We got a brand new donut box streaming for you. We know that your house probably feels like a zoo. Because you have the in-moss aunts and cousins too. Just know that the boys at donut box are praying for you. Holy crap, holy crap, holy crap, oh no. It's Uncle Joe. He's a rather unsavory fellow. Holy crap, holy crap, holy crap, your mom. Just showed up with Tom and your dad and your dad and your dad is glad to get rid of her lying, cheating, ass.
Hi, I'm Michael and I'm Chris and this is our annual Christmas edition of the Donut Box podcast. Merry Chrysler. All right man, well it's Christmas, Christmas episode. Man, can't see it with the weird Santa on it. But there you go. But you gotta say man, it's Christmas. Yeah, it's actually Christmas when we're dropping this episode. So Merry Christmas to everyone. We hope that you are enjoying Christmas with your families and friends. And we have a special Christmas episode for you guys.
But it wouldn't be Christmas without us giving thanks to all of our listeners and supporters. We want to shout out to all those listening to International. Yeah, we had a new listener in Barbados. So welcome aboard. We want to shout out our people in Canada, in Australia, over there in Africa, over there in the UK, England, Ireland, France, Russia, Belgium, Germany. Where else we got people listening? Stateside. Man, Stateside, Iowa, Ohio, OHIO, Ohio. Yeah, aren't you impressed?
I was able to spell that. Wow. Washington, Oregon, California on the west coast. Of course, our home state of Texas. We got a shout out to Texas, especially the 806 area. Gotta love them folks over there and all across Texas. And all across the South, Georgia, Florida as well. Man, even up into the Northeast, man, we got listeners all over. We appreciate you all. Virginia, man, love you guys. We do, we do for sure, for sure, man. And we are so thankful.
And so we're going to go ahead and kick off this holly jolly Christmas with our first segment, which is the old fashioned donut, which is a story from our past. Now we have a couple. We've talked about these before. Do you want to talk about the Christmas parties first or the Grinch? Oh, I'm going to go with what I'm salty about and then we'll finish off with something. Okay. Yeah, that was pretty fun and pretty cool. But yeah, so let's start off with the Grinch play. Do it, bro.
Do it, bro, man, so if you remember in previous episodes, we talked about a very particular person that I didn't care for. And it was a play director. And there was a lot of, as we used to say back when I was a kid, there was a lot of politics going on. No, I'm joking. But there was a lot of church politics going on and a very prominent member who had been going there for a while actually left a husband and there was a whole situation.
And ended up, okay, that's no longer who your theater director is any longer. And the person who took over was a really, really bad person. What did we call her in that episode? I don't even remember. We'll call her Jessica. That's what we'll call her. All right, Jessica. So the thing is, this lady here, she was just, she was really rude, mean. She didn't really like me for some reason too. And so long story short, we get into the beef a little bit more as this goes on.
But there was this play and it was her first major play and it was the Christmas play. And if you know anything about churches and especially churches at this era, now we've talked about this too. Our church that we went to was actually kind of cutting edge. Like I feel like every church has a Christmas production, but these were supposed to be like cutting edge, different productions. Wouldn't you say so? Like they were supposed to be like kind of not the traditional just Jesus in a manger.
Yeah. It was like this was our first ever secular, I guess you would say, play where we introduced secular ideas or secular movies and tied them into biblical principles. And a lot of churches do that now. Some churches have now called a sermon series at the movies where they dive into the big movies and then they preach a sermon out of or preach biblical truths. But anyways, I digress. So go ahead and get back on track. So pretty much what happened.
The, you know, we auditioned and pretty much the audition, I feel like I nailed the audition. And the play was the Grinch that stole Christmas and the movie production that they were going to tie it into was not the cartoon version. It was the Jim Carrey Grinch. And I'll be honest with you. So what I thought at the time, and I still think this to this day, if you're going to try to tie that in, right, don't you want the Grinch to be as Jim Carrey like as possible?
Because I'm just going to let you know in this play, there was live action scenes. Then there was preaching. And then on the big screens, they would actually show like a scene from the Jim Carrey Grinch movie. Right. So it would just be like, I remember one of them was, you know, the scene where they're going down the hill with all the gifts, Max and the Grinch, you know, in this way and all that. I remember that being one of the scenes.
But I just remember it being, I don't really remember what the principal was, man. Do you do you really remember what the principal was behind it? I remember what the tie in was. The tie in was that even if bad things have happened in your past, like they were using the story of how the Grinch had a lot of hurt and all that stuff. But you can still come back to Jesus and Jesus cares about your hurts and Jesus can help you out with that.
And even if you've had something bad happening in your past or people hurt you in your past, don't let that keep you from celebrating the joy of Christ. Maybe I was too sour to remember. Anyways, so what happened? I just, you know, I auditioned for it and I was, Chris saw, you know, because I practiced my audition in front of him. How Jim Carrey like would you say my Grinch was at the time? It was pretty good. It was definitely better than the person that they picked to do it.
And I'm just going to go, I know you're getting there, but the church kind of cheapened out on the costume for the Grinch. Like now there's like full on Grinch costumes that look legit. This was a green monkey suit that was dyed and the guy's nose was painted like black. He looked like a flamingo. That's what he looked like. A green flamingo. That's what he looked like. But anyways, I'll digress. Yeah, it was a gorilla outfit and I remember they painted it. It wasn't like a Grinch green.
I remember it was like almost a, it was a brighter green. I wouldn't say quite neon green, but it was kind of more that shade. Wasn't it? Like, I mean, it wasn't like Grinch green. It was a little lighter than that for sure. Anyways, so pretty much I was supposed to get the role and this guy, the guy who got the part, he basically used to act a bunch and kind of got out of it and he was in the military, went all over the place, whatnot.
Not a bad guy, nothing against him, but all of a sudden, you know, he just was interested and like pretty much the part was mine till he stepped in there. So I became the understudy. Well, understudy is was, it was pretty dumb because like I never got to actually do the, the actual. So pretty much what happened out of pity, they were like, we're going to give you, and like you got to think the Grinch is the main person, right?
And so then they relegate me to, okay, you got just, I think it was what two or three, no, it was three lines, you got three lines. And I was Cindy Lou who's dad, which made no sense because one, I've got a baby face and I was 16 at the time. So I probably look like I was a big behind 12 year old that was happened to be six foot five. The person who was portraying my wife, she was like in her fifties. Like you remember that?
Yeah, it was kind of weird because she was in her fifties and it did, the casting did not, was not great. I'm going to pause you right here because I also auditioned for the play and they originally offered me the part of the mayor. I don't know what it is. I guess I just attract the roles of being like the straight laced guy or like the mayor or the guy that's like in charge, but I'm like a super tight wad. Those are all the roles I've ever gotten.
So I don't know what it is about my personality that attracts that, but anyways, and I remember being like, eh, I don't know. And as we talked about in the last podcast, I was dating that girl at the time. And so I was just not really in it to begin with. So then I was like, oh yeah, I'm not going to be the mayor. And then I said, oh yeah, I'm interested in being the mayor. They're like, well, we would cast the part.
So you're going to run spotlight, which I was cool because I was like in the crow's nest, which was kind of cool. But anyways, go ahead. So I just remember the biggest thing that was going to happen. Basically how this church went, it was we had two services and really nobody would show up to the early service. When I say nobody, like I wouldn't say nobody, but what would you say? Maybe half crowd if that.
Yeah. It's definitely the prime timers and your old faithful people, but everybody pretty much went to the later service, 11 o'clock. I will tell you the golden time for churches between nine and 11. So that's probably why other people went at 11 or 10. I don't remember what time it was. Yeah, I don't remember either nowadays. But I'll say this, how it kind of was treated was almost like the, you know, in theater, you know, the 11 a.m. was the matinee, right?
You know, the 8 a.m. or whatever the early service was, that was your almost your practice run. And so I told Chris, because I was pretty disgruntled at this point with my lines. And if you remember the Grinch movie or you've seen the Grinch, you know, of course, there is a scene where Cindy Lou who's dad goes on this whole rant and he says, I'm glad. I'm glad because, you know, basically the mayor's just been rating his daughter, right?
And there's a whole scene where he's talking about, you know, I'm glad she did what she did and brought the Grinch down and all this other stuff. So Chris and I had talked about it and I said, you know, I'm going to because this lady hated, hated ad-libbing, like do not ad-lib, like stick to the script to a T or she is going to be agitated at you. And I just remember I was like, you know what, I'm going to ad-lib this puppy.
And I remember I went and it's like, and so of course you're doing the run with not too many people and I'm sitting here going, I'm glad. You know, I'm glad and full on, you know, said it in the dry run. And I just remember she, you know, everything finished up. It was fine.
And basically what I said is something like I'm going to vote for the, like I'm going to run for mayor next year and vote for me because you're corrupt, something like I went into this whole like political rant about the mayor. And I just remember that choir director or not the choir director, the theater director, she literally just started praying and she was like, she was like, there's just demonic forces trying to break up this play.
And I was just like, is she talking about me just because I ad-lib some like, you know, oh, it was something else, bro. I was, I just remember being so mad. But just like with that one email that I chickened out and said, you know what, I shouldn't do that. When it came to the actual like big show where the pastor was sitting in the front row, I felt too bad. And I was like, I'm not going to ad-lib hindsight 2020. Go for it. Why not? I should have went on the political rant the second time.
He told me, he said, I just looked at Pastor Bowen's base and I couldn't let that man down. I just feel like he'd be so disappointed in me if I did that. And I was like, Pastor Bowen wouldn't have known if it was in the script or not. You might have got a chuckle. You might have got a laugh. Oh, I'm sure there would have been a lot of chuckles. I'm sure it'd have been funny as mess because I mean, that's definitely not a part of the movie or the script or anything.
So it was, it was a pretty funny moment. But I just remember she just being like, yeah, there's demonic forces. She's just like, she talking about me because I ad-lib a little bit. I don't know, man. I just remember running the spotlight and I was like, oh, yeah, this is the easiest job I've ever had because you got to be up in the crow's nest. So there's the sound booth. And if you've ever been to anywhere, the sound booth is already in a high spot.
But the crow's nest was on top of the sound booth. So you were like on top of the thing. Nobody could see you. You could see everybody. Yeah, you had to go to the ladder. And you were like, I was bought. Yeah, you got to climb up a ladder. I was by myself. So like the whole time while I was waiting on my cues, I was just hanging out on my phone chilling.
It was an easy job. I'm glad. Although hindsight, 2020, I would have rather have taken the line or taken the part because me and Micah could add a lot of fun with it. But we probably would have got kicked out. All I know too, last note on it is boy, they kicked me up with some makeup. Like, I know we were supposed to look like who's all I say is this one of my moments that I've been in.
This one of my moments that I just hate about my life that I'm just like, I can't believe I did that was I stood on stage with everybody else singing. Well, the bad part about that was it was awkward. Like it was just every it was like the most awkward thing. It wasn't like natural. Like the movie, there wasn't like any music playing. They were singing acapella and it was very awkward. And I remember just be like, yep, I'm glad I'm not a part of this.
And the like we had a sway back and forth and like people were off. I remember some of the people were off. So it like the swaying didn't look good. Trust me, there was a screen in the back to where you could see what's going like how you look on screen. So you're looking right at yourself too. And you're going, man, this looks pretty darn bad. Anyways, so we've talked about that for a good minute. Do you want to move on to just real quickly?
Do you want to move on to some of the Christmas parties we used to have as a youth group? Yeah, we'll make it real quick. And we've talked about this before, primarily the one where Micah got stood up, but we would have a Christmas banquet every December for our youth. But the thing was you had to pay to go to the Christmas banquet because they would always have it somewhere nice like the, I don't remember. I remember one year it was like T bones.
But here's the thing that I don't really understand. Do you remember anything that they did at the Christmas banquet at all other than getting dressed up and eating food? Do you remember anything? It was almost like, I wouldn't say it's an award ceremony, but if you remember it was a lot of how do I put this?
Like I remember one year our cell group, like Tony's group, like they came up there and they'd like honored us for like washing the fire trucks and like doing all the other like service stuff that we did. You know, the typical like, oh, you did so great. You know, trying to hype you up, but it really don't mean too much kind of thing. I don't remember getting any awards.
Like it wasn't like an award like basically they just brought us up there and they just had the whole room clap for us and we went back and sat down. It was like stuff like that or it was like they would share pictures of okay, we went on this mission trip. They were like recap stuff and then I remember one year it was like we all knew it was coming.
But we've talked about this youth pastor, but he went and started another church and we all knew that he was going to leave and like he was going to name a successor. And I remember like he used the Christmas party one year to do that. So that's the only other thing that I really remember besides eating and like we would take pictures of like us as a group. Oh, and that's the other thing. It was all formal like you had to dress really formal suit and I don't.
I do remember they would give out some gifts, but the gifts weren't that good. Like I remember it one year it was a book that they gave out called do hard things, which was okay. And then I think they gave out that thumb drive that you actually found the other day right. I couldn't believe I found that that was very it was from 2009. Yeah, they gave us this little thumb drive and it even had the little youth group logo on there and it still had sermons from the time bro.
I actually I hate to digress and I know we're taking some time out that but I kid you not there was that and then there was I call them guilt tripping videos. But like there was to the to the music of cast away it was like very early almost YouTube videos of what YouTube used to be of just, you know, are you real Christian and it's just like, you know, that real somber music in the background with like images of Christ the cross kind of stuff.
You know, it was very interesting going through that that flash drive from oh no, I'll tell you that. I bet you it was hold on there was a folder on there and I got to see what it was what it was labeled but it was it said something thoughts but it was spelled T H O T S and I was like thoughts oh brave hearted thoughts and I was like but it was not spelled dots like the thought you think it was spelled thoughts like T H O T.
Oh, bro that did not well. Um, yeah, it didn't. I remember every year though I always was like oh yeah this is going to be the year that I asked somebody to go to Christmas banquet with me and never did but but at the same time I was like I'm not because the tickets were like 50 bucks and I was like I'm not spending 100 bucks to take somebody to this lane Christmas bank.
I made the mistake of I made the mistake of we've talked about this before but I made the mistake of inviting a gal one time who stood me up and like we talked about before and yeah that was expensive and I remember showing up and man that youth pastor looked me dead in the face was like what's wrong it's Christmas.
I told him what happened and she goes oh cheer up and I said so I can get a refund he goes oh no. I was like yeah you don't get a refund that's not going to happen. Just like dang. And you got to think like 100 bucks with kids that don't have a job like I mean that's hard to scrape up like that's not easy so. That's still a lot right now and I have a job. Yeah that's true. That's true. A decent well paying job and that's still a lot.
So I got to I got to say about the other day I had two dates right that was one year. Well I can't say I had two dates I had two dates lined up one bailed the other one actually went with me and she went to my middle school and high school like she went to the school like to school with me too.
And I just remember asking her and immediately immediately her group leader was like I'm chaperoning and like another another guy from the youth group is like yeah me too. And I just remember they're like we're going to drive you in everything and I was just like OK why.
Get it. OK interesting stuff man. Well we're going to move into our next segment and our next segment is called will it tradition. Now we're going to talk about some of our favorite traditions. Sadly Micah's parents know they weren't Jehovah's Witnesses but they didn't really celebrate Christmas.
So Mike doesn't really have a lot of Christmas traditions but we want to talk about some of our favorite traditions and maybe some things that are not Christmas traditions that we think we should make Christmas traditions. So what are I will let you share. Are there any now that you're like married and out of the house or there any Christmas traditions that you do like or do enjoy.
Is as weird as it sounds. It's actually not that weird. Like I don't know why I say it's weird but like my wife and I like to get different pajamas every year like Christmas pajamas to like spend Christmas in like pick them out for each other and like gift them to each other kind of thing. Question. Are they matching pajamas or no. No. No they're not matching pajamas like for instance this year. You know I like I like Texas Tech right. So she got me like Texas Tech like sweatpants.
Like a comfortable shirt you know to go with that kind of deal and I got her some like comfy pants and a comfortable shirt as well. Like but they weren't matching in any way. They were just you know we just know each other style kind of thing and so we just picked them out for each other like oh I think they'd like this. Yeah for sure. That's a that's pretty cool.
I think one that I enjoyed as a kid and this is like we had a couple of traditions but this is the one that's like my favorite or the one that really sticks out to me is we have this and we got it when probably what I was like four or five it's like a 3D nativity set to help preschoolers learn the Christmas story.
And in each slot there's a little book and each with and it's like in the shape of a character from the Christmas story but it's a book it's like a three page book and so you read it from like that character's perspective on the Christmas story and everybody in the family gets to pick a character
but the only rule is you can't pick baby Jesus until the last person goes right and so or there's no more left and so it's fun for us to all read the book even though it's like a little three page book and it's dumb it's it's fun for us but we enjoy that tradition. Is there any traditions that you're like oh yes I think we should make this a Christmas tradition. I'll say this.
And of course this is not really an entire family settings but more in like work environments. I like white elephant or you know nasty Christmas or whatever you call it right.
I think that's a really good way of gift giving especially unless you're like doing it with Michael Scott and he buys an iPod you know office reference but you know I really think that that is a pretty cool tradition and a way to you know give gifts to each other because I don't know I think the traditional gift giving process could have a lot of flaws but it kind of works out and it's pretty fun like I mean it's kind of fun to steal other things and go I don't want my
and stolen and you know you have to kind of think about the rules of the game kind of thing and I don't know it's fun I like that. What makes it more fun is so our small group does this at church where we do that but you can't buy the gift you have to like bring something from your house.
So it's so I think that's like kind of a cool thing because not everybody can go out and spend 1020 bucks right like a Michael Scott but like if you bring something from your house it's pretty cool and then the second year that we did it
people would bring back stuff from last year so it was like oh yeah it's been a whole year it's like oh yeah that was here last time so before you know it four or five years and like four or five people have used the same mug it's like the traveling mug around the house
or something around how so they actually the smaller players actually have a funny story so one year for I guess the dirty Santa Yankee swap whatever you want to call it someone gate or someone gave a Hillary Clinton nutcracker and apparently the tradition became it's like that's what someone to bring every year for the white elephant so a got passed around to the whole family so it was it's funny it's funny yeah that's pretty great.
I think, and this is just because it's the Texan in me, I think we should eat brisket on Christmas. I think we should you know another tradition I really like is tamales around Christmas, you know families making tamales and things like that. I don't know they're great this time of year.
Yeah, one tradition I do like and we've really never done it is going to the movies on Christmas Day like I think that's fun to me personally but my tradition instead of going to the movies on Christmas Day traditionally every other year it's been going to the airport and flying out on Christmas Day because it's cheaper to fly out on Christmas Day ladies and gentlemen.
And not just that but tell me if I'm wrong it's also a lot less packed for versus the you know the 26 and 27 everybody flying back then or the 24th. Yeah, I so I told and only wrestling fans will get this me and my wife are starting this new tradition this year where we're watching Russell mania 24 on Christmas Eve and that is the wrestle mania where it's Rick flares last official match and versus Shawn Michaels and it's like one of the best matches in my opinion.
So we're like oh yeah we got to watch that and then we do watch leading up to Christmas we do watch the Harry Potter movie so that has become a tradition of ours you know and it's that's kind of an interesting one of it's kind of I wouldn't say it's arguable but I've heard a lot of people say oh there's more Halloween movies I've heard now it's more of a Christmas movie I think it has elements of both so I mean it's it's pretty cool. Another.
I'm an office fan hence the office reference a few moments ago, but I like watching all the office Christmas episodes. I don't know why but mine my favorite one is the Moroccan Christmas where they try to check Meredith into the alcohol rehab center against a will I have no clue why that was my favorite one but there you go. Yeah, that's very interesting.
It is definitely an interesting one and their Christmas episodes are always the one that also stands out in my mind is when Phyllis wanted to become Santa I think that's one of the later seasons. But Michael Scott is like happy birthday Jesus sorry your party so late. Like I felt that way before. That's some Christmas Eve services for sure now again I know that you I don't know why Micah's parental units didn't really celebrate Christmas.
But are you a fan of opening your presence on Christmas Eve Christmas Day or opening only one gift on Christmas Eve. What are you a fan of you know I actually like the combination of both so my wife's family who love celebrating Christmas with them, but pretty much. So her parents have gifts kind of set aside that they'll do on the on Christmas morning kind of have your own personal like intimate family like OK extra gifts on Christmas Day.
But then primary with the family like with everybody you get gifts on the 24th like but yeah I don't know so a little bit of both and I kind of like the way that that's done you know it feels nice you know no one OK tomorrow morning it's going to be kind of. You know with the in laws and with your wife and you know you kind of have those gifts kind of set aside and kind of have more of that.
One I wouldn't say one on one but just closer together time that is the nice part because it is kind of awkward like opening gifts with your like that you've given to your wife or she's given to you like in front of the whole.
Like I feel like it's not that it's like awkward but it's like you want that intimate time of just y'all to it so I totally get that it's kind of hard when you have your relatives all up in your grill going oh show it for the camera and you're like trying to have a moment with your wife or you know even even like your father in law right like you get gift for your father in law or mother in law and you know they're going to feel awkward to be like oh you know thanks to a certain point if everybody's looking at them you know.
Because it is I don't know why it's weird but it's kind of made weird you know I don't know. Yeah apparently man apparently. So yeah those are some traditions now I know that me and you on Thanksgiving we traditionally watch like Mari or Jerry Springer. Is there a trash TV show that you would recommend our listeners watch on Christmas as part of a tradition. If you can find them because they're becoming few and far between but TV trash can dot com has those to watch but I'll say this.
I for an eye like that's one of my favorite trashy shows of all time. Maybe it's just because it's incredibly fake but I really enjoy I for an eye to judge show or basically a court show or basically instead of money you know if somebody got their car busted up it's like I think you get take this bet and you get to go smash their windows.
And then all of a sudden it's it's a whole bunch of drummed up dry it's pretty good you can go watch it it's I like that one for Christmas cool means well we're going to move into our next segment and Mike a kind of reference it but is it a Christmas movie. Now our first Christmas episode we talked about certain movies like is it a Christmas movie is it not a Christmas movie and we're not talking about die hard because die hard yes is a Christmas movie.
But we're going to talk about and we've already done some other Christmas or what's considered maybe Christmas movies and is it a Christmas movie or not. So the first one is gremlins right gremlins do you think that gremlins is a Christmas movie. I can see why it could be considered but for me no I just but then again I'm a little biased. I don't really like gremlins the movie it's kind of annoying to me.
Yeah they say that it is some people say that it's an anti Christmas movie as not only is it full of violence but it ruins the truth about Santa in a morbid way apparently. But I mean Christmas is just kind of in the backdrop Christmas is not the focal point of the movie I feel like it just happens to take place around Christmas. The Christmas is really not driving the storyline. I feel like I don't think so either.
That's yeah I don't think I don't think it's a Christmas I don't think so either. Right next one some people debate on whether is the nightmare before Christmas a Christmas movie is it a Halloween movie or is it a Christmas movie or is it both night before Christmas. It's hard. I would say it's more of a Christmas movie because I mean I get why it has Halloween aspects. I mean Tim Burton is Tim Burton but I think it's it's a Christmas movie because it's based in Christmas.
I mean I would think it's based in Christmas more than yeah I think so personally. I can't really say anything because I haven't really seen it that much but I guess it is. I consider it more of a Halloween movie but that's just me man. It's just it's just hard because for me anything really Tim Burton is going to have kind of that Halloween feel to it. I don't know how to describe it. Yeah for sure.
All right this next one and we kind of talked about it the Harry Potter movie specifically the first one. Do you think that the Harry Potter movies should be considered Christmas movies. I don't want to I don't want to sound nonchalant but like you know why not. I do because especially the first one like you're talking about it is kind of and I think watching it as a kid during that time. You know the thought of snow Christmas and kind of that magical zone kind of yeah for sure for sure.
Here's what I I kind of had a beef with this as a kid like I didn't really understand British culture too much but it used to drive me nuts that they would say happy Christmas instead of Merry Christmas. I was like why are you saying happy Christmas. It's Merry Christmas. I don't know why that was my beef but I mean yeah it is definitely different. Yeah I don't know man.
I don't know why it just it feels very Christmas like I don't know why it does but it definitely you can almost make a case that the later it goes the less Christmas see they are but maybe that's just because the darker tones that happen. Yeah there's definitely no Christmas in the later ones because they just try not to die bro.
They don't really care about Christmas at the first one it's like oh yeah they they yeah they they haven't happy times they give each other Christmas gifts you know it's all good but not not at the end. All right this next one this next one is going to probably you're going to be like what why did that one even make the list lethal weapon which one the first one. It's been a while since I've seen it was there was it somewhere sometime around Christmas or what.
So there is it is around Christmas but at the same time there's like Christmas trees and there's a Christmas tree shoot out and all that stuff. I it kind of takes place in the background it's not really the driving point or the focal point of the movie. Here's what constitutes and kind of goes where's the line is for me.
I honestly think if like say the plot line has it tied in of all we need to get this guy or do this before Christmas and like Christmas is like a focal point in the timeline of like we have to get this done before Christmas or whatever. Then yeah sure it could be a Christmas movie right because it's directly related to Christmas. That's why I do argue that diehard is a Christmas movie because if it wasn't for his wife's holiday Christmas party. John McClain would never have been there right.
And so he's trying to save his wife right he's trying to save his marriage and save these people because they're taking over Christmas time and it's just not good but yeah couple movies will at Christmas. All right our next segment is so instead of saying what fries my donuts right because we typically said what fries our donuts about Christmas. Let's be positive and say what are some of our favorite things about Christmas.
So Michael what are some of your favorite things about the Christmas season. I'll say this the spirit of giving is very high and you know this does sound I just like the fact that a lot of people are more happy this time of year like there is a contrary to that there is a lot of stress this time of year don't get me wrong.
But you know there's also that I was kind of telling Chris this to you know you get more time off of work work is kind of more lax for some brothers and retail brothers and sisters in retail I'm very sorry I've been there before I don't envy you and will be nice to you every time I'm in a store this time of year. But you know right now my job is kind of at that lol so a lot of people are the same way.
So it's kind of nice to be able to take that time and reflect like it's for me I think that's probably one of the best things for me is just kind of being able. And I don't know just kind of going back to the retail thing as well.
There's been how many Christmases that we had to work thanksgiving as well right and it's only been the last few years really that we've been able to kick back at least myself been able to kick back and actually enjoy the holiday so it's still something I don't take for granted.
Yeah for sure I think there's again there's only a handful of times where I've been able to actually enjoy the Christmas holiday and I'm very blessed that the company I are starting out the company the church I work for is they give us the week after Christmas off.
And so which is very generous of them and so I get to enjoy that time with family and it's great and I just enjoy that now like Christmas EU services and stuff that is like it's not a lot of work for me but it is like a lot of work to be hospitable and hosting and all that stuff.
I think I just enjoy the time with family like I enjoy like watching watching Christmas movies with my wife I'm not really crazy about Christmas music or but like I enjoy decorating the tree I also enjoy like again like you said people are generous and like you don't have to get me a gift even when people
just bring baked goods to the office like and then they're like hey Merry Christmas like I enjoy that because it's like hey like you didn't have to do that but like just the baked goods are good enough I don't need an actual gift. And so I think it's just celebrating that I'm sorry I didn't mean to interrupt you said speaking of potlucks to that's one of my favorite parts about this time of year is potlucks and people bringing like an expansion of what Chris was saying baked goods.
You know just being able to I don't know the food's good this time of year I'll say that yeah I will say that the food is good and you know places and businesses are generous to where it's like hey like you know you're getting Christmas bonuses or hey that we're going to give you Christmas deals to buy stuff right.
But I think you know again you know we always say the main reason for the season right Jesus and celebrating it and you know I enjoy that and I enjoy just getting to be together and again it's not really like I love receiving gifts but it's not about the presents for me it's just getting to spend that time with family I enjoy that just so much.
You know more than the food more than all that stuff I just enjoy time with family getting to rest and relax and slow down a little bit and like Michael said I'm very fortunate to where I get some time off of work which is nice. Yeah, and not something we're used to or something I'm still trying to get used to as well it's pretty pretty awesome.
You know another thing that I really enjoy is there's so much and this is going to you know this is coming there's so much good football this time of year. There's so much good stuff to watch right now as far on that front so it's pretty it's pretty awesome you know the food's great there's so much to be thankful for and to love about this time of year.
And I'm starting to learn that a lot more and I don't know and you know this is a small note but after the blazer that it was this year down here I'm just glad for the cooler weather to. Oh yeah. Oh one more thing I do enjoy the movies that come out during Christmas because that's usually a good time for movies. Oh man I this is some side note for off the podcast there's actually a movie that I want to see like go to the movie theater and see believe it or not besides colors of the fire moon.
Yeah well movie is it. It's the International Space Station one. Interesting enough. Well that's cool man. Well we're going to is there anything else that you enjoy about Christmas before we move on. No man I think we're going to move on. All right so we're going to move into our next segment which is the improv segment and that is the mystery donut. So you know it's Christmas and Tis the season to be jolly and speaking of jolly we got the old guys at the coffee shop for Christmas.
So yeah I think that's self-explanatory. I'm going to let you jump in first my friend. Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas. I'll tell you what. Jesus. Jesus. Don't take the lunatics. I'll tell you what. Everybody's following all these people on YouTube. Tell you what they shouldn't follow. Jesus Christ especially this time of year. Yo yo yo yeah I'm over here. My wife set me with these packages of cannolis to give out to you guys but I gotta be the bearer of bad news.
I kind of ate them on the way here so you're going to get thoughts and prayers for Christmas. I'm sorry I ate your cannolis but I mean they were tempting me. The other day I told Mr. John I say they were using the truck and they were driving very fast. I don't know in the conversation with Mr. John where this is going. I am just so excited for Christmas time. Hold on is that the buzzer guy? I love the buzzer guy.
Is the buzzer guy and I would appreciate if you did not interrupt me while I am trying to speak with you more on. I am so excited for Christmas because my wife makes the best Christmas cookies and I am ready to eat Christmas cookies and watch Home Alone 2 Plus in New York. Joe it's bitter. I haven't seen you since the cancer one. So what they got to do with the buzzer huh? Hey at me with the buzzer how is your easy Othelianoma acting? Sorry I had to clean up my stoma.
I am going to watch the Macy's Christmas Day Parade this year. I have been at Monanis for 45 years and just because Santa Claus on the back end of that parade don't mean that it is going to be Christmas time when that parade is happening. This thing is getting on the line. Oh what you talking about? My family do. My family work in because all you peckle words that come in because you forgot to burn the turkey.
You burn turkey, you come to my restaurant, you eat up all my chow mein and then you leave. No tip. No tip. Are you supposed to say Merry Christmas with no tip? Good day guys. I don't think really what needs to happen is you need to say that. That's my thought. Really you bloke you really don't need to go there. Twan it's just it's a good time of year isn't it? It's just a good time of year isn't it? I think it's the reason I said he's the reason for the season and speaking of blessings.
Can I bless you brothers with a Christmas prayer? Hey my girl Wadita she would love a Christmas prayer man. Listen ever since I I'm sorry go ahead and pray. Father I thank you for these brothers I thank you that they're from the ghetto from the barrio from the trailer park from all little China from everywhere from the north to south the east and the west and we thank you Jesus for bringing your little son into the main.
Well we thank you that because of the manger you grew up and you died on the cross and there ain't no cross without the Christmas tree. So we thank you for the ornaments. We thank you for the jingle bells. We thank you for the sleigh rides and we thank you for Santa Claus being born too. So we pray for these brothers as they go about their Christmas and Lord if you put it on their heart to be generous that they write a check because I need a brand new mosaic Jesus. Amen. That was our improv.
Yeah it's always a good time man. Always a good time. Well it's almost time to wrap up this Christmas episode put a bow on it and take it out to the trash can but before we do that. We got our E Claire so I've gone for it actually technically the past two times so it's your turn to go for it. Well I'm not going to do the whole cliche spend time with your loved ones and take it.
You know I'm not going to do all that but what I will say is this is a fantastic time of year to reflect on yourself and all the growth that you've made in progress this last year. That's one other thing you know people tend to do that at the beginning of the year. You know Christmas is also a time to think about who were you last Christmas. Where were you at last Christmas right and what have you achieved that you didn't think was possible. I know this thinking about it initially.
I don't think oh you know I really did too much different this past year but if I think about myself last Christmas. I think man how far I've come and how far I've you know how far you know how far I've come to this point and how much I've done in this past year. And you know it's amazing what you can do in a year.
So just take this time to reflect you know even if you work and think about where you were at a year ago and where you've made strides and growth because it's probably a lot more than you think. Oh yeah for sure man. And one thing about this time is like since it's towards the end of the year and it's the holidays and you start eating all the good ham and all the Christmas snacks. Man it's really easy to kind of get in that coasting mode where you're just kind of turning on autopilot.
But then once the you go back to work you're still kind of sluggish but I'd encourage you to still try to keep those disciplines keep those rhythms. It's OK to rest and relax. Don't get into that coma state that whole state right you got to stay ready so you ain't got to get ready and I know for me it's so easy to just kind of switch off and go on autopilot. So then when you go into the beginning of the year you're not really going 100.
So just just try to help motivate yourself kind of start getting slowly back into it prepare yourself a couple days before you have to go back to work so you're not just being sluggish. And so just yeah just be mindful of this time of year to. That's the same sense of loss. Yeah. And I do want to say that I know that Christmas sometimes is really hard for some people because this is like the first Christmas that they're spending without a family member.
And so just know that you know this is first Christmas but you're going to get through it and just continue to lean into that support group because it is hard man. It is hard when Christmas is kind of a sad time instead of a happy. Yeah absolutely but hopefully we brought you a little bit of cheer on this Christmas episode. But man I think it's about time to take this donut box out to the trash so we'll rep our spot TV trash can dot com TV trash can dot com as well as all of our socials.
We appreciate you from wherever you're listening from whatever platform we got a plenty. Did you even know there was a platform that I didn't even list but do you know we're on Google podcast too. I didn't even know that. I did know that actually I did know. So it's I think that makes us up to seven streaming services total six seven streaming services total. So wherever you're listening from we greatly appreciate it. Yeah man I'm ready to take this donut box out to the trash.
Well I'm Chris and I'm Micah and this is the donut box podcast. Micah the young Christmas I gave you my heart but the very next day you gave it away this year to set me from tears I give it to someone special. Christmas I gave you my heart but the very next day you gave it away this year to set me from tears I'll give it to someone special. .