December 24, 2025 • 39 mins
It was Christmas Eve, and Bradley wanted to know all about your traditions! Listen to him talk about everything Christmas related! From your favorite movies to your favorite dishes to prepare. Bradley also wanted to know: Are you a fan of Yankee Swaps and how do you play? Do you have a real tree or a fake one, and how long do you keep it up? Do you wrap your gifts or is it just a big toy store under the tree – do you remove the price tags? What’s in the stockings these days, and how does it differ from yesteryear? What do you do with the Christmas cards after the holiday? How far do you travel and who are you visiting – are you happy about it, or is it a drag? Bradley welcomed all to join him for some good old-fashioned WBZ family Christmas fun!
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
As Night Side with Dan Ray on WBS Costin's Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Well, Merry Christmas to you, and it's a ten oh
six and change ten o six thirty nine here on WBZ,
and it's an open house party if you anything you want.
I mean, of course it's Christmas, and so that can
be the focus of stuff, but you know, if you're
in somebody's house and having a Christmas party, other stuff
(00:27):
comes up as well. One thing I'd like to share
with you, and maybe you'd like to share with me
something similar is an embarrassing Christmas. Christmas moment, though I
abcotually have two kind of a disaster Christmas moment which
won't take long to share, and a really wildly embarrassing
thing happened to me. First the mistake, and this happens.
(00:52):
I bet this has happened to you at some point somewhere.
It's some member of your family had something burned up
that they that they like, a gift certificate or something.
So we had a fireplace and growing up, which is real,
really lucky, really fortunate. And I remember one Christmas they
(01:13):
were going to barbecue outside and then eat the food
inside for Christmas, but it was raining, so they tried
to cook the food on the in the fireplace. This
didn't go over that well because smoke and it didn't
come out very well at all. It was a mistake.
But that was the same year that you know, they
(01:37):
we wrapped the presents. Not every family wraps, by the way,
is you have family rap presence that not. We can
get into that later. So there's a wrapper wrapping all
over the place, and somebody got some sort of money
or gift certificate and we burned it up in the fireplace.
It took after the cooking the food to call the
paper from the wrapping and burned it up in the fireplace,
(02:00):
which is a bad idea by the way, it can
cause the chimney fire. But it was a big weepy
situation because we couldn't could not find that check or
gift certificated. This might have been actually before gift certificates.
You know, there was a time before gift certificates, right
(02:21):
when it gives a ticket. Certificates happen. I know they
were here by the eighties. But anyway, whatever this non
semi tangible item or very flammable item was, it got
burned up. Now he's another disaster. I was in four Hs.
(02:44):
Does anyone know what four h is? Shane? You know
what four Hes? No, if you're from New Hampshire and
of a certain age. It was a kind of the
Freemasons for Farming. Really, it was an organization. They had
a grange hall where we met and it was an
(03:09):
organization for kids to get good at stuff, to learn
animal husbandry or gardening or flower arranging or leather crafting.
And my mother was the leader. And as part of
that I had a project. Well, I was going to
(03:31):
plant two hundred and fifty Christmas trees and then sell
them when I grew up and go to college based
on that money. Back then, college wasn't that expensive, so
I got these big bundle it might have been actually
five hundred. It was in the spring I planted, and
it was terrible. We lived on four acres, small for
(03:53):
the area, and it was all mosquitoe and damp and horrible,
and I remember being out there just hating it, thinking
I got to do this because someday they're going to
grow up and I'm going to sell them and make
a lot of money. Five hundred Christmas trees that would
have been quite a lot of money. So you know
(04:15):
for two three years they were out there happily growing away.
Look at those trees out there. I look out the window,
look at those trees. Oh yeah, all was right with
the trees until one day in the country. I don't
know if you know this, but in the spring they
burn fields, so they do a controlled burn so they
(04:36):
won't be an uncontrolled burn later on. Unfortunately, the control
burn get out of control and all my five hundred
Christmas trees burned up. That's pretty significant, right, and my
mother was devastated, I guess as you should have been.
(05:01):
I wonder if my mother can hear me telling these
stories right now, I honestly do. Well, you're forgiven, ma.
I don't even know if it was her fault. This
was a man thing. The men would go out and
burn the fields and they just couldn't quite keep it
together to not burn down my Christmas trees. And that
next up comes my embarrassing story. And it's so weird.
(05:25):
It didn't have to be that embarrassing by the time
this story takes place. And if you have an embarrassing
Christmas story, or any Christmas story since the Christmas open lines,
let me know any Christmas story, But This one's an
embarrassing one. After college, I kept in touch with some
(05:46):
of my college mates, not for long though, as an aside.
I liked him in college, and then most of them
I didn't like anymore. Some I did, some I didn't,
But they would hang around after college, and they kind
of changed and they were irritating to me. And I'm
not a person that's going to hang around with somebody
that is irritating. But I was still hanging around with
(06:09):
them by then. So one of my college friends had
a friend and she was a lawyer, had a big
deal law firm. These were grown up adults wearing black
dresses and going to Christmas parties kind of HOI POLOI
Bushwood country Club kind of people, but in the higher
(06:32):
up in the legal profession in Boston. And we exchanged gifts.
This college mate of mine and her friend, we exchanged gifts.
And I'm not going to use her real name, I'll
say Jane. So I brought my gifts for Jane and
(06:52):
Jill and my college friend opened it up. Okay, no problem,
this is the rub here, and I need to tell
you this before hand. I also had a little niece
also named Jane, so I had presents for two people,
and I think you know where this is going. Both
were named Jane. It said Jane on the on the box,
(07:13):
on the wrapped present. So the lawyer high end, you know,
wearing brightening watch, you know, the type opened like a
little doll or something like it really like it was
(07:33):
a shock to what what are you doing? This? This
gift is so dumb. It's not it doesn't work on
any level. It's not a fun, sarcastic gift. It's not
even a Joe gift. It just doesn't fit in with anything.
And I was I'm seldom mortified. I was more toefied.
(07:57):
And the thing is, and here's the souper dumb thing.
I'm not usually this dumb, dumb, dumb dumb. I could
have just said, oh no, that was for my niece,
but I didn't. Somehow the feeling of embarrassment was greater
(08:19):
to me admitting oh, I gave you there on prison.
So we just shut up and from that moment till now,
unless that person is listening now and I'm probably not
believes that I gave her for some really really really
weird reason, some some dull suitable for ages four to eight,
(08:45):
you know, I'm so so embarrassed. What was I thinking?
I should have just said, oh, I've got to mix
up there. Oh oh, it would have been so easy.
What was wrong with me? And I'm a kind of
a verbal guy. But I think maybe the reason was
I was always nervous around her because she was kind
(09:12):
of upper class and I wasn't. And that might have
been it if she if she was a regular person,
I might have a regular person. If she was of
my strata, I might have said, oh, it's a mistake.
But now I didn't, And that was just That's one
of those things that kind of gets me right in
(09:33):
the chest still. And I know she's out there thinking
I'm an idiot, And wonder if she thinks that every
Christmas she's getting gifts. Boy, that reminds me of that
idiot Bradley Jay. What was he? What was he thinking?
I have simplified Christmas and I and basically I don't.
(09:56):
I just walk to the neighbor's house. Now we watch movies.
We get takeout and we watch movies. It's very simple.
There's not a lot of driving. And I've all this week,
the last two weeks, I've been watching Christmas movies. They
actually kind of get me in the Christmas spirit. Now
(10:17):
I don't, and I'm curious about movies, but not the
you know, not the old standbys. Of course, on Thanksgiving
it's plain strains automobiles, right, and then there were the
go to movies for Christmas. But are there any others
that you like that? Aren't you know? It's me, George,
(10:38):
don't you remember me? Kind of movies? ALF? Do you
like ALF? If you heard the WBZ news earlier, you
know that the Grinch is stole Christmas is not popular.
I didn't realize Edward Scissors Hands was a Christmas movie?
Do you watch that? There's one my wife hates I like,
(11:00):
and that's Reindeer Games with Ben Affleck and Gary Sonise
and Charlie's their own. It's sort of Christmas. It's about
robbing a casino home alone. I like that first one.
I guess elf. I'm burned down on Charlie Brown Christmas.
(11:22):
I just skip by it. I get it. I'm moving
on Christmas vacation. But there's a big list. Can you
think of any others that the US We're gonna go
to Richard after this in eastern Massachusetts. Now, this is
two people who have just given vague look geolocations. Richard,
(11:44):
Is it okay if when we talk and I ask
you where you're from? Okay? We'll talk to Richard next
on WBZ.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
It's Night Side with Dan Ray on w b Boston's
news radio.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
Yay WBZ in d Nightside with Dan Ray Bradley Jay
and for Dan, I don't give out the number very much.
I am remissing that and I should do it more.
How do you have it memorized? But many don't. Six one, seven, two, five, four,
ten thirty. Well will get you a community. That's what
this number is. Instant community. You're filling alone, Instant community.
(12:22):
You get treated right here, especially tonight. It's a sort
of a Christmas open house. Six one, seven, five, ten thirty.
And of course you can listen on the iHeart app,
as I often do. The iHeart app is excellent. And
if you want to hear any nightside ever again or
(12:45):
share it, it's Nightside on demand or a night Side
on demand that is excellent too. Now, oh yes, before
I go to Richard in Eastern Massachusetts, I do want
to present you with a little bit of a Christmas dilemma.
It was always always stressful. When my boss got me
(13:09):
a present for Christmas. My boss at w b CN
was Oedipus and he used to get us presents like
like a passport case with your name on it and
stuff like that. But then that's really generous and very
very nice. But then you ask the employee, what do
(13:32):
you do? Do you get a gift for them, because
there's no way your gift to them is going to
be as good as the one you got? Are you
expected to if your boss gets you a gift, are
you expected to give one back? Is that a friend
It's hard to know. Is it a friend friend giving relationship?
(13:54):
Is it a I'm your boss, thanks for a good job.
So you're not expected to? And then I really had
to sweat if I got him something you don't want
to get you. You don't want you to get your
boss something that's dumb. O the stress of Christmas. Now
(14:16):
we go to first. It's Richard in Eastern Massachusetts.
Speaker 3 (14:21):
Him, Richard, Hello, how are you am? I? On? Alrighty?
All right, here we go. I'm gonna pay this tribute
to you so fast. Berry J. Beerry J. Beverry j
beaj Barry J. Bey J BERRYJ and then somebody yells
(14:46):
out hello, Hello, and it was a remind me of
when they yelled that out of Jerry Lewis, and the
only thing that was missing was hey l Anyway, I
think when you fill in for Dan Ray, they as
a tribute to you, they should play your song because
(15:06):
it's only it's only fair, you know.
Speaker 4 (15:08):
What I mean.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
Yeah, there's just one small technicality on that is the name.
My name is brad Lee and not Barry. Oh.
Speaker 3 (15:19):
Did I say that by mistake? Yeah? I know your
name is Bradley. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
Yeah, but actually Barry Jay sounds better. I probably will
change it. It's probably better.
Speaker 3 (15:29):
No, why should you? Why should you? And I have
a question, Yes, sure, go ahead, and.
Speaker 2 (15:36):
You can just say never mind, I'm not telling you.
It says Richard and eastern Massachusetts, and it's I'm informed
that you didn't want to give your exact town. And
you're not the first one tonight other someone else did
that too. They didn't want their first name given, and
they didn't want their you know why, friend, the government's
(15:58):
listening or something.
Speaker 3 (15:59):
No, no oh. When you're on the radio, especially when
I listen to different shows and a lot of these
people they sound sadly, so don don lonely. And when
they're giving their a lot of their personal information, I
feel they may be harassed in some way in some
(16:21):
form if they recognize their voice, you know, in some
way in some form. So I don't think a lot
of people should divulge every little thing because they're going
to get crapped on. I think.
Speaker 2 (16:35):
You're going to ruin my whole GigE. You keep talking
like that, Richard, I'm sorry. The whole interest of the
whole program is the details. It's the details.
Speaker 3 (16:45):
Yeah, I didn't realize that. I didn't realize that. For instance, like.
Speaker 2 (16:52):
Now to go back and say you were.
Speaker 3 (16:54):
Wrong, Okay, all right, okay.
Speaker 2 (17:00):
Probably wrong. There's no way. So say let's say you're
from Holebrook and right, you know, if you want to,
if you want, have a fake name. I don't care.
But but at least even if you have a fake town,
I really don't care. But just make up some town.
Eastern Massachusetts is you know, not much fun eastern Massachusetts?
(17:23):
Well how's things out there in eastern Massachusetts?
Speaker 3 (17:26):
You know it was great? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (17:29):
Here? Now make up a town. Yeah, what town do
you want to be from? Make one up? If you
want to be protected.
Speaker 3 (17:39):
Well, I guess I was going to bring up something important.
Speaker 2 (17:43):
Dan he's from Danvers, but.
Speaker 3 (17:46):
But yeah, haggling on the town. So I guess we
could cut it right here, by the way, can I
bring up something else different real quickly? Because I get
home so late. A lot of times I get home
like a little before ten, at ten and past ten,
(18:07):
and so a lot of times I miss a lot
of what Dan Ray said. So I didn't even know
you were going to be on tonight. So, because it's
Christmas Eve, I actually got home early. I got home
at eight thirty, and so I started listening, and ye
are you going to be on to like tomorrow night
and Saturday Night?
Speaker 2 (18:28):
Not Saturday Friday.
Speaker 3 (18:30):
But tomorrow. Yeah. Would it be possible if I gave
like a shout out to a certain person and maybe
even two? Could you have them on your show tomorrow night?
Is there any way you could get them?
Speaker 2 (18:44):
Anyone's allowed to call out as far as as far
as a guest. They have guests go through a grueling process.
Speaker 3 (18:53):
Yeah. Yeah, So do you want me to bother shouting
out the names of forget it?
Speaker 2 (19:00):
Just tell look, call the people up yourself and say Hey,
you should call the show now. You tell me you
miss sometimes the beginning of Dan Ray's show. What you
need to do. What you need to do is you
go on online to Nightside on demand and you can
hear the whole thing, including the party missed.
Speaker 3 (19:20):
Well, you have a good night.
Speaker 2 (19:21):
Now, okay, take care out there in eastern Massachusetts. Brother
by now here you go? Yeah, I don't see it,
and I I understand what he's saying, but I disagree.
First of all, details is what makes any story interesting,
the details of I want a picture where you're from.
(19:43):
Somebody's from Danvers, I immediately and everybody out there wants
to say, Okay, Danvers, I wonder whe're in Danvers?
Speaker 3 (19:50):
Are you?
Speaker 2 (19:50):
Oh? You on the corner of Smith and Hoboken Street. Yes,
right by the Sal's Pizza or whatever. That's important to
visualize because this is theater. This is theater of the mind,
and Eastern Massachusetts is kind of generic for a theater
of the mind. It's all about the specifics. So if
(20:13):
you're a kind of person that doesn't really want anybody
to know your real name where you're from, call me
up and lie. Just make one up, because it's more
interesting than eastern Massachusetts. But no hard feelings Richard ten
thirty one. We have somebody lining up to talk to me,
(20:37):
to us, to the community. It's good. Once again, remember
if you're alone on this Christmas Eve, when you're on WBZ,
you're not alone. You have instant community. So if you've
never called before, let me just walk you through it.
Before the break, you call six one, seven, two, four,
ten thirty. Shane will say WBZ, how can I help here?
(21:01):
Or what would you like to talk about? And you
tell him something and he goes, okay, I'm going to
put you on hold and Bradley will talk to you
in a little bit. Then you just kind of listen along.
You can listen to what's going on, and you're going
to be nervous, but don't worry. Nothing bad is going
to happen. And I'll say, hey, it's for example, Florence
and Groveland is next. What's going on Florence. Just like
(21:23):
I would on the street. You cannot make a mistake,
you cannot be embarrassed. If you've noticed the whole show,
no risk, no embarrassment. It's just a it's it's a
community that anybody can be a part of. Six, one, seven, two, five, four,
(21:44):
ten thirty. That is the That is the key the lock. No,
that's the key the unlocks your new community. Get over that,
those butterflies in the beginning and a wonderful world. WBZ
awaits you night side with Dan Ray on WBZ Boston's
(22:05):
news radio and the Where we Go. We got three
folks ready to speak with us in our community here
on this Christmas eve. Gee, Christmas is very near. A
couple quick questions, actually, just one for you to think
about and perhaps dial in to answer while I'm speaking
with these folks. If you are a Seinfeld watcher, you
(22:26):
know that George Costanza has the prescription for how long
one should keep their greeting card, and that would include
a Christmas card. I'm asking you two things. How long
do you feel you should keep a Christmas card before
(22:47):
you throw it out? I mean a lot of Christmas
cards people do these days, take a lot of work,
et cetera. So how long do you think is the
the what does etiquette say that you should what period
of time you should keep it? And what did George
Costanza say is the time? The period? The length of
(23:13):
time that you should keep a card? And I'm going
to include Christmas cards in that. Now, let's go to
Florence in Groveland.
Speaker 5 (23:20):
Hi, Florence, Hi Bradley. Bradley am a regular caller you
probably remember, of course, and I am from Groveland, which
is in the Rimac Valley. I'm sure you've heard that term.
Of course, a lot of little towns in this community.
(23:43):
And have that guy's that called before? I spared laugh,
I said, I.
Speaker 2 (23:49):
Get a call, and you are going to be very
specific about where you live and what your community is like.
Speaker 5 (23:55):
That's why I said that to you in just case
you hadn't heard of growth before. Okay, okay, the very
small town. I tell people when you drive into Grove,
when you drive through it, if you blink your eyes
(24:16):
you're going through it. It's very small.
Speaker 2 (24:18):
How long you lived in Growland.
Speaker 5 (24:20):
Forty five years?
Speaker 2 (24:22):
And how did you happen to move to Groveland?
Speaker 5 (24:25):
H Well, my husband and I bought a house here.
Speaker 2 (24:27):
Oh, you bought a house. How much did the house cost?
Speaker 3 (24:31):
Oh?
Speaker 5 (24:31):
Gosh, I think it was in the fifties. Fifty thousand something.
Speaker 2 (24:37):
Yeah, forty five years ago it was fifty thousand.
Speaker 1 (24:41):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (24:41):
Is it a pretty big house?
Speaker 5 (24:44):
Well, back then it was a ranch house spread lee. Yeah,
and since my husband has passed away, and after I retired,
I sold the house to one of my sons and
I stayed in the house. I'm on the first floor.
(25:06):
He had a second story put on it.
Speaker 2 (25:09):
So you have been able to live in that house
for forty five years and you haven't had to move
and you still have all your stuff with you. Isn't
that wonderful?
Speaker 5 (25:18):
Yeah, until my son put it's an identical floor up above. Okay,
so he's upstairs and downstairs and it works out very well.
Speaker 2 (25:31):
So what about Christmas? Where do you have Christmas? Up
there or down in your house?
Speaker 5 (25:36):
Either one? We move around. Plus I have another son
who lives in New Hampshire, so you can go there,
And I have a daughter who lives in hal what'd.
Speaker 2 (25:48):
You get for Christmas?
Speaker 5 (25:50):
What did I get?
Speaker 2 (25:52):
Yes?
Speaker 5 (25:53):
I don't know because oh yeah, it.
Speaker 2 (25:56):
Didn't happen yet.
Speaker 3 (25:56):
Oh my god, I'm so sadly.
Speaker 2 (26:00):
He's so dumb, really really dumb.
Speaker 1 (26:03):
Sorry.
Speaker 5 (26:04):
I wanted I wanted to wish you a merry Christmas.
Speaker 2 (26:09):
Thank you.
Speaker 5 (26:10):
And usually when I call in, I call in to
Morgan Show on Saturday, and I wish my special friend
Jack cart Happy Birthday or Merry Christmas. So I want
to wish him of Jerry, Merry Christmas. He's your traffic reporter.
Speaker 2 (26:34):
Yes, oh yes, I know he's been. He's been a
traffic reporter for a long time. He's your special friend.
Speaker 5 (26:40):
He is wonderful. Now I will tell you about the
Christmas cards you.
Speaker 2 (26:47):
Meant, oh yeah, how long do you keep a Christmas card?
Speaker 5 (26:51):
Do you know what I do? Special ones like from
family or say you know someone very close to you.
You take them and you can put them in one
of those photo books with the plastics leaves.
Speaker 2 (27:11):
Yeah, you must have a big yeah, I do. Well,
you must have a house full of foldo books. I
mean for years worth of Christmas cards.
Speaker 5 (27:20):
This must take up a lot of I have a
few that have extra special ones okay, that I've kept
and someone that perhaps has passed away and that is
their last card to you.
Speaker 2 (27:40):
Well, yeah, you know with a.
Speaker 5 (27:43):
Little message inside you cut throw that away.
Speaker 2 (27:48):
I know, I know.
Speaker 5 (27:50):
Yeah, thank you.
Speaker 2 (27:52):
I do have a question for you, being a person
who puts cards in pholdo books. I have saved all
my life, you know, from my mother. I got these scrapbooks.
She's passed now, but it's packed with these cards that
she got when I was born, Congratulations to the little baby.
(28:14):
And there's all these little baby cards and they're very
fancy old school cards. But I don't know, you know,
there's there are probably two books of them. There were
probably fifty cards. I can't decide what to do. Do
I keep them forever? And then after I'm gone, somebody
else throws them away? I never look at him. You
seem like a thoughtful person, Florence. Should I keep them?
(28:38):
Should I keep a few of them? What should I do? Get?
Throw them away?
Speaker 5 (28:41):
Like like I told you once, from special people and
with a special message inside that some people do that, okay,
right inside the card you quick pick and choose, Actually
(29:03):
which one you absolutely would like to say?
Speaker 2 (29:07):
Yeah, that's a good idea. So because if they're from
people I know, that's one thing. And I mean family
people I knew, like neighbors like mister Bigford, mister Bickford
who got stung in the tongue by a bee and almost.
Speaker 5 (29:23):
How about your mom on your birthday? Any special cuts.
Speaker 2 (29:29):
Well I will look for them. That's really great advice
for Florence. I'm gonna I need to get to tread
Well and other folks. But I'm so appreciative of your call.
Thank you. It's always wonderful to hear from you. By Florence,
I guess if I start talking to tread Well, I'll
have to cut them short because it's quarter passed. So
(29:51):
tread if I may be so familiar And Marge, we'll
talk to you right after this quick break on.
Speaker 3 (29:57):
W b Z.
Speaker 1 (30:00):
You're on night Side with Dan Ray on WBSY, Boston's
news radio.
Speaker 2 (30:05):
Well, it's great to have you with me. I have
to tell you how how deeply happy it makes me
to be able to speak with all of you. It's
a huge, huge deal to me. It makes me feel
great all the time, even when I'm not on the radio,
knowing that in the not two distant future I'll be
able to be part of this community again. So we
(30:30):
have margin. The catskills very well, quite specific. Marge. Hello, Hello, Marge.
Speaker 4 (30:37):
How are you okay? I don't know what generation you
were a kid in, but I want to talk about
how tough my generation was, and we're going back to
the forties early fifties. Oh yeah, yeah, we were tough
little guys. I'll tell you our number one thing was
(30:59):
snow days, okay, And the last time I looked at
kids sleigh riding, they were on these little plastic discs
and they were just kind of sliding, spinning around little wishes.
Compared to us.
Speaker 2 (31:18):
You're sliding, all right.
Speaker 4 (31:20):
We all had wood and metal sleds, usually flexible flyers,
and the way you negotiated them was two ways. You
sat down. You sat upright, you put your feet on
the wooden bars, and you steered. And the reason you
usually sat up with was you usually put a little
(31:41):
kid sitting in front of you, and that way, if
you hit a tree or anything, the little kid was
like an airbag, so you'd see a big kid and
a little kid. But our favorite way of with the
flexible flyer sleds is to get a running start. You
hold a sled up, you run like the devil, flop
down it on your belly. Now your head is sticking
(32:04):
over the handlebars and you're steering like crazy. Sometimes we'd
go so fast we'd run out of the bottom of
the hill, fly off a snowbank, go across the road
and end up on the other side.
Speaker 2 (32:17):
So you think you're tough, listen to this, you that's
wimpy barge. We did the exact same thing as you,
only we would have demolition derby and we would try
to wipe each other out on the way down. So
the three of us, my old brothers, we go, one, two,
three go and it would be complete ice. It was
(32:38):
Berness Hill's driveway and it was a big, long, huge
icy driveway. Ready, one two, three go, and then you'd
try to maneuver yourself into the behind the slid in
front of you and whip their sled around so they'd
wipe out and the slid runner would catch on a
piece of ice and flip over domultiple flipovers. So I
(33:02):
don't think you were that tough.
Speaker 4 (33:04):
I'll tell you the other thing that I was thinking about.
You mentioned about taking each other out every year. I
remember visiting three kids one winter. You go down to
visit your little friend who was lying with a big
plaster cast on his leg, and we had broken legs
all winter because what would happen is you'd take your
(33:26):
sled to the bottom of the hill. Then you'd have
to trudge up the hill pulling your sled. Meanwhile, the
next sled came down and ran right into your leg
and broke because it had a metal front.
Speaker 2 (33:38):
So you say we had broken legs all winter, it
makes it.
Speaker 3 (33:41):
Seem like the three rows of kids that all have
broken legs.
Speaker 4 (33:51):
It's absolutely amazing. And transferring that to the summer, we
all had skin, knees, scabs off over concussions from the
roller skates. I mean, it's a wonder we all survived.
Speaker 2 (34:06):
Yeah, okay, you think you're so tough all We also
we lived across the street from an elementary school which
had a driveway all around, and we would have ten
lap demolition derbies with the bicycles too. We would run
into each other's bike and try to wipe them out.
Speaker 4 (34:24):
Oh that sounds like great fun. You had a boy bike, right,
of course, yeah, because I never liked the girls' bikes.
They were kind of wimpy. But I was thinking we
never had helmets. I remember putting my brakes on, going
over the top and getting it concussion.
Speaker 2 (34:43):
I mean, you make it seem like that's good though.
Is that good? Really?
Speaker 4 (34:47):
Yes? Because I was just there was a cartoon running
recently and it said snow Day and it showed people
of my generation out running around and doing sleds and everything,
and then The next shot was this generation all sitting
on the sofa playing with their phones.
Speaker 2 (35:07):
Yeah, overall, you're not a big fan of this new generation.
Speaker 4 (35:11):
Huhh. Yes, I am a very big fan of them
in certain areas. I think they're very brilliant, but I
also don't think they have the physical activities that they
should have, and I also think the parents are a
little too hovering over them.
Speaker 2 (35:32):
Did you have any kids?
Speaker 4 (35:34):
Yes? I had one, and tell you how brave she was.
We moved to Woodstock in nineteen sixty nine and I
took my kid to the Woodstock Festival and that was
one of the highlights of her life. She loved it.
Speaker 2 (35:50):
How old was she?
Speaker 4 (35:52):
Ken? And you know going back, how safe that was?
Half a million piece? Both the ten year old walks around.
I said, here's the tree, we're here. She goes off
for the afternoon, walks around, goes back to the tree.
We never had to worry about anyone harming our kids
(36:12):
or anything happening it.
Speaker 2 (36:15):
You didn't. You didn't worry about it. I don't know
if you had doing that, but nobody did. So here's
all right, I want to hear out. And when I
went to high school, I know everyone. I hope you're
not irritated by this toughness duel. But when I when
I went to high school, if I wanted to stay
for a dance or anything, I had a hitchhike hom
in the winter at midnight, ten miles. So there's that.
Speaker 4 (36:40):
That's great. Today you wouldn't shike at all.
Speaker 2 (36:43):
The only person that you're standing there with your pointy
little leather you know, beatle boots and the freezing your
tail off. At frostbite corner, this car would go by, snowing,
not crazy, maybe five cars ago by, ten cars go by,
and then finally some guy in a nineteen sixty eight
Camaro pulls up with a bottom of blue I mean
(37:07):
black velvet whiskey. You know, cars swerving all around. We're
going up mile Hill, clacking against the fence posts. I mean,
we say, we we boomers. I'm on the cusp, I'm
on my cusp. Yeah, we boomers think that's all great.
But there were there were two sides of that. You
(37:31):
could you could have easily.
Speaker 1 (37:32):
Have died and doing the stuff.
Speaker 2 (37:34):
On the other hand, we are independent.
Speaker 4 (37:38):
Oh my god, he hit the nail right on the head.
Speaker 2 (37:41):
Ask anybody to go anywhere I get there myself, and
it never even occurs to me to try to get
a ride. You know, I'll walk somewhere. So I'm very
pleased that I was independent, But the cost was pretty
high and my feet got very cold. I couldn't be
on the baseball team because I couldn't get home after
(38:03):
the practices because I had a hitchhack home every day.
So there were some downsides.
Speaker 4 (38:08):
And you know, you lived on your bike all the march.
Speaker 2 (38:12):
When the when kids listen to us, they're disgusted. They think,
oh God, listen to those old boomers say talk about
how cool they are and how and how tough they are,
and they see us as people that that made that
made housing unaffordable, that made let's see school unaffordable, that
(38:37):
burned down the earth basically killed killed everything and ruined everything.
That's how they see us.
Speaker 4 (38:43):
Well, they not living would stop like I do. Yeah,
we certainly weren't of that ilk. We were the green people,
opposite everything. I just want to give you one memory
of the winter time. I was very fortunate we grew
up in it, and I can remember late at night,
lying in bed and hearing the cars go by with
(39:06):
chains on them.
Speaker 2 (39:07):
What a sound that is I must say goodbye.
Speaker 4 (39:09):
I loved it.
Speaker 2 (39:10):
Bye. What a wonderful call, Marge. That was. That was
a space of time well used. Next, we're gonna go
to after this break, jeff In Wakefield. Jeff In Wakefield
is coming up on WBZ. This is fun. I'm loving
a little open line action.
As Night Side with Dan Ray on WBS Costin's Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Well, Merry Christmas to you, and it's a ten oh
six and change ten o six thirty nine here on WBZ,
and it's an open house party if you anything you want.
I mean, of course it's Christmas, and so that can
be the focus of stuff, but you know, if you're
in somebody's house and having a Christmas party, other stuff
(00:27):
comes up as well. One thing I'd like to share
with you, and maybe you'd like to share with me
something similar is an embarrassing Christmas. Christmas moment, though I
abcotually have two kind of a disaster Christmas moment which
won't take long to share, and a really wildly embarrassing
thing happened to me. First the mistake, and this happens.
(00:52):
I bet this has happened to you at some point somewhere.
It's some member of your family had something burned up
that they that they like, a gift certificate or something.
So we had a fireplace and growing up, which is real,
really lucky, really fortunate. And I remember one Christmas they
(01:13):
were going to barbecue outside and then eat the food
inside for Christmas, but it was raining, so they tried
to cook the food on the in the fireplace. This
didn't go over that well because smoke and it didn't
come out very well at all. It was a mistake.
But that was the same year that you know, they
(01:37):
we wrapped the presents. Not every family wraps, by the way,
is you have family rap presence that not. We can
get into that later. So there's a wrapper wrapping all
over the place, and somebody got some sort of money
or gift certificate and we burned it up in the fireplace.
It took after the cooking the food to call the
paper from the wrapping and burned it up in the fireplace,
(02:00):
which is a bad idea by the way, it can
cause the chimney fire. But it was a big weepy
situation because we couldn't could not find that check or
gift certificated. This might have been actually before gift certificates.
You know, there was a time before gift certificates, right
(02:21):
when it gives a ticket. Certificates happen. I know they
were here by the eighties. But anyway, whatever this non
semi tangible item or very flammable item was, it got
burned up. Now he's another disaster. I was in four Hs.
(02:44):
Does anyone know what four h is? Shane? You know
what four Hes? No, if you're from New Hampshire and
of a certain age. It was a kind of the
Freemasons for Farming. Really, it was an organization. They had
a grange hall where we met and it was an
(03:09):
organization for kids to get good at stuff, to learn
animal husbandry or gardening or flower arranging or leather crafting.
And my mother was the leader. And as part of
that I had a project. Well, I was going to
(03:31):
plant two hundred and fifty Christmas trees and then sell
them when I grew up and go to college based
on that money. Back then, college wasn't that expensive, so
I got these big bundle it might have been actually
five hundred. It was in the spring I planted, and
it was terrible. We lived on four acres, small for
(03:53):
the area, and it was all mosquitoe and damp and horrible,
and I remember being out there just hating it, thinking
I got to do this because someday they're going to
grow up and I'm going to sell them and make
a lot of money. Five hundred Christmas trees that would
have been quite a lot of money. So you know
(04:15):
for two three years they were out there happily growing away.
Look at those trees out there. I look out the window,
look at those trees. Oh yeah, all was right with
the trees until one day in the country. I don't
know if you know this, but in the spring they
burn fields, so they do a controlled burn so they
(04:36):
won't be an uncontrolled burn later on. Unfortunately, the control
burn get out of control and all my five hundred
Christmas trees burned up. That's pretty significant, right, and my
mother was devastated, I guess as you should have been.
(05:01):
I wonder if my mother can hear me telling these
stories right now, I honestly do. Well, you're forgiven, ma.
I don't even know if it was her fault. This
was a man thing. The men would go out and
burn the fields and they just couldn't quite keep it
together to not burn down my Christmas trees. And that
next up comes my embarrassing story. And it's so weird.
(05:25):
It didn't have to be that embarrassing by the time
this story takes place. And if you have an embarrassing
Christmas story, or any Christmas story since the Christmas open lines,
let me know any Christmas story, But This one's an
embarrassing one. After college, I kept in touch with some
(05:46):
of my college mates, not for long though, as an aside.
I liked him in college, and then most of them
I didn't like anymore. Some I did, some I didn't,
But they would hang around after college, and they kind
of changed and they were irritating to me. And I'm
not a person that's going to hang around with somebody
that is irritating. But I was still hanging around with
(06:09):
them by then. So one of my college friends had
a friend and she was a lawyer, had a big
deal law firm. These were grown up adults wearing black
dresses and going to Christmas parties kind of HOI POLOI
Bushwood country Club kind of people, but in the higher
(06:32):
up in the legal profession in Boston. And we exchanged gifts.
This college mate of mine and her friend, we exchanged gifts.
And I'm not going to use her real name, I'll
say Jane. So I brought my gifts for Jane and
(06:52):
Jill and my college friend opened it up. Okay, no problem,
this is the rub here, and I need to tell
you this before hand. I also had a little niece
also named Jane, so I had presents for two people,
and I think you know where this is going. Both
were named Jane. It said Jane on the on the box,
(07:13):
on the wrapped present. So the lawyer high end, you know,
wearing brightening watch, you know, the type opened like a
little doll or something like it really like it was
(07:33):
a shock to what what are you doing? This? This
gift is so dumb. It's not it doesn't work on
any level. It's not a fun, sarcastic gift. It's not
even a Joe gift. It just doesn't fit in with anything.
And I was I'm seldom mortified. I was more toefied.
(07:57):
And the thing is, and here's the souper dumb thing.
I'm not usually this dumb, dumb, dumb dumb. I could
have just said, oh no, that was for my niece,
but I didn't. Somehow the feeling of embarrassment was greater
(08:19):
to me admitting oh, I gave you there on prison.
So we just shut up and from that moment till now,
unless that person is listening now and I'm probably not
believes that I gave her for some really really really
weird reason, some some dull suitable for ages four to eight,
(08:45):
you know, I'm so so embarrassed. What was I thinking?
I should have just said, oh, I've got to mix
up there. Oh oh, it would have been so easy.
What was wrong with me? And I'm a kind of
a verbal guy. But I think maybe the reason was
I was always nervous around her because she was kind
(09:12):
of upper class and I wasn't. And that might have
been it if she if she was a regular person,
I might have a regular person. If she was of
my strata, I might have said, oh, it's a mistake.
But now I didn't, And that was just That's one
of those things that kind of gets me right in
(09:33):
the chest still. And I know she's out there thinking
I'm an idiot, And wonder if she thinks that every
Christmas she's getting gifts. Boy, that reminds me of that
idiot Bradley Jay. What was he? What was he thinking?
I have simplified Christmas and I and basically I don't.
(09:56):
I just walk to the neighbor's house. Now we watch movies.
We get takeout and we watch movies. It's very simple.
There's not a lot of driving. And I've all this week,
the last two weeks, I've been watching Christmas movies. They
actually kind of get me in the Christmas spirit. Now
(10:17):
I don't, and I'm curious about movies, but not the
you know, not the old standbys. Of course, on Thanksgiving
it's plain strains automobiles, right, and then there were the
go to movies for Christmas. But are there any others
that you like that? Aren't you know? It's me, George,
(10:38):
don't you remember me? Kind of movies? ALF? Do you
like ALF? If you heard the WBZ news earlier, you
know that the Grinch is stole Christmas is not popular.
I didn't realize Edward Scissors Hands was a Christmas movie?
Do you watch that? There's one my wife hates I like,
(11:00):
and that's Reindeer Games with Ben Affleck and Gary Sonise
and Charlie's their own. It's sort of Christmas. It's about
robbing a casino home alone. I like that first one.
I guess elf. I'm burned down on Charlie Brown Christmas.
(11:22):
I just skip by it. I get it. I'm moving
on Christmas vacation. But there's a big list. Can you
think of any others that the US We're gonna go
to Richard after this in eastern Massachusetts. Now, this is
two people who have just given vague look geolocations. Richard,
(11:44):
Is it okay if when we talk and I ask
you where you're from? Okay? We'll talk to Richard next
on WBZ.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
It's Night Side with Dan Ray on w b Boston's
news radio.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
Yay WBZ in d Nightside with Dan Ray Bradley Jay
and for Dan, I don't give out the number very much.
I am remissing that and I should do it more.
How do you have it memorized? But many don't. Six one, seven, two, five, four,
ten thirty. Well will get you a community. That's what
this number is. Instant community. You're filling alone, Instant community.
(12:22):
You get treated right here, especially tonight. It's a sort
of a Christmas open house. Six one, seven, five, ten thirty.
And of course you can listen on the iHeart app,
as I often do. The iHeart app is excellent. And
if you want to hear any nightside ever again or
(12:45):
share it, it's Nightside on demand or a night Side
on demand that is excellent too. Now, oh yes, before
I go to Richard in Eastern Massachusetts, I do want
to present you with a little bit of a Christmas dilemma.
It was always always stressful. When my boss got me
(13:09):
a present for Christmas. My boss at w b CN
was Oedipus and he used to get us presents like
like a passport case with your name on it and
stuff like that. But then that's really generous and very
very nice. But then you ask the employee, what do
(13:32):
you do? Do you get a gift for them, because
there's no way your gift to them is going to
be as good as the one you got? Are you
expected to if your boss gets you a gift, are
you expected to give one back? Is that a friend
It's hard to know. Is it a friend friend giving relationship?
(13:54):
Is it a I'm your boss, thanks for a good job.
So you're not expected to? And then I really had
to sweat if I got him something you don't want
to get you. You don't want you to get your
boss something that's dumb. O the stress of Christmas. Now
(14:16):
we go to first. It's Richard in Eastern Massachusetts.
Speaker 3 (14:21):
Him, Richard, Hello, how are you am? I? On? Alrighty?
All right, here we go. I'm gonna pay this tribute
to you so fast. Berry J. Beerry J. Beverry j
beaj Barry J. Bey J BERRYJ and then somebody yells
(14:46):
out hello, Hello, and it was a remind me of
when they yelled that out of Jerry Lewis, and the
only thing that was missing was hey l Anyway, I
think when you fill in for Dan Ray, they as
a tribute to you, they should play your song because
(15:06):
it's only it's only fair, you know.
Speaker 4 (15:08):
What I mean.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
Yeah, there's just one small technicality on that is the name.
My name is brad Lee and not Barry. Oh.
Speaker 3 (15:19):
Did I say that by mistake? Yeah? I know your
name is Bradley. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
Yeah, but actually Barry Jay sounds better. I probably will
change it. It's probably better.
Speaker 3 (15:29):
No, why should you? Why should you? And I have
a question, Yes, sure, go ahead, and.
Speaker 2 (15:36):
You can just say never mind, I'm not telling you.
It says Richard and eastern Massachusetts, and it's I'm informed
that you didn't want to give your exact town. And
you're not the first one tonight other someone else did
that too. They didn't want their first name given, and
they didn't want their you know why, friend, the government's
(15:58):
listening or something.
Speaker 3 (15:59):
No, no oh. When you're on the radio, especially when
I listen to different shows and a lot of these
people they sound sadly, so don don lonely. And when
they're giving their a lot of their personal information, I
feel they may be harassed in some way in some
(16:21):
form if they recognize their voice, you know, in some
way in some form. So I don't think a lot
of people should divulge every little thing because they're going
to get crapped on. I think.
Speaker 2 (16:35):
You're going to ruin my whole GigE. You keep talking
like that, Richard, I'm sorry. The whole interest of the
whole program is the details. It's the details.
Speaker 3 (16:45):
Yeah, I didn't realize that. I didn't realize that. For instance, like.
Speaker 2 (16:52):
Now to go back and say you were.
Speaker 3 (16:54):
Wrong, Okay, all right, okay.
Speaker 2 (17:00):
Probably wrong. There's no way. So say let's say you're
from Holebrook and right, you know, if you want to,
if you want, have a fake name. I don't care.
But but at least even if you have a fake town,
I really don't care. But just make up some town.
Eastern Massachusetts is you know, not much fun eastern Massachusetts?
(17:23):
Well how's things out there in eastern Massachusetts?
Speaker 3 (17:26):
You know it was great? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (17:29):
Here? Now make up a town. Yeah, what town do
you want to be from? Make one up? If you
want to be protected.
Speaker 3 (17:39):
Well, I guess I was going to bring up something important.
Speaker 2 (17:43):
Dan he's from Danvers, but.
Speaker 3 (17:46):
But yeah, haggling on the town. So I guess we
could cut it right here, by the way, can I
bring up something else different real quickly? Because I get
home so late. A lot of times I get home
like a little before ten, at ten and past ten,
(18:07):
and so a lot of times I miss a lot
of what Dan Ray said. So I didn't even know
you were going to be on tonight. So, because it's
Christmas Eve, I actually got home early. I got home
at eight thirty, and so I started listening, and ye
are you going to be on to like tomorrow night
and Saturday Night?
Speaker 2 (18:28):
Not Saturday Friday.
Speaker 3 (18:30):
But tomorrow. Yeah. Would it be possible if I gave
like a shout out to a certain person and maybe
even two? Could you have them on your show tomorrow night?
Is there any way you could get them?
Speaker 2 (18:44):
Anyone's allowed to call out as far as as far
as a guest. They have guests go through a grueling process.
Speaker 3 (18:53):
Yeah. Yeah, So do you want me to bother shouting
out the names of forget it?
Speaker 2 (19:00):
Just tell look, call the people up yourself and say Hey,
you should call the show now. You tell me you
miss sometimes the beginning of Dan Ray's show. What you
need to do. What you need to do is you
go on online to Nightside on demand and you can
hear the whole thing, including the party missed.
Speaker 3 (19:20):
Well, you have a good night.
Speaker 2 (19:21):
Now, okay, take care out there in eastern Massachusetts. Brother
by now here you go? Yeah, I don't see it,
and I I understand what he's saying, but I disagree.
First of all, details is what makes any story interesting,
the details of I want a picture where you're from.
(19:43):
Somebody's from Danvers, I immediately and everybody out there wants
to say, Okay, Danvers, I wonder whe're in Danvers?
Speaker 3 (19:50):
Are you?
Speaker 2 (19:50):
Oh? You on the corner of Smith and Hoboken Street. Yes,
right by the Sal's Pizza or whatever. That's important to
visualize because this is theater. This is theater of the mind,
and Eastern Massachusetts is kind of generic for a theater
of the mind. It's all about the specifics. So if
(20:13):
you're a kind of person that doesn't really want anybody
to know your real name where you're from, call me
up and lie. Just make one up, because it's more
interesting than eastern Massachusetts. But no hard feelings Richard ten
thirty one. We have somebody lining up to talk to me,
(20:37):
to us, to the community. It's good. Once again, remember
if you're alone on this Christmas Eve, when you're on WBZ,
you're not alone. You have instant community. So if you've
never called before, let me just walk you through it.
Before the break, you call six one, seven, two, four,
ten thirty. Shane will say WBZ, how can I help here?
(21:01):
Or what would you like to talk about? And you
tell him something and he goes, okay, I'm going to
put you on hold and Bradley will talk to you
in a little bit. Then you just kind of listen along.
You can listen to what's going on, and you're going
to be nervous, but don't worry. Nothing bad is going
to happen. And I'll say, hey, it's for example, Florence
and Groveland is next. What's going on Florence. Just like
(21:23):
I would on the street. You cannot make a mistake,
you cannot be embarrassed. If you've noticed the whole show,
no risk, no embarrassment. It's just a it's it's a
community that anybody can be a part of. Six, one, seven, two, five, four,
(21:44):
ten thirty. That is the That is the key the lock. No,
that's the key the unlocks your new community. Get over that,
those butterflies in the beginning and a wonderful world. WBZ
awaits you night side with Dan Ray on WBZ Boston's
(22:05):
news radio and the Where we Go. We got three
folks ready to speak with us in our community here
on this Christmas eve. Gee, Christmas is very near. A
couple quick questions, actually, just one for you to think
about and perhaps dial in to answer while I'm speaking
with these folks. If you are a Seinfeld watcher, you
(22:26):
know that George Costanza has the prescription for how long
one should keep their greeting card, and that would include
a Christmas card. I'm asking you two things. How long
do you feel you should keep a Christmas card before
(22:47):
you throw it out? I mean a lot of Christmas
cards people do these days, take a lot of work,
et cetera. So how long do you think is the
the what does etiquette say that you should what period
of time you should keep it? And what did George
Costanza say is the time? The period? The length of
(23:13):
time that you should keep a card? And I'm going
to include Christmas cards in that. Now, let's go to
Florence in Groveland.
Speaker 5 (23:20):
Hi, Florence, Hi Bradley. Bradley am a regular caller you
probably remember, of course, and I am from Groveland, which
is in the Rimac Valley. I'm sure you've heard that term.
Of course, a lot of little towns in this community.
(23:43):
And have that guy's that called before? I spared laugh,
I said, I.
Speaker 2 (23:49):
Get a call, and you are going to be very
specific about where you live and what your community is like.
Speaker 5 (23:55):
That's why I said that to you in just case
you hadn't heard of growth before. Okay, okay, the very
small town. I tell people when you drive into Grove,
when you drive through it, if you blink your eyes
(24:16):
you're going through it. It's very small.
Speaker 2 (24:18):
How long you lived in Growland.
Speaker 5 (24:20):
Forty five years?
Speaker 2 (24:22):
And how did you happen to move to Groveland?
Speaker 5 (24:25):
H Well, my husband and I bought a house here.
Speaker 2 (24:27):
Oh, you bought a house. How much did the house cost?
Speaker 3 (24:31):
Oh?
Speaker 5 (24:31):
Gosh, I think it was in the fifties. Fifty thousand something.
Speaker 2 (24:37):
Yeah, forty five years ago it was fifty thousand.
Speaker 1 (24:41):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (24:41):
Is it a pretty big house?
Speaker 5 (24:44):
Well, back then it was a ranch house spread lee. Yeah,
and since my husband has passed away, and after I retired,
I sold the house to one of my sons and
I stayed in the house. I'm on the first floor.
(25:06):
He had a second story put on it.
Speaker 2 (25:09):
So you have been able to live in that house
for forty five years and you haven't had to move
and you still have all your stuff with you. Isn't
that wonderful?
Speaker 5 (25:18):
Yeah, until my son put it's an identical floor up above. Okay,
so he's upstairs and downstairs and it works out very well.
Speaker 2 (25:31):
So what about Christmas? Where do you have Christmas? Up
there or down in your house?
Speaker 5 (25:36):
Either one? We move around. Plus I have another son
who lives in New Hampshire, so you can go there,
And I have a daughter who lives in hal what'd.
Speaker 2 (25:48):
You get for Christmas?
Speaker 5 (25:50):
What did I get?
Speaker 2 (25:52):
Yes?
Speaker 5 (25:53):
I don't know because oh yeah, it.
Speaker 2 (25:56):
Didn't happen yet.
Speaker 3 (25:56):
Oh my god, I'm so sadly.
Speaker 2 (26:00):
He's so dumb, really really dumb.
Speaker 1 (26:03):
Sorry.
Speaker 5 (26:04):
I wanted I wanted to wish you a merry Christmas.
Speaker 2 (26:09):
Thank you.
Speaker 5 (26:10):
And usually when I call in, I call in to
Morgan Show on Saturday, and I wish my special friend
Jack cart Happy Birthday or Merry Christmas. So I want
to wish him of Jerry, Merry Christmas. He's your traffic reporter.
Speaker 2 (26:34):
Yes, oh yes, I know he's been. He's been a
traffic reporter for a long time. He's your special friend.
Speaker 5 (26:40):
He is wonderful. Now I will tell you about the
Christmas cards you.
Speaker 2 (26:47):
Meant, oh yeah, how long do you keep a Christmas card?
Speaker 5 (26:51):
Do you know what I do? Special ones like from
family or say you know someone very close to you.
You take them and you can put them in one
of those photo books with the plastics leaves.
Speaker 2 (27:11):
Yeah, you must have a big yeah, I do. Well,
you must have a house full of foldo books. I
mean for years worth of Christmas cards.
Speaker 5 (27:20):
This must take up a lot of I have a
few that have extra special ones okay, that I've kept
and someone that perhaps has passed away and that is
their last card to you.
Speaker 2 (27:40):
Well, yeah, you know with a.
Speaker 5 (27:43):
Little message inside you cut throw that away.
Speaker 2 (27:48):
I know, I know.
Speaker 5 (27:50):
Yeah, thank you.
Speaker 2 (27:52):
I do have a question for you, being a person
who puts cards in pholdo books. I have saved all
my life, you know, from my mother. I got these scrapbooks.
She's passed now, but it's packed with these cards that
she got when I was born, Congratulations to the little baby.
(28:14):
And there's all these little baby cards and they're very
fancy old school cards. But I don't know, you know,
there's there are probably two books of them. There were
probably fifty cards. I can't decide what to do. Do
I keep them forever? And then after I'm gone, somebody
else throws them away? I never look at him. You
seem like a thoughtful person, Florence. Should I keep them?
(28:38):
Should I keep a few of them? What should I do? Get?
Throw them away?
Speaker 5 (28:41):
Like like I told you once, from special people and
with a special message inside that some people do that, okay,
right inside the card you quick pick and choose, Actually
(29:03):
which one you absolutely would like to say?
Speaker 2 (29:07):
Yeah, that's a good idea. So because if they're from
people I know, that's one thing. And I mean family
people I knew, like neighbors like mister Bigford, mister Bickford
who got stung in the tongue by a bee and almost.
Speaker 5 (29:23):
How about your mom on your birthday? Any special cuts.
Speaker 2 (29:29):
Well I will look for them. That's really great advice
for Florence. I'm gonna I need to get to tread
Well and other folks. But I'm so appreciative of your call.
Thank you. It's always wonderful to hear from you. By Florence,
I guess if I start talking to tread Well, I'll
have to cut them short because it's quarter passed. So
(29:51):
tread if I may be so familiar And Marge, we'll
talk to you right after this quick break on.
Speaker 3 (29:57):
W b Z.
Speaker 1 (30:00):
You're on night Side with Dan Ray on WBSY, Boston's
news radio.
Speaker 2 (30:05):
Well, it's great to have you with me. I have
to tell you how how deeply happy it makes me
to be able to speak with all of you. It's
a huge, huge deal to me. It makes me feel
great all the time, even when I'm not on the radio,
knowing that in the not two distant future I'll be
able to be part of this community again. So we
(30:30):
have margin. The catskills very well, quite specific. Marge. Hello, Hello, Marge.
Speaker 4 (30:37):
How are you okay? I don't know what generation you
were a kid in, but I want to talk about
how tough my generation was, and we're going back to
the forties early fifties. Oh yeah, yeah, we were tough
little guys. I'll tell you our number one thing was
(30:59):
snow days, okay, And the last time I looked at
kids sleigh riding, they were on these little plastic discs
and they were just kind of sliding, spinning around little wishes.
Compared to us.
Speaker 2 (31:18):
You're sliding, all right.
Speaker 4 (31:20):
We all had wood and metal sleds, usually flexible flyers,
and the way you negotiated them was two ways. You
sat down. You sat upright, you put your feet on
the wooden bars, and you steered. And the reason you
usually sat up with was you usually put a little
(31:41):
kid sitting in front of you, and that way, if
you hit a tree or anything, the little kid was
like an airbag, so you'd see a big kid and
a little kid. But our favorite way of with the
flexible flyer sleds is to get a running start. You
hold a sled up, you run like the devil, flop
down it on your belly. Now your head is sticking
(32:04):
over the handlebars and you're steering like crazy. Sometimes we'd
go so fast we'd run out of the bottom of
the hill, fly off a snowbank, go across the road
and end up on the other side.
Speaker 2 (32:17):
So you think you're tough, listen to this, you that's
wimpy barge. We did the exact same thing as you,
only we would have demolition derby and we would try
to wipe each other out on the way down. So
the three of us, my old brothers, we go, one, two,
three go and it would be complete ice. It was
(32:38):
Berness Hill's driveway and it was a big, long, huge
icy driveway. Ready, one two, three go, and then you'd
try to maneuver yourself into the behind the slid in
front of you and whip their sled around so they'd
wipe out and the slid runner would catch on a
piece of ice and flip over domultiple flipovers. So I
(33:02):
don't think you were that tough.
Speaker 4 (33:04):
I'll tell you the other thing that I was thinking about.
You mentioned about taking each other out every year. I
remember visiting three kids one winter. You go down to
visit your little friend who was lying with a big
plaster cast on his leg, and we had broken legs
all winter because what would happen is you'd take your
(33:26):
sled to the bottom of the hill. Then you'd have
to trudge up the hill pulling your sled. Meanwhile, the
next sled came down and ran right into your leg
and broke because it had a metal front.
Speaker 2 (33:38):
So you say we had broken legs all winter, it
makes it.
Speaker 3 (33:41):
Seem like the three rows of kids that all have
broken legs.
Speaker 4 (33:51):
It's absolutely amazing. And transferring that to the summer, we
all had skin, knees, scabs off over concussions from the
roller skates. I mean, it's a wonder we all survived.
Speaker 2 (34:06):
Yeah, okay, you think you're so tough all We also
we lived across the street from an elementary school which
had a driveway all around, and we would have ten
lap demolition derbies with the bicycles too. We would run
into each other's bike and try to wipe them out.
Speaker 4 (34:24):
Oh that sounds like great fun. You had a boy bike, right,
of course, yeah, because I never liked the girls' bikes.
They were kind of wimpy. But I was thinking we
never had helmets. I remember putting my brakes on, going
over the top and getting it concussion.
Speaker 2 (34:43):
I mean, you make it seem like that's good though.
Is that good? Really?
Speaker 4 (34:47):
Yes? Because I was just there was a cartoon running
recently and it said snow Day and it showed people
of my generation out running around and doing sleds and everything,
and then The next shot was this generation all sitting
on the sofa playing with their phones.
Speaker 2 (35:07):
Yeah, overall, you're not a big fan of this new generation.
Speaker 4 (35:11):
Huhh. Yes, I am a very big fan of them
in certain areas. I think they're very brilliant, but I
also don't think they have the physical activities that they
should have, and I also think the parents are a
little too hovering over them.
Speaker 2 (35:32):
Did you have any kids?
Speaker 4 (35:34):
Yes? I had one, and tell you how brave she was.
We moved to Woodstock in nineteen sixty nine and I
took my kid to the Woodstock Festival and that was
one of the highlights of her life. She loved it.
Speaker 2 (35:50):
How old was she?
Speaker 4 (35:52):
Ken? And you know going back, how safe that was?
Half a million piece? Both the ten year old walks around.
I said, here's the tree, we're here. She goes off
for the afternoon, walks around, goes back to the tree.
We never had to worry about anyone harming our kids
(36:12):
or anything happening it.
Speaker 2 (36:15):
You didn't. You didn't worry about it. I don't know
if you had doing that, but nobody did. So here's
all right, I want to hear out. And when I
went to high school, I know everyone. I hope you're
not irritated by this toughness duel. But when I when
I went to high school, if I wanted to stay
for a dance or anything, I had a hitchhike hom
in the winter at midnight, ten miles. So there's that.
Speaker 4 (36:40):
That's great. Today you wouldn't shike at all.
Speaker 2 (36:43):
The only person that you're standing there with your pointy
little leather you know, beatle boots and the freezing your
tail off. At frostbite corner, this car would go by, snowing,
not crazy, maybe five cars ago by, ten cars go by,
and then finally some guy in a nineteen sixty eight
Camaro pulls up with a bottom of blue I mean
(37:07):
black velvet whiskey. You know, cars swerving all around. We're
going up mile Hill, clacking against the fence posts. I mean,
we say, we we boomers. I'm on the cusp, I'm
on my cusp. Yeah, we boomers think that's all great.
But there were there were two sides of that. You
(37:31):
could you could have easily.
Speaker 1 (37:32):
Have died and doing the stuff.
Speaker 2 (37:34):
On the other hand, we are independent.
Speaker 4 (37:38):
Oh my god, he hit the nail right on the head.
Speaker 2 (37:41):
Ask anybody to go anywhere I get there myself, and
it never even occurs to me to try to get
a ride. You know, I'll walk somewhere. So I'm very
pleased that I was independent, But the cost was pretty
high and my feet got very cold. I couldn't be
on the baseball team because I couldn't get home after
(38:03):
the practices because I had a hitchhack home every day.
So there were some downsides.
Speaker 4 (38:08):
And you know, you lived on your bike all the march.
Speaker 2 (38:12):
When the when kids listen to us, they're disgusted. They think,
oh God, listen to those old boomers say talk about
how cool they are and how and how tough they are,
and they see us as people that that made that
made housing unaffordable, that made let's see school unaffordable, that
(38:37):
burned down the earth basically killed killed everything and ruined everything.
That's how they see us.
Speaker 4 (38:43):
Well, they not living would stop like I do. Yeah,
we certainly weren't of that ilk. We were the green people,
opposite everything. I just want to give you one memory
of the winter time. I was very fortunate we grew
up in it, and I can remember late at night,
lying in bed and hearing the cars go by with
(39:06):
chains on them.
Speaker 2 (39:07):
What a sound that is I must say goodbye.
Speaker 4 (39:09):
I loved it.
Speaker 2 (39:10):
Bye. What a wonderful call, Marge. That was. That was
a space of time well used. Next, we're gonna go
to after this break, jeff In Wakefield. Jeff In Wakefield
is coming up on WBZ. This is fun. I'm loving
a little open line action.
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