, I love this.

I know you've got a bunch of notes on it. What about this particular movie, which is on Netflix I think at the moment, from 2019, did you enjoy? Oh, do you want me to say my notes? Yeah, why not? All right, okay. So Let Us Know is a 2019 American Christmas rom-com filmed and directed by Luke Snellen.

Now the screenplay is written by Kay Cannon, who was the writer and producer of Pitch Perfect, as well as Victoria Strauss and Laura Solon, based on the young adult novel of the same name by Maureen Johnson, John Green who also wrote The Fault in Our Stars. I know John Green. If you remember that and Lauren Miracle. It was released on November 8th, yeah, last year and I bloody loved it.

It was really good. I thought it was a really fun time. It was quirky and different. I immediately could tell that there was women on the writing team because the female characters were like funny and dry and cynical and proper well-rounded characters and their relationships between them, some of their sort of based I guess around a few different relationships, hey, which was what I kind of liked and the representation was quite good too.

Yeah, I was going to say it's not really like love actually because they're very loosely connected but all these people in this small town seem to mostly know each other. Correct, yeah. It opens with Joan Cusack who I love and she's. Sister of Joan Cusack. She's always excellent at everything and really funny. She's the best.

And she plays the tinfoil woman who's basically this kind of like quirky, magical woman dressed in tinfoil who drives her around saying kind of magical things about snow. It's just, it's everything you want out of a Christmas movie without being too corny. Yeah, I'd agree with that. Yeah, I really, really loved, like there's obviously a couple of different storylines that weave through about love and, you know, how it all finishes. But what I really liked was Isabella Merisede,

I hope I've said that correctly, and Sharmek Moore. They play kind of like Sharmek plays Stuart who is like a massive pop star. He's huge. He's huge. He's like a Bieber or whatever. Yeah, exactly, and he bumps into Julie on a train and she's very dry and cynical and her mother is very sick and she's kind of grappling with having been given a scholarship

to go to college but not wanting to go. She's also in the new Dora the Explorer and Transformers 5 maybe. Correct, exactly, and that really great show about foster parents. Oh, yeah, the Mark Wahlberg and Rose Byrne Montana. Yeah, which I loved and she's really good in that. I thought she was funny and great. And he is the voice of Miles Morales in The Spider-Verse. And so.

Took me by all, I'm like, I know, what the, this guy's voice, what the hell, man. Yeah, and he was great. I really liked him in this movie. I mean, I know he's famous, but I'd like to see him in more like live action stuff. Yeah, me too, because he was just like really, it was just lovely. So that whole storyline plays out and it was really great.

And then what did you think of it? I loved it. I thought it was really good, like really earnest but fun. I think it did some things that I didn't think it was going to do. There's like a character that you think is like a love triangle and you think, oh, the guy, one of them is going to turn out to be a jerk or whatever. Yeah, that's JP played by Matthew Nostar.

I mean, not to spoil it, but it's just like, he's not, he's just like a nice guy. It was just nice to be like, and the older went like, don't worry about him. He's gay. Like, it wasn't like a moment like that. It was just like, no, he's just a nice guy. Don't worry about it. Like, it was just that kind of, that kind of thing. Yeah, it was really nice, wasn't it?

You know, the other one I really enjoyed was Kieran and Shipka, who plays Angie, and she has that sort of love. That's the other person. Oh, she's the new Sabrina. Yeah, and she's also in Mad Men as the daughter of Peggy. Is it Peggy? Yeah. No, not Peggy.

It's Peggy, isn't it? No, it's Don Draper's daughter. Yeah, isn't it Peggy and Don Draper? Is it Peggy? No, I feel like it's not Peggy? Yeah. No, not Peggy. It's Peggy, isn't it? No, it's Don Draper's daughter. No, yeah, isn't it Peggy and Don Draper? Is it Peggy? No, I feel like it's not Peggy. Oh, look it up. Look it up. Anyway, she was really funny and she plays love interest so well.

Betty. It's Betty. Betty, there you go. Yeah, Peggy is Elizabeth Moss' character, I think. Probably. Yeah. Anyway, she's just their relationship with, is it Tobin, who's played by Mitchell Hope, is just a joy.

Like they've been friends forever. She's just like really sort of deadpan and funny and smart. She never dresses kind of in this like sexy way or anything. She's just like a real person who he's in love with and he sort of spends the movie trying to tell her that like he's because she's his best friend basically. Yeah. And I just loved her character for that reason that like she's obviously like charismatic and attractive and you can see why.

Excuse me. It's this bloody Christmas cold, man. I'll tell you what. Oh, my God. Bloody hot here. Anyway. Well, I can't get sick. All right.

So anyway, I just really, I really enjoyed her as a love interest because I felt like she could have easily, it could have easily been swapped. Oh, yeah. And there was nothing about her storyline that was like, oh, she's a girl. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was just like, she's a really cool human and you can see why he would like her. Yeah, absolutely. Anyway, so there's also a queer storyline too.

Liv Hewson plays Dory. Yeah, and she was great too. I really liked that. It's kind of like just really, really good. And there's also Jacob Battle and he plays Keon. He's quite fun. Yeah, he's from the other Spider-Man movie. Yeah.

He's in the blades in Spider-Man movies. Yeah, he was a DJ. He's in the blades in Spider-Man movies. Yeah, he was a DJ. He's the kid trying to put a party on. So it's basically, it ends like, you know, a lot of teen rom-coms that's just like in a big party and like all the things that happen along the way that are sort of swatting the party. I just really enjoyed it. I was looking at Netflix for like Christmas movies and it's like

a Christmas prince, a prince marries a princess, the Christmas movie. So awful. And I'm just like, there's like a million of them and it was just among it and I didn't even see it because it's just they all look like shit. Yeah. And it's just nice. And I know people also love those and I know there's like there's a huge market for it.

There's a place for them. You know, there's nothing wrong with like, you know, it's Zachary and Ernest and like, you know, that kind of stuff but it's not really my thing. It's not my – So this was a pleasant surprise. Yeah, me too because look, I love Christmas movies as you know but I don't like any of pleasant surprise. Yeah, me too because, look, I love Christmas movies, as you know, but I don't like any of those ones. I like them to be like a Love Actually-esque where it is corny and sweet

but it's also very funny and just great writing. It's great writing. I can't watch those like a Christmas Brits because the writing is so bad. Yeah. It really bugs me. And also the representation of gender roles and stuff is terrible usually. I wanted to also ask you about The Holiday, which you watched the other day. Oh, yeah.

And you probably recommended it last year. It's a movie from 2006. I bloody loved it. It's directed by Nancy Myers who did, like, Father – worked on, like, Father Bride and What Women Want and a bunch of other – just a bunch of stuff. But this was a movie that wasn't super well received at the time. It's basically – it's Cameron Diaz swaps places with Kate Winslet and she goes to the, to LA, English, Cameron Diaz goes to like the English countryside and Kate Winslet goes to LA

and they all have their own like little adventures and little love stories that go on. It's got Jack Black and Jude Law. And what is it about, even because like at the time people were like, this isn't great. It's like whatever, but this is, it's been one of those movies that's kind of endured and picked up more kind of traction over the years. And what is it about this one I'm curious that like that you – I know you're just going to say Jude Law. Specifically Jude Law wearing glasses. Wearing glasses, yeah.

God, he's very hot in this movie. It's a very like specific era of Jude Law as well. Not that he's not good looking now. Of course he is. No, no, but he's like peak Jude Law in this. And he turns up in the middle of the night at her door. Okay, so there's a lot of reasons why this movie has a longevity and I feel in some ways it's a better Christmas movie than Love Actually.

Sure. In some ways. You can tell that it's written by a woman and I know I'm obsessed about this topic and I'm looking at things through that particular lens, but you just can because it's written from the perspective of Kate Winslet, right, and also from Cameron Diaz's characters to begin with. So you're automatically getting their voice really strongly. They're not like the love interest and often in love actually,

I mean there's some great storylines in that, don't get me wrong, but women are, it's just sometimes I just think like the holiday, their voices are kind of very strong. So there's that. It's heartwarming. It's corny. There's nothing really like super dramatic. There's no high stakes, you know.

But also the idea that you could be trans, I think the thing that other than the hotness of Jude Law, it's the fact that you can be transplanted out of your life into this magical world and meet someone in that kind of really romantic way and find yourself. And both of those characters have like got dealing with like major issues in their lives, like I mean romantic issues obviously, but, you know, a workaholic or someone who's in love with someone who doesn't love them back in their workplace.

And they're actually very common, I think, themes for women, you know, and so they're very relatable in those storylines, like being in love with the really hot guy at work who doesn't notice you or working too much and your relationship breaking down. Like, I mean, that's relatable for everybody, not just women. But anyway, that's part of it. And also it's just that scene where Cameron Diaz is alone in this like beautiful snowy English country town in this little house

and she's glamorous and come from LA and like just decides to drink herself into a stupor and eat all the cheese. And, you know, obviously she looks like Cameron Dews, probably hadn't eaten a carb for like ten years. And so she's like scoffing all this delicious chocolate and cheese and drinking all this red wine. And then at peak time Jude Law just turns up kind of drunk and handsome at her door just at the moment where it would be nice

to have some like lonely Christmas sex basically. And he's like super sexy and handsome and sweet and then it turns out that he's a widower with two girls. Oh, my God, that is the absolute gold standard. No, it is. It's the gold standard of, like, men to fall in love with. Yeah, because he's, like, he's a bit devilish and obviously he's living this, like, spoiler alert for anyone who hasn't seen it, two lives.

Like he's like on the weekend when he gets to not be with his girls, he can go out drinking and he has sex with women. Does he actually do that or isn't it like once a year he does it? Yeah, once a year basically, yeah. Oh, no, yeah, and then the rest of the time he's this like really daggy, sweet dad and so it's just they've just nailed that whole thing. So, yeah, that's why. He's very charming, Jude Law.

I'm a big fan. I like him. Me too. Alfie? Yeah. It's mostly him being like my dick doesn't work though. I remember that movie being like fun and he's like he's shooting from the hip and he's really cool.

But it's like it's really depressing if you watch that movie. He's just like I don't know what I'm doing. There's also a really sweet story storyline that Kate Winslet has where she works with a guy from like old Hollywood, and it's like you wouldn't even think like why is it even in the movie? And I don't mean that in a bad way, but do you know what I mean? It doesn't – it's not like – he's not like, I've got to go on a date and like how am I going to ask my neighbor out or whatever.

It's just, you know, he's just like, it's just this, like, sweet old man that she befriends. Yeah, he's a bit sort of befuddled and maybe has a little bit of dementia but had this incredible career. He's great. He only recently, I can't remember his name, but he's in a Darren Hanlon film clip as well. Oh, he was so good in that.

I cry. I cry in that every time in that storyline. And that's the part of the movie I cry in because I think they have this like really sweet relationship and he teaches her about strong women. He just shows her all these old Hollywood movies with really strong women with gumption. And there's something so beautiful about him kind of teaching her that she should be the heroine in her own life and stop sitting on the sidelines and accepting,

you know, being treated really terribly. And that I think can also ring true, you know, like at all different points of people's lives you accept how you're being treated in a relationship because subconsciously you don't think you deserve better, you know. And I think if even that's in friendships or in romantic relationships or just in life. Yeah, right, yeah.

And so him kind of teaching her that while she helps him to like be sort of proud of himself and bring himself out of it. Oh, it's just so beautiful. It's really good. I like it. Anyway, that's that. We can wait for clean water solutions. Or we can engineer access to clean water.

We can acknowledge indigenous cultures. Or we can learn from indigenous voices. We can demand more from the earth. Or we can demand more from ourselves. At York University, we work together to create positive change for a better tomorrow. Join us at yorku.ca slash write the future. Do you have anything else to recommend? I just wanted to quickly talk about the holiday movies that made us. I've talked about the toys that made us and the movies that made us on Netflix.

They did one, it's by Brian Volk Weiss, and they did one for Elf and a movie directed by Jon Favreau who's doing like The Mandalorian. He started the MCU and whatever. And also The Nightmare Before Christmas which is not a Tim Burton movie but everybody thinks it's a Tim Burton movie but it wasn't directed by Tim Burton. I thought it was a Tim Burton movie too. Well, they call it like Tim Burton's Nightmare Before Christmas but it's not.

I mean a lot of the ideas come from him but he didn't. All right. Anyway, the thing about this show is like it's good and it's not. I mean, a lot of the ideas come from him, but he didn't. All right. Anyway, the thing about this show is, like, it's good and it's interesting, right, but the editing is so fucking weird and tries to be, like, too clever and cut back and forth between people and be like, record scratch, hang on a minute, and then it will cut to, like, another person, but it's clearly saying, like, an unrelated thing that they'll put in

and I'm just like, just tell the fucking story. Like, I don't need all this like jumping back and forth and like sound effects and like intercutting like clips that clearly aren't connected. Do you know what I mean? They try to make connected and it's just, it's a good show because it's got a lot of like really interesting stuff, but I think it's just gone too far in terms of like stylistically it's just fucking all over the place.

Because I like the stuff that they talk about. I find it really interesting, you know, because they'll do like last year they did like Die Hard and Home Alone or whatever. Oh, we still haven't watched Home Alone. Yeah, we got a little bit of time to watch Home Alone with our son before. Yeah, maybe tomorrow is the day. I can't wait for that. I think he's going to love it.

I hope he does. Yeah, I love it. Yeah, I loved it too. I haven't watched it in so long. That's one of those movies that. It's really funny. Yeah. It's also really, I saw this thing on Twitter the other day love it. Yeah, I loved it too. I haven't watched it in so long. That's one of those movies that. It's really funny. Yeah. And it's also really, I saw this thing on Twitter the other day about it.

It's really, it's quite clever in ways that you wouldn't think because you think it's like it's a kid's comedy or whatever. And it is. But there's also things like you see earlier in the movie that Kevin's ticket accidentally gets like knocked into the bin. So that's why they didn't notice at the airport when they're putting through the tickets. They didn't notice he wasn't there because they didn't actually have his ticket at all.

There's a whole lot of like world building and things that's like within the movie that you don't notice but it's all there and it all adds up. Like it's very well thought out. And then it's a Chris Columbus movie. He did the first two Harry Potters and a bunch of other stuff. But, yeah, it's really great. I love when that happens when you watch a movie that you loved as a kid and it really holds up.

Yeah, it's not often. That's like Honey, I Shrunk Your Kids also is such a good film for that reason. It just holds up really well. All right, so I have got sort of a list of quick last-minute gift ideas. Are you sure about this because you're not going to ruin it for next year or whatever? No. Don't be silly.

These are my ideas. All right. I just feel like maybe there are some people out there, particularly maybe with wives or girlfriends who are panicking or partners, whoever, but this is particularly for. You've got like one day. Good luck. Yeah, I know.

Well, this is why. I thought I would just give some tiny little suggestions in case you're panicking. Okay, here's my, and this is just for longevity for people to listen to back later and also maybe for birthdays and things too. I just thought if you've got a partner that probably is a woman but could be for anyone. Sure. These are some last minute gifts I'd give.

So first up, a notebook, a really lovely notebook with a set of pens. And if you have time, a notebook where you've written down some favourite recipes from family members. Oh, my goodness. You could ring around. You could get that pretty quick, I reckon. Yeah, definitely. On Christmas Eve.

And my sister did it for me and it made me cry. And that's quite cheap. And there's notebooks everywhere. So that's one. So books, recommendations, Dolly Alderton's two novels, Ghosts and also Everything I Know About Love, that would make a lovely little set of books for a lovely lady. Or Becoming by Michelle Obama, amazing. I mean it's an older one but she might have already read it

but it's really wonderful. Any Jane Harper novels, that book Three Hours I recommended. Trini London Makeup Voucher, that's a quick one you, I recommend it. Trini London, Makeup Voucher. That's a quick one you could do quite quickly. You just buy that online. Trini London, doing some great makeup over there. I also just love Trini. You're always looking at her.

Whenever I come into the room, you're watching a Trini London video. She's just like all her sequins really make me happy. And she just yells about clothes all the time and just shows me in her, like like insane wardrobe that she's collected over 40 years, not me. She shows like millions of people on the internet. That is normally something I would jump on and be like, oh, she shows you those shoes, you're wearing your best friends or whatever. But, you know, this year's been really bloody hard. Yeah, it's not great.

So I just like sometimes watching someone talk about their love of sequins has really got me through. Yeah, that's right. We were talking about this and we're like, and there's nothing against these things, but like it's a podcast on depression or whatever. And it's like, I don't want to listen to a podcast on depression. I'm depressed. Yeah.

I just want to listen to someone else. Yeah. That's like, that's what I reckon. That's why I like that. Because he's written a book where he's just basically calling out all the self-help stuff. Don't get me wrong. Self-help has its place. I love self-help books.

Oh, totally. Of course it does. All part of it. And there are books that have really helped me. But sometimes you just want to watch someone talk about sequins or Star Wars for an hour or something. I don't know what you listen to. Yeah, that's what I do.

A man yelling. It's usually someone from America yelling, sitting in a room with figurines of like Marvel characters behind him. I really watch a lot of that kind of stuff. All right. I'm really used to. Anyhoo, moving right along. A lovely, cosy bathrobe, slippers and cosy socks.

That's quite an easy thing to just jump in and get. Okay. Do you think that would be an okay gift for a dude? I reckon. I think so. You would love that. I would love that. Yeah, totally.

And I've got a bathrobe and slippers, so I don't need that. No, but even a new one, a new crisp, lovely bathrobe. Oh, Zoe got me this year. Lovely. Yeah, I'm giving you away. This is also one for someone who loves baths, a bath tray for placing books, wine glasses. Oh, that is a good idea.

It's really good. And they just sit over the top of the bath. So if you have a bath at home, that would be a lovely one to do. If you're being extra romantical, you can even run the bath for your loved one, set it all up with some, like, snacks, a glass of wine and a book. Joyful. Very good.

Recipe books. I've already talked about Midnight Chicken by Alyssa. Yes, yes. You recommend every week. Community by Hedy McKinnon. Just my faves. Okay. This is slightly more expensive but lovely jewellery specifically, I reckon, a necklace with a simple round pendant with her initial engraved in her chosen favourite silver or gold.

There is a more expensive version that's called to the Tiffany's Charm Heart Tag Charm on tiffany.com.au, which I'll put a link to. However, you would be able to find something like that in a range of different jewellery shops. Would you be able to get it before Christmas though? I reckon. How quick is their delivery?

No, yeah, but you could go into the store is what I'm saying. Oh, okay, yeah, yeah, yeah. So like it depends on where you are and what's open. But that's the kind of thing that you could find anywhere I reckon with a lovely like silver or gold chain depending on what jewellery she tends to wear. So just look at what she's already got, silver or gold, and choose that. And then you can get something engraved very easily.

They do them at all the like key places as well. Sometimes jewelry shops will do it. Tiffany's will actually do it for you but you don't have to do that. Yes. And just like her initial or maybe your kid's initials or the two of his initials. But her initial is quite lovely, just one letter. I would recommend that.

I would not recommend lingerie, scented candles, soaps, chocolates, or flowers. No. Excuse me a minute. The reason I say that specifically is that all those things feel a little impersonal for Christmas because it feels like you haven't put a lot of thought in. Oh, okay, yeah, yeah.

For other times of the year, lovely, wonderful, lovely gifts. However, it feels like a bit of a cop-out. And so those other ones, even though you have bought them on Christmas Eve, feel more personal. Yeah, sure. Unlike you could have bought them weeks ago. So that's just my little thing. All right.

That's all pretty handy. Thanks. Do you think that's useful? I genuinely think it's good. You know what I like. That's all pretty handy. Thanks. Do you think that's useful? I genuinely think it's good. You know what I like? Well, here he goes. Cash. Just give me money.

Cold house. Thank goodness. That's what I've got you. Thank goodness. It's still in our bank account, but you can look at it. I'm going to look at it right now. Oh, no. Oh, no.

Oh, I had two others. Very quick ones. A record player. New or secondhand with a classic record. Well, who's all of those? You've already done that. I'm going to be really using some of James' gift ideas or a great pair of headphones, cordless or otherwise.

Every year I'm bloody crushing it, mate. I think those are like pretty neutral presents you could like. Everyone needs headphones. Yes, I totally agree. Whoever would like those, non-binary, everybody. Everybody. Everybody, every human. So-binary, everybody. Everybody. Everybody. Every human. So, yeah, that's it. Anything else? No. Okay.

I have got an email. I love emails. I know, it's so exciting. And specifically, these are two emails because I want to talk about their recommendation. They're from a little while ago. Matt Ridley and Veronica Borsos have both recommended the film Klaus, which I then went and watched. Oh, yeah. I forgot you didn't talk about Klaus. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, I thought I'd surprise you at the end.

You know how much I love a Christmas surprise. So this is what Matt said about it. My partner and I recently re-watched the film Klaus last night and I can't recommend it highly enough. It's a hand-drawn animated Netflix original that was nominated for an Oscar in 2019 starring Jason Skarsman and J.K. Simmons. It does away with a lot of Christmas clichés. Also, Joan Cusack is in it.

Joan Cusack, oh, my God. And it tells the tale of a work-shy postman who is sent to a remote island with the seemingly impossible task of setting up a working post office. His mission is hampered when he discovers the island is inhabited by two clans who have been feuding with one another for centuries. However, when the children of the town start writing letters to the old woodsman in exchange for gifts, the town starts to change for the better.

It's really heartwarming and just as Veronica said, it's got this beautiful message about community. It's kind of a Santa Claus origin story, but grounded in the real world. It's very lush. I really enjoyed the art style of this, particularly Sergio Pablo, the director, made some really interesting choices, I think, with the animation. I mean incorporated like CGI features, specifically the film makes use of volumetric lighting and texturing. Yeah, I'm actually just reading this right now. The idea was to make it look like if they had continued hand-drawn animation

as opposed to moving into more CGI stuff, this is what they'd think it would look like. It's a beautiful looking movie. It really is. Because I was watching it and you sort of looked up and went, ooh, that looks cool. Yeah. I'd heard about this. I've because I was watching it and you sort of looked up and went, ooh, that looks cool. Yeah. I've heard about this.

I've been meaning to watch it and then I saw the end of it, which I should just watch the whole thing. No, you know what? You really should watch it because, A, it's beautifully, it does have a lush storybook feel, which is what they wanted. It's set in Smirnsberg, which is like a kind of remote island in Scandinavia, which was kind of based on an old whaling town that no longer exists. But it's kind of got that Norway kind of Scandinavian feel to it.

It's just beautifully done, very funny. The score is really great too. It's just I loved it and also kind of makes you cry. What I actually found really interesting, they ground all of the origin story in reality so there's no flying sleighs. It kind of is based around sort of real things. Yeah. And one of the choices they made was the elves.

So the elves are actually represented by the Sami people who happen to be the indigenous people of the north in Scandinavia. And I didn't know anything about the Sami people. So then I went on this kind of deep dive. So interesting. So just how and, oh, my gosh, I'm going to put a link to just some of the information about them because their community just looks so incredibly interesting, beautifully drawn.

I think as well they are often caring for reindeer too, but just like the intricacy of their clothing is so beautiful and they have their own language. It's a Uralic linguistic group, which I thought was really interesting. Just the colours and the vibrancy and the kind of intricate details of their lives, even the kind of traditional housing is really amazing. So they herd reindeer and they also have like the Sami reindeer herders have an annual migration ending around Easter.

And I'm just going to show you some of these pictures. Oh, wow. See what I mean? Yeah. Just like just looks so incredible the way that they and the colours. Oh, that's so cool. Aren't they really cool and just sort of the like tools they use are so beautiful and they're still living in communities like that.

Cool. In this really traditional way. Though they also have handcraft, which is beautiful too. They live in traditional communities but are also doing more non-traditional work in things like the modern service sector, industry travel and the public sector. But they also make their living through fishing, livestock farming and hunting along the coast on the fjords and alongside

the large rivers farther inland. Anyway, I just, you know, when you sometimes stumble on something that you had no idea about and then you kind of just get blown away. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, and I was absolutely. So if anyone is out there and knows more about the Sami people and would like to tell us more about it. Maybe you are.

I would. Yeah, or maybe you are from that particular community. I know we have listeners in Norway, so we'd love to hear more. And Finland, just beautiful. I mean, I just love that whole part of the world. Just looks stunning. So I'd love to visit one day. Okay. It'd be nice to visit something again.

Wouldn't it be nice? So that brings us to the end of our Christmas episode. Did you have a good Christmas episode, Claire? I bloody did actually in the end. I love myself sick with that one. You were panicking as one does leading up to Christmas, but you pulled it together like you always do every year for Christmas. Thanks, mate.

Yeah, I was really panicking, but I pulled it all together. So it'll be good. I hope everyone out there somehow, I know if you're in the UK and things are looking pretty difficult at Christmas this year. Yeah, safe, warm, friendly. What are you just saying? Words? Adjectives?

Goose egg. I don't know what he's saying. He's lost his mind, guys. Anyway. Got a review. Oh, sorry. Yes, go, go. If you remember the show, it helps so much.

You can just do it in-app. Just open it up and go clickety-clack-clock-click-clock, and then you can type a review like Tyler LaHouse has written. It says, jingle, jangle, pondle, pongle, fongle. James, I know you can see this and I just wanted to say that you are the fillet of fish from McDonald's. Claire, you are the McChicken. Thank you.

The pot is the Chuck E. Cheese of podcasts. Thank you. Fillet of fish is the worst item on the menu, I believe. You know what? I used to really be like into a fillet of fish. I worst item on the menu, I believe. You know what? I used to really be like into a fillet of fish. I've actually never had one. I've cooked millions of them. Have you really?

Millions? Not millions. That's a lot. I've probably cooked dozens actually. They're not very popular except on Easter Friday or whatever it is, Good Friday. But I don't go in and cook, by the way. I used to work at McDonald's many moons ago.

But anyway, what were you going to say though? Thank you for the review. Yes. Tyler. Thank you so much, Tyler. One last thing I thought about just the other day, I don't know if anyone else has seen this on Instagram, but there's been this beautiful campaign for Choose Love,

which is a charity that supports refugees particularly. And there's a campaign going around where people are making little videos where they're sharing their silver lining of this time of year and having to be in lockdown at Christmastime. Oh, cool. And Emma Thompson and her husband have made this incredible video that's just so funny. But lots of other celebrities, including Jessica Foster-Key,

who I love too, has made a really good one. Didn't some celebrities get together and sing Imagine together? No, they didn't. They're actually really funny and it's just really. Celebrities have finally harnessed social media in lockdown. No. It took them nearly a year but they've done it. No, it's just really encouraging people to support refugees at this time

because, I mean, we're all doing it tough but in lots of different ways in our lives but, I mean, if you have a roof over your head and, you know, you're warm and safe, that's a lot more than a lot of people have. And a twinkle in your eye. Anyway, so this particular campaign is just one of the best campaigns I've seen in a long time. And, yeah, and it kind of, just all those different videos have kind of made me feel sort of, I don't know,

less alone in all of this kind of isolation and all the difficulty that this Christmas is bringing. And then I think paying it forward in a way, so purchasing something from Choose Love or just donating to your favourite charity if you can or volunteering your time. I think when we're feeling miserable, that's something that can actually bring joy at Christmas. Definitely.

Yeah, rather than focusing on what we have or don't have or can't do. Focus on that a little if you want. It's Christmas. You can do what you want. Correct. Exactly. We'll be back next week to talk about some of our favourite stuff from the year.

But if you have favourite stuff from the year, tell us what your favourite stuff of the year is. Send a bloody email into suggestiblepod at gmail.pod.com. Correct, exactly. Yeah, or tweet at us, whatever. Whatever. We don't mind. We should spruik our socials more.

Okay. Well, anyway. Merry Christmas. Are you ready? Can I do some more music? I can't hear it. I'll sing for you over it. It's worse. I'll sing for you over it Get happy

I've got to turn it down in a second I've got to jingle all the way commentary It's free, it's on YouTube down in a second. Why are you ruining my Christmas outro? I've got a jingle all the way commentary. Okay, jingle all the way. It's free. It's on YouTube. A little bit Mason.

It's a terrible movie. Oh, yeah. William fixed it because we did the extended version. All right. I don't really care about that. Let's listen to Christmas song. I'm leaving.

I can't hear it, so I'll play you the rhythm. I should play the words. I can't hear it. So I'll put it in the room. Same with it. I should play the words. No, you don't. Yeah, it's not like you've got a device in front of you that can look up anything. All right. Merry Christmas, guys.

Big love to you all. We'll see you in 2021. No, rewind. Next week. Not 2021. That's a good one. Oh, 2021, that's good. Oh, yeah, good point. All right, thanks, colleagues, for editing this show. Thanks, colleagues.

20,000. Introducing Uber Teen Accounts, an Uber account for your teen with enhanced safety features. Your teen can request a ride with top-rated drivers, and you can track every trip on the live map in the Uber app. Uber Teen Accounts. Invite your teen to join your Uber account today. Available in select locations.

See app for details.