The Dr. John Delony Show - My In-Laws Are Ruining Christmas (Help)

Episode Date: December 24, 2025

On today’s episode: John answers your questions about your crazy in-laws, your gift-giving conundrums, and holiday traditions.   Next Steps: ❤️ Get away with your spouse today! 🔥 Reconnect every day. Download the Together app. 📞 Ask John a question! Call 844-693-3291 or send us a message. 📚 Building a Non-Anxious Life 📝 Anxiety Test 📚 Own Your Past, Change Your Future ❓ Questions for Humans Conversation Cards 💭 John’s Free Guided Meditation 🤘🏼 The Dr. John Delony Show Merch   Connect With Our Sponsors: Head to Beam and use code DELONY for an exclusive discount—because better sleep, energy and focus start tonight. Get 10% off your first month of BetterHelp. Keep your home safe and under control. Go to Cove Smart and use code DELONY for up to 80% off your first order. Get up to 40% off with code DELONY at Cozy Earth.  Get 20% off when you join DeleteMe. Go to Dutch Pet and use code DELONY to get $50 off a year of vet care. Go love your pets! Visit Hallow for a 90-day free trial. Visit Helix Sleep for special offers! Working knives for working people—go to Montana Knife Company to see what’s available now! Explore Poncho Outdoors! Get 25% off your order at Thorne.     Explore More From Ramsey Network: 🎙️ The Ramsey Show 💸 The Ramsey Show Highlights 🍸 Smart Money Happy Hour 💡 The Rachel Cruze Show 💰 George Kamel 🪑 Front Row Seat with Ken Coleman 📈 EntreLeadership   Ramsey Solutions Privacy Policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

My in-laws always want to talk about politics and current events when we get together. How can we set boundaries and keep the conversations civil over the holidays? What do you guys do? Well, we, because both of my parents are gone. Wow, way to bring down a room. This is Christmas Eve, Kelly. Jeez. Oh, ho, ho.

It's Christmas Eve. Why are you listening to this podcast right now? You should be eating too much, hanging out with your families, or like millions of people hiding in a closet at a relative's house you don't want to be at listening to a podcast. I'm glad that you're here. I wish you weren't here, but I'm glad that you are here listening to the show. This is our annual Christmas Eve, Christmas-ish,

around that day Ask Me Anything AMA where Kelly 1.0 Grandma Kelly and the gang have

curated a whole bunch of questions and they're gonna just drop them on me and we're gonna have a good time Kelly you guys

all look festive back there thank you you don't this is my festive Christmas shirt your best

most specialist black Christmas shirt I picked the most specialist black Christmas shirt out of my closet. This makes me feel

Christmassy inside. All warm and fuzzy. So stupid. Oh, my gosh. Look at this. There's so much Christmas decor. Or as a Starbucks calls it, what do they call it? I don't know. Holiday day. Holiday, yeah. Yeah, they don't say Christmas. Well, Merry Christmas, everybody. Happy holidays. Whatever thing will make you feel warm and fuzzy inside. We're glad you're here. All right, Kelly, so

let it rip, I guess, huh? How do you want to kick this off? Everett? Well, I've got a bunch of questions I'm going to ask you. And then you can choose if you want to just answer them yourself or if you want to make it a all skate. Are those your devil horns? They're reindeer antlers.

I feel like everyone gets to see what... They light up. Look at that. Wow. But I'm afraid I'll give you a seizure if you have to watch that. That's fair. That's fair. All right, you ready for the first one? In case you're wondering, this is what I see in my...

mind when I look through the glass and she's glaring at me. I just see the horns go and they grow up. I think you should wear these all the time. It's Christmas. We're being friendly and nice. Oh, all right. Go for it. All right. First question. Now, these were sent in from our listeners, by the way. We did an ask on social. Okay. So these are all listener questions. Okay. My in-laws always want to talk about politics and current events when we get together. How can we set boundaries and keep the conversations civil over the holidays? I got this from my wife, and it's the greatest thing ever. We send an email about what our travel plans are, and then I put in the email. She sent it the first year to teach me how to be

a grown-up. This was not that long ago. But now I will put in the email things we will not talk about. And I put it in there. Um, so during COVID is like, we will not talk about COVID. We will not talk about, I don't know, whatever conspiracy theory. A couple of them are fun, but not these conspiracy theories. We're not going to talk about blah, blah, blah. We're not talking about politics. And I, at least I got to give my family credit. I have seen somebody or I've experienced somebody launches into something and then another person polices it. And they're like, no, Johnson. We're not talking about that. And they all look at me and you know what? I don't care because we're not talking about that. Um, so that's the big thing is I always want to give

people, I want, I want to know that I was clear, not just like you've heard me say this, not just cast somebody in a movie that they don't know they're in and they get mad at them for saying the wrong lines. Often when I go to holidays or any kind of thing, I have this way this is going to play out in my head and it doesn't and then I get mad that they didn't act right. So I like to just take full ownership of it now. And if they want to say, If I had a family that was like, if you come to my house, I can talk about whatever I want to, then I get to be a grown-up and not go to that house. But that's how we handle it in our house.

And it has worked to my family's credit all around. And by the way, my family and I, we all vote different. We all have different opinions on whether somebody actually landed on the moon, whether essential oils work or not. We have all kinds of different opinions. And they've been pretty amazing about sticking to that. That's great. What do you guys do? Um, well, we, because both of my parents are gone and so...

Wow, way to bring down a room. This is Christmas Eve, Kelly. Jeez. All right, go ahead. Mercy. Um, so I, for Thanksgiving, we get together with my in-laws. And then for Christmas, we do Christmas at our house, usually just us. That conversation I can at least control. There you go. Um, but no, there's not a lot of control at my in-law's house, so I just... Drink a lot. No, but it, it is a time, sometimes that I would. that I could, or that I still did. No. I just usually move rooms, you know, because there's always, like, there's like 25, 30 people

there, so I'll just, like, ease my way out of the conversation. And what's, I mean, we all typically vote the same. We all tend to fall on the same side, but I just get tired of it. I'm like, I just don't want to talk about this anymore. And so I just kind of meander elsewhere. Oh, way. Or let my son say, hey, mom, you want to go for a drive? Yes, I do.

Yes. Um, and by the way, uh, this is a, this is a, this is a, this is me being a coward. This is me being weak. This is me preemptively coming up with a strategy. And I, this is all the way back to when I worked with my college students. My wife and I intentionally, I do not tell her who I vote for and she does not tell me who she votes for. I'm pretty sure I know and she's pretty sure she knows, but we do not say it so that when I was with my college students I could say dude my wife doesn't even know who I vote for I'm not telling you and when I'm with my family and they're like right right and I tell them my wife and I don't talk about politics we don't talk about candidates or who did

and so I'm not talking about that with you and that is a very intentional thing that we do in our house and so yes I could be like oh I'm standing on my ground I'm not I'm not that's a personal decision for me so there you go all right question Number two. My wife invites her family from out of town to stay with us for a week. How do I keep my sanity with all of these people in the house? Your sanity begins way upstream. In September, when you all start talking about the holidays, not waiting until December, you start talking about it's just in September saying, hey, let's ask ourselves this question. How do we want the house to feel during the holidays?

well i want it to be full of laughter and fun and family and cool what about you laughter and family and fun cool great how do we get there and then you have to have the courage to say the last few years your family stays a week and after day three i feel like they don't want to be here you struggle i struggle what would it look like if we did for three days this year and then you and i went on a weekend retreat to or a weekend get away to like whatever something like that but it's having that conversation way before we get there if none of that works and she's like a nice try bucko my family's coming for the whole week they have and they always will whatever great then you get to be a grown up and by the way just suck it up it's a week good grief just roll your eyes when you're falling along

to talk about what it like it's fine or like you said go on drives playing a hunting trip pick up it i don't know whatever like oh i got it we i told you last year When y'all were getting with family, Kelly, if there needs to be a podcast emergency, just text me, and I'm there. I'll show up for you. Yeah, sometimes I have to run a lot of errands, a lot of unexpected errands. That's part of it. And by the way, it happens every year.

So if every year you're surprised that you're in a bad mood again, that's on you. It's going to happen if it's going to happen. So be a grown-up about it. Have some fun. Or come up with some things to do. Take the kids to the movie or whatever. So it's just doing that. It's just choosing.

I'm not going to do. things to not be miserable here. All right. Question number three. Top five Christmas movies. Die hard. That answered my next question. Is die hard a Christmas movie?

Followed by die hard. Actually, nope. I'm going to air it. Slop it up, flip it, and reverse it. My number one Christmas movie of all time, without a doubt, there's not even a close second. not even a close second the nightmare before Christmas by Tim Burton

number one I went to see that in the theater with Melissa Dalley back in the day when I was in ninth grade I love that movie it's the most creative inventive wonderful amazing all of it is perfect

it's perfect in every way I love that followed by this is a secret I've never told on the show one of my dad's childhood best friends, Randy Quaid. They were great buddies in high school. And they used to pick on this little brother named Dennis Quaid. Kind of awesome. But my, so Christmas vacation, obviously, is number two. When Uncle Eddie rolled in and my dad was like, I know that guy. And I would have been like,

hey, guys, before we watch this movie, guess what? I know a famous person. That's not how my dad rolls. He's like, I know that guy. And so Christmas vacation, followed by Die Hard, Die Hard, and then Die Hard. and then whatever romantic Christmas comedy my wife wants to watch those are also my favorites they're not but they just become my favorites over the holidays and this year guess what we're doing

talking about you get to choose um my wife said that my daughter's nine and she's kind of into these those little like just are you kidding me Christmas like Hallmark movies there's like a level below

Hallmark like Hallmark is like Oscar level writing compared is it like lifetime or i don't know it's beneath it's not no i guess lifetime is kind of the porny christmas ones this one is like oh that's i don't that's a sentence i'd never want to hear uttered again thorny christmas but just like like like like oogie like oh hey christmas so probably hallmark that's probably it like um it's like jv hallmark but my daughter's got into him and so my wife was like i want to sit on the couch for like five straight days and watch these with josephine and i was like great hank and i are going to the wool

woods and we'll provide for this family and y'all do whatever y'all are going to do. So it's going to be great for us. I would rather set myself on fire than watch a Hallmark Christmas movie. I know. Even though your romantic life is so like straight from one. No. No. That's true.

That is true. There's so many jokes I'm not making right now. Go to the next one. I'm so proud of you. Yes, die hard is a Christmas movie. Next. How is that a debate? the whole thing's at a Christmas party

I know but it is I so Chris Wright who leads our team he was a huge I-hard fan and he also guitarist guitarist extraordinary part of of our band

of bands that never win the sorry Ben he had not seen this so I sent him in Lincoln he bought it there's an advent calendar that starts on December 1st and it's

Hans Gruber falling down Nakatomi Plaza and you move it down one every day until he hits the ground on Christmas Day. That feels a little bit sacrilegious, like struck by lightning. No, it's, no. Not. Dear Jesus, thank you for being born and, that's fair. Come on. It's great, though.

It is. It's good. All right. Next question. Which Grinch movie is the best? And I think we're considering three Grinch movies here. Okay. You got the OG, Dr. Seuss cartoon, you've got the Jim Carrey Grinch,

and you've got the recent, within the past, what, five, six years cartoon with Benedict Cumberbatch. It's like Grinch Light. It's like the nicer Grinch for little kids. Yeah, it goes in the order you just said them. The OG cartoon followed by, I love all, I just think Jim Carrey is a national treasure, and I'm a Jim Carrey fan through and through, and then followed by whatever nonsense remake Hollywood did, because they have no courage to start new franchises. That's fair.

Yeah. Yeah. Although I would put the Jim Carrey one first. That's fair. It's just such a great movie. It is, but there's something about that one, that weird, abominable snowman and Rudolph show that I watched when I was a kid that's like climation. Yeah. Those are just like etched into my mind.

Oh, yeah. We watch the Bumble. It's his name, by the way, the Bumble. But we have a DVD pack. Tells you how old it is. But it's... Yeah. For you young kids.

kids they used to put YouTube videos on metal discs and mail them to you that used to happen that way but alas but we have it's a Rudolph and frosty and what like little drummer boy and whatever the but it's a whole set and my kids a door since they were tiny little still every year we have to watch those they still so those are still popular they're the best yeah okay um last one before we take a break i know the answer to one of these favorite christmas carol's and least favorite. I mean, we all know your fave. 100% little drummer boy.

I think few things make me question whether God is real than when I hear the little drummer boy come on. And you know what? By the way, I live in Nashville, which is home to the like the St. James

family to for king and country that whole family they're awesome good and everybody always like yeah yeah but what about for king and country's version is pretty awesome though you know what i've seen them play live and they're astounding how good they are and there's only so much polishing of a steaming pile of dog chotch that you can do and so for whatever like they they gave it their good college try. And I love those dudes. They are awesome, great human beings.

I love it. And that song, like when people are like, AI is going to take over and destroy humanity, I'm like, well, that's the same group of people

that wrote the little drummer boy. So maybe that's what we get. That's what I think about that song. My thought is always, yeah, that's what Mary was looking for. Perumpa pump. You know,

I have a sleeping infant. Please come play the drums. Yeah, let's go, idiots. That's the most man thing. Yeah. That's exactly what every mother of a newborn wants Check out Hey lady, check out my drum solo

Gosh, dude Bring a casserole Do nothing Stay out in the parking lot And smoke a cigarette like a Like all of our granddad's did Don't come inside with a drum kit And be like, all right

newborn, check this out So stupid Perumpa pump pump That's a terrible song Still not as bad as my least favorite in the world What is yours? Mary did you? you know?

Did you know what? She knew. She didn't. It's in the Bible. The angel came down. He told her. It was a whole thing. Mary knew.

Did you know? Did you know you 14-year-old, young little girl? She knew. You're suddenly pregnant. What? What? She knew. It was a whole thing in the Bible.

He told her. That's like the greatest man-splaining song of all time. Did you know? Yes. He told me. I know, but did you like, no? Did you really know? Yes.

I don't think. you really knew. I mean, the Angel Gabriel came and told her. A song pisses me off. All right, let's go to, oh, favorite Christmas Carol. What did I say last year? I don't know. I don't know.

All right, I'm just going to say the one that's on the top of my soul right now. All of the songs, all of them. On the Nightmare Before Christmas soundtrack, I love that soundtrack. And, but if we're going to go classics,

up on the housetop reindeer paws out jumps good old Santa Claus I think you've said that also I love that song I love it I don't know why I just sing it

when I'm by myself sometimes even in the summer I just love it makes me feel happy out jumps good old it makes me think of like kind of a little bit overweight but kind of like a

like a fit Santa he just jumps on out and he's like hey right I don't know It just makes you think of Santa's like, hey, buddy, I don't know. Have you seen The Christmas Chronicles on Netflix with Kurt Russell? No.

By the way, great current Christmas movie. But Kurt Russell is Santa, and he's pretty amazing Santa because he's Kurt Russell. So maybe it's that Santa. I'll also say this. This is not good for your kids. The movie Bad Santa with Billy Bob Thornton. Hilarious. That is a great movie.

Also not good for your children in any way, shape, or form. Fat Man with Mel Gibson. I don't know that movie. Oh, my gosh. Is it great? Yeah. Not appropriate. It's like very violent, but it's so good.

Great Christmas movie. Also, violent night. Violent night? With David Harbor. The tagline is Season's Beatings. In case you're wondering, Ben is the reason we have better help as a sponsor. He's not doing great. And one of my favorites is Cranpus.

Cramus, what's that? Crampus. Crampus. You don't know what Cranpus is? Oh, the really all. cool artsy one no crampus was a demon oh okay not that one yeah what's the christmas one that's out right now we watch it every year now it's my kid it's my kid's version of that that abominable snowman one that i watched um it's really beautiful it's artistic it's a um but it's about the kid they get sent

away to be the postman oh claws oh we love claws what a magical it is such a david is so great is the voice of... It is a magical Christmas show. What is it? J.K. Simmons plays Clause. Yeah, we watch that with our family every year. That's a big, big one. I love it. I love it.

Also on Netflix, a boy called Christmas. A boy called Christmas. It's delightful. It's wonderful. It's really kind of that same like Nordic feel to it. Yeah. But yeah, Claus is a great, great animated. Clause is great for the fan.

But, uh, I move that up to my number three. Crampus is, um, so back, like, we're talking like 16, 17-100s, I, I I told y'all she was old I hate you I told y'all I think the folklore was either they were brothers or whatever but it's basically

As we call folklore As she called the Daily News Go ahead Seriously y'all It was Santa Claus You know gave gifts and stuff To good boys and girls

Crampus who is Looks a little like what Like a demonic goat Some might say Okay He would take bad boys and girls put them in a sack, beat them with a stick, and then take them to hell.

And parents would use it for like a, well, if you're not good, then this is, but still over in like Austrian stuff, they have like crampus parades and everything. In case you all I were wondering, how did Kelly end up on the mental health show? Here it is. Tadda. I have a stuffed crampus doll.

I could just see you telling your kids, and then crampus came and stuffs the bad kids in a sack and beats them with a stick and takes them to hell. You choose. kids. Ah, mom, ah! And then your horns grow up. That's awesome. All right.

If you're still with us, we'll be right back. I'm super excited to tell you about my newest partners, Cove. Cove is a smart, affordable home security company with the mission of helping you protect your family for less than a dollar a day. The holidays can make your home a target for thieves and porch pirates, but Cove cameras stream live video and audio directly to your control panel and your phone so you can see and hear what's happening at your house in real time. That kind of clarity and control over your home can help give you peace of mind

even when you're away traveling for the holidays. Cove lets you customize your security system with a quick online quiz so you only get what your home actually needs and not a bunch of extra stuff that cost you so much more. Set up is simple, you can do it yourself, and it usually takes like 30 minutes. Every Cove system comes with a 60-day risk-free trial, and December is the perfect time to protect your home with Cove. Cove is offering an exclusive holiday sale just for my audience. Visit covesmart.com and use code Delonia checkout for up to 80% off your first order. 80%.

That's the easiest decision you're going to make this year. Go to covesmart.com and use code Deloney. Let me talk to you about my friends at Hallow. We're over halfway through Advent, and while we're supposed to be slowing down, we've got work, parties, shopping, and travel plans, not to mention family drama. And all of our regular rhythms are buried under a to-do list.

Here's some good news. There's still time to slow down and focus on what matters heading into the new year. Hallow has a great way to re-engage your prayer life before Christmas with a brand new challenge called Ocombe O'Cum-Emmanuel starting December 16th. You'll join singer Lauren Daigle, actor Mario Lopez, and Michael Iskander who plays David in the Amazon series House of David. You're going to join all these folks and more for a daily series of prayer, meditation, and music leading up to Christmas. They'll walk you through the powerful hymn, O'Cum, O'Cum, Emmanuel,

and show you how each verse reveals something new about Jesus. Don't let these last few days get swallowed up by noise and chaos and errands. Spend some time in prayer and in peace with Hallow. Right now, you can get three months for free at hallow.com slash Deloni. Go check it out. It's for free. That's Hallow, H-A-L-O-W.com slash Deloni. All right, we are back.

You shouldn't be. but if you are, we're glad you're here. All right, Kelly. AMA, let's keep it rolling. All right. Keep it rolling. How do we handle gift giving with my family when there are huge income discrepancies between us?

Set a low dollar amount and stick to it. And if you are on the lower end of the discrepancy, if you're both teachers and you have a brother who's a doctor and your parents are, I don't know, they own Yellowstone or whatever, what's the name of that guy? in the movie, in the TV show, Kirk, Kevin Costner.

Dutton. The Dutton, yeah, if that's your in-laws or whatever, great. You give with your full heart and you give the best you can, and you get to choose to not let those other things get on to you. And that's a choice you make. And that's a hard choice and yada, yada. And if you happen to be in a season of blessing and you're making good money and the rest of your family isn't, don't be that guy.

And that's, this is the pot. talking to kettle. I've been that guy and I've come over the top. Like, look at all this gifts I can give everybody. And it ruined it. It ruined it. And because I made Christmas about me, not them. And I'm not doing that. Especially when you give, um, we've seen this happen before gifts to like somebody's children. Yeah, totally. That their parents can't, could never do. They could never do that. Um, so that's another thing to keep in mind. But if there's a, if there's a limit set, stick to it. Stick to it, man. And go watch that office episode where Michael Scott gets the iPod and tries to gives it to Ryan. That's so great.

So good. But anyway. All right. Next question. How do we handle the first holiday season after the unexpected loss of a loved one? Here's my pitch. And I've seen this work really effective. If everybody can be on the same page, everybody's going to write a small memorial, poem, letter and then you read it and you share it because pretending that person's not there is a nightmare and trying to awkwardly navigate so it's it's about putting it on the table and then giving everybody an action that they can do to participate and people can say i don't want i don't want to be a part of it but i'll listen to it um and that's great and good and if people want to don't they're like we're not reading letters we're not doing that you know this is grandma's house

and granddad passed away i'm not doing that whatever great cool you don't have to do that but getting with one or two with your siblings or with your kids whatever but we're going to do a small thing to honor that person who's not here which is we're going to put on the table we're going to feel it and then we're going to enter into the season yeah like i said having lost both of my parents um and then two years ago my mother-in-law passed away and she was the matriarch of the family yeah everybody loved her you have to just call it i mean you have to be call it out yeah and not try and do the everything's fine everything's normal we're going to go on with all the normal stuff there's a missing person and there's a missing person and

we're going to tell stories and we're going to laugh and we're going to try to recreate her cookies and we're going to screw it up and we're all going to laugh about it and we're going to tell all the fun stories. Remember when she and there's going to be a lot of tears and a lot of laughter and just be okay with that. Be okay with that. It's part of it. But don't try to make it all look the same because it doesn't and then it's just weird for everyone. Yes. And then it's just, it's worse. So just dive right into it. And let me call it. I'm an overdramatic guy. I like big gestures, right? So I like everybody reading a story or something about the person or a letter, whatever.

It can be as simple as, hey, we're going to round up the family and I'm going to say a quick prayer before our meal and I just want to say, we're all missing mom or we're all missing dad. Or if you're not the praying type, you get in a circle before dinner and everybody's like, hey, let's give a toast

and everybody, let's cheers to grandma's not here. But it's some sort of acknowledgement. All right. I think this one's really interesting. Is it wrong to sell the gifts that you got to get out of debt? If so, or if I do that, do I owe the gift, the person that gave me the gift, any of the money? It's yours. You're a terrible person, but yeah, sell it.

No, dude, sell it. I mean, it's yours. It's yours. It's yours. Do you owe the gift or an explanation? Or like, hey, hey, I just want to let you know. Especially if it's like your, you know, grandma or something, I don't know. I'll call her out on this show.

So after I, after I, um, my last book, I got everybody who was a part of the book getting out into the world, a nice gift. And I got everybody like really nice go ruck back. And those are super expensive And I didn't get a deal I got bought them I went bought them And I bought a whole bunch of them And they were to give out to everybody

Well My The person who Run social media for me Who is to be unnamed Lauren She got hers And it's not

It is not a A feminine thing at all Right In no way did this fit Her aesthetic at all Like she's beautiful She's young She's like

Oh my God Like and getting a go-ruck backpack was not her thing. Well, I saw her a few days after that and she's like, oh my gosh, I had no idea how nice is it was, like, sold it on like next door or eBay or whatever, and I got this

much money. And I was like, you do what? And here's the thing. A, I got her a gift she didn't ask for. B, she took that gift and sold it, which I was like, are you serious? You did that? A. And B, you told me? And C, use that money for whatever she wanted to that's her world that's awesome and she's still a great

friend of mine so it's like a it is what it is what it is do your thing if i think it would be hard if my grandma got me something i i would have a hard time selling that i would and yet i have a hard time owing people money so you know that kind of thing you really got out of not answering that pretty much no sell it okay sell it okay okay And you live with the ramifications of having sold it. So if your grandma bought you a $500 leather jacket that she thinks is so cool that she knew you're going to love and you're like, oh, gosh. And you really need $500 to get your car paid off finally. And she's going to ask you, how's that jacket working out?

You're going to have that conversation because you're not going to lie. I'm not going to tell you to do that. So you got to weigh that. All right. Favorite dish at Christmas? oh man you know what i love at christmas my favorite thing about christmas is it takes healthy food and makes it insanely unhealthy yeah butter and gravy and all that stuff and do yes yeah the things i love as unhealthy as possible number one without a doubt i love sweet potatoes and i love them

with like a four inch layer of jumbo marshmallows okay so because we do the the pecans and brown sugar one i know some people do marshmallow so it's got going to ask which one you like all of that whatever of ways you can juice up vegetables and make them as take them as far away from their healthy from the ground origin the other thing i love is green bean casserole that is green beans and also i don't know what they put on that stuff cheese and cream and pretzels and soup and yeah it doesn't matter it's so good whatever shenanigans that's in that makes it almost unrecognizable as this was once in the ground somewhere Yeah, I love that.

I love that. What is your least favorite dish that's always on the table? I am so done with pressed ham. I'll eat it. I'm just, it doesn't look like real. Pressed ham? Like the stuff that's in a can? No.

No, we don't eat canned meat. Well, nobody should. You'd cue the banjos, Kelly. What do you all eat? Now, I'm talking about like the, it's like a... Oh, like a spiral cut. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, God, I love one of those.

Oh, they're delicious. Especially like a honey baked with that crust on the lot. I know, and they're full of sugar. They're delicious. I'm kind of over them. I'm kind of over them. That was a bad answer. What is your least favorite?

Um, my in-laws, there's always, um, like, one of their big things that they do is peas, and I hate peas. Ah. So, no, thank you. Oh, I got another dish that I love. Jello salad. Oh, heck yeah. I make a cranberry jello salad that... It's like candy on the bottom and then pretzels and then just a layer of sugar and then a layer of like...

More candy, yeah. More candy and then jello. Yes, yes. That's the way Jesus intended us to eat that stuff. All right. Last question for this segment. How long do you have to date someone before you bring them to the family Christmas events? That's a great question.

I'm going to go with age on that one. You know what? I don't know, though, because there's always that, like, 38-year-old cousin you have. It's like, I met Janet yesterday and bringing her to Christmas, and you're like, well, good. Thanks, dude. But there's, like, if you're 28 and you meet somebody,

and you've been dating for six months, of course, bringing her to Christmas. If you're 18, don't do that. That's just weird. Because now everyone's like, oh, hi. And she's sitting there in her jeans and, like, try to dress up. nice but clearly doesn't fit and you're like hey hi what are you studying like i'm studying

molecular biology you're like okay you're too smart for it like i don't know so i think i think it's age dependent and but i don't i don't know there's a time on how won't you been dating what do you think i don't i don't know that i have a good answer for that either i i'm trying to think but i also i love with all my heart's awkward and i love packed full house You usually bring the awkward I do So I also When someone does roll in

With somebody Like who is that I actually super love that I don't love it for them Because I know how awkward That is for them But like Oh man

You just made this weird cousin This is gonna be a fun night So I like that part too You would I know I know I love it But I mean

I can remember Like My high school college boyfriend And go to their house For Christmas And it's so awkward Because you don't know

The foods are not the food you're used to you don't know the traditions you don't know the people it's not just mom and dad it's like everybody in family yeah and they're all you know they're all scoping you out oh yeah yeah it's so awkward but it's also what makes it fantastically horrible and that's the stories you tell remember that weird girl that you know so-and-so brought home why'd you bring her like well we were making out and i thought it'd be good to bring her to christmas like it's just so like so weird right what an unnecessary thing she didn't want to be here and y'all didn't want her here so i thought

she should come like that's just so awkward man then i kind of love it i'm not kind of i super love it but anyway and all says like i i also think there's a a thing where it flips a younger age like if my 15 year old or 16 year old son was dating somebody i would love for him to bring her like so there's like a there's like a gap don't bring your weird college boyfriend home that nobody like don't do that. But like, if you're a kid, I love that. And if you're older, it's going to be awesome. So I kind of like that too. But I, I don't know. I love the awkward of Christmas stuff of gatherings. Like the fact that we have to get together just simply because somewhere along the way we had a relative that mated with another relative and somehow we're, I made that weird,

sorry, I shouldn't say mated like they're kangaroos, but like somewhere along the way people made humans and we're somehow derivatives of each other and we have to get together. I love that. I love that. Yeah, all because I went on a date with a guy and fell in love with him. Now I have to go. I'm in your family now. Yeah, and y'all don't have a choice.

This is what it is. Here's the real question. The real question is, how do you handle divorce? Because if we get divorced, is his cousins still my family? No. If you all have a kid together. Oh. Yes.

Yes. Yes. But I don't know that you necessarily holiday together anymore. Not for a few years at least. That'd be weird. I think you show up. Oh, I think you show up. And embrace the awkward.

And speaking of awkward, we'll be right back. This show is sponsored by BetterHelp. I want to talk about traditions. Traditions are things you do every week or every year, and they can be great, and sometimes they can feel like an obligation. The holiday season is a great time to reflect on holiday traditions, the valuable ones, and the not-so-valuble ones. Therapy can give you space to think about the old traditions that may not be serving

you anymore and help you consider how you might create new ones. And if you're thinking about therapy this holiday season, I want to recommend my friends a BetterHelp. BetterHelp has over 30,000 therapists, and they're one of the leading online therapy providers in the world, and they're trusted by millions of people. They have an average rating of 4.9 stars out of 5. They're just great. BetterHelp is totally online, so it's easy to fit into your busy holiday schedule. To get started, just answer a few simple questions, and they'll connect you with a licensed therapist who fits your needs. If it's not the right fit, you can change therapist at any time for no extra

cost. This month, start a new tradition by taking care of you. Visit betterhelp.com slash Deloney to get 10% off your first month. That's BetterHelp. H-E-L-P.com slash Deloney. All right, we are

back with the Christmas Eve. Why are you listening to this? AMA. We're glad you're here. You know, maybe this is someone who needs a minute from the family. I know. I'm actually, I know why They are hiding for a little bit, and they're going to listen to this, and then they're going to go back. Or, and this is me being honest, so much loneliness is exposed during this season, right? You don't have people to go hang out with.

You're at home, and, like, man, like, you're by yourself. It's Christmas evening, you're by yourself, and you've got to get up and go to work tomorrow, right? And then we're glad to hang out with you. I'm super glad that you're with us, yeah. So, there you go. I'm glad you're here, man. All right. This is our first Christmas as a newly married couple.

How do we start our own traditions without alienating our families? Your families don't get a vote. You decide what you want your holidays to look like, and then you begin practicing having everybody mad at you. Welcome to being married. You get to practice. I think a lot of especially younger married couples have this idea like, this is the way you do Christmas.

And then you marry somebody, they're like, no, this. this is how you do the holidays and it's like no this is how you realize oh the way we did it growing up was just a way and then you get to make make your way i personally think you just have to go through two or three or four years of awkward and i don't like that and that wasn't fun and that wasn't comfortable and that was awesome and you got to just navigate that and it will change over time and you throw kids into the mix and then your parents have a vision of christmas that they've had in their head for 20 years and they're going to be mad that it didn't come true and you Yada, yada. But it's just awkward and fun and stretchy and weird. And ask yourself, how do we want to feel the day after Christmas and try to reverse engineer that? And half the times you do things and you don't realize they were even becoming traditions until, like, I remember my son said that before he's like, you know, we do this every year.

It's like a tradition. I'm like, we did? Yeah. I realized that. You know? I just had that the other day. I reached out to a buddy and was like, hey, Hank and I are going to be in town. We'd love to come out to the ranch, whatever.

And the response was like, we do this every year. I was like, oh, this is year five. This is a tradition. We've done this five years in a row. This is awesome. So, yeah, there's something cool to that. All right, kind of the other side of the story. This is our first Christmas after the divorce.

Rutt Row. How do we handle splitting the traditions that our family has created? So, you know, every year on Christmas Eve, we go to Christmas Eve service or we go see Santa. How do you split that with two sets of parents and who gets to be the one that does? that and yeah there's in a perfect world you have two people who got divorced who can still act like adults and that really happens i know you could say we want to make sure if you have kids that our kids experience this that's rare especially the first year in divorce is usually when one tries both people trying to prove like we're going to have the best christmas and we're going to make

and so it's just it's a messy thing um i think it's up to you to say i want to make sure my kids have peace and they have laughter and they have good experiences and to do whatever you possibly can to not use your kids as a competition bargaining chip as a way to prove to them because kids can't carry that kind of weight and expect to miss some things you're you can't keep the same traditions because it's over now so there's going to be some awkward there's going to be some tears there's going to be some grieving some frustration like the first holiday after divorce is one of those watershed moments the same as the first holiday after somebody passes away it becomes very very real like it really sits on your heart and so those are just hard

times to to make your way through all right i have one for the room okay ask everybody what's your favorite tradition that your family has we'll start with you i'll go last you go Uh, my family, we always get a cup of eggnog, first time we drink eggnog for the whole season. I love it. I know a lot of people hate eggnog, but it's the best. Like, uh, eggnog from the store, like the Bordons? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly. So I can cash a whole one of those. Dude, I love them. Uh, and we'll put up the Christmas tree together. Ornaments, everything, and that's like, we listen to Christmas music, and it's the best. Pretty awesome. Yep. Ben? The Maestro Hill?

Uh, I would say, like, for me and my wife, talking about, like, new traditions, we've been married just four years. now, but we started, uh, like, buying like a big old Lego set, uh, and then just like build it together, like Christmas Eve or a couple days before, just like a whole project. It's just, and then we kind of like have a shelf where we have like all the stuff that we've kind of built over the past few years and we get to like see it accumulate. So something our families don't do, but we decided one day, hey, this would be kind of fun. Dude, very cool, man. I like that. Uh, I think my favorite that we do is just get all wasted Didn't run around the neighborhood?

Yeah. Uh-huh. I believe you were the one that has run around the neighborhood doing, I've seen things with people's yard ornaments. That is very true. So. That's one of my favorite memories of my entire life. Yes.

I've seen photos of some of your handiwork. So here's the deal. You can take the reindeer in people's yards and stack them up in a way that makes it look like they are making sweet, sweet love. And one of my favorite memories. of my life was my grandfather is one of like a World War II vet like the one of the most proper he was an engineer everything was to the like he was one of the most amazing guys ever and my uncle was one of my favorite people in the world is an accountant there's very proper very there's a right way to do things and i that's the hardest i've ever seen those two guys laugh at the same i was like i've to show you all something they laughed until i thought oh they might both have a coronary event right here in my house and it was it's such an amazing Anyway, that was a thing we used to do. I haven't done that in years because everyone's got stupid ring cameras now and they ruined it. But yes, back when I was a youngster doing obscene things with Christmas yard decorations was one of my favorite holiday traditions.

I remember my dad laughing so hard. I thought he's going to wreck the car. It was so, I was like, dad, stop, stop, stop. He's like, what, what, what? And we got out and we ran into somebody's yard and did that. And it was so funny. It was so great, man. Ah, man.

my favorite tradition that we started are we my parents did this and then we took this on we don't travel at Christmas my every Christmas memory I have growing up is in my home grandparents might come aunts and uncles might come but I spent every Christmas at home and my children have done every Christmas in our home and there's been a couple times we've left the day after Christmas maybe to go to Texas or whatever but Thanksgiving we travel but Christmas is at our house if you want to come visit great if it's just the four us great yeah but every christmas memory that we have is in our home and i love that it just first of all takes a stress off of that but um it's something that i'm always thankful that we did

i would say the two the three things we have is our family always watches claws together that's as far back as i can remember and that's number one i like i like i like piling up on the couch in front of a fire and watching a thing i like that it just it gives everybody permission just to have a big human pile and I like have all my chickens there I like I like that the second thing is is no matter whether we have family over

we have a bunch of people over etc. We like my me and my wife and my two kids we open our presence under the tree just us and I like that. That's just our little time together which is super cool and then there's always

since I can remember as far back as I can remember there's always a puzzle out and it's saying we always have a puzzle always stopping to eat too much and to sit down and put a couple pieces in and over the course of the holiday, it's finished and I just, I love, it's almost like a home base. Everybody goes and touches it

and they can go back and do their stuff, and I love that. It's funny, because we don't do puzzles any other time of the year, but I bought a big, because I'm a dork, big board thing, the puzzles go on and then you can move it off the table. And then, but yeah, we have about four puzzles

and when one finishes, we just pull the next one out and they're all Christmassy. That's such a Christmas thing to do. Yeah, yeah, I love that. What do you think about beer to do? wonder? We used to always play a big game of a monopoly. And then last year came to a head and there was yelling and fighting and my mom begging everybody to get along. So this year we're not doing that and we'll have to find something new. And when do you get married?

March 21st. So are y'all doing a thing together this year? This year we are staying here with the craziness of marriage. We're not traveling to her family and we're telling them that and they want to come here they can. Otherwise we'll be here with my family. dude what a flex you're already flexed you're not even married yet dude that's awesome very cool all right next question so you kind of alluded to this a little bit do y'all open your presents on christmas eve or christmas day i have fought for years to open one on christmas eve and it is christmas day it is always christmas day now as my son has gotten older and like i might buy him some cool hunting stuff that i need in november my wife will literally rewrap it and put it under

the tree, which I love. I love that too. This year, I bought myself something that she's like, yeah, it's fine, but I'm going to wrap that and put it on the tree, and you're going to act surprise when you open it. So, but, like, Christmas morning. The good news is you'll forget by then. Of course I will. Christmas morning is like a, I don't know, it's a sacred time. It's fun. Same with that as Christmas morning. One year, I remember my mom, let me open something on Christmas Eve. I was a teenager or something, and I got to open it. And the next day, it was like, I mean, I wish I hadn't opened it yesterday. So, okay, how do you handle it? this and this is going to sound very privileged and very bougie and very blah i don't care a few years ago

my wife ordered something and it got delayed didn't come in and i was at christmas and i had nothing to open and i'm embarrassed to say that i was like oh and literally i can buy whatever i want for myself. And it wasn't about the gift and wasn't about the thing. It was like something about that. But as you get older, you get fewer things and people don't think about it as much. How do you handle that? Well, I would have like printed out a picture of it or something and then wrapped that. Sure. Because there's just something about opening presents on Christmas morning. Yeah. And, um, but I also remember texting you one Christmas morning, hiding in the bathroom because I had gotten a bunch of baking stuff and because I love to bake and my sweet husband who was like

she loves to bake and I viewed it as I remember that I viewed it as like get back in the kitchen lady you got me a bunch of presents of things that you want me to do for me. Hey honey I got you a vacuum and a washing machine in the frying pan but it was like really nice stuff that I did want but I just it hit wrong and I'm texting you in the bathroom of like is it wrong that I'm in here crying but then we had a conversation later like hey hey, I would really like some stuff that I wouldn't buy for myself necessarily or whatever. And bless him, he meant nothing by it. So, yeah.

But, yeah, God, that sucks because it's like you don't get to participate in the fun. Yeah, so here's the thing. If you have a wife that's impossible to shop for because she makes a trillion dollars, or she just is like, I don't need anything, it's fine. Get things anyway. And I even say- Don't ever believe your wife if she says, I don't need anything. Right.

But get several small things. but just the act of opening a new thing and opening new thing. It's just, I don't know, I love that. And my love language is give, so that's a thing. But like, that is cool. And if there's a hardworking husband in your house, he's like, I'm fun. And you think, oh, he buys whatever

he wants anyway or whatever. Get some things anyway. And also bring your kids along so they can start thinking about. And even if you have a nine-year-old and all they have is $4 and piggy bank, have them bring $1. Like, we're going to buy a gift for And I think that's a cool thing

because they get to see your face light up and it's cool. We've always done where we'll take a day and sometimes we're going to Target, might be the mall or whatever, where I'll take my daughter and we'll buy gifts for my son and my husband and then we'll like, okay,

we're going to meet back at the food court in an hour and then we switch kids. And then, okay, great. Now, you go by, I'll buy ones for my daughter and let him buy one for his dad. We've always kind of done something like that that we do.

And one year, kind of talking about having something to open, I wanted cash because I wanted, I like to shop with other people's money. Right. Not lying. I love to shop. And if I can do it with somebody else's money, even though with my husband, it's my money too, but still it's different. And so he ended up wrapping up, like, individual bills and gift cards in different things. Or he bought me like a book I liked and there was like 20s stuck in the pages. You know, so that there was a ton of stuff for me to unwrap.

But that's really thoughtful. Yes. He's very thoughtful. Yes, he's a pretty amazing guy. Can I answer your question real quick? I'm going to AMA myself here real quick. This is the number one question I get on social media about this topic about Christmas, and I want to end it once and for all.

I was about to ask you a question, and I wonder if it might be the same one. All right. Telling your kids that Santa is real is not lying to your children. Get over it, relax. Okay, by the way, if your kids are in the room, Oh, sorry about that. Shake it off. Listen, your kids should not be listening to the show on Christmas Eve.

In no way should they ever, ever, really. But listen, bringing your kids along the ride of a cultural tradition is awesome. It's not lying to them. If they say, hey, mom, I saw all the presents in your room. Is Santa real? And you're like, yes, that's gaslighting. That's lying. but letting them participate in the magic our whole culture has sucked every bit of magic and wonder and fun and shared cultural stories out of it it's not lying it's just awesome end of end of a ma rant okay go go kelly all right um our gift cards a thoughtful or lazy gift and i have thoughts both

elaborate please it's hard because I love gift cards but yes it's a lazy gift what about so I've already told my husband because I've lost about 20-something pounds I want to do some shopping yes because I need some new clothes please don't buy me clothes because then I have to have the weird conversation about hey can I get the receipt for that give me gift cards that is my love language

I can go shopping. Yes. Okay. Would it be awesome if he said, I got us a weekend in wherever. And obviously, y'all are rich. You're the producer of this show, so duh. Clearly.

So I want to take you on a shopping trip, and I want to be there while you're buying clothes. Would that be cool or would that be annoying for you? It would be surprising because I think it would be his version of hell. I know, that would make it a pretty amazing gift. But if he did it, that would be amazing. Because I've always won, like, I want to know what you think.

about this? Do you think I look good in this? So I think that'd be great. Okay. I know that's not everybody, but... No, but I would love for him to do that. And he would, if I was like, hey, would you go with me? I need to know your opinion. He would go with me with a smile and never say a word about it. But... Now, if you're just buying somebody a random gift card, that they have no idea if you like that store or whatever. But you know what? Like, for the bus drivers and stuff for my daughter, I usually get them Visa gift cards. Yes, that's amazing. Yes, that's amazing. But if I've also, this is me, I've been in line somewhere and be like, oh, no. And you can get Amazon gift cards at a gas station now. And I'm like, hey, look what I got. Like, that doesn't feel.

Right. But if somebody, if you know, because Alex and I've had this conversation, and I know he is all about gift cards as well. But yeah, I love to shop. Please get me a gift card. I get what I want. And I get to go shopping and then give me the time to go do it. Yes. And then we're all happy. Like, I don't want my wife picking out my whatever camo pattern I think I need for this year. Oh, actually, I would love to see her do that. It's not great. She calls them my outfits. It's hilarious.

Costumes. Yeah, she's like, oh, are you getting on your costumes to go hunt the animals that are our granddad's hunted in jeans and smoking cigarettes? But you're going to have to like. You have to have a special outfit for it? Yeah, she's awesome. But like, yes, I would rather a gift card there and just to go rock and roll. So I think it's both. it's both. Yeah, it depends on the spirit behind it and what, if you know, if you have somebody

that you know they hate gift cards, don't get them a gift card. Right. Or here's another thing. My wife struggles with spending money like on getting a massage or something. So I'll go buy gift cards to a spa and it's like, I've already spent this money. Now I want you to like, so those are, those are awesome. Yeah. My husband paints, like paints, paints. And I don't. I don't have a clue what supplies he needs and wants. Yes. Last year I did, I bought him like a brand new easel and some things like that, but as he was just setting up a studio, but I'll buy him gift cards to the art store he likes, and he's

like a kid in a candy store. Here's the real question about that. Has he ever painted you, like one of his French girls? Not yet, no. He's still painting landscapes at this point, so, no. Let's just go on to the next question. I'm just saying, a great present. He can do that as soon as he gets me that he mom.

longest diamond, the heart of the ocean necklace to go with it. Yes. All right. We'll do one more before we go to break. Do you have any weird family traditions that nobody else would understand? Yeah. Oh, we need to know what they are. Well, it sounds awful. Elaborate. It sounds awful, but this is awesome. One of our family traditions is right after Christmas, my wife and I go our separate ways. Like, I'll go on a trip with Hank, and we'll go on a long hunting adventure. She doesn't want anything about that. So we'll stop with several friends.

We'll go several states over. We'll stop along the way, like get our share of Waffle House and whatever, cracker barrel, whatever. Like, we'll go do those things. And so it feels weird to be like, finally, as a family, we get to relax together. and we're like, all right, peace. And she does her thing, but it's, it's this, it's this awesome exhale. And I know that she has been pent up for a year. Like, can I just get away from all you guys?

And she loves this, but can I, and I'm like, can I just go spend some time in the woods? And more than anything in the world, what I love for my wife at 4.45 a.m. To want, and it's 20 degrees outside to get all bundled up and go hunting with. I would love that. And I'm confident. She would love the idea of me loving Hallmark movies. And wanting to spend all day eating leftovers, watching show after, I know that to be true. But we both love each other enough to know that we would both slowly die, a slow death inside.

And so, yeah, one of our weird traditions is we head separate directions. I don't think that's weird at all. I think anyone that's been married, how long have you all been married now? 23. 23. So we're 21 this year that you get that. I hope people get that. Yeah.

Because if not, they're lying to themselves. Do you have a weird one? I can't think of a weird one. I know Alex said he does. My family watches Horton Here's a Who around Christmas time because it's on the same CD as the Grinch.

And so we just keep watching and we just end up watching Horton, he's a Who, every Christmas. Did that start out of like everyone was in a diabetic coma from all of the agnogel just mainlined and you're like, I don't want to change, you change it.

And we just watch the next movie and suddenly it's a tradition. Yep, exactly. if I have weird ones I don't know they're weird which is probably more disturbing there was like a 15 or 20 year run of like a family tradition

was to go like desecrate somebody's yard like T-Ping? No, like to go mess up somebody's like awesome Christmas decorations and make them inappropriate I think that's a delightful Christmas.

That was a long, that was kind of strange but that was like a thing we all did. We were good people but that's just too funny and we take pictures of it and stuff, but that's over now because everyone's got cameras. Yeah, I know. That ruined the hole.

You can't, the fact that my kids never got to go T-Ping just breaks my heart. I know. It makes me sad, but. I know. All right, let's take a break. I love the holidays. Holidays for my family include a lot of travel, a lot of friends, a lot of food, and a lot of chaos. It also includes a lot of late nights.

And with all of that going on, it can be hard to wind down and get good sleep. And almost nothing feels better. then coming home from a week on the road or sleeping on some camp mattress and falling asleep on my Helix mattress. My whole family sleeps at our home on Helix mattresses, and we all love coming home and getting into bed. I even have Helix mattress in my guest room, and when people come over and crash at my house, especially during the holidays, they all want to know about this amazing mattress they're sleeping on. Helix mattresses are that amazing. And here's why. Helix makes mattresses for real people, not generic average sleepers.

So whether you sleep hot, cold, on your side, on your back, whatever, Helix customizes the mattress that best fits you to your sleep style. I took their sleep quiz. It took me like two minutes online. I want you to get online and take it too. You're going to get matched with the perfect mattress that's just right for you. Right now, my audience can get an exclusive 20% off your entire Helix order at helix sleep.com slash Deloni.

That's 20% off the entire site, your whole purchase. Go to Helix, H-E-L-I-X, HelixSleep.com slash Deloni, and tell them you heard about their amazing mattresses right here on this show. With Helix, Better Sleep starts right now. All right, we're back. Kelly, we've got a few more. We're going to let these people go celebrate New Year's Eve. Christmas Eve?

Same thing. No, not really. It's one of the Eve's. One of them we're getting ready to celebrate the birth of our risen Lord and Savior. Here we go. Here we go. Thanks for the theological lecture. Go ahead.

Anytime. All right. This is a very much just for you question. Favorite holiday punk album? Sheesh, louish. All right. Y'all ask for it. Are there holiday punk albums?

Well, I'm about to say I reject Christmas albums just as a whole. The only, only Christmas album. Like if my favorite punk band comes out with a Christmas album, I won't listen to it on principle. I know that sounds awful. I don't want to hear it. I want to hear the songs that like you wrote when you were angry, not your version of Rudolph Redo's Reindeer.

Or the song you wrote after your big breakup. I want to hear that. I want to feel it. I don't want to hear you. Do you reject all Christmas albums? There is one. Like, I mean, we're talking like Bing Crosby or I don't know what's another famous Christmas album.

I'm not a Christmas music fan. Oh. Like, it's just not my thing. um perumpa pump pump pom pom pom the one christmas album that i listen to every year it's it's one of our family traditions we um we don't go every year we've gone many years is to see andrew peterson at the rhyman do the behold the lamb of god tour and the behold lamb of god like the true telling of the nativity story with our friends indigo horn and joel phil it's such a masterpiece of a record um and so we listened to that all through the all through the holiday season It's just so good. But that's the one Christmas album that I like. And by the way, it's him writing all new songs,

not just replaying his version of a Christmas hit. Okay, kind of on that. So there's not a favorite punk Christmas album. Do you have a favorite punk Christmas song, like a cover of a song by a punk band? Like, I know, I'm glad the Ramones, they did. oh gosh my brain just went uh i love this song too i can't i'm honestly sitting you thinking i don't i don't know any punk rock christian

i mean christian punk rock christmas songs do you been yeah man august burns red they have a great christmas album they did like carol of the bells it's one of the best versions of carol of the bells do you hate carol the bells yeah the song gives me anxiety yeah bring the bells one it's right they're drummer matt do that guy's next level next level awesome And he's a great human being too, but yeah, I just, I don't know, I can't honestly sitting here can't name you a punk rock Christmas record, which it's just, I just, I'm like, I'm out. I don't hear it. Yeah, kind of funny today. I'm like bah humbug on that one. Yeah. Okay. Maybe it's cold outside. Charming or creepy. Can you pull up the lyrics and read them? While I'm doing that There was a comedian that I watched

That he was talking about how we canceled Baby It's Cold Outside And he read the number one song When this comedian was talking about this was WAP And I'm not going to tell people what that stands for If you don't know, Google it, not on your work Wi-Fi And he read the lyrics to Baby It's Cold Outside

And then read the lyrics for WAP And it was like this one we've canceled, but this one's the number one song on the chart right now. Yeah, I must not begin to canceling anybody, but go ahead on that. Okay. I really can't stay. Maybe it's cold outside. I've got to go away. Baby, it's cold outside. I feel like we should be doing this as a duet. This evening has been hoping that you drop in. So very nice. I'll hold your hands. They're just like ice. Your mother will start to worry. Hey, beautiful, what's your hurry? My father will be pacing the floor. Listen to the fireplace roar.

So really, I'd better scurry. Beautiful, please don't hurry. Maybe just a half a drink more. I'll put some records on while I pour. The neighbors might think, but baby, it's bad out there. Say, what's in this drink? Okay, maybe not that line. No cabs to be had out there.

I wish I knew how to break this spell. I'll take your hat. Your hair looks as well. I ought to say, no, no, no, sir. Mind if I move in closer? And this is back and forth, male and female. Okay, okay. Yeah. At least I'm going to say that I tried. What's the sense of hurting my pride? I really can't stay. Baby, it's cold outside. That's pretty much the song.

So I guess, yes, if he roofied her, we should cancel this song. It's a terrible, awful song, and it's trash and garbage. Right. But when she says, what's in this drink, I don't think she's asking, like, literally, what you put in here? I think it's like, oh, I'm feeling giddy. right so if it is the tension of i need to get home but i'm really into you and you probably shouldn't be driving you could get home but you could stay here oh there's no cabs outside yeah and wasn't this long like in the 20s uh the 40s i believe 40s yeah it's all about context for me yeah i don't think it's as creepy as and i mean there was one version that i heard and it was like Dr. John, not you. Uh-huh.

And like Lehan Rives or something when she's like 16. Yeah, creepy. And I can remember if that's exactly it, but it was something like that and you're like, okay, fine. Not so great.

Now there is a Harry Connick Jr. Lee and Wilmette version that's delightful. Gotcha. But I think it's... Just context. Exactly. And I also,

given your life experiences, how you hear some of these songs, and instantly, you hear that song through your lived experience. And so if you live it as creepy because you've had some tough stuff in your life, great, just don't listen to it.

And if you have been in a situation, you're like, do I need to go home? My family's waiting for me, but I really want to be here with you and probably shouldn't be driving because the weather's bad, but I don't know. It's kind of romantic.

All right, we'll do one more. I skipped a final in college for the opportunity to walk across campus when I knew the woman who's now my wife was going to be walking across campus. Yeah, so you're not one to speak on creepier. I skipped a final to walk past her to be like, oh, hey, what's up?

And we talked in whatever. Like, that is, that's creepy now. Back then it was really, like, romantic. Like, you knew my schedule enough to know where I was going to be and, like, you left something important to come to say hi to me. Like, that was like the highest form of nobility. And now it's like, that guy's stalking me. Yeah.

It's a different time. Yeah. No question. All right. Last one. Are the parents in Home Alone, the worst parents in cinema history? They're not great. I mean, it's one thing for it to happen once.

But twice? Come on. Catch your kids, people. And what in the world? I missed Home Alone. That's my number four. How did I miss Home Alone? That movie's phenomenal.

It's great movie. The first one? Legendary. If you haven't watched it on Netflix, it's how movies are made. they do a series of it's a they did a couple different versions of it but one of them is christmas movies and they interview chris columbus and it's usually not like how they're actually made but like the writing who came up with it how they almost didn't get greenlit it's kind of all that back-in type stuff before things even start but how they did home alone

and chris columbus is all in it and john hughes because he wrote home alone and just the whole how they wrote it and how they dealt with having uh there's some great stuff about having joe pesci set with Macaulay Culkin and Joe Pesci, every other word was the F word, how they handled it. It's delightful to listen to how they made it. But they also do Elf and a couple other movies. It's on Netflix. God, I forgot Elf. You cannot forget.

We watch that. That's one of our big traditions is Thanksgiving night. Is elf. That's the first, that's what we kick it off. I am terrible at this favorite movies. Yeah, you are. Elf is up there. Home Alone is up there.

Christmas vacation? You didn't mention that? Yeah, I did. Uncle Eddie. Oh, that's right. It's Cousin Eddie. Cousin Eddie, same thing. Um, he's somebody's uncle.

That's true. Yeah, man, I'm terrible at this. So, yeah, those are all great ones. Okay, but we all agree the parents are not great. They're the worst. Like, before you get on a major airline to go across the country, you should know where your kids are. Count your kids are there. Count them.

Count them. I don't know something. Tadda. Yeah. And if it happens again. Somebody's calling, like, child protective services at this point. As they should. Yeah.

As they should. You're just not good. Yeah. Yeah. That's it. Hey, Merry Christmas, everybody. Merry Christmas. It's good to see y'all.

Make good choices. Love y'all. Bye.