The Eric Metaxas Show - Michael Foley

Episode Date: December 22, 2022

Michael Foley has written a delightful fun-facts collection featuring the origins of many of our Christmas traditions with a look into his book, "Why We Kiss Under the Mistletoe."

Folks, welcome to the Eric Mattaxas show, sponsored by Legacy Precious Metals. There's never been a better time to invest in precious metals. Visit legacy p.m.investments.com. That's legacy p.m. Investments.com. Ladies and gentlemen, he has a jar of peanut butter, and he's not afraid to use it. Here comes Eric Mattexas. Hey, folks, welcome. I'm especially excited about this program. for many reasons. First of all, let me tell you. The title of the book I'm going to be discussing,

it'll give you a hint as to where we're going with this. The title is, why we kiss under the mistletoe. The author is Dr. Michael Foley. He's a professor of Patristics at Baylor University. Patristics, I just happened to being Greek, Pater, Paterimon, Patristics, fathers, early church fathers. those guys right after the people who wrote the New Testament. So Michael Foley, welcome to the program, and why did you write a book? Since you're a real theologian and a historian, why did you write a book called Why We Kiss Under the Missile Toe? Well, like a lot of kids across America, I grew up just being fascinated by Christmas

symbols, Christmas stories. I mean, there really is no other time of the year. like this, but a lot of these symbols are not self-explanatory. Why do we deck the halls with bells of Holly and not boxwood? Why the mistletoe? Why the Christmas tree? So that's a question that has never haunted me. Why do we decorate it with bows of holly and not boxwood? There are people scratching their heads right now, literally scratching their heads thinking, I've never thought of that, nor do I care. That's not true. I love this stuff so much. That's why I said I'm excited to talk to you because I love facts.

I love, you know, trivia. I love origins and where things come from. So when you ask the question in the title, why we kiss under the mistletoe, maybe at one point I heard the answer to that, but I have to say, I don't know. So, you know, can we start there? Let's start there. Yeah, it's a fascinating story.

It has to do with the druids. they were fascinated by mistletoe. It was the strange magical plant that was green and gave berries in the dead of winter. So they used it as a peacemaker. When two druids met under the mistletoe, they would make peace with each other. And Christianity came along

and added their signature greeting of peace, which is the kiss. Well, I mean, it's extraordinary that I, you know, even when you mention mistletoe, mistletoe is one of those things that seems to exist in a world all by itself at Christmas time. I don't know if I've ever seen actual mistletoe or where one would find mistletoe or where mistletoe grows. Can you educate us on that? Because now I'm really wondering. Well, the funny thing is about this magical plant that is a special plant that is a symbol of peace and kissing is that it is a parasite. It attaches itself to the branches of trees.

And if too much mistletoe grows, it actually can kill the tree. So it's not like a yule-tide kudzu, I guess. That is correct. Well, listen, the the categories of, you know, parasites and weeds, it's pretty, let's be honest. It's, it's pretty subjective. So, We're not going to blame mistletoe. It's a vine. This is what vines do. We're not going to blame it for doing what it does. But so, okay, that is why we kiss under the mistletoe.

When did that tradition start? Because, you know, again, modern Christmas, when we think of Christmas, we really don't go back much before the 19th century. A lot of the traditions we have, you know, the Christmas tree and these kinds of things, they're 19th century traditions. Does the mistletoe, if you mention the druids, obviously, it goes way before the 19th century. But when did this become a thing at Christmas?

I would say the early Middle Ages, you start to see mistletoe being used in Christmas celebrations, but only in places that had druids. So it was basically England and Ireland that had these. There are still a lot of countries in the world that scratch their heads when you talk about mistletoe to them. This started out as a very local, practice. Yeah, as did many of these things. Well, so what are some other fun things in this book?

Again, I just, I love trivia and especially holiday trivia to find out where these things come from. You mentioned Holly. Holly does seem to be a plant that is mentioned over and over in our Christmas traditions, in our Christmas carols, the Holly and the Ivy. Boxwood never mentioned. Why is that? Well, so for one thing, Holly is an evergreen. So you need to. something green in the dead of winter but the reason why Holly was chosen is that the prickly edges of the leaves reminded Christians of the crown of thorns and the red berries of the drops of blood that the Christ child would eventually shed for humanity so it's interesting that the the colors of Christmas are red and green

and that's in large part thanks to Holly but it's in commemoration of the crucifixion and not the nativity. That's beautiful to know. And again, some of these things I feel like maybe I heard that once, but that seems to be something that we should all be reminded of. So this book is just load. Again, folks, the book is called Why We Kiss Under the Missletoe by Michael Foley. What other things do you mention in the book that we can get people excited about?

Well, one thing that really surprises people is the origin of the Christmas tree. It is often thought of, excuse me, as a holdover from pagan euletide practices. Right. But in fact, it is a quintessentially Christian invention that started in the Middle Ages, interestingly enough, in commemoration of Adam and Eve. Now that is something I have never heard. I know, or at least I believe that the Christmas tree comes to us through Germany. I believe Luther, about whom I've written a big biography, and I ought to know about this, so shame on me. But I believe it was Luther who had a hand in this. But then I suspect that Queen Victoria and her German husband, Prince Albert, in the 19th century, also had a hand in bringing this German tradition into the English-speaking world. So take us through that.

That's right. But it really does start in the Middle Ages with something that was called mystery plays. They would stage plays on December 24th, which was the Feast of Adam and Eve. And Adam and Eve were commemorated on December 24th kind of in anticipation of the birth of the new Adam, following day.

So they would have these plays. Via his mother, the second Eve. Exactly. Exactly. So it kind of made sense to put these two occasions back to back.

And on December 24th, oh, sorry. No, no, no. I'm fascinated. I love this. Keep going. So when they celebrated these plays, they had two trees on the stage. They had the tree of

life, which was decorated. with sweets to symbolize eternal life. They had the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, which was decorated with red balls to symbolize the forbidden fruit or the apple. The red balls symbolized the forbidden fruit, the apple, that I've not heard.

Okay, so this is now, what part of the medieval era, roughly, are we talking about? 14th century. Okay, so middle and middle ages. Right. Okay, so those are the two trees. You said this is a mystery play that would be held on December 24th, which is the Feast of Adam and Eve. So we have one tree was the tree of life.

Then we have the tree of the knowledge of good and evil with the forbidden fruit. And the third tree, of course. You stump me. Oh, stop it. I think you were going to tell us it's the Christmas tree. I think you were going to say that. Of course, yes. But it was the combining of the two other trees that led to the formation of the Christmas tree.

See, that I didn't know. Now, how do you combine? Actually, you know, we're at a time in this segment. When we come back, we're going to find out the rest of the story. Folks, the book is why we can send to the mistletoe. The author Michael Foley is my guest. Don't go away. Tell me why Relief Factor is so successful at lowering or eliminating pain.

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Call Legacy at 866-5281903 or visit them online at LegacyPMinvestments.com. Welcome back and Merry Christmas. Folks, I am talking to Dr. Michael Foley. He's a professor of patristics at Baylor. He's written a number of accessible books, like the one I'm holding in my hand, Why We Kiss Under the Missile Toe, Christmas Traditions Explained. So we were just talking about the tradition of the Christmas tree.

And I just love learning these things. So you're telling us that in the 1300s, there were these medieval mystery plays. they were put on December 24th, and you said there were two trees. So take us through that again, because this is important in understanding it. That's right. So there were two trees, tree of life, decorated with sweets, tree of the knowledge of good and evil, decorated with apples or symbols of apples like red balls.

Eventually, these plays were shut down, but the people loved them so much. They basically combined the two trees and moved. it into their homes. And that is the origin of the Christmas tree. Now, it seems on some level, and I'm only always halfway joking, on some level it seems some, it seems heretical to combine the tree of the knowledge of good and evil with the tree of life. So we're not doing this to be a theologically sloppy. In other words, they did this just to say, we want both things to be represented in the Christmas tree. And of course, the birth of Christ is the answer to the problem brought to the universe

by Adam and Eve. That's absolutely right. And that's so well said. The tree reminds us of the reason why God became man to return eternal life to us, but also to compensate for our parents eating the forbidden fruit. And of course, Jesus. was nailed to a tree, was killed on what we call a tree.

The cross is a type of tree. I love the symbolism. So you're saying that this became a tradition once the mystery play. Now who shut down the mystery plays of the Middle Ages? Who did that? Well, it was probably church officials because they were getting out of hand. There were a lot of medieval performances that were just,

you know, they kind of reached their late Elvis state, and they just kind of got, you know, kind of wild and decadent. Right. And then when the Reformation came, the Protestant reformers did not like these plays. And then the Catholic Church was kind of embarrassed by these plays. So between the two groups— Did these plays devolve into something like a Saturnalia? I don't know what kind of, you know, lewd activities were involved.

But I do know, for example, there were Christmas mystery plays about Herod, you know, about the massacre of the Holy Innocence. And the guy who played Herod would just get increasingly crazy. And he would start throwing furniture around and maybe even throwing chairs at the clergy in the audience. So when Hamlet complains about overacting and he says, it out Herod's Herod, this is a reference to those late decadent mystery plays that Shakespeare saw when he was a boy. I have never heard that. That is wonderful. He out Herod's Herod. So Herod, in these plays, was known to be somebody who really choose the carpet, to use a more recent term. Where did that come from? Where do we get the term, choose the carpet? We will have to look into that on a non-Christmas tradition show. So, okay, so the Christmas tree then comes to us through the Middle Ages, as representing the combination of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and the tree of life, pointing to Jesus who died on a tree.

But at what point, I mean, does Luther play a role as I've been led to believe in the introduction of the Christmas tree? You know, I've heard that as well. I did not see, I think he was a proponent of it because this was a very popular custom, largely in Germany. but I don't know if he did anything to develop it. I'm just not sure. Well, I'll have to look into that too. I've got a lot of work here to do. What other traditions come to us?

I mean, obviously the Christmas tree became popular in Germany, which is why it had to go through the German Victoria and Albert to reach the British world, the English-speaking world. to their west. But let's talk about some other traditions. Let's move beyond the botanical world now into other things. What else is in your book, Why We Kiss Under the Missile Toe? Well, I'll tell you one of the most surprising things that I found in the course of research

was the dark side of Christmas. I have a whole chapter on witches and demons and goblins and elves. who were scary creatures before they were tamed to make toys for Santa. When Dickens has Ebenezer Scrooge visited by three ghosts on Christmas Eve, that's not a random date. He was actually drawing from a very long and frightening tradition. Christmas has always had a fascinating dark side. I wasn't aware of that.

I just thought, you know, just being at a Toys R Us on December 24th, about as dark as it could possibly get in my world. But talk to us about that. And I'm assuming this comes out of the medieval world too where gargoyles and a lot of this stuff. I mean, I think this is the confusion that a lot of evangelical Protestants have with some Catholic traditions and things

because they seem to conflate the light and the dark in a way that seems. unhelpful or confusing? Well, there is no doubt that a lot of this stuff is a pagan holdover. Winter was a scary time for our ancient ancestors. Long nights, bitter cold, food scarcity, and so it was seen as a time of the reign of evil when ghosts and demons were out to get you.

And Christianity, of course, was a game changer, but only to an extent the light pierces these nights of dread. It conquers the evil, but the evil is still there. It's still lurking in the shadows in the dark and the desolation of nature. So even Christianity, it brings this joy in this peace, but it does so in the midst of this reign of darkness and evil. Yeah, that's interesting. And I guess, again, the reason it can tap into the pagan tradition is because the idea of, you know, the moment when the days begin to get longer, the winter solstice, you know, kind of ties into the tradition or rather the symbolism of, you know, darker, darker, darker, and then suddenly lighter, lighter, lighter, and the hope.

And I assume that's part of the reason we date Christmas around December 20. because I don't think we have any records in the early church fathers that the event actually occurred anywhere near December 25th. Yes, the dating of Christmas is a big subject of controversy. It is possible that he was born on December 25th, depending on how you read the gospel of Luke, because it is possible and even likely that Zechariah was sacrificing in the temple in September. And then John the Baptist would have been born nine months later, which puts it in late June. And he was six months older than Jesus, which puts it in late December. So it's possible, but the bottom line is we don't know. And to some extent, it doesn't matter.

The ancients really did not have a high priority for remembering the particular day on which you were born. and when birthdays were celebrated, the date was often chosen for symbolic reasons. So we don't know. All right. So what other traditions do you explain in this book why we kiss under the mistletoe? 12 days of Christmas is a very big deal, or I should say was a very big deal for much of Christmas history. So I do go into some detail about this period of unbroken marriage. that is supposed to happen between December 25th and January 6th, which is the Feast of the Epiphany.

And when did that tradition spring up, the 12 days of Christmas? That is as old as the five or six hundreds. We see very early references to this period of joy. Fasting was prohibited during these 12 days. about between meals. I fast between meals every day, every day. That's just because that's who I am. But so that's so interesting. The 12 days of Christmas, I mean, that's basically lost to us today.

We no longer really talk about it. And we've moved in the opposite direction where Christmas seems now to be celebrated, you know, four minutes after you cut the turkey on Thanksgiving, which I find sacrilegious, genuinely sacrilegious. We've got lots more ahead, folks. The book is Why We Kiss Under the Missile Tow by Michael Foley. We'll be right back. As hard as it may be for us to comprehend here in America,

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at 972 Patriot. If you're fed up with woke companies that don't care about your values, support a company that does. Make the switch today and get a free month of service plus free activation. Patriotmobil.com slash Eric. That's Patriot mobile.com slash Eric or call 972 Patriot. Folks, welcome back. We're talking to the author of Why We Kiss Under the Missiletoe. Christmas Traditions explained Michael Foley. Chapter 12 in the book is titled The Topsy Turvy 12 Days of Christmas. It's not just a long carol. So let's go back to this idea of the 12 days of Christmas. What do we know about it?

What do you know about it that we'd like to learn? Well, it was a time of great merriment and mischief. And it was dominated by the idea of topsy-turvy customs, kind of like the Roman soternalia that you were mentioning a few moments ago. So in giddy imitation, of the ultimate inversion in all history, God becoming a little baby. That's the ultimate topsy-turvy.

God becoming man. God becoming a helpless babe in the arms. And so in imitation of that, there were all kinds of social inversions. Masters and servants would change places for a day. Children and parents would change places for a day. Husbands and wives would change places for a day. husbands and wives would change places for a day.

It was a time of walking a mile in the other's moccasins. Is this in the Middle Ages? What period are we talking about? Yes, middle ages and into early modernity. And there still are some kind of rural sections of Europe that still practice some of these customs. I've never heard that. That's extraordinary. The 12 days of Christmas.

Um, what, uh, well, I just want to, there, there's so many things in the book. Should we talk about Christmas carols? Uh, I don't know where you want to go. Well, uh, we were talking about the 12 days of Christmas and we were mentioning Shakespeare a moment ago. The play 12th night involves gender bending, cross-dressing. Shakespeare chose that word 12th night because that was the, the vigil of epiphany when couples would cross-dress. when the men would dress like women, the women would dress like men. And again, it was a way of sort of walking in the moccasins of another. And Shakespeare chose his play,

chose the title of the play, because of this cross-dressing tradition. Yes, and this is not to promote transgenderism, folks, in case you're scoring at home. We want to be very clear that we stick with what the Old Testament says. But it's kind of interesting to me that, so this was on what,

the eve of Epiphany, so January 5th, and that's where we get that idea. But you're saying that this is really roughly dead, except for that carol, it seems that we wouldn't know about the 12 days of Christmas. We don't really talk about it very much. That's right. So the cross-dressing tradition, for example, is called mummery or mumming, and it does exist in some like sort of, again, rural parts. Newfoundland still has this tradition, but it is by and large forgotten. Let's talk about some of the Christmas carols

and where they come from. Which one do you want to focus on? Gosh, that was a fun chapter to research. So many fun stories behind different Christmas carols. My biggest surprise was the religiously diversity of the composers. You know, even Unitarians contributed to, you know, our Christmas carols. There were several Jewish writers that contributed to our famous Christmas songs.

So, yeah, it's hard to know where to begin. I guess I always think of Silent Night, the idea that the organ was broken and I don't know, what is it? I wrote about this once when I was working for Chuck Coles. and Breakpoint that I don't know if it was 1803. It was right around there that an organ was broken and the choir master was tasked with writing something that could be played with the guitar. And he came up with Silent Night.

Of course, this is in Germany. But, yeah, it's just amazing how some of these things come to pass. I want to look at your chapters here because I don't want to miss anything as we're talking unless there's something that leaps out that you want to talk about. Well, Silent Night is a great Carol to talk about, and you're right. The organ was broken. They were planning to have a glorious high mass, but that required the use of an organ. So the priest felt really bad, and he wanted to offer his congregation some consolation. So he dusted off a poem that he had written in, I think, 1816. it was anyway, he wrote this poem after the end of the Napoleonic Wars

when the guns of Europe were finally silenced and we finally had a silent night. And so he took that poem celebrating the end of war and he had a friend add the music and that gave us silent night. I have never heard that. I love this stuff. See, this is what I'm talking about people. I love it. Well, you talk about looking a lot like Christmas, other Christmas customs old and new.

What are some that you talk about that we wouldn't be aware of? One of the things that surprised me were the alternatives to Santa Claus and St. Nicholas as gift givers. There are a lot of other mythical gift givers around the world. old women who bring gifts on Epiphany, for example. These were things that I wasn't aware of. That's my great aunt you're talking about, pal. All right, we're going to go to a break. Folks, we're talking to Michael Foley.

The book is Why We Kiss Under the Missile Toe. And I know we're going to talk about Zinder Clause and St. Nick and all this cuckie stuff when we come back. This is the Eric Mataxis show. Don't forget, Eric Mataxis.com. We'll be right back. With the over Oh, morning starts to...

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Get the halls with boughs of Harley. Fala la la la la la la la la. Is the season to be jolly. Fala la la la la la la la la la. Gone we now are gay a pair of follow la la la la la la la. Hey folks, I'm talking to Michael Foley about his Christmas book. It's called Why We Kiss Under the Missile Toe. you were just saying, Michael, that there are other traditions of gift givers. Of course, St. Nick, Christmas, I'm sorry, Santa Claus, St. Nick, Zinder Claus. We all know about Father Christmas, and we can talk about that. But you're saying there are others, elderly women. What tradition is that? Is that Baba Yaga or somebody? I'm trying to think, I can't remember, you know,

which folk tales I've read over the centuries. Yeah, well, you are the only person in the world who knows Baba Yaga. I keep trying to tell people I'm a genius. They don't believe me, Michael, they never believe me. Okay, so do you want to start with Baba Yaga? Actually, I was going to start with Bafana, because she's actually a little more popular in certain parts of Europe, especially Italy. What's the name again?

Bephanna. It's a corruption of the word epiphon. believe it or not. Paphana. Paphana. Bafana. Okay, so who's Pafana? According to the story, she was a wonderful housekeeper who lived in Palestine and she was visited

by the Magi on their way to give gifts to baby Jesus. Well, they were so impressed with her that they invited her to join them. but because she was such a tidy housekeeper, she said, let me tidy at my house, you go ahead and I'll catch up with you. Well, she took too long cleaning her house, and she was never able to find the wise men. So she has roamed the earth ever since looking for the Christ child. Sounds like a bummer of a tale.

I told you. It sounds really sad, man. Sounds really sad, man. No, it's just so fascinating. All these traditions. Okay, and then you want to mention Baba Yaga again? I do. And maybe you could fill me in.

I don't remember. Maybe I can fill you. And you wrote the book, pal. I don't know. I don't know anything. I'm just, I'm just spitting stuff out. I want to actually, I want to go back to when you mentioned elves and the dark side of Christmas and fairies and that kind of thing.

How did that morph into, I mean, I'm always fascinated that, you know, when we, you know, when we think of Christmas, we have these ideas based on, you know, Washington Irving, you know, who wrote the night before Christmas, or I'm sorry, Clement Moore, who wrote the night before Christmas. Actually, a couple of blocks from where I'm sitting right here

on 19th Street in New York City. No kidding. So the night before Christmas, it gives us this image of, you know, St. Nick, a jolly old elf and the reindeer. And we get all this stuff from a poem that was made up, you know, two centuries ago. But it almost seems like received wisdom.

Where do the idea of, where does the idea of Santa Claus and elves come from? You gave two of the big names, Clement Moore and Washington Irving. They took Dutch traditions about St. Nicholas, which were in New York City because it had once been New Amsterdam. New York was loaded with Dutch. Now they've all moved to Graham. Grand Rapids, Michigan, but they used to be right here. That's exactly right. So these are very popular customs in New York City in the early 1800s.

Washington Irving and Clement Moore took these traditions about St. Nicholas, this fourth century bishop. And as far as we can tell, they added elements from Norse mythology regarding Thor and Woden. Thor, for example, after whom our Thursday is named, drove around in the sky in a chariot pulled by two goats, and the sound of the goat's hooves upon the clouds is what made thunder. I'm not buying it, but go ahead. So they took this kind of as the prototype, and then they turned this into the eight reindeer and the sleigh.

Who actually invented the idea of the sleigh? Was that Clement Moore? I mean, did he come up with that? Or is that? I'm guessing it's preceded because when I think of, I can't think of the name of the Dutch, Zinderclaws and his Moorish servant, were they the ones that came up with the flying sleigh?

No. So all the St. Nicholas customs, St. Nicholas had either a donkey or a white horse that you would leave hay out for in your shoes by the chimney. But no reindeer, no sleigh. There was a poet prior to Clement Moore that had a sleigh with two reindeer. And it's Clement Moore that invented eight reindeer and then gave them their names. And then it was Gene Autry who named Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer. That's true.

It's incredible. We got a nice one. I just, I love this stuff. Do you mention the poem in your book, the antecedent to Clement Moore's poem? I do indeed. Yes. Can you tell us? Who was?

I've never heard of that. Well, Eric, you may know that prior to writing this book, I wrote three cocktail books. And in the process of researching those, some brain cells were destroyed. Aha. So that's a long way of saying. I don't know. It's in the book. Well, you know, it's very funny because speaking as an author, it's exactly the same thing. I do these interviews, and they're people that, you know, they're way more familiar with my book than I am because I wrote it, you know, a few years ago or whatever it was.

And when people ask me about something, I say, I don't know, I have to look it up. But anyway, it is in your book. It is, it is mentioned in your book. We just got 60 seconds left. Chapter 13 is titled Keep Going, Epiphany, Plow Monday, and Groundhog Day. How in the world, what is Plow Monday and Groundhog Day? How are they related to Christmas? Plow Monday is celebrated in some parts of England,

and it's the Monday after the epiphany. And it's basically the last gasp of merriment. And especially it's like groups of men that go around playing pranks on each other and, you know, engaging in mayhem. So that's the... Wow, Monday. Okay. And then how do we tie this into Groundhog? Groundhog Day. We've just got a few seconds left. Sorry about that.

Groundhog Day is a custom that comes from the feast of the purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary, which takes place 40 days after the birth of Jesus. So February 2nd is 40 days after December 25th. On that day, Simeon the Prophet made a prophecy that he would be a light for the revelation of the Gentiles. So there were superstitions about light and darkness, which turned into a German superstition. about a hedgehog seeing its shadow. Okay, I'm actually not glad we're out of time, but folks, you can find out the rest of the story in the book about how Groundhog Day is a Christian holiday.

Michael Foley, congratulations. The book is Why We Kiss Under the Missletoe. Thank you. Folks, we're not making this up. Christmas is coming, and if you haven't done all your shopping, how can we help you? Well, we've got some kooky ideas. Now, before I give you the kooky ideas,

let me remind you, SalemNow.com. There's all kinds of great stuff there at SalemNow.com. Super spreader of the documentary tells the story our friend Sean Foyt. It's actually a big deal

what he has done putting the film together. I mean, what he's done in general is a big deal and he continues to do it, spreading the gospel. People are being healed and delivered, like not theoretically, actually. I'm in the film, so you've got to

go to Salem now.com. You can also see you. the talk show with Eric Metaxus and Albin Seder, you won't even believe it. People who watch it, you'll be like, how do they do? What is this? This is insane. The talk show, this is SalemNow.com. Now, Alvin, for actual Christmas gifts, okay, there's some gifts at my store.com. I keep saying my store.com, it's our friend, Mike Lindell. All of my books are, almost all my books are available there. Okay, use the code Eric. You get a good price. Bonhofer poster. But if you're looking for like, like gifts that nobody else.

You can't find them anywhere else. They have the Boaz Batchie ball retriever. Who hasn't wanted to retrieve a botchy ball now and again? Well, your problems can be solved with the Boaz light botchy ball retriever. All you have to do is go to my store.com. You think I'm making this up? Go to my store.com. Use the code Eric.

And you'll see exactly what I'm talking about. I'm not joking around. Okay. there is also a, I mean, there's so many products here. I just want to encourage people to go there and to wander around because you can't even believe some of the stuff that you're helping support Mike Lindell. And if you use the code Eric, you're helping support this program. There's a lot of practical stuff made in America socks.

Okay. They're not made in China. No. Made in America socks. You know, these are just great gifts, Christmas all around the year. And if you're looking for, you know how they have office gifts. You have to buy something unusual for the office and have a little fun with it. This is where you find those fun office gifts.

Fun office gifts. But there's just so many things there that I don't know where to start, but I want to encourage people anti-slip pads for your shoes. Who doesn't need that? Anti-slip pads for your shoes. A lot of you are slipping and sliding out there. Well, you can put an end to that by going to mystore.com. Use the code Eric.

and click on the clothing tab and you'll see, son of a gun, there's a solution. My shoes need not slip as much as they've been slipping previously. Albin, you mentioned the Wolf Perfect Pet Stain Remover. Yes, sir. It works for virtually every kind of pet stain. There's bleed clot pet. If your pet bleeds a lot. And, you know, that just messes up the house.

bleed clot pet. It's available with the code. Eric, there's something called the rude kitty cat salad. Did you know about this? No, no, not at all. You have to go to my store.com. Alvin, you're going to be responsible for this material on the test, okay? So you need to go to my store.com and you're going to see the rude kitty cat salad.

What is it? Well, it's an organic, sustainable mixture of cereal grasses and broad leaf greens. that are human grade, we call it catgrass so people can find it online. You could all, yes, you could also nibble these delectable leaves. It's not just for cats, hamsters, birds, reptiles, and dogs love it too. Wow. This is all available at my store.com. Use the code Eric.

And you know what? It would be a nice thing for us to mention. We're doing a campaign at CSI. I'm not going to get into it. But you know who you are if you haven't done this yet. you go to metaxestalk.com, greatest gift you could give. Metaxistock.com, click on the CSI banner. It is so meaningful.

I'll get choked up if I think about it. Metaxistock.com, click on the banner for CSI. God bless you.