The Chris Voss Show - The Chris Voss Show Podcast – Ride of Joy: Meet the Real-Life Secret Santa Spreading Cheer on Wheels

Episode Date: December 11, 2024

Ride of Joy: Meet the Real-Life Secret Santa Spreading Cheer on Wheels About the Guest(s): Ryan Larson is a dedicated community member known for his unique holiday initiative as Utah's very own ..."Secret Santa." With a love for Christmas and spreading joy, Ryan decorates his beat-up white 1996 truck with Christmas lights and a Santa doll in the passenger seat to spread holiday cheer. He began this heartwarming tradition five years ago and has become a recognized figure in his community for his efforts to bring smiles and happiness, especially to children and families in parking lots and street junctions. Episode Summary: Join Chris Voss on an enlightening journey into the festive world of holiday spirit and generosity as he interviews Ryan Larson, a modern-day Secret Santa who turns his truck into a beacon of Christmas joy. In this heartwarming episode, Chris engages Ryan in a discussion about the inspiration behind his holiday tradition of spreading cheer by decorating his vehicle with Christmas lights. Ryan shares stories of kindness and the positive impact this gesture has on the community, highlighting moments of joy and the occasional police interaction that highlight the law's appreciation for his mission. Ryan Larson's festive endeavor takes center stage as he reveals how his passion for Christmas led him to transform his old truck into a mobile display of holiday spirit. For five years, Ryan has driven through neighborhoods and public places, bringing smiles and joy to kids and adults alike. The episode offers an engaging exploration of how small acts of holiday kindness can brighten lives, challenge the apprehension of taking unconventional paths, and inspire listeners to evoke the spirit of giving. Featuring impactful anecdotes and engaging dialogue, the episode encourages listeners to consider how they might also spread joy in their own communities. Key Takeaways: Ryan Larson started his truck-decorating tradition five years ago to bring joy during the Christmas season, focusing on creating smiles wherever he drives. His mission embraces the notion that giving and spreading happiness can be an enriching personal experience, one that has rewarded him as much as those who see his truck. Ryan's story includes a memorable interaction with a police officer who wanted to take a photo of his decorated truck, showcasing community support and appreciation. The episode emphasizes how anyone can contribute positively to their communities, using even the simplest of gestures to cast light and cheer during holidays. Chris Voss reflects on the importance of finding ways to lift others up during bleak times, revealing how the change in the podcast's direction during the COVID-19 pandemic brought more personal and inspiring content. Notable Quotes: "I just like to help people smile. So it's amazing, especially if you go into a Costco or a Walmart or a Target parking lot and you see the kids coming out with their parents." "For me, it was overcoming that uncertainty of if I should do it. And if I get caught doing it." "I can honestly say I probably get as much or more out of it as anybody that sees the truck does." "It doesn't take all that much to be kind. That's the great thing about being kind." "There's a saying, lift where you stand. So regardless of where I'm at or what I'm doing… lift where I drive."

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Starting point is 00:00:00 You wanted the best. You've got the best podcast, the hottest podcast in the world. The Chris Voss Show, the preeminent podcast with guests so smart you may experience serious brain bleed. The CEOs, authors, thought leaders, visionaries, and motivators. Get ready. Get ready. Strap yourself in. Keep your hands, arms, and legs inside the vehicle at all times because you're about to go on a monster education roller coaster with your brain. Now, here's your host, Chris Voss. Hi, this is Voss here from thechrisvossshow.com. Ladies and gentlemen, the hour of ladies, since that makes it official. Welcome to 16 Years of the Chris Foss Show. My back hurts, and over 2,200 episodes as well.
Starting point is 00:00:50 Refer to the show to your family, friends, and relatives. Go to goodreads.com, 4chesschrissfoss, linkedin.com, 4chesschrissfoss. Chris Foss won the TikTokity and all those crazy places on the internet. Years ago, I'd heard about Larry Dean Stewart. He was considered the original secret Santa he was a philanthropist who announced he gave gifts to people in need during the Christmas season and he was fired from his job in 1979 he felt sorry for himself and he noticed a waitress in a
Starting point is 00:01:18 thin jacket he decided to change his perspective in being a victim to being grateful and giving and it's amazing what happens when you make that difference in your life so he began handing out hundred dollar bills to people on the streets in December and He did that for over 20 years even keeping himself anonymous He did other donations But he kept his identity secret until he revealed himself as a secret Santa when he had cancer and he wanted to inspire others. So I've always been inspired by these folks that play anonymous sort of secret Santa. They go around and hand out goodwill and cheer and God knows we sure need it.
Starting point is 00:01:56 And right now, just to point a reference for you watching on YouTube at any given time in the next 20 years, it's December, the beginning of December of 2024. So the other day i was driving at night i was talking to a friend on the phone and i saw this pickup truck covered literally covered there'll be a picture on the site of with the christmas lights a santa i think a santa dollar stuffed santa in the passenger seat and i was like i bet this is a secret santa guy i didn't i didn't know for sure but i'm like i want to at least take a picture of this vehicle because it's kind of cool and
Starting point is 00:02:30 it's not something you see every day and so maybe this should become a thing but so i waited until he pulled over and he had stopped at a dry cleaning place where there was a homeless person out front and he got to deliver his cheer and i got got a chance to meet him, invite him on the show, and see if we can inspire some holiday spirit here on the thing. So today we have Ryan Larson on the show with us today. I was going to originally have him on anonymously, but he says it's cool if we give his identity. Welcome to the show, Ryan. How are you?
Starting point is 00:02:59 Thank you. Great, Chris. It's great to be on the show. I appreciate it. Thank you. It's wonderful to have you as well. And boy, you know, this is a time where, you know, the politics are hard on people. Life is hard on people. Bills are hard on people. You know, we're all kind of struggling these days. You know, post-COVID, I think we're
Starting point is 00:03:15 still trying to find our footing. Tell us a little about yourself. Kind of give us a 30,000 overview, I guess, of what you do as a Secret Santa. It's interesting you say secret. It's not so secret because people in my neighborhood know about it. So they know who I am because they see the truck and then they want to talk to me. But regardless, about five years ago, I bought a truck from one of my neighbors. And it's my white truck. It's a 1996.
Starting point is 00:03:40 It's in the engines in great shape. The body is in bad shape. So I thought, what can I do is in bad shape so i thought what can i do with this truck i mean what can i do with this truck it's a great utility truck and i love christmas i really do i really like christmas season oh absolutely absolutely i love any kind of season where we can celebrate i thought what can i do with my truck and then i thought i thought like a christmas tree you know we set christmas every year, or those who celebrate the season can do that. I thought, why not set up my Christmas truck? Call it a Christmas truck, set it up, do what I can to it, to light the thing up, and give it a new life.
Starting point is 00:04:16 And so I started doing that. I got to be honest with you, Chris. I was a little bit nervous at first, because I know the letter of the law is that you don't have lights on the outside of your auto your vehicle especially blue and red because those are considered emergency lights right yeah so there's more stories there but at the time I was a little bit nervous should I try and do it should I do it am I gonna get in trouble and then I thought the smiles went out. So there we go. So tell us about how you're raised. How did you fall in love with Christmas?
Starting point is 00:04:50 What inspired you to be a Gator? And what are you doing when you're out there roaming around in that truck? Yeah, so I've always loved Christmas. My parents, growing up in Southern California, made it a great time. It was always family time. Grandparents would come around, always look for them when they came, waiting for them to come on the day that they were driving down from Utah. And I just always enjoyed the Christmas season, the lights, the people, the activities. And yes, the gifts, the presents, receiving those is good. As I've gotten older, I've realized it's just as much fun, if not more fun to give something
Starting point is 00:05:25 than as it is to receive. So what can I give now? I, I don't make it a point to give money. I can do, we can do that. That's not a bad thing, but one of the greatest things I experienced, I take the truck out a couple, three times, three nights a week, just go driving around. And that's where you, you saw me. That's you caught me that one night and we had a good time. I just like to help people smile. So it's amazing, especially if you go into a Costco or a Walmart or a Target parking lot and you see the kids coming out with their parents. If you drive by and the kids just, you know, it's crazy.
Starting point is 00:06:01 It's crazy good. And it makes, it helps me feel good because i see their smiles and as you mentioned previously we've got a lot of reasons potentially not to smile i'm just trying to give one more reason to smile we need as many reasons as we can get in this world i think at this point and the truck is so joyous it's i mean there'll be a picture on the chris voss show website where you can see the picture of the truck and i think in the final video it will be in the middle of the thing so we can kind of show it but it had the santa claus guy in it yeah it's got a light up has anybody giving you a hard time is the police so we really any anybody actually so yeah here's
Starting point is 00:06:42 the story i i've had a few police officers from their cars as I go by. I have to make a decision because I can turn it off. They probably already see me, but I could unplug it, turn it off. So I was approaching a main intersection here last year. There was a big accident. A lot of cops were around because they were facilitating emergency services with the medical personnel. And I was probably a mile away, and I saw this thing coming up. they were facilitating emergency services with the medical personnel. And I was probably a mile away and I saw this thing coming up.
Starting point is 00:07:16 I thought, okay, do I just get scared and fearful and turn them off so that I can get through the intersection or get around it without being seen? And I thought, no, no, we got to do it. We got to see what's going to go on. If anything, these people needed a little bit of smile while they were dealing with this, this massive accident. So I ended up driving up to and eventually through the accident area. Thankfully, I didn't cause it. But this, this police officer noticed me, obviously, and she started walking towards me. And then I thought, Oh,
Starting point is 00:07:45 here we go. It's I'm going to get my first ticket. And she came up, she said, roll down your window, sir. You know, like this kind of thing.
Starting point is 00:07:54 And she, I did. And she said, can I take a picture? She, she ended up now, she might be, she might've taken a picture to see who i was so
Starting point is 00:08:06 that if they needed that in the future they could use it yeah you never know but but i i got through i got through the intersection she took a picture we had a good time and and she gave me some you know a slap on the back so to speak but it was nice to recognize that yes our law enforcement officers officers are upholding the law and they also see the intent, the spirit of what the truck is about. Yeah. And that's awesome. So I think you had some candy canes or something you were handing out when I met you? Yeah.
Starting point is 00:08:38 What I'll do is sometimes I take people out in the back and they do some singing, caroling. We go into the parking lots and they do some caroling. I wasn't doing that that night. You caught me. But I've got candy canes, candy that I get out. And again, I'm very careful. I need to be respectful of families and the kids and make sure I'm not a stranger. Stranger danger.
Starting point is 00:08:58 So when I get out of the truck, I'll take an open thing of wrapped candies with me. And I'll just go up to the parents and say, is it okay if I share some candy with your family? And in the spirit of the season, and I haven't had anybody say no yet. That is awesome. And you know, the cool thing is if they say no, then, you know, the parents, the bad guy. So you're like, your kids are well your parents are awful kids sorry they hate you clearly you know you just throw it out yeah i mean and you've been doing this for how long five years five years man you really it started with a car yeah it started with a car and then it transitioned to a truck because the truck's got more personality wow that is that is awesome yeah it's it's i i saw it and like right
Starting point is 00:09:47 away i go i bet that's dudes going around spreading cheer and that or you know i have different lights on my car they're all black and i just spread misery but that's for that's for that's for we gotta change it chris that's november you know you could just paint it like a giant turkey over Thanksgiving, maybe. I don't know. But you've got enough going on there. Yeah. I try to add to it every year as well.
Starting point is 00:10:12 So there's got to be a little added over time. And I imagine it must, I mean, do you have a wife and kids? Yeah. I'm married and have four children. My wife actually doesn't like to come out with me in the truck because she doesn't like the truck. She doesn't want to be seen in your beat-up truck. I didn't even notice there was anything wrong with the bed. I didn't see any dents. It's a great truck. It's got new life. It's a great truck.
Starting point is 00:10:40 No, but my kids, in fact, my daughter took my car out. The first two years, I did it in the car. And she took the car out, actually. And she did get pulled over by a police officer. So maybe it was because she was younger. Yeah, who knows? But no, they love it. They love it. And they just sort of shake their head and it's, Dad's going off again.
Starting point is 00:11:01 So you usually go out three to four times in the evening. Do you usually go out three to four times in the evening you usually usually hit certain places so if somebody's listening to this broadcast and they may want to do the same thing maybe it's an anonymous secret center or just go around like you are what's the blueprint do you go to certain places do you look for homeless yeah you look for all all of the above any and all of the above so what i'll do the best place to have a lot of people see it is main intersections, main city roads. I'll certainly go into the parking lots because that's where I find the children, obviously,
Starting point is 00:11:34 that are coming out with their parents. And I have an opportunity to stop and interact a minute or two. Some people like to stop me like yourself and say, hey, what's going on? How'd you do that? So I recommend just a lot of thoroughfare. Wherever wherever the traffic is that's where you want to be because then you get more smiles you get more people smiling they'll take video they'll take and i'm okay i mean i'm not obviously anonymous on this show that's fine but it's nice because when i'm out in the truck they're not focusing on me it's not me it's it's when I'm out in the truck, they're not focusing on me. It's not me. I'm just driving, right?
Starting point is 00:12:06 It's the Santa and the lights because they don't often see that. Up until this year, I hadn't seen any other car in this area with lights on it like I do. Just in the last week, I've seen two more cars or two cars now in this area, which is fantastic. It's fantastic. Yeah, we need more people spreading cheer and that's the reason i wanted to have you on the podcast to give people some good ideas and stuff you know you do you have a truck that's got some dents in it put some lights on it and that'll fix it all yeah yeah absolutely and and i like how you have the
Starting point is 00:12:39 santa in the in the passenger seat i think that really makes it obvious to people okay you know he's not he's not out here so killing people or, you know, whatever. Whatever, yeah. That or, I don't know, somebody's going to get an idea of that. Don't do that, folks. But Spray and Cheer, so you usually thank people, you usually say, hey, I'm, how do you introduce yourself to people? I actually don't.
Starting point is 00:13:01 When I go up to people and I just say, I have that candy jar in my hand, and I just say, hey, I'd love to share some Christmas candy. Is it okay if I share some with you? And I don't say anything. That's it. That's all. And they laugh. The kids are pointing and smiling.
Starting point is 00:13:17 And everybody seems to be having a good time. Yeah. I mean, it's so good. If we could have more people do this and spread cheer and you know i think i think there used to didn't there used to be more of this sort of cheerful thing around christmas and the holidays didn't it seem like there was more cheer back in i don't know when you and i were kids i don't know maybe i'm just yeah i i would maybe maybe but i'm trying to change that a little bit if it does exist.
Starting point is 00:13:47 Yeah. It seems like that cheer has been lost, though, from when we were younger. It doesn't seem like the holidays. Nowadays, the holidays are so about what you can buy on Amazon, and people are focused on what they can get, Black Friday. It's really marketing marketing marketing you know they're in the malls but you know i remember when i was a kid you really look forward to sitting on santa's lap you look forward to that sort of thing now when i if i go to the mall and see santa there i'm just i see the long line of my that looks like hell my christmas cheer just
Starting point is 00:14:22 goes right out the window and you know my mom she likes to keep her she doesn't turn all the lights on but she likes to keep her christmas stuff around all year i know people that they keep their stuff around all year they just love the feeling that it gives them in such a great time of the year and it's a great time for gratitude and and just being happy you know and so i i just think it's inspiring. Thank you. I can honestly say I probably get as much or more out of it as anybody that sees the truck does, quite honestly.
Starting point is 00:14:52 I mean, if you think back and think, okay, the times when I felt the best, some of those times were when I saw somebody else or helped somebody else or encouraged or invited, right? Someone else. It's something outside of me. So by the time I get done driving around for a couple hours on a night, I feel pretty good.
Starting point is 00:15:10 I'm feeling pretty good. You know, there's something about giving back. There's stories I've told in my lifetime where one time I was down, I was waiting for a bunch of money to come in from our clients. And for some reason, it just wasn't showing up. Like it was just, you know, normally there'd be a good pace of checks for us and i was down on like my
Starting point is 00:15:29 last 20 bucks or something and and i remember seeing a guy he was he was this was in las vegas and he was he was behind the 7-eleven or beside it i think to the one side of it and i just thought it was so interesting he had a shopping cart with a bunch of his gear in there for living on the streets But he was reading the paper And it just kind of struck me. I mean he was like reading that he had to think paper open He was reading it and I'm like, you know this this guy may not be full maybe you know Homeless maybe crazy. I know i don't know he sounds like maybe he's intelligent maybe he's down on his luck or something i don't know but he's he's
Starting point is 00:16:10 reading the paper and and something just impressed me to to to give him that 20 bucks that i had and i'm like and there was just like this thing that was like everything will work out and i'm like god i don't know if we're getting money tomorrow. I don't know what's going to happen. And I did. And I felt really good about it. He was really happy and seemed really pleased. And then I went off and I felt really great by doing a good thing.
Starting point is 00:16:38 But I'm like, I hope, I don't know if I just gave away my last 30 bucks and the next day my mailbox that all of our bills would invoices get paid in was just filled with all of our checks and i was like wow that was amazing and it's not that there's what is it causation whatever you know it's not that it was a direct reward or something like that but you know just sometimes in the darkest of moments, you know, I've gone through a couple of cathartic times where, you know, something's happened that's been very depressing or a crisis situation, loss of, you know, 2008, we lost all of our companies to the mortgage crisis and everything. And I've always found that sometimes when I'm in those moments where I'm losing everything,
Starting point is 00:17:26 sometimes it's the best time to just quit fighting all this stuff and just learn to give and go figure out where you could be of service. You know, I mean, this podcast is a product of that. For the first 10 years, 12 years or something, we were a podcast that was just Silicon Valley, iPhones, Apple, Google, you know, lots of reviews. And, you know, just talking about shit. I mean, it really doesn't matter when it comes down to it, when it comes to life and death.
Starting point is 00:17:54 And so that was us for the first 10 years. And it was kind of, you know, it was interesting. I loved it. But 2020 came and so did COVID. You may remember that. And I had probably hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of gigs that we had lined up. We built a client base over three to five years of going to events like Consumer Electronics Show, South by Southwest, NAB Show, all these different shows that we would go to. And we would take the podcasts out and interview ceos and do all this stuff and there was a whole monetization thing wrapped around it and we built
Starting point is 00:18:31 that over five years and it was just peaking and just hitting its full stride and so with covid they shut down all the events right and so just event after event, punch cut after punch cut, I watched these events close and I just watched money evaporate, guaranteed money evaporate. And I just was like, oh my God, we're living in 2008 again. This is horrible. What are we going to do? And I fell into depression because I was like, oh my God, I just rebuilt from 2008. We're going to do this again? And my buddy on Facebook, my good friend Robert Scoble, he posted a line.
Starting point is 00:19:14 He goes, here's what you do right now because things are going to shit. He goes, either find a lifter or you be a lifter. And that hit me like a ton of bricks. And I was like, okay. So I sat down. I go, I don't really want someone to lead me. I'm kind of a leader sort of thing. So I said, what assets do I have? What can I use to help people?
Starting point is 00:19:33 How can I be a lifter? I wasn't even sure I could be a lifter. And if you go back and listen to those first episodes that I'm trying to lift, you can hear the emotion and stuff where I'm not even sure what I'm telling people is probably the thing to do, but you just kind of fake it till you make it. And so we changed the format of the show to where it wasn't about Silicon Valley anymore and stupid fucking phones, whatever. So, you know, it became, let's, I said, let's have everybody on. We're going to have people on that inspire us, that tell us their stories,
Starting point is 00:20:06 that all the book authors from all the different walks of life. We only had CEOs and business people on before that. And so we're going to talk about stuff that fucking matters for change because all this stuff really doesn't matter. So we're going to try and figure out how to make a lot of people's lives better. We're going to talk about everything and anything and just whatever can uplift people i'm going to be a lifter and that changed the format of the show in 2020 and it rocket shipped the viewership of the show because not only was everyone staying at home
Starting point is 00:20:39 you know they were looking for some they were looking for a lifter and it's one of the greatest things i ever did because i love the show now more than ever. Because, you know, we're not talking about, you know, some jerk-off stuff, self-jerk-off stuff where we're like, oh, let's talk about business, you know. We do talk about that on the show. But we talk about stuff that matters. People share their stories, how they, you know, we're not alone at their cathartic moments. And then we have you on the show. So then we got that going on.
Starting point is 00:21:05 I'm grateful to be here. I just, it's, it's something that I can do and I can enjoy doing. There's, there's a saying lift where you stand. So regardless of where I'm at, regardless of where I'm at or what I'm doing or who I am at any given moment, not that I like to change personalities, but regardless of that, I lift where I stand. So this is an opportunity for me to lift where I drive. any given moment not that i like to change personalities but regardless of that i lift where i stand so this is an opportunity for me to lift where i drive love it i love it anything more that you want to share with us as you go out anything more what would you tell people that
Starting point is 00:21:37 maybe you're thinking about doing this maybe listen to it and thinking whenever i could pull this off do it so just i i didn't know if i could do it i was saying okay how do i wrap the truck so i can still get into and out of it how do i how do i make sure i have battery with enough power i'm using leds so everything's fine it's not going to draw much power but ultimately i think for me it was overcoming that uncertainty of if I should do it and if I get caught doing it. Once I overcame that initial fear of both of those things, can I really do this? Should I do this? Will it matter?
Starting point is 00:22:13 Here we are five years later and it matters. It matters to me and it matters to those who see the truck and smile. Spread joy and cheer because it beats spreading, I don't know, herpes. Anything else? We got to do the job. Yeah, I'm just proud of what you do. I think guys like you can share magic. I've never been one of those people who can go in and see people suffer.
Starting point is 00:22:41 There's a lot of the stars or NFL players that will go into those hospitals and stuff to see those kids. And I don't know that I would be able to hold up. I'd probably break down and cry. It's seeing people in that sort of thing. And so people like you who can spread the joy and go out there and, I mean, you're giving away your personal time. You're giving away your personal time away from your family. You're giving away, you know, but maybe you don't like them. Anyway, I'm just's what i do with my family i'm trying to get away from that all possible when's dad going out in the truck again get rid of it just make sure we got them in the in the life insurance policy the uh the and some bail money in case they pull them over for the red and white lights but no it's it's i would hope more people do this i would hope it would be a thing that would catch on.
Starting point is 00:23:25 Maybe we can create a fad. I hope so. You know what would be really cool is if you turn this into a TikTok channel. You're probably not on TikTok, right? I'm not, but maybe I should be. Maybe you should be. So on TikTok, they have people that do stuff, and they go around and do it. Sometimes people see things like this as, he's you know he's he's doing
Starting point is 00:23:45 it while he's on camera sort of thing you know it's a it's not really he's doing it for his own promotional purposes but to me i think i think just spreading the word spreading the magic you know i remember when i read about the secret santa the original one i was like wow i want to do that someday and but i just don't like people that much. I find that hard to believe, Chris. I love people. You know, that's why we have them on the show. They have different stories of their times in life.
Starting point is 00:24:16 It's always interesting to me the different ways people have gotten through life, how they've overcome their cathartic moments and challenges. And, you know, not everyone's got a different story, and stories are always made into life. That's how we learn. I got to ask you a question, Chris. One question. Have you ever seen a Christmas vehicle, truck or auto in Las Vegas?
Starting point is 00:24:33 Have you ever seen one driving around? I don't think so. I'm pretty sure. The city of light. Isn't that like the city of entertainment, the capital of the world, all that kind of good stuff. Shouldn't they do something? Yeah. So my, see my, my invitation, my invitation is for anybody to do it.
Starting point is 00:24:49 Just do it. Put some lights on your vehicle, recognize that you've got to use some painter's tape or something that's going to keep the lights on. I've got all, you can email me if Chris, if you want to share my email with your with, and please feel free to do so. You can email me, i'll give you some pointers but i'm i'm just inviting anyone out there who's listening and would like to or watches this down the road give it a shot give it a shot and see how many people smile at you yeah you know
Starting point is 00:25:19 it's the lives that you change you know there's a couple different charitable projects that I do do. And sometimes I get frustrated doing them. Sometimes they're hard to put together in their work. And sometimes I don't feel appreciated. And sometimes I'm busy, so trying to squeeze in charity is a little bit harder to pull off. I guess I should just be writing a check. But when I see the smiles, when I see the photos, when I get everybody together, and sometimes I'll look around a room and I'll see all the people engaging,
Starting point is 00:26:00 all the people telling me their stories about how they made friends that probably will last them a lifetime. Maybe they met someone they're going to spend a lifetime with as a partner. And I'll see the smiles and I go, yeah, this is worth it. Yeah, this is the money right here. Seeing, making, you know, making a difference in people's life. You know, there's a little, what's the little saying about, you know, try and make a difference in this world so that, you know, I don't know if people remember me, but maybe they'll remember the things I did and it's right a small way and and yeah just seeing the smiles seeing people happy you know and realizing that that when I was in their place and I didn't have anybody organized stuff like I did it was pretty depressing and lonely and so giving them a vehicle to do that yeah there's something rich about it and it's it's a complete money loser and it's it's a complete fucking money loser and it takes up all my time sometimes you feel a little
Starting point is 00:26:47 oh man why me but when you see the smiles and you go this is worth everything yeah yeah it makes all the difference right it's been wonderful having the show final thoughts as we go out and if you want just give people your email if you want to just tell it to people and we'll put it on the show yeah yeah put on the show my email is christmastruckutah at gmail.com so feel free to email me i'd love to help answer questions or just share the experience a little bit more with you i'm happy to do that we need more secret santas in this world everybody just be a secret santa we'll just go around and give candy canes fuck jobs just quit your job we'll all quit our jobs tomorrow just all go around and give candy canes fuck jobs just quit your job we'll all quit our jobs tomorrow just all go around and hand out candy and stuff but you know i think it's good for the kids to see that too
Starting point is 00:27:31 yeah i think it makes a difference seeing the giving and what a powerful lesson for them so you're inspiring a whole new generation of people that i lost hope in a long time ago anyway thank you and it's nice it's nice to see the adults smiling too they're they're almost as quick to smile as the kids are when it comes to a christmas truck i can imagine you know my mom we used to drive her mom crazy when i went to the you know this ralph's the the little california grocery store you know we'd be driving her crazy with all the requests and she you know she's just trying to shop and navigate us. And it was never really all that fun for her.
Starting point is 00:28:10 And so I can imagine, yeah, you come out of the store with a bunch of kids, and you see some cheer and joy. It definitely puts a smile on her face. Fantastic. Congratulations. Thank you for everything you do. I mean, from the bottom of my heart, I just was so inspired by it. And I was like, I've got to have this guy on the show and i asked our big utah group i'm like if you
Starting point is 00:28:29 find any more people we're trying to get these folks on the show we want one at least you know five more people doing it or something i don't know the more the merrier like i said i've seen two more this year or two this year that i hadn't seen before so it's happening and plus i should say you don't need a truck you don't need to drive around if you don't want to just maybe take in a set of candy canes the office pass around you know put up some mistletoe give us some kiss no don't do that hr yeah that might be a problem yeah it might be bad no back rubs no back rubs can't do that anymore either. But no, I mean, there's all sorts of ways we can probably find a way to make a difference and bring some cheer.
Starting point is 00:29:17 You know, maybe when you go get a haircut, take some candy canes to everybody there and pass them out, you know. It doesn't take all that much to be kind. That's the great thing about being kind. But like I always say, it's free to be an asshole too. So don't, anyway, might as well not. Yeah. Thanks Ryan. Keep the inspiration and make the world a better place. I'm sure that people are just love you for it. And it's a great example you're sending for your children too. And your wife is probably just happy just to get you out of her hair for a while so that she can absolutely absolutely thank you thanks for tuning in go to goodreads.com fortune's christmas youtube.com fortune's christmas and all those crazy places you know be good to each other stay safe we'll see you next time bye

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