December 25, 2025 • 34 mins
In this very special episode, Christina and Maya join us in studio to discuss Christmas traditions, old and new.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
Hey, this is Annie and Samantha. Welcome to stuff I
never told you production of My Heart Radio and Hello
listeners coming at you from the future, kind of the
past or the past, we don't know, And that's kind
(00:27):
of what happened immediately in this episode. As you will hear,
this was a very special happy hour. We did it
in the office with super producer Christina and executive Rusumaya.
We hadn't seen each other for a while. Samantha and
I were both flustered because we haven't done a studio
recording for a while. So this did become a two parter.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
Yes, of course it was going to be. I feel
like it was going to be inevitably, just because there's
four of us having a conversation and we haven't been
around each other in a long time and kind of
catching up on life.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
But as this, if you're listening to it the day
it drops, it is Christmas. Yes, so if you celebrate,
Merry Christmas, happy, whatever you celebrate or don't celebrate, we
hope that you're all doing well. But if you're slightly
confused at the intro, it's because we didn't intend to
(01:19):
talk about Christmas traditions, but we ended up doing that.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
Yes, it got fascinating because everybody had such different traditions
that I was not prepared. And also, as you will hear,
our executive producer just had a baby at the end
of last year. So when you're old and when you
have a child and Christmas traditions, there's so much added
(01:44):
to this. And it was just a fascinating conversation to
have with Maya as well, and I just have no filter.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
Well, it was a wonderful conversation and so we did
split it in two. But that's why you might be
a little thrown by the intro, because we did not
intend to do that. But in this one we're focusing
on Christmas traditions and then stay tuned. On New Year's
Day we'll have one about New Year's traditions. Yes, so
(02:15):
please keep an ear out for that. Hope that all
of you are well, and let's get into it.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
And welcome to a very special happy hour. Not only
are we in the studio for the yearly visit I
feel like now, but we're also joined by our super
executive producer Maya as well as our amazing producer. Over here,
I'm pointing like people can see me Christina.
Speaker 3 (02:40):
Hello, I'm over here.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
I'm pointing at people or like making this a tradition.
I think so it's a tradition today. Yes, we are
so excited to have your own for this amazing happy hour.
Just as a reminder, if you are doing anything happy
hour ish, do so responsibly because we love you and
we need you to stick around. Also, if we are
(03:02):
talking specifically about any products currently not being sponsored by
those products, maybe that will change in the future. Things
change a lot. We'd love sponsors to the good ones.
That is right, and that's what keeps the show going.
But yes, and that's correct. And our amazing executive producer
brought in some drinks for us. Can you tell them
(03:23):
what you brought in?
Speaker 4 (03:24):
We have two drinks today. The first one is by
Spiritless I think is the name of the brand.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
Oh, we love Spiritless group. We love them.
Speaker 4 (03:35):
Dark like woody, you know, Ellie fancy. You know it
gives you the real vibes of an alcoholic cocktail. But
about the hangover, right, Yeah, so that's an espresso martini.
Everybody loves an espresso martini.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
So good, it's so yummy right now.
Speaker 4 (03:54):
But we also added a little bit of tonic water
in there, so it gives it that effervescence that like fun, a.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
Little bright kick. I've been watching a lot of top
chefs recently, not a sponsor of they should, and every
time I get a chance, I'm like, get that little acid,
a little acid and heat, yeah, but acid.
Speaker 4 (04:12):
And then the other one is tiled in cocktails, ready
to serve drink that has the flavor profiles of bright orange, tart, cherry,
a little oak in there, and some ginger. And the
name of that specific drink is Tandem. So you can
find that like any of your cocktail bar type places
(04:34):
that have spiritless drinks available. Actually, Total Wine has a
really great section of non alcoholic drinks and they're expanding
and I've even found just like regular grocery stores are
expanding their offering of non alcoholic drinks, especially beer. I
feel like is one that is like pretty accessible, a
(04:57):
lot of people can find them. I've I was out
in Louisiana, this like tiny town in pretty much the
middle of nowhere, and I found some non alcoholic beers
and I was really surprised. So it's becoming more and
more accessible to just like everyday people. It's not as
niche as it was even last year. I feel like,
(05:17):
so that's really exciting. But here in Atlanta there are
some really great locally owned spirit free just shops that
only sell spirit free drinks. So the new one where
I got these drinks was it is called Soberish and
that's in Kirkwood, Okay, And it's one of my new
(05:37):
favorite places to go because they just have like so
many offerings, wine, cocktails, ready to serve, you know, canns,
all everything you could possibly imagine. They have it.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
Yes, I love that.
Speaker 4 (05:53):
Let's give it a taste. Yeah, yeah, it has even
the bitters, so that orange bitter flavor it gives. It
has like on that back note, like even maybe a
little bit of like herbaceousness a little bit.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
Oh, you've definitely been watching some Top Chef yep, yep.
Speaker 4 (06:09):
You know here and there.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
I like.
Speaker 4 (06:10):
I love Tom. I love a good Tom.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
Kristin Cash coming on as.
Speaker 4 (06:16):
Oh my god, she's so good, so.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
Much she's adoptee I love them too.
Speaker 4 (06:23):
Oh my gosh, No, I really love her. I feel
like she's elevated the show, like taking it into the
new era.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
Yeah, as much as I love Pedma, which I love
Paedma love you, please come on the show, please see me.
But yes, if they had to change it over, Kristin
was a fantastic cantect. Annie, I need you to jump
on the top chef board.
Speaker 4 (06:42):
Please please.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
Make me nervous competition stress.
Speaker 4 (06:49):
Yes, yeah, I get stressed out.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
Yes, I have definitely jumped on board the mock tel
slash non alcoholic drinks because I am a very sleepy
girl and since we've been doing our happy hour episodes,
I have to keep alert so I'm not yawning the
entire time. And now that you've given me this caffeine
caffeind version, I feel like I'm ready to go.
Speaker 4 (07:11):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
I love that I'm sitting this close to you any
because usually we're doing this on zoom, so that the
fact that I've get to make icon fact. It's fantastic Anyway,
real awkward, but one of the favorite things we do
Towards the end of the year. We love to have
either year in reviews or talk about what's coming up.
But what we want are some of our traditions. At
(07:33):
one point we were talking about our favorite holiday watches
as in like TVs or movies, and we've even talked
about traditions that we grew up with. So since we
actually get to sit with you Maya as well as
you Christina, we thought we would take this time to
let the listeners know a little bit more about you
and what your traditions are. So Maya, can you give
(07:55):
us a look at what is happening in your household
during this holiday slash New Year's traditions?
Speaker 4 (08:01):
Yeah, so for the holidays, my husband and I feel
like we've tried to create our own traditions since buying
our house a few years back. I think it's just
fun to like make things that are just you. You know.
Of course you probably bring some things in from your upbringing.
But some of the traditions that we have established in
(08:23):
our own home is cutting down our own trees. So
we go to a tree farm that it just has
trees as far as the eye can see. And of
course in Georgia, maybe different parts of Georgia, like more
North Georgia, you have like the traditional Fraser fur and
Douglas fir. But we're a little bit further south still
(08:45):
North Georgia, but a little further south, so we have
here Cyprus and Cedar.
Speaker 2 (08:52):
And I love that you have very specific types of trees.
And you know about this because in my head, I'm like, whoa, yeah,
Like I'm like, I know, I know those types. I'm
not that off board, like I know tree things kind
of and I know there's specific types of trees. But
I love that you actually know our region, in our
(09:13):
state what is available.
Speaker 4 (09:15):
Yeah, I really I really like to like give back
to the local agriculture, you know, tap in with the
farmers here of course. So those are the ones that
you typically find that are grown in this region, and
so they're they don't have the same smell and the
same look. They still have that evergreen, you know, traditional
Christmas tree look, but the pines are a little bit different.
(09:39):
They're a little more full, less of that like straight
pine needle that you'll find on a Douglas for a
fraser for and the scent is a little bit different.
It's a little more woody, a little less like Christmasy,
but it still has a really nice like fresh tree
scent that you get in your house. And I really
enjoy that. And I just also like the idea of
(09:59):
going and cutting down your own tree. Although sometimes people
are like, oh, you're cutting down the trees but you know,
I've talked to the farmers there and it actually, you know,
as you cut down the trees, you can they of
course plant hundreds of trees every single year, and that
environment has set been set up for that, so they
(10:19):
say it's not really taking away from the environment that
it continues to Instead of like bringing trees in, right,
you know, from other states, you're actually you know, just
having a natural kind of cut from that area. So
that's what they say. I'll believe it. I guess, right,
if you're going to get a real tree, you might
(10:40):
as well do the labor to cut it down yourself.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
At the work end, I will say, as the owner
of ten thousand trees in my backyard that are all
like one hundred and fifty thousand feet tall, we have
a lot of trees like. That's the one thing, especially
when it comes like pines, I don't know what kind.
I'm gonna have to come and let you come over
and you're tell me what kind of pines got back there.
But I'm sure they because it has been a business.
(11:04):
I know, growing up in North Georgia, they would have
literal Christmas farms everywhere, and then when they kind of
went low. They would turn the ground over and the
start again and it would take years, but it was
a whole thing, and it gave a lot of like
small towns, business place and tourism, which is a lot
of people coming through. But I need to know. So
(11:24):
do you know what is the best type of tree
to hang the ornaments on? Because that is important?
Speaker 4 (11:29):
Yes, yeah, so I definitely have found So this year
we have a cypress tree, and I've found that between
the thickness of the branches and how sturdy they are,
I found that the cypress is better than a cedar
(11:49):
in terms of being able to uphold all the lights
and the ornaments, especially in comparison to if you're comparing
it to a traditional like Frasier for dug glass fur,
I would say that has the closest strength branch strength
to what you're used to. They're even like a within
the cypress and cedar family, they're like different varieties. So
(12:13):
there's like a sapphire blue, there's a they're all of
these different kinds.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
Yes, yeah, that's like limon smells. You know.
Speaker 4 (12:22):
I've never had that one, So I can't.
Speaker 2 (12:24):
Say I'm not an.
Speaker 4 (12:29):
Arborous, but I do know you know. I'm also like
a hobby gardener, so I know a little bit about
our local you know terrain.
Speaker 2 (12:37):
Okay, Christina, do you have a tree? I do? Is
it real?
Speaker 3 (12:42):
No? So it's the first year. This year, I bought
a mini tree. So I travel back home to Pennsylvania
every year, and I wanted to have something for the month,
so I bought like a small tree, like three feet maybe,
but it's nice to have. Never, yeah, I never really
got into like the local spirit because I spend a lot.
Speaker 4 (13:04):
Of the month here.
Speaker 3 (13:05):
I just go home like at the end of December.
But yeah, it's been nice and it lights up and I,
you know, have ornaments on it.
Speaker 5 (13:13):
And I wish I should put my Edward dolls in there.
Speaker 3 (13:26):
Oh he should be. Yeah, there's there's a big Santa
head as the star, which is a little on traditional.
I kind of like, did d I y ornaments because
I don't really have any collection of ornaments this first
year of having a tree in Atlanta, So it's kind
of like a food theme. I like had all these
like Ikia brand dog toys for little dogs, but they're
(13:50):
all like shaped like food, and I've always thought it
was so funny. I never had a U sport, so
I put ribbon on them, and now it's like ornaments.
It's like a strange tree.
Speaker 2 (13:59):
That is amazing. Actually, idea as a party who hates
Christmas and does not have a tree, that's me. I
have a collection of ornaments any and I talked about
this previously, that my parents would give us and hopes
that I would grow into an adult and have a
family and be what quote unquote would be an ideal
of normal with the children by now, and I would
have these. I'm like, no, thank you, I don't like
(14:20):
any of this. But all of my ornaments were literal
plastic Mickey Mouse toys, and I'm like, this is one
of four twelve year old would use for their troops.
So I'm like, I mek it was.
Speaker 3 (14:32):
I have an aunt who would have like the ant
that had like five trees in your house, and she
had a whole Disney themed tree. You know, so that
sounds like that.
Speaker 4 (14:42):
She must have an incredible storage. Yeah, that's the part
of that, because to have all of that Christmas stuff,
it's just like sitting in one part of your house
or the year and you take it out to put
it all on your tree. Year within your house, and
it does. It takes years to build all that collection.
It's like a literal collection. Like we've just pulled out
(15:05):
some stuff because with a baby, it takes so much
more time to do anything, like double your time to
do anything. So somehow we're like just pulling down all
of the decorations. So we have the tree and we
have like a garland up and a in a wreath.
Right now, that's pretty much it, and we're like, okay,
finally we'll put the ornaments up and I'm pulling everything out.
(15:27):
I'm like wow, like we've actually accumulated like a good
number of things that we like, you know, like pulling
together your own Christmas collection is like wow, it's it's
an effort. Like every year maybe get like one thing
or two things to add to your collection, and then
it's like twenty years later that it's like, kids take
(15:50):
my Christmas collection.
Speaker 2 (15:52):
So do you have a theme this year?
Speaker 4 (15:55):
Yeah, this year it's kind of Christmas, especially because my
daughter's birthdays three days after Smith, so it's like Christmas
is very different this year. Like a lot of them
brain power going to Christmas is also going to like
thinking about her birthday, so it's different. It's it's definitely
changed how I think about Christmas now.
Speaker 2 (16:25):
I bypassed the whole part of we haven't seen you
in a year, what's been going on in your life?
And jumped into the holidays. But can you tell the
listeners and then listen what's been going on in your life?
Speaker 4 (16:36):
What's been going on in my life? Well it's a
good segue. Actually, So last time we were here, I
want to say, I think I don't know. I don't
remember if I was pregnant. I can't even remember.
Speaker 2 (16:47):
When last time we knew.
Speaker 4 (16:49):
Yeah, maybe I had just gotten pregnant.
Speaker 1 (16:51):
I don't know.
Speaker 4 (16:52):
I don't I definitely had not announced.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (16:54):
Yeah, so I've had a baby, had a baby, had
a whole human. Yea, yeah, she's very cute. Yeah, so
I've had a human. I've tried to heal from having
said human. It takes a really long time, a really
long time to I don't you know. I don't think
(17:15):
you ever go back. You definitely don't go back. I
was thinking yesterday, like sitting on the floor with her, like,
oh my god, you've changed so much that you actually
forgot how much you've changed, Like does that make sense? Like,
have you ever had like a moment where you're like,
I'm so far removed from the person I was before
(17:36):
that I can't remember what actually has changed about me,
Like I can't even see It's like whoa, Like that's
how much it has changed in the last year that
I don't even know.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
Do you have the memories of like I used to
do this and it pops up to being like, oh,
that was not that long.
Speaker 4 (17:51):
Yeah, yeah, I do, but it feels like a different
like person in a way. It's like it definitely was me,
but it feels like alternate reality me in a way. Yeah.
So that's mostly what's changed in the last year is
(18:11):
that I become a mom.
Speaker 2 (18:13):
That's a huge change.
Speaker 4 (18:14):
Yeah, super huge change. And yeah, her birthday is a
couple days after Christmas, so our whole last year everything
Christmas was leading up to baby baby, excepecially because the
baby was supposed to have already been born by Christmas. Wow,
and she wasn't. And everybody's like where's the baby, like
(18:35):
staring at me on Christmas Day, like, so, when are
you gonna have this baby? I'm like, I would like
to know. I have no idea. I would have thought
I already had this baby by now, so yeah, that
was a lot of fun. It's definitely changed the way
the holidays look for us completely, And I'm like hell
bent on not creating a kid who feels like their
(18:57):
birthday was ignored because of Christmas. So I maybe have
become like oppositely very obsessed with making a perfect birthday
season time. Yeah, so that she doesn't feel like it
was a mush together thing, right, Like, I'm very hell
(19:18):
bent on like making sure she doesn't have that trauma
for the rest of her life.
Speaker 2 (19:22):
I was going to ask, my sister actually was born
the day after Christmas. Yeah, so we have to make
sure that after our celebrations with Christmas presents and all
of that, that we actually have a separate time where
we bring out a cake, Happy Birthday and have an
additional presence. Yes that's not Christmas related.
Speaker 4 (19:39):
And how did that work out for her?
Speaker 2 (19:41):
As an adult? She has kind of just let it go.
I think, you know, when you get older, you're like
the birthday. I don't care. But I think as a kid,
if I remember correctly, I don't remember celebrating our birthday,
Oh my god, as much. This could be absolutely mainly
because I was also full of trauma coming into a
household that celebrated Christmas. In my like origination, I was
(20:04):
from South Korea, that wasn't a thing. So I was
just like, so you have this like multi factor of
like teaching the new edition me Christmas stuff and making
that joyful instead of very confusing because I'm like, some
dude comes in and leaves me guess what the hell is happening,
versus celebrating my sister who also loves like playing mom.
(20:25):
She loved playing mom because she significantly older than me,
about ten years older than me, so she was in
her late teens where she was, you know, loving the
babysitting thing and all that. So I was kind of
the extra you know toy. Yeah, she didn't treat me
that way, but you know what I mean in that
trying to baby me, so like she also enjoyed that.
So maybe that's why it's so overshadowed. But I feel
(20:45):
like as a hit later people realize, Okay, we need
to celebrate her a little more appreciate her. Literally when
she became a mom, it was interesting because they couldn't
differentiate either. This is that whole like level of like
when she was married to her ex now ex husband.
He was just awful, Like his like level of what
we call the weaponized and competence was that high. So
(21:09):
because they were doing Christmas, he just be like bypass
all of that. That's a whole different story. All of
that to note, it is like I wonder with newer
parents and understanding these things because like our generation, you're
a little younger than me, but like especially those who
are raised by boomers, not seeing the okay, So like
(21:30):
those level of parents not seeing these sometimes not seeing
the importance because that type of timeframe was kids are disciplined,
they're loved, but they need to be straightened out first
before anything else. So it's a different level of what
we see in parenting today and being like, no, but
they have their own personality. We want to help share
and make sure that they are special, but also understand
they need empathy. So I was wondering, Yeah, how are you,
(21:52):
how are you doing the separating it out?
Speaker 4 (21:55):
Well, yeah, I mean it's easy right now. She's still
a baby, so that helps. We have a little bit
of time to figure it out. So I feel like
these first like two years were like you know, testing
out different scenarios, right, like, Okay, how are we going
to do this? How is this going to work? Before
she really cares or knows how it is. I grew
(22:16):
up in a family that, like Christmas was a really
big deal and my parents did, Like now that I'm
an adult and like whoa, oh my god, they did
a lot to make Christmas like magical and like we
had no presence under the tree until Christmas morning and
like everything like you wake up and like, oh my god. Like,
so I grew up in that kind of family. So
(22:39):
and my husband did not know. Yeah, he like his
family's not Christian, but his mom was Catholic, so like
she was a convert, you know, but they still celebrated Christmas,
but it was like it was more like secular Christmas
and so like a deal but not a big deal.
And so he's like married into this family where it's
(23:01):
like Christmas is a big deal and my dad's like,
you must continue on the magic for our grandchild. But
like I've taken on most of that weight. So I'm like,
you know, no no pressure, but yeah, it feels it
does feel like an over a little bit of an
overwhelming task, you know. It's like so many pieces of
(23:23):
the puzzle that have to like fit together perfectly. But
one thing I do kind of think I want to
do is like after Christmas is over. Which is a
benefit of the birthday being after Christmas and not before,
is that like afterwards you can say like, Okay, great,
Christmas is over. Now it's birthday, which I think makes
it a little bit easier. So that will of course
go into like a new tradition, right, you know, like
(23:45):
that's a new tradition of bringing her into the family
and what her birthday looks like in addition to the holidays,
because it's like smack dab in between Christmas and New
Year's y you know, and New Year's. Like I guess
my family just loves holidays because my mom used to
like throw this big party New York's Day and like
(24:07):
invite the whole neighborhood over.
Speaker 2 (24:09):
Your family was social social, yeah, okay.
Speaker 4 (24:12):
But only around the holidays. It's like not the rest
of the year. Just took holidays and like she would
cook gumbo, which takes like hours and hours. My dad's
family is from Louisiana, so that was like a big deal.
We do like the red beans and rice and the
collar greens, like very traditional, So that was like another
tradition that I kind of have taken on. Like I
(24:34):
don't invite a whole bunch of people over, but I
do like the cooking. I do like the collar greens
and the black eyed peas. I do like to cook
top chef.
Speaker 2 (24:41):
Oh, I love top chefs. I'm not cook. I don't
know how to how to explain this, So I do
have questions because any have we talked about this before?
So in your tradition, y'all didn't do a Christmas Eve
(25:03):
gift opening like one you can't pick out one gift?
Speaker 4 (25:05):
No, never heard exactly.
Speaker 2 (25:10):
He came to your house early, so we would have
no because like we would also give each other gifts.
So I had so our siblings, would you know when
you're younger, of course it was a parent's buying for us,
but like you know, the adult siblings because again we
had a pretty good age gap, so we would have
some presents underneath. So we could choose one friend because
I was very excited about gifts. I love giving gifts
(25:32):
and all the giving gifts, so so we So am
I the only one.
Speaker 4 (25:36):
I've heard of this?
Speaker 1 (25:37):
I've heard of it I just won one time, just once,
but I remember it because it was cool. My dad
took me to Toys r s on Christmas Eve and
let me pick out a gift. But notably, all of
our gifts weren't from Santa. They were from mom.
Speaker 2 (25:54):
So you had no Santa.
Speaker 1 (25:56):
We had Santa, but that would be like the random
things that showed up the next day.
Speaker 4 (26:01):
Yeah, it's interesting how people do Santa.
Speaker 2 (26:04):
Yeah, definitely. Yeah, so all your gifts were from Santa.
Speaker 3 (26:09):
I mean, I think it's somewhere from my parents, but
they just bunched it in with Santa.
Speaker 4 (26:13):
Yeah, it was like ninety percent Santa. And then they're
like it was like the opposite where like there'd be
like one or two gifts from mom and dad, and
then of course like aunts and uncles. Right in my family,
my mom had a bunch of siblings, so like one
ant or uncle would be assigned a kid. Yeah, so
they get like one gift from one of your aunts
(26:34):
and uncles, yes, and then like grandparents, but everything else
was Santa.
Speaker 1 (26:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (26:38):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (26:38):
We did a whole name drawing because we were so
large of families, so we would draw names and or
play really silly games like the white elephant. I love games, love,
so I didn't get that later in years. Yeah, so
were your presence rapped or unwrapped by Santa?
Speaker 3 (26:54):
I also had siblings, and I wanted to say that
we did not give each other gifts. Okay, so maybe
that's a big difference here too, But I think my
my parents, my mom, you know, it was totally my
mom's chore to wrap everything. I have three other siblings,
so at some point it turned into gifts in a
big bag. It's a festive I reminded it. I mean
(27:20):
I think some were wrapped. I also have like we
call them godparents. I mean I guess they are godparents
and their aunt and uncle gifts and those are wrapped,
and grandma and grandpa gifts like those would be wrapped.
Speaker 4 (27:31):
But yeah, bag, all gifts were wrapped. Under of gifts
were wrapped, except for there were a few Christmases I
think maybe around the age like nine ten, when I
feel like that's like peak Christmas time, when it's like
you're very engaged in the whole idea of having a list,
you know what you want, and then you're excited the
(27:51):
toys magazine.
Speaker 2 (27:53):
Yes, okay, so a sears or the toy I had
to did you.
Speaker 3 (27:59):
The best thing ever?
Speaker 1 (28:00):
I didn't even know.
Speaker 2 (28:01):
If you don't know, I would get a catalog and
we would have to pick out all of our gifts
through that with what page? I don't know.
Speaker 4 (28:11):
That's very efficient.
Speaker 2 (28:12):
Yeah, my mother because she was not going to guess
what we would go overboard at the time. But like
Sears Christmas catalog. Do you all know what I'm talking about?
So it was a tradition that it comes in and
every all the kids just.
Speaker 3 (28:24):
You're supposed to do it that way, right, Like there's
Mark like squear.
Speaker 2 (28:28):
They have the specific things. How did so did your
parents pick out guests lists? You would do?
Speaker 4 (28:34):
I would do like you.
Speaker 3 (28:35):
Would you do the list or the toys? It would
just tell them what I wanted. Yeah, they knew I
always wanted something. I was obsessed with toys.
Speaker 4 (28:45):
I I was an extended Santa kid. I was like
that kid that still believed in Santa.
Speaker 2 (28:50):
Like did they do like the bills? STA? Did you do.
Speaker 4 (29:01):
So cute?
Speaker 2 (29:02):
So my parents did that one time. I think it
was very quick because I did not believe in Santa
from jump because this doesn't make sense, so they try
to do it for me once or twice, I was like.
Speaker 4 (29:12):
Yeah, wow, I'm a little conflicted. I think it's like
I love the idea of it, but like now in
practice thinking of it, it's like, oh my god, of
course you know there's some whimsy like you have to
have like the magic of it all. But it's like,
at what point are you I don't know, are you
continuing on like a lie? I don't know. I'm still
(29:32):
not quite sure how we're gonna introduce it or if
it's just gonna be there, because like we do listen
to Christmas music and like all that kind of stuff
is very much like around But I don't know, I do.
I do feel slightly conflicted, only because I was very
sad once I realized, yeah, it did. Like I still
(29:54):
remember the Christmas morning where I was like, something's not
the same. No, literally, that's actually how I felt, and
it was like very sad.
Speaker 2 (30:06):
It was. Did you have that moment, Chrisina.
Speaker 3 (30:08):
I couldn't even tell you when I realized he was
not real. But my family, I have a huge family,
and we have a giant family Christmas party, and there's
always an uncle or a cousin who dresses us Santa
and comes in, and I have a million like little
cousins and little kid cousins, and I was one of
those at one point, and there would always be like
one gift we all get. It's like the most fun
(30:32):
Christmas memory for being a kid. But we all believed
in Santa for a while too. But I couldn't tell
you when I do remember a kid who believed in
Santa really late in that that poor kid Brian.
Speaker 4 (30:44):
He he got bullied.
Speaker 3 (30:47):
He got bullied for it, and I feel bad about that.
Speaker 4 (30:55):
So when did the Santa come in? Was it Christmas Day?
Speaker 3 (30:59):
No? So we it's I guess it's hard to plan
with so many people. So our party would be like
sometimes even in January, oh wow, maybe early December, mid December.
It's never like on the day or anything. I think
we would all like eat and do like godparent gifts
there and Santa would come in.
Speaker 4 (31:19):
It was a big fun So it was just like
a Santa appearance.
Speaker 3 (31:23):
Yeah, I believed it. I mean he came early just
to come to this party.
Speaker 4 (31:28):
I mean, I guess it's the same as like pictures
with Santa, because it's like why is he here? You know,
when you're a kid, you don't think about that.
Speaker 2 (31:39):
I've heard that explanation. I worked for him, so it's.
Speaker 4 (31:44):
Not the real Santa. He's just like a Santa's friend.
Speaker 2 (31:48):
Yeah, he's helping. Did you believe in Santa Claus?
Speaker 1 (31:52):
Annie years old?
Speaker 2 (31:54):
Okay, okay, So your parents did try to start with
Santa stuff.
Speaker 1 (31:59):
I know, but they own they try. I could have
been very much on my own. I was a very
imaginative kid. They tried to foster the belief that they
would do things. But the funniest thing they ever did,
in my opinion, is I really wanted a swing set
one year, and they're just not going to give me
a swing set. It's just not going to happen. So
(32:21):
Santa sent me a note. It was a picture of
a swing set, and it was like maybe.
Speaker 4 (32:27):
One day.
Speaker 2 (32:30):
Taunting.
Speaker 1 (32:30):
It was handwriting, and I remember thinking like it writes
like my I didn't put it together.
Speaker 4 (32:38):
That's actually kind of funny, like a note from Santa
being like, you know, I didn't forget, but not this year.
Speaker 2 (32:47):
Rather than a promise, well did you ever get it?
Speaker 4 (32:50):
No, they knew I wasn't like one of those big
swing set two swings and a sign. Yeah expensive, Yeah,
I shouldn't.
Speaker 1 (33:02):
They were right to be like right.
Speaker 2 (33:07):
Like I want a horse, and they're like, we live
in New York, so we can't. That's not going to
be a thing.
Speaker 1 (33:13):
That brings us to the end of this Christmas Tradition
episode Happy Hour. As mentioned, we do have a second
part where we're going to examine New Year's traditions with
Christina and Maya as well, so that's going to be
really fun. We would love to hear from you listeners,
any traditions that you might have. We didn't even get
(33:33):
into one I want to ask, which is my grandparents
used to be really superstitious that you had to take
down all the Christmas decorations before New Year's. Oh wow, yes,
they had to be gone before New Year's or else
this New Year's cursed. Yes, So we would love to
hear from you if you have any traditions like that
(33:54):
around any holidays. So if you would like to contact us,
you can. You can email us that hell what stuff
one never told you? You can find it's on Blue
Sky at mom Stuff podcast or on Instagram and TikTok
at stuff We Never told you. We're also on YouTube,
but we have some new merchandise at com Hero and
we have a book wherever you get your books. Thanks
as always to our super producer Christina, our executive Rusa,
(34:15):
and our contributer Joey. Thank you and thanks to you
for listening stuff never told you. Procure I Heeart Radio
for more podcast from my Heart Radio, you can check
out the heart Radio app Apple Podcast wherever you listen
to your favorite show.
Hey, this is Annie and Samantha. Welcome to stuff I
never told you production of My Heart Radio and Hello
listeners coming at you from the future, kind of the
past or the past, we don't know, And that's kind
(00:27):
of what happened immediately in this episode. As you will hear,
this was a very special happy hour. We did it
in the office with super producer Christina and executive Rusumaya.
We hadn't seen each other for a while. Samantha and
I were both flustered because we haven't done a studio
recording for a while. So this did become a two parter.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
Yes, of course it was going to be. I feel
like it was going to be inevitably, just because there's
four of us having a conversation and we haven't been
around each other in a long time and kind of
catching up on life.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
But as this, if you're listening to it the day
it drops, it is Christmas. Yes, so if you celebrate,
Merry Christmas, happy, whatever you celebrate or don't celebrate, we
hope that you're all doing well. But if you're slightly
confused at the intro, it's because we didn't intend to
(01:19):
talk about Christmas traditions, but we ended up doing that.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
Yes, it got fascinating because everybody had such different traditions
that I was not prepared. And also, as you will hear,
our executive producer just had a baby at the end
of last year. So when you're old and when you
have a child and Christmas traditions, there's so much added
(01:44):
to this. And it was just a fascinating conversation to
have with Maya as well, and I just have no filter.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
Well, it was a wonderful conversation and so we did
split it in two. But that's why you might be
a little thrown by the intro, because we did not
intend to do that. But in this one we're focusing
on Christmas traditions and then stay tuned. On New Year's
Day we'll have one about New Year's traditions. Yes, so
(02:15):
please keep an ear out for that. Hope that all
of you are well, and let's get into it.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
And welcome to a very special happy hour. Not only
are we in the studio for the yearly visit I
feel like now, but we're also joined by our super
executive producer Maya as well as our amazing producer. Over here,
I'm pointing like people can see me Christina.
Speaker 3 (02:40):
Hello, I'm over here.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
I'm pointing at people or like making this a tradition.
I think so it's a tradition today. Yes, we are
so excited to have your own for this amazing happy hour.
Just as a reminder, if you are doing anything happy
hour ish, do so responsibly because we love you and
we need you to stick around. Also, if we are
(03:02):
talking specifically about any products currently not being sponsored by
those products, maybe that will change in the future. Things
change a lot. We'd love sponsors to the good ones.
That is right, and that's what keeps the show going.
But yes, and that's correct. And our amazing executive producer
brought in some drinks for us. Can you tell them
(03:23):
what you brought in?
Speaker 4 (03:24):
We have two drinks today. The first one is by
Spiritless I think is the name of the brand.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
Oh, we love Spiritless group. We love them.
Speaker 4 (03:35):
Dark like woody, you know, Ellie fancy. You know it
gives you the real vibes of an alcoholic cocktail. But
about the hangover, right, Yeah, so that's an espresso martini.
Everybody loves an espresso martini.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
So good, it's so yummy right now.
Speaker 4 (03:54):
But we also added a little bit of tonic water
in there, so it gives it that effervescence that like fun, a.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
Little bright kick. I've been watching a lot of top
chefs recently, not a sponsor of they should, and every
time I get a chance, I'm like, get that little acid,
a little acid and heat, yeah, but acid.
Speaker 4 (04:12):
And then the other one is tiled in cocktails, ready
to serve drink that has the flavor profiles of bright orange, tart, cherry,
a little oak in there, and some ginger. And the
name of that specific drink is Tandem. So you can
find that like any of your cocktail bar type places
(04:34):
that have spiritless drinks available. Actually, Total Wine has a
really great section of non alcoholic drinks and they're expanding
and I've even found just like regular grocery stores are
expanding their offering of non alcoholic drinks, especially beer. I
feel like is one that is like pretty accessible, a
(04:57):
lot of people can find them. I've I was out
in Louisiana, this like tiny town in pretty much the
middle of nowhere, and I found some non alcoholic beers
and I was really surprised. So it's becoming more and
more accessible to just like everyday people. It's not as
niche as it was even last year. I feel like,
(05:17):
so that's really exciting. But here in Atlanta there are
some really great locally owned spirit free just shops that
only sell spirit free drinks. So the new one where
I got these drinks was it is called Soberish and
that's in Kirkwood, Okay, And it's one of my new
(05:37):
favorite places to go because they just have like so
many offerings, wine, cocktails, ready to serve, you know, canns,
all everything you could possibly imagine. They have it.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
Yes, I love that.
Speaker 4 (05:53):
Let's give it a taste. Yeah, yeah, it has even
the bitters, so that orange bitter flavor it gives. It
has like on that back note, like even maybe a
little bit of like herbaceousness a little bit.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
Oh, you've definitely been watching some Top Chef yep, yep.
Speaker 4 (06:09):
You know here and there.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
I like.
Speaker 4 (06:10):
I love Tom. I love a good Tom.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
Kristin Cash coming on as.
Speaker 4 (06:16):
Oh my god, she's so good, so.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
Much she's adoptee I love them too.
Speaker 4 (06:23):
Oh my gosh, No, I really love her. I feel
like she's elevated the show, like taking it into the
new era.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
Yeah, as much as I love Pedma, which I love
Paedma love you, please come on the show, please see me.
But yes, if they had to change it over, Kristin
was a fantastic cantect. Annie, I need you to jump
on the top chef board.
Speaker 4 (06:42):
Please please.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
Make me nervous competition stress.
Speaker 4 (06:49):
Yes, yeah, I get stressed out.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
Yes, I have definitely jumped on board the mock tel
slash non alcoholic drinks because I am a very sleepy
girl and since we've been doing our happy hour episodes,
I have to keep alert so I'm not yawning the
entire time. And now that you've given me this caffeine
caffeind version, I feel like I'm ready to go.
Speaker 4 (07:11):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
I love that I'm sitting this close to you any
because usually we're doing this on zoom, so that the
fact that I've get to make icon fact. It's fantastic Anyway,
real awkward, but one of the favorite things we do
Towards the end of the year. We love to have
either year in reviews or talk about what's coming up.
But what we want are some of our traditions. At
(07:33):
one point we were talking about our favorite holiday watches
as in like TVs or movies, and we've even talked
about traditions that we grew up with. So since we
actually get to sit with you Maya as well as
you Christina, we thought we would take this time to
let the listeners know a little bit more about you
and what your traditions are. So Maya, can you give
(07:55):
us a look at what is happening in your household
during this holiday slash New Year's traditions?
Speaker 4 (08:01):
Yeah, so for the holidays, my husband and I feel
like we've tried to create our own traditions since buying
our house a few years back. I think it's just
fun to like make things that are just you. You know.
Of course you probably bring some things in from your upbringing.
But some of the traditions that we have established in
(08:23):
our own home is cutting down our own trees. So
we go to a tree farm that it just has
trees as far as the eye can see. And of
course in Georgia, maybe different parts of Georgia, like more
North Georgia, you have like the traditional Fraser fur and
Douglas fir. But we're a little bit further south still
(08:45):
North Georgia, but a little further south, so we have
here Cyprus and Cedar.
Speaker 2 (08:52):
And I love that you have very specific types of trees.
And you know about this because in my head, I'm like, whoa, yeah,
Like I'm like, I know, I know those types. I'm
not that off board, like I know tree things kind
of and I know there's specific types of trees. But
I love that you actually know our region, in our
(09:13):
state what is available.
Speaker 4 (09:15):
Yeah, I really I really like to like give back
to the local agriculture, you know, tap in with the
farmers here of course. So those are the ones that
you typically find that are grown in this region, and
so they're they don't have the same smell and the
same look. They still have that evergreen, you know, traditional
Christmas tree look, but the pines are a little bit different.
(09:39):
They're a little more full, less of that like straight
pine needle that you'll find on a Douglas for a
fraser for and the scent is a little bit different.
It's a little more woody, a little less like Christmasy,
but it still has a really nice like fresh tree
scent that you get in your house. And I really
enjoy that. And I just also like the idea of
(09:59):
going and cutting down your own tree. Although sometimes people
are like, oh, you're cutting down the trees but you know,
I've talked to the farmers there and it actually, you know,
as you cut down the trees, you can they of
course plant hundreds of trees every single year, and that
environment has set been set up for that, so they
(10:19):
say it's not really taking away from the environment that
it continues to Instead of like bringing trees in, right,
you know, from other states, you're actually you know, just
having a natural kind of cut from that area. So
that's what they say. I'll believe it. I guess, right,
if you're going to get a real tree, you might
(10:40):
as well do the labor to cut it down yourself.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
At the work end, I will say, as the owner
of ten thousand trees in my backyard that are all
like one hundred and fifty thousand feet tall, we have
a lot of trees like. That's the one thing, especially
when it comes like pines, I don't know what kind.
I'm gonna have to come and let you come over
and you're tell me what kind of pines got back there.
But I'm sure they because it has been a business.
(11:04):
I know, growing up in North Georgia, they would have
literal Christmas farms everywhere, and then when they kind of
went low. They would turn the ground over and the
start again and it would take years, but it was
a whole thing, and it gave a lot of like
small towns, business place and tourism, which is a lot
of people coming through. But I need to know. So
(11:24):
do you know what is the best type of tree
to hang the ornaments on? Because that is important?
Speaker 4 (11:29):
Yes, yeah, so I definitely have found So this year
we have a cypress tree, and I've found that between
the thickness of the branches and how sturdy they are,
I found that the cypress is better than a cedar
(11:49):
in terms of being able to uphold all the lights
and the ornaments, especially in comparison to if you're comparing
it to a traditional like Frasier for dug glass fur,
I would say that has the closest strength branch strength
to what you're used to. They're even like a within
the cypress and cedar family, they're like different varieties. So
(12:13):
there's like a sapphire blue, there's a they're all of
these different kinds.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
Yes, yeah, that's like limon smells. You know.
Speaker 4 (12:22):
I've never had that one, So I can't.
Speaker 2 (12:24):
Say I'm not an.
Speaker 4 (12:29):
Arborous, but I do know you know. I'm also like
a hobby gardener, so I know a little bit about
our local you know terrain.
Speaker 2 (12:37):
Okay, Christina, do you have a tree? I do? Is
it real?
Speaker 3 (12:42):
No? So it's the first year. This year, I bought
a mini tree. So I travel back home to Pennsylvania
every year, and I wanted to have something for the month,
so I bought like a small tree, like three feet maybe,
but it's nice to have. Never, yeah, I never really
got into like the local spirit because I spend a lot.
Speaker 4 (13:04):
Of the month here.
Speaker 3 (13:05):
I just go home like at the end of December.
But yeah, it's been nice and it lights up and I,
you know, have ornaments on it.
Speaker 5 (13:13):
And I wish I should put my Edward dolls in there.
Speaker 3 (13:26):
Oh he should be. Yeah, there's there's a big Santa
head as the star, which is a little on traditional.
I kind of like, did d I y ornaments because
I don't really have any collection of ornaments this first
year of having a tree in Atlanta, So it's kind
of like a food theme. I like had all these
like Ikia brand dog toys for little dogs, but they're
(13:50):
all like shaped like food, and I've always thought it
was so funny. I never had a U sport, so
I put ribbon on them, and now it's like ornaments.
It's like a strange tree.
Speaker 2 (13:59):
That is amazing. Actually, idea as a party who hates
Christmas and does not have a tree, that's me. I
have a collection of ornaments any and I talked about
this previously, that my parents would give us and hopes
that I would grow into an adult and have a
family and be what quote unquote would be an ideal
of normal with the children by now, and I would
have these. I'm like, no, thank you, I don't like
(14:20):
any of this. But all of my ornaments were literal
plastic Mickey Mouse toys, and I'm like, this is one
of four twelve year old would use for their troops.
So I'm like, I mek it was.
Speaker 3 (14:32):
I have an aunt who would have like the ant
that had like five trees in your house, and she
had a whole Disney themed tree. You know, so that
sounds like that.
Speaker 4 (14:42):
She must have an incredible storage. Yeah, that's the part
of that, because to have all of that Christmas stuff,
it's just like sitting in one part of your house
or the year and you take it out to put
it all on your tree. Year within your house, and
it does. It takes years to build all that collection.
It's like a literal collection. Like we've just pulled out
(15:05):
some stuff because with a baby, it takes so much
more time to do anything, like double your time to
do anything. So somehow we're like just pulling down all
of the decorations. So we have the tree and we
have like a garland up and a in a wreath.
Right now, that's pretty much it, and we're like, okay,
finally we'll put the ornaments up and I'm pulling everything out.
(15:27):
I'm like wow, like we've actually accumulated like a good
number of things that we like, you know, like pulling
together your own Christmas collection is like wow, it's it's
an effort. Like every year maybe get like one thing
or two things to add to your collection, and then
it's like twenty years later that it's like, kids take
(15:50):
my Christmas collection.
Speaker 2 (15:52):
So do you have a theme this year?
Speaker 4 (15:55):
Yeah, this year it's kind of Christmas, especially because my
daughter's birthdays three days after Smith, so it's like Christmas
is very different this year. Like a lot of them
brain power going to Christmas is also going to like
thinking about her birthday, so it's different. It's it's definitely
changed how I think about Christmas now.
Speaker 2 (16:25):
I bypassed the whole part of we haven't seen you
in a year, what's been going on in your life?
And jumped into the holidays. But can you tell the
listeners and then listen what's been going on in your life?
Speaker 4 (16:36):
What's been going on in my life? Well it's a
good segue. Actually, So last time we were here, I
want to say, I think I don't know. I don't
remember if I was pregnant. I can't even remember.
Speaker 2 (16:47):
When last time we knew.
Speaker 4 (16:49):
Yeah, maybe I had just gotten pregnant.
Speaker 1 (16:51):
I don't know.
Speaker 4 (16:52):
I don't I definitely had not announced.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (16:54):
Yeah, so I've had a baby, had a baby, had
a whole human. Yea, yeah, she's very cute. Yeah, so
I've had a human. I've tried to heal from having
said human. It takes a really long time, a really
long time to I don't you know. I don't think
(17:15):
you ever go back. You definitely don't go back. I
was thinking yesterday, like sitting on the floor with her, like,
oh my god, you've changed so much that you actually
forgot how much you've changed, Like does that make sense? Like,
have you ever had like a moment where you're like,
I'm so far removed from the person I was before
(17:36):
that I can't remember what actually has changed about me,
Like I can't even see It's like whoa, Like that's
how much it has changed in the last year that
I don't even know.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
Do you have the memories of like I used to
do this and it pops up to being like, oh,
that was not that long.
Speaker 4 (17:51):
Yeah, yeah, I do, but it feels like a different
like person in a way. It's like it definitely was me,
but it feels like alternate reality me in a way. Yeah.
So that's mostly what's changed in the last year is
(18:11):
that I become a mom.
Speaker 2 (18:13):
That's a huge change.
Speaker 4 (18:14):
Yeah, super huge change. And yeah, her birthday is a
couple days after Christmas, so our whole last year everything
Christmas was leading up to baby baby, excepecially because the
baby was supposed to have already been born by Christmas. Wow,
and she wasn't. And everybody's like where's the baby, like
(18:35):
staring at me on Christmas Day, like, so, when are
you gonna have this baby? I'm like, I would like
to know. I have no idea. I would have thought
I already had this baby by now, so yeah, that
was a lot of fun. It's definitely changed the way
the holidays look for us completely, And I'm like hell
bent on not creating a kid who feels like their
(18:57):
birthday was ignored because of Christmas. So I maybe have
become like oppositely very obsessed with making a perfect birthday
season time. Yeah, so that she doesn't feel like it
was a mush together thing, right, Like, I'm very hell
(19:18):
bent on like making sure she doesn't have that trauma
for the rest of her life.
Speaker 2 (19:22):
I was going to ask, my sister actually was born
the day after Christmas. Yeah, so we have to make
sure that after our celebrations with Christmas presents and all
of that, that we actually have a separate time where
we bring out a cake, Happy Birthday and have an
additional presence. Yes that's not Christmas related.
Speaker 4 (19:39):
And how did that work out for her?
Speaker 2 (19:41):
As an adult? She has kind of just let it go.
I think, you know, when you get older, you're like
the birthday. I don't care. But I think as a kid,
if I remember correctly, I don't remember celebrating our birthday,
Oh my god, as much. This could be absolutely mainly
because I was also full of trauma coming into a
household that celebrated Christmas. In my like origination, I was
(20:04):
from South Korea, that wasn't a thing. So I was
just like, so you have this like multi factor of
like teaching the new edition me Christmas stuff and making
that joyful instead of very confusing because I'm like, some
dude comes in and leaves me guess what the hell is happening,
versus celebrating my sister who also loves like playing mom.
(20:25):
She loved playing mom because she significantly older than me,
about ten years older than me, so she was in
her late teens where she was, you know, loving the
babysitting thing and all that. So I was kind of
the extra you know toy. Yeah, she didn't treat me
that way, but you know what I mean in that
trying to baby me, so like she also enjoyed that.
So maybe that's why it's so overshadowed. But I feel
(20:45):
like as a hit later people realize, Okay, we need
to celebrate her a little more appreciate her. Literally when
she became a mom, it was interesting because they couldn't
differentiate either. This is that whole like level of like
when she was married to her ex now ex husband.
He was just awful, Like his like level of what
we call the weaponized and competence was that high. So
(21:09):
because they were doing Christmas, he just be like bypass
all of that. That's a whole different story. All of
that to note, it is like I wonder with newer
parents and understanding these things because like our generation, you're
a little younger than me, but like especially those who
are raised by boomers, not seeing the okay, So like
(21:30):
those level of parents not seeing these sometimes not seeing
the importance because that type of timeframe was kids are disciplined,
they're loved, but they need to be straightened out first
before anything else. So it's a different level of what
we see in parenting today and being like, no, but
they have their own personality. We want to help share
and make sure that they are special, but also understand
they need empathy. So I was wondering, Yeah, how are you,
(21:52):
how are you doing the separating it out?
Speaker 4 (21:55):
Well, yeah, I mean it's easy right now. She's still
a baby, so that helps. We have a little bit
of time to figure it out. So I feel like
these first like two years were like you know, testing
out different scenarios, right, like, Okay, how are we going
to do this? How is this going to work? Before
she really cares or knows how it is. I grew
(22:16):
up in a family that, like Christmas was a really
big deal and my parents did, Like now that I'm
an adult and like whoa, oh my god, they did
a lot to make Christmas like magical and like we
had no presence under the tree until Christmas morning and
like everything like you wake up and like, oh my god. Like,
so I grew up in that kind of family. So
(22:39):
and my husband did not know. Yeah, he like his
family's not Christian, but his mom was Catholic, so like
she was a convert, you know, but they still celebrated Christmas,
but it was like it was more like secular Christmas
and so like a deal but not a big deal.
And so he's like married into this family where it's
(23:01):
like Christmas is a big deal and my dad's like,
you must continue on the magic for our grandchild. But
like I've taken on most of that weight. So I'm like,
you know, no no pressure, but yeah, it feels it
does feel like an over a little bit of an
overwhelming task, you know. It's like so many pieces of
(23:23):
the puzzle that have to like fit together perfectly. But
one thing I do kind of think I want to
do is like after Christmas is over. Which is a
benefit of the birthday being after Christmas and not before,
is that like afterwards you can say like, Okay, great,
Christmas is over. Now it's birthday, which I think makes
it a little bit easier. So that will of course
go into like a new tradition, right, you know, like
(23:45):
that's a new tradition of bringing her into the family
and what her birthday looks like in addition to the holidays,
because it's like smack dab in between Christmas and New
Year's y you know, and New Year's. Like I guess
my family just loves holidays because my mom used to
like throw this big party New York's Day and like
(24:07):
invite the whole neighborhood over.
Speaker 2 (24:09):
Your family was social social, yeah, okay.
Speaker 4 (24:12):
But only around the holidays. It's like not the rest
of the year. Just took holidays and like she would
cook gumbo, which takes like hours and hours. My dad's
family is from Louisiana, so that was like a big deal.
We do like the red beans and rice and the
collar greens, like very traditional, So that was like another
tradition that I kind of have taken on. Like I
(24:34):
don't invite a whole bunch of people over, but I
do like the cooking. I do like the collar greens
and the black eyed peas. I do like to cook
top chef.
Speaker 2 (24:41):
Oh, I love top chefs. I'm not cook. I don't
know how to how to explain this, So I do
have questions because any have we talked about this before?
So in your tradition, y'all didn't do a Christmas Eve
(25:03):
gift opening like one you can't pick out one gift?
Speaker 4 (25:05):
No, never heard exactly.
Speaker 2 (25:10):
He came to your house early, so we would have
no because like we would also give each other gifts.
So I had so our siblings, would you know when
you're younger, of course it was a parent's buying for us,
but like you know, the adult siblings because again we
had a pretty good age gap, so we would have
some presents underneath. So we could choose one friend because
I was very excited about gifts. I love giving gifts
(25:32):
and all the giving gifts, so so we So am
I the only one.
Speaker 4 (25:36):
I've heard of this?
Speaker 1 (25:37):
I've heard of it I just won one time, just once,
but I remember it because it was cool. My dad
took me to Toys r s on Christmas Eve and
let me pick out a gift. But notably, all of
our gifts weren't from Santa. They were from mom.
Speaker 2 (25:54):
So you had no Santa.
Speaker 1 (25:56):
We had Santa, but that would be like the random
things that showed up the next day.
Speaker 4 (26:01):
Yeah, it's interesting how people do Santa.
Speaker 2 (26:04):
Yeah, definitely. Yeah, so all your gifts were from Santa.
Speaker 3 (26:09):
I mean, I think it's somewhere from my parents, but
they just bunched it in with Santa.
Speaker 4 (26:13):
Yeah, it was like ninety percent Santa. And then they're
like it was like the opposite where like there'd be
like one or two gifts from mom and dad, and
then of course like aunts and uncles. Right in my family,
my mom had a bunch of siblings, so like one
ant or uncle would be assigned a kid. Yeah, so
they get like one gift from one of your aunts
(26:34):
and uncles, yes, and then like grandparents, but everything else
was Santa.
Speaker 1 (26:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (26:38):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (26:38):
We did a whole name drawing because we were so
large of families, so we would draw names and or
play really silly games like the white elephant. I love games, love,
so I didn't get that later in years. Yeah, so
were your presence rapped or unwrapped by Santa?
Speaker 3 (26:54):
I also had siblings, and I wanted to say that
we did not give each other gifts. Okay, so maybe
that's a big difference here too, But I think my
my parents, my mom, you know, it was totally my
mom's chore to wrap everything. I have three other siblings,
so at some point it turned into gifts in a
big bag. It's a festive I reminded it. I mean
(27:20):
I think some were wrapped. I also have like we
call them godparents. I mean I guess they are godparents
and their aunt and uncle gifts and those are wrapped,
and grandma and grandpa gifts like those would be wrapped.
Speaker 4 (27:31):
But yeah, bag, all gifts were wrapped. Under of gifts
were wrapped, except for there were a few Christmases I
think maybe around the age like nine ten, when I
feel like that's like peak Christmas time, when it's like
you're very engaged in the whole idea of having a list,
you know what you want, and then you're excited the
(27:51):
toys magazine.
Speaker 2 (27:53):
Yes, okay, so a sears or the toy I had
to did you.
Speaker 3 (27:59):
The best thing ever?
Speaker 1 (28:00):
I didn't even know.
Speaker 2 (28:01):
If you don't know, I would get a catalog and
we would have to pick out all of our gifts
through that with what page? I don't know.
Speaker 4 (28:11):
That's very efficient.
Speaker 2 (28:12):
Yeah, my mother because she was not going to guess
what we would go overboard at the time. But like
Sears Christmas catalog. Do you all know what I'm talking about?
So it was a tradition that it comes in and
every all the kids just.
Speaker 3 (28:24):
You're supposed to do it that way, right, Like there's
Mark like squear.
Speaker 2 (28:28):
They have the specific things. How did so did your
parents pick out guests lists? You would do?
Speaker 4 (28:34):
I would do like you.
Speaker 3 (28:35):
Would you do the list or the toys? It would
just tell them what I wanted. Yeah, they knew I
always wanted something. I was obsessed with toys.
Speaker 4 (28:45):
I I was an extended Santa kid. I was like
that kid that still believed in Santa.
Speaker 2 (28:50):
Like did they do like the bills? STA? Did you do.
Speaker 4 (29:01):
So cute?
Speaker 2 (29:02):
So my parents did that one time. I think it
was very quick because I did not believe in Santa
from jump because this doesn't make sense, so they try
to do it for me once or twice, I was like.
Speaker 4 (29:12):
Yeah, wow, I'm a little conflicted. I think it's like
I love the idea of it, but like now in
practice thinking of it, it's like, oh my god, of
course you know there's some whimsy like you have to
have like the magic of it all. But it's like,
at what point are you I don't know, are you
continuing on like a lie? I don't know. I'm still
(29:32):
not quite sure how we're gonna introduce it or if
it's just gonna be there, because like we do listen
to Christmas music and like all that kind of stuff
is very much like around But I don't know, I do.
I do feel slightly conflicted, only because I was very
sad once I realized, yeah, it did. Like I still
(29:54):
remember the Christmas morning where I was like, something's not
the same. No, literally, that's actually how I felt, and
it was like very sad.
Speaker 2 (30:06):
It was. Did you have that moment, Chrisina.
Speaker 3 (30:08):
I couldn't even tell you when I realized he was
not real. But my family, I have a huge family,
and we have a giant family Christmas party, and there's
always an uncle or a cousin who dresses us Santa
and comes in, and I have a million like little
cousins and little kid cousins, and I was one of
those at one point, and there would always be like
one gift we all get. It's like the most fun
(30:32):
Christmas memory for being a kid. But we all believed
in Santa for a while too. But I couldn't tell
you when I do remember a kid who believed in
Santa really late in that that poor kid Brian.
Speaker 4 (30:44):
He he got bullied.
Speaker 3 (30:47):
He got bullied for it, and I feel bad about that.
Speaker 4 (30:55):
So when did the Santa come in? Was it Christmas Day?
Speaker 3 (30:59):
No? So we it's I guess it's hard to plan
with so many people. So our party would be like
sometimes even in January, oh wow, maybe early December, mid December.
It's never like on the day or anything. I think
we would all like eat and do like godparent gifts
there and Santa would come in.
Speaker 4 (31:19):
It was a big fun So it was just like
a Santa appearance.
Speaker 3 (31:23):
Yeah, I believed it. I mean he came early just
to come to this party.
Speaker 4 (31:28):
I mean, I guess it's the same as like pictures
with Santa, because it's like why is he here? You know,
when you're a kid, you don't think about that.
Speaker 2 (31:39):
I've heard that explanation. I worked for him, so it's.
Speaker 4 (31:44):
Not the real Santa. He's just like a Santa's friend.
Speaker 2 (31:48):
Yeah, he's helping. Did you believe in Santa Claus?
Speaker 1 (31:52):
Annie years old?
Speaker 2 (31:54):
Okay, okay, So your parents did try to start with
Santa stuff.
Speaker 1 (31:59):
I know, but they own they try. I could have
been very much on my own. I was a very
imaginative kid. They tried to foster the belief that they
would do things. But the funniest thing they ever did,
in my opinion, is I really wanted a swing set
one year, and they're just not going to give me
a swing set. It's just not going to happen. So
(32:21):
Santa sent me a note. It was a picture of
a swing set, and it was like maybe.
Speaker 4 (32:27):
One day.
Speaker 2 (32:30):
Taunting.
Speaker 1 (32:30):
It was handwriting, and I remember thinking like it writes
like my I didn't put it together.
Speaker 4 (32:38):
That's actually kind of funny, like a note from Santa
being like, you know, I didn't forget, but not this year.
Speaker 2 (32:47):
Rather than a promise, well did you ever get it?
Speaker 4 (32:50):
No, they knew I wasn't like one of those big
swing set two swings and a sign. Yeah expensive, Yeah,
I shouldn't.
Speaker 1 (33:02):
They were right to be like right.
Speaker 2 (33:07):
Like I want a horse, and they're like, we live
in New York, so we can't. That's not going to
be a thing.
Speaker 1 (33:13):
That brings us to the end of this Christmas Tradition
episode Happy Hour. As mentioned, we do have a second
part where we're going to examine New Year's traditions with
Christina and Maya as well, so that's going to be
really fun. We would love to hear from you listeners,
any traditions that you might have. We didn't even get
(33:33):
into one I want to ask, which is my grandparents
used to be really superstitious that you had to take
down all the Christmas decorations before New Year's. Oh wow, yes,
they had to be gone before New Year's or else
this New Year's cursed. Yes, So we would love to
hear from you if you have any traditions like that
(33:54):
around any holidays. So if you would like to contact us,
you can. You can email us that hell what stuff
one never told you? You can find it's on Blue
Sky at mom Stuff podcast or on Instagram and TikTok
at stuff We Never told you. We're also on YouTube,
but we have some new merchandise at com Hero and
we have a book wherever you get your books. Thanks
as always to our super producer Christina, our executive Rusa,
(34:15):
and our contributer Joey. Thank you and thanks to you
for listening stuff never told you. Procure I Heeart Radio
for more podcast from my Heart Radio, you can check
out the heart Radio app Apple Podcast wherever you listen
to your favorite show.
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