Half Century Hangout
We are Half Century Hangout where different perspectives make for better discussions.! John, Luke and Chuck are three guys who grew up differently but became good friends with a lot to talk about. On this show three unique perspectives are brought to the table where we dive into everything from current events to life's big questions. We might not always see eye to eye... But that's exactly why we're here. So grab a seat and join us for honest conversation, unexpected insights, and a few friendly arguments.
Half Century Hangout
From Prime Rib To Pajamas! Merry Christmas from HCH!
If you’re craving a thoughtful, funny, and honest reset for the season—one that honors your roots while giving you permission to evolve—press play. Then tell us: which tradition are you keeping, and which are you reinventing this year? Subscribe, share with someone who needs a little light, and leave a review to help others find the show.
Gentlemen, we are in the season. Tiss the season. Tiss the season. And that season is Fallout. Oh. I thought it was the season of, you know, NFL players punching fans. I thought that was the season.
SPEAKER_01:Well, you gotta love those Pittsburgh Steelers, don't you?
SPEAKER_00:Well, I know, except for DJ Metcalf. You gotta love him.
SPEAKER_01:He's not really a Steeler.
SPEAKER_00:You know, he's he's gonna be paying out a few bucks. Although today is supposed to be his appeal, so we'll see. Oh my goodness. Did you hear about this? I did not.
SPEAKER_02:Tell me about it.
SPEAKER_00:So they played the Lions the other day, and this guy has been trolling him. By the way, he's been trolling them for a while, and he he just kind of got to him and he was on the sideline. The guy was up in the stands and he had a little four-inch like Pittsburgh Steeler jersey, and apparently he was calling him by his government name, like his real name, like his birth certificate name, which he doesn't like to be called. So he went over and the guy's kind of hanging over. He's got this blue hair because he's a Lions fan. He's hanging over, and the guy grab DJ Metcalf grabs him by the shirt and he kind of pulls him down and he's yapping at him and whatever the guy's saying, and he just smokes him, just gets him a good walks away.
SPEAKER_02:So, how do you have an appeal on something that's on video like that?
SPEAKER_00:Well, you know, of course, he said call him a racial slur and all this other stuff. Sure. Who knows? And the other guy already got a lawyer, and so I think it's a little bit of a money grab. I mean, I don't think that fans should be able to say whatever they want, right? But you can't also have the players going and punching fans in the face. Yeah. But he could lose even more money than just the two-game suspension, which is the last two games of the season. There was something written in his contract about different things, and he could lose like up to$45 million of guaranteed money. Wow. Because of suspension. So it would be costly.
SPEAKER_02:Didn't something like that happen in the NBA a number of years ago where a player went up into Detroit.
SPEAKER_00:Malice at the Palace. Yeah. Oh yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Don't mess with Detroit fans, man. Yeah, I'll tell you what, you guys are brutal. They're gonna go out, man. That's the way it is. But yeah, it's just the season. It's Christmas time, and we uh wanted to put together a little uh a little episode that talks about By the way. What?
SPEAKER_02:Merry Christmas. I don't know if I've said that to you guys yet or not.
SPEAKER_00:It's not Christmas yet.
SPEAKER_02:It is, it's like two days away. Hey, it's still it's still Advent.
SPEAKER_00:You know, so we just kind of Advent. We're still I mean you talk about you talk about that's funny that you said that because if we talk about Christmas traditions, that was always the one of the things that growing up, we never said Merry Christmas until it was Christmas Day. Really? It was just kind of when did you put up your because it was Advent. Because it was that's what it was. We didn't really think about it, right?
SPEAKER_01:When did you put up your your decorations?
SPEAKER_00:We usually did the weekend of Thanksgiving.
SPEAKER_01:Really?
SPEAKER_00:Usually, yeah. That's kind of about when we usually at least started to.
SPEAKER_01:So I don't know if it was a city ordinance, but no one's got turned on until the first week of December.
SPEAKER_02:I grew up in a non-religious family. Uh-huh. And I didn't even know what Advent was till I was well into my twenties. I had no clue. So we said Merry Christmas all the time.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. I say Merry Christmas. Pretty routine.
SPEAKER_00:I mean, I I still do too. Yeah. I think that, you know, traditions that I think that traditions that you have they go along with you for a while. I think. I mean, did you have Christmas traditions that you still do now, like from when you were a kid? I mean, realize you're in a different part of your life now, but you still have stuff that came along and went with you now?
SPEAKER_02:I think we actually went today and prepared for a Christmas tradition that my family has had ever since I was probably 10. And that is the prime rib. My mom started making it. And back then it was a I mean, it still is, but back then it was a huge sacrifice. And we always looked forward to still is now to prime rib. And and so, yeah, my mom would make up the prime rib and she'd do twice baked potatoes. And so today, Jen and I went and got our prime ribs for the family. We always do that as a gift to our family. Yeah. And yes, a chunk of change. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Yes. It's not cheap. That's for sure. I do, I do uh I do poor man's poor man prime rib. What is that? Chuck roast. Oh yeah. But if you do it right, it's it's pretty good. Like when you do it right, I do it on the smoker and do it. And do you slice it up? Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Yeah. So it works. You kind of do the thing. There's different ways to do it, but you you can do it in the oven too, where you like put it in there for oh, I think it was like 25 or 30 minutes at 500 degrees in your oven. Then you just turn the oven off and leave it in there.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, I've I've done that before. I've been smoking it the last few years, though.
SPEAKER_00:I mean, you can reverse sear, you can do a lot of different stuff to make it. But yeah. What about you, John? Traditions that either have or have not been passed. Continued on.
SPEAKER_01:The the thing that I think is more traditional in growing up and has continued on family, friends, and food. So my parents were big part of the community. My dad was a teacher and was music director at the church. And every year, starting off in the beginning of December, we had people over. That has continued. We still have friends and family, and you know, friends change. Family hopefully doesn't, but uh who comes maybe changes a little bit, and and you get married and you have different things go on. But you know, the food may change, but sounds like you've had prime rib for a number of years. We had that for a while. We one of our big ones is handballs. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Handballs is uh we have there was one year we said, okay, we're not gonna do prime rib, but we're gonna make we're gonna we're gonna make Springfield, Missouri style cashew chicken. Oh, yeah. It was a little bit of a wall let down, that's for sure. That's what it was.
SPEAKER_00:Um I think ours the as far as food-wise was was on Christmas Eve it was lasagna, which I made today. I made the sauce today, the meat sauce today, made the cheese mix. So after we get done today, I'm making that for tomorrow. And then Christmas Day was kind of always a little different because people were in and out, you know, like same thing from church and everything else. My whole childhood revolved. We've talked about this a little bit. Again, through Advent every Wednesday night, had things going on, and then church, Christmas Eve was always since I went to Lutheran school, you had the Christmas program, which was always the most packed day, even of Easter at our church. So that was big because the whole school, K through eight, was in the program, so everybody was there. Then you'd go home. We usually got to open one thing, not like a main present, but something, a little something, on Christmas Eve, and then you'd go back for the service at later in the evening, which we just lived across the street, so it wasn't too bad. But that was it, and he came home, went to bed. You get up in the morning, church was at nine o'clock or whatever, eight o'clock. And you'd always have the what I remember, and we have it in the house too, is uh the poinsettia, you'd always have that. They'd sell them at the church, and you'd bring it home Christmas morning after that. So that was always a big thing. But my grandma always stayed the night, which she usually didn't do that from Detroit. She always would come with and stay the night. So, you know, some of that stuff, I think, tradition-wise. What's the earliest tradition you remember? Gosh.
SPEAKER_01:My folks were going to my grandma and grandpa's for years, and we'd spend the dad was a teacher, so we'd all have that Christmas break off, and we'd go out and we'd spend time out at my mom at my grandma and grandpa's farm and we'd stay out there. But one of the memories I I have coming home, and it must have been around the time when I was maybe third grade, fourth grade, second grade, whatever, starting to question whether Santa was real or not. And we're out at grandma and grandpa's, and we usually had Christmas Eve out there, and then we'd drive home Christmas Eve and we'd get home late Christmas Eve and get up in the morning and and do Christmas presents, and Santa would come and all that. As we were getting home, I don't know how my mom and dad did it. They probably had a neighbor or somebody that that came down, but we get home and there's this runner sled on the porch, and it made me think, well, Santa's still around. Golly, this this is incredible. Santa's still here. That's fun. And to this day, I still believe in the magic of Santa. I think there's a lot of people that keep that magic alive. So that was one of the earliest memories I have about Christmas. How about you, Luke?
SPEAKER_00:I can honestly tell you that Santa was never a topic of discussion in my house growing up. Never. Like ever, really. And about the only thing that I really remember about Santa Claus was that my aunt, who at the time lived down at Branson with my uncle, he was a preacher down there. She would always send us, and we'd a lot of times see them. That was kind of a yearly. We would go down there to Branson at Christmas time. Sometimes we'd go down at Easter, sometimes they'd come to us because he was busy every week, right? So we couldn't really travel a whole lot. But she would send ornaments, and I remember getting this ornament, and I still have it, but it's kind of broken. But it was Santa like coming out of a chimney. And it was like a styrofoam ornament, you know, with stuff on it. And I just remember like, who's that? Like I didn't know who he was. Like, we because you know, I went to Lutheran schools, we were at the church, like that just wasn't a thing. So it never really wasn't like I don't have any pictures of me like at the mall with Santa. Like it just wasn't. I mean, as I got older, I knew who it was, but young memories, I don't we never Santa It wasn't a thing.
SPEAKER_02:It wasn't so was that an active thing on your parents' part to I mean it might have been.
SPEAKER_00:I just don't think that I just don't think that they pushed it. I think they just kind of we were in the church and this is it was, you know, yeah, yeah. Jesus was born and they we just never really, you know, as far as my memory goes, I don't remember us ever talking about Santa Claus, like ever once. Like so, but I think when I then became a parent, you know, I tried to instill it with the kids, you know, and and do the thing, but I don't think I ever grasped it real hard, yeah, just because. But the one thing that I remember from a young age was I told you my dad worked for Ford, so he was, you know, we certainly weren't wealthy, but we weren't really poor either. We were just blue-collar. But my dad moonlighted for these guys, and they were the Ewing brothers was their name, and they ran a print shop. So my dad would work for them during different projects and do stuff with them, and they would always come over sometime around Christmas and give our family something. Like that was kind of like he got paid, but they'd give him like a bonus. And it it was different stuff. I mean, they'd bring whatever, but one year, I don't remember what year it probably was. It was probably it was in the 70s, probably the late, maybe it was like 78, maybe something like that. We got our first color TV, and they brought it to us. So wow. It was, you know, not like the big wooden console one, but a big black thing, you know, whatever weighed a ton. And I remember them bringing that in the house, and we were like, and it had a remote, which I'd never seen that either. So it was those guys were the ones that brought a color TV into our so that's what I kind of remember about that. So if there was anything about Santa Claus, it was probably them. Their last name was Ewing. So Chuck and Irv Ewing. They that's what I a very early memory of Christmas that I have was them coming over to give my dad something or to give the family something because of all the work my dad did for them. So that's pretty neat.
SPEAKER_01:Color TV. It was a colored color. I love that. Gotta love it. It was pretty neat. Have you ever played Santa? Uh yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. Yeah. Becky said I looked like mad Santa the other day when I took a picture. I'm like, I'm sweating in this stuff. It's killing me. Killing me.
SPEAKER_01:Those those suits are very hot. Yeah. Very, very warm. I've been to Santa. Have you ever been to Santa?
SPEAKER_02:I've never been Santa. Yeah. Santa.
SPEAKER_01:I parked parked many, many blocks away and walked to the house that I was Santa.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. I do have a memory. We lived on a before my mom married Bob Kaiser, who's my my dad. He adopted me. We lived on a little street in Lakeview, Ohio called South Oak Street, 320 South Oak Street. And I do have a memory of my brother and I sharing a room, my brother Paul. We were sharing this room and we were looking out the window. And I could have only probably been maybe five or six. But I remember looking out the window, looking to see if we could see Santa Slay go by. And I think we saw my brother saw a shooting star, and we thought it was the sleigh.
SPEAKER_01:So that reinstilled that every year in Stanton, the veterans, I think, would get would put Santa Slay on a flatbed and take it around town to all the kids. So you had to call before. And it was like a week before Christmas, that that Saturday, Santa would come and it'd be Santa's helper. He'd bring you some toys or some kind of gift. And so Santa was huge in our house. And I grew up Lutheran.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, it just wasn't a thing. I don't know. Yeah. And I think like that was kind of leading me to the next spot was that is when did you notice that your Christmas traditions were changing? When did that happen?
SPEAKER_02:So for me, I it I very much wanted some traditions growing up, you know, for my kids. As my kids were growing up, I wanted some traditions. And so we did a lot of different things. We uh one of the very first things we did, we would go out and pick out a Christmas tree, like go to a Christmas tree farm. Yeah, we did pick it out, yeah. Have you know, I think one time or there were a few times maybe that where I actually had to cut it down.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:But later on, they started the the tree farm that we went to started to cut it down. And so that was one thing that we started, and we've done it for 30 years. I think this was the first year where we'd actually didn't go out and buy a Christmas tree. We bought a fake one, which my kids will probably be surprised at that. But and then I my kids are Wait, is it a real artificial tree?
SPEAKER_00:It's a real artificial tree. Okay, just check it. Those of you that don't know what that was, check out the episode before this one.
SPEAKER_01:Is it is it pre-lit?
SPEAKER_02:It is pre-lit. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Those are gonna buy an artificial one. That's the way to go. That's the only way to go.
SPEAKER_02:That's the only way to go. But each of my kids kind of started that tradition as well, so that's that's pretty cool.
SPEAKER_01:I think you were a real tree person for a long time. So I I grew up real tree. Dad, mom would always go out and we'd get a tree. And we had a tree farm in Stanton that we'd actually go to and cut the tree down, bring it home, and decorate it. And then as they got older, they started doing artificial, and I've never gotten a real tree since I've been married.
SPEAKER_02:So well, I bring up the tree because you you were talking about how your Christmas traditions are changing. As we are getting older, and my wife and I are getting older, and our kids are developing their own Christmas traditions, things just seem to be changing because we're not the same family, right? Yeah. And so this year, because of the snowstorm that we had and just some other circumstances that we couldn't line up schedules and different things, we didn't have that tradition of going out and getting the so they they change kind of just because life changes sometimes.
SPEAKER_00:And I think that I think that's kind of where the question was heading is just that it does change, and and our times have changed. And we always did when the boys were growing up, I always did a a real tree. And a lot of times I would cut it down in Michigan when I was up hunting because the place that we hunted back then, our land backed up to a Christmas tree farm, and the guy would just let us know, just go grab one, you know. They didn't he didn't really care. So we'd go out there and cut one down and I'd just bring it back. But then like the boys would go with and we'd go pick one out, and I'd have my saw that's still up there on the wall down and go out there and lay down and cut it down and bring it back. And then kind of as time went, and as the years went by, and I haven't gotten a real tree probably now for oh, 15 years, maybe. Yeah. And I think again, it's probably that. Actually, I take that back. There was one year that after Becky and I got married, that all the kids were here and we went to the place out on Dappen? No, it was on 75, like out toward Fort Calhoun, Frosties. Oh, yeah. Up on the hill, we went there. So that was fun. We just did it once together, and then everybody was like, okay, we're done with this. So, because they had never really done that, that wasn't their thing. So we tried and it was fun for that year just because we could all get together that time. But now, yeah, it's it's a little different. But even the fact of the decorating part used to be like everybody would come in and do it, and I granted I'm not a whole lot of help by myself sometimes doing it because it's just not I don't know.
SPEAKER_01:Like, I Lynn's much better at it than I am.
SPEAKER_00:And Becky, a hundred percent, because I know that, and this is not a shot at my wife at all, but I know that and I always feel this like if I'm putting an ornament somewhere, I'll I'll go back to get another one to come back, and I'll swear that the ornament I put it there, it was gone. It's over here now. And I'm like, I didn't put it there. I don't ask though. It's not okay. There's no those are there was one that we used to do, which we don't do it anymore, but it was you ever heard of the pickle before? Yep. So the pickle is like a little ornament, a little glass ornament, and then you hide the pickle in the tree somewhere. And whoever the first one is that gets finds the pickle gets to open their gift first. Yeah. That that was a tradition that kind of used to, but it's a German tradition that that that was one. But I think that everybody kind of changes their traditions once they become parents, because I think you hit the nail on the head where it's it's just like anything else when you become a parent. There's things that went on when you were a kid that you want to say, either, A, I don't want my kids to have to go through that, or I'd really like them to go through this. So it's either you know, kind of one way or there, but there's Christmas stuff that people learn from others. They go, Oh, that would be kind of fun to do.
SPEAKER_01:And I've you keep you keep some traditions and you you say I'll have that one.
SPEAKER_00:Let some others fade away.
SPEAKER_02:And there's nothing more stressful to a family, I think, than you know. Mama or daddy or grandma or grandpa or whatever who insists on this tradition's gotta happen. Or we're not celebrating Christmas, you know.
SPEAKER_01:John? Eddie. Some of the things that change, I think, are people who maybe pass on. And you don't have those that tradition doesn't continue. So here's an example. Every year Lynn and I would go home during Christmas break and spend like four or five days with my mom and dad until Christmas Eve. And then we'd go like like I did with my grandma. And then we'd go home and and have Christmas Day with her family. And so we don't do that anymore. We don't do those kinds of things because life changes. Sure. And I think I think you're right. When you when you have kids, even when you get married and you have to have two different families that you're dealing with. Which which one are you going to on Christmas Eve? Which one do you go to on Christmas Day? Is that what you do? And though those kinds of things. We we uh always went home. Every Christmas Eve, we'd go downtown in Stanton, and my dad would say, It's time for Christmas cheer. So we'd go down to the gas station downtown. They would always make popcorn on this old stove, and you'd have hear it popping and smell it, and it was really it smelled awesome. And we'd have whiskey sours every year. Just sit around. Old were you like 10? No, I was a little bit older than that. Okay, good. It was when we was gonna say John doesn't remember anything about Christmas. Who's hammered?
SPEAKER_00:Where do I let us think dad thing?
SPEAKER_01:The nice thing was dad would always fill our cars up. Now the gas is a little bit cheaper then, but but he'd always fill our cars up, and we'd go home.
SPEAKER_02:I think over the last couple years, one of the traditions we started, and I'm thinking it's we'll probably do it again this year, is we go to Christmas Eve service with you know our church, and and my youngest son, Cole, and his wife Shy invite us over usually for dinner for Christmas Eve dinner. We've done that the last couple of years. You know, maybe we'll do it this year.
SPEAKER_00:It's not always on Christmas Eve, but since Becky and I have been married, she she had done this before, so this was this wasn't new to them, but it was certainly new to me. Was driving around to look at Christmas lights. Oh, we did that. So it's not necessarily like on Christmas Eve, it's a couple days before that, but there's a place that we usually go, it's kind of out near, it's like off a Dodge, like 130th, 144th, up there somewhere. There's a neighborhood of very wealthy houses that have a lot of stuff. There's people drive, it's like a traffic jam almost. The kicker to that is is that, and I didn't realize this at the time, was you have to wear pajamas, which I'm just not a pajama person. No, and apparently you had to drink hot chocolate, which really not that person either. But yeah, it's tradition, why not? Yeah. So we we do it, and who's ever around? It used to be, you know, all the kids were around and we did it. The boys were always like, What are we doing? We're looking at Christmas lights. Oh, oh, okay. All right, put your pajamas on. Put your pajamas on. Like, what? You know, it's funny. But it was cool. Did you do that this year? We haven't done it yet. No, we're we're probably gonna go tonight. Okay. We talked about it a little bit, but the kids, this this year's a little bit different. The boys aren't coming until after Christmas, I think the 26th. But Beth and Logan can't from Florida because they were just here for a wedding a couple weeks ago. So it's it's gonna be a little different, but Hannah and Rachel be around everybody. We'll we'll still make it work, but I just don't know what day we're doing it yet.
SPEAKER_02:That's something I would think I would like to do regularly with our grandkids. We're actually going to go do that whenever we leave here. I'm gonna go pick up Jen and then we're gonna go pick up our two granddaughters, Rory and Murray.
SPEAKER_00:Are you gonna bring them lunch or are you gonna be dinner time? Oh, dinner, okay. Yeah, okay. What are you just gonna bring four for yourself? Check what happened. Anyways, go ahead.
SPEAKER_02:Anyways, I'm gonna go pick up Jin and then um, we're gonna go pick up Rory and Murray, and then then we're gonna go look at some lights. Yeah, nice. And Rory is three and Murray's like two in the game.
SPEAKER_01:Okay, speaking of lights.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:White. How much stuff white? Okay, I got it. Yeah, I I don't know. Not a colored lights guy. So I didn't used to be. Here's what I like. White at night, but colored kind of shows during the day. So we we keep our lights on all day, all night until we go to bed. When we get up in the morning, we turn them on when we get it when we go to bed at night. I have one tree that I keep with colored lights during the day and turn it to it's pre-lit. Turn it to white lights at night because it looks better with white lights.
SPEAKER_02:That for me is something that has changed. I think, and I think it's changed because of the types of lights that are out there. The old colored lights, C9s, all the LEDs, I did not like them. C9s. The big bulbs hated them. Yeah, love them, hated them. The colored ones, I hated. So, but now with those little LED colored lights, I think those look great. So I'm with the tree out back has colored lights.
SPEAKER_00:If I could, if I at some point I'm gonna switch. I mean, we're gonna have that pre-lit tree that's white, but at some point I'll go back to C9s on my side stuff.
SPEAKER_01:White lights. I love I agree with that. I like white lights. Is it just the nostalgia of the C9s that you like? They are pretty cool.
SPEAKER_00:I I like them. I don't really there's there's places where I see like the LED is that bright white, like that real, it's not the yellow white, it's that bright white almost blue sometimes. Eh, yeah, I mean, it's okay. But I that LED thing sometimes is it'd be like me putting fluorescent lights up. Like it's not it's not like natural lights. So those like on the front of my house, you can't see them now, but it's just white. The normal, I mean they're small, they're not C9s, but they're small, but I just like the white. And our tree is white, small lights.
SPEAKER_01:Okay, I got one more one more question for decorations. Okay. Blow ups.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, you see my yard. Yeah, we know a guy that has them.
SPEAKER_01:We we have someone in our neighborhood. Every square inch of the yard is used by a blow up.
SPEAKER_00:I'm telling you, there's all kinds of stuff. All right, Christmas lightning round. All right, you ready? Yeah. So we're just gonna go around the thing and I'm just gonna hit you. I'm gonna hit you. Don't think. We need like two words. Okay. Okay, you ready? Right. First one worst Christmas gift you ever received, Chuck. Eggnog.
SPEAKER_01:John? Tax shelter.
SPEAKER_00:I was just I was just gonna turn mine over a summons, but we'll we won't go down that road.
SPEAKER_01:What the hell was that? I you know, you get the gift and you say, Oh, thank you very much. And then you turn to your friend and you say, What the hell was that?
SPEAKER_00:I don't know what that is. Most overrated Christmas food. Eggnog. Come on! Seriously. Go ahead. Ustakaka. I'm going in with Christmas cookies. Oh, all right. Real tree or fake tree? Real tree. Fake. Both. Christmas song you absolutely cannot stand.
SPEAKER_02:Santa Baby.
SPEAKER_01:The worst ever. It is The Waitress' Rapping Christmas. I hate that song. That's terrible. Never heard it. Glad I have it. Look it up.
SPEAKER_00:Christmas song you can't stand. Now I'm to me, and I didn't even think because that was isn't there a song called Eggnog? I'm surprised you didn't pick that one. Eggnog. Uh, I don't even know.
SPEAKER_02:Hey, can I give you a close? Can I give you a close second?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:This Christmas by George Michael. Worst ever. Oh, yeah. Yeah, I go with that one. Yeah, I don't like that. All right.
SPEAKER_00:Christmas movie you'll fight for every time.
SPEAKER_01:Home Alone.
SPEAKER_00:I diehard.
SPEAKER_01:Hey, yeah. I like Die Hard. My favorite, and it's a really more of a Christmas special, but my favorite is A Year Without a Santa Claus.
SPEAKER_00:Okay. You know, I threw that diehard out there because that's the argument. Is it really a Christmas? It is. I think it is. But really, really, what I think my favorite one is, is is it's a wonderful life.
SPEAKER_02:That's that's my long one.
SPEAKER_00:What does Christmas mean to you now?
SPEAKER_02:You want to answer that one first, John?
SPEAKER_00:John was like, oh good, he's gonna give me some time.
SPEAKER_01:Family, friends, and faith. Okay. That's what it means to me. And and faith is probably first. Yeah, that's what it means to me.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, I I mean the big idea of Christmas for sure is definitely about God becoming human, seeing the brokenness of mankind, uh becoming human. And then it doesn't end at Christmas, right? Actually, he lives a life that we couldn't live. He dies a death that we weren't even qualified to die, even if we thought we might be. And then he did something no other human beings has ever done. He rose from the dead, and we know he's coming back again, i.e. the second advent. So for me, that's that's what Christmas means, and that's the reason I celebrate Christmas.
SPEAKER_00:I think for me, as the years have gone by, I think that I always probably even as a as a youth, was why why does our attitude and our actions change during Christmas time? I realize it's very celebratory, and there's obviously things on a much grander level than our life can even imagine. But I always think when I think of Christmas now, is I try to try to harness some of what to me might be kindness that I show or things and try to say, you know what, this year I'm really gonna spread it out more. Like I need to do this all year and not just be in this month or this couple weeks or whatever it is, because I think our will can use it. And I think it's good to try to think that way that we can still have Christmas and it's still important, and it's still obviously joyous to have family around and to be able to share with people this common thing, but we can also bring that joy throughout the year to a lot of people that really need it, you know, not just at Christmas time, but all the time. Yeah, you know, so I think that's the way I look at it now as I'm getting older. It's it's kind of like spread the cheer, but kind of do it year round as best I can. I'm not real good at it, but I try and I think about it like it's a process, but we try, try to grow from it.
SPEAKER_01:We'll try to help you be accountable for thanks.
SPEAKER_00:Thanks.
SPEAKER_01:One more F faith, oh, family, friends, food. I love the food too, but forgiveness. Oh, yeah. I think we need to forgive people and forgive ourselves. And and that's why Jesus came forgiveness and the grace that we give others and the grace that we get from him. And that's Christmas to me.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, I think it's easy to get caught up in the the commercialization of of Christmas, and then like you said, come January, you're back into the doggy dog stuff, you know. But if you think about what re Christmas really is, the meaning of Christmas, it is about grace, it is about forgiveness, it's about mercy and love and kindness. And so I think as we look at this Christmas and and if we could move into 2026, not only like not leaving those things behind, but you know, showing those those those attributes to to others. Because if you think about it, we've been like we've been showing those things, haven't we? 100%. I mean, that's what our whole life. Yeah, our whole life. Open open-mindedness, right?
SPEAKER_01:And that's what this podcast is about.
SPEAKER_02:And we show that we show those things to each other, and I think we I know I do. I'm not gonna speak for you guys, but I know I need to widen my circle a little bit of who I show grace and mercy and kindness and love to.
SPEAKER_00:So you know what, Chuck? I forgive you for not bringing me lunch today. Thank you.
SPEAKER_01:And by the way, Luke, thank you. Thank you for the fireplace. Because it's yeah, there's a fireplace behind my head. It's pretty amazing. Maybe we should maybe we should put this on YouTube and start filming it. I don't know.
SPEAKER_00:Uh speaking of that, there will be this will be our last one of 2025. Yep. Uh, but we will be starting out 2026 with uh a little different format. We're gonna we're gonna build some different things in. We've been talking to some people about a few projects of things we want to do. Uh, but looking forward to some changes, uh our personalities will still be here. They're not gonna change. Yeah, but the topics might change, format might change a little, maybe even musical change. You never know. But um, what we really want is to make sure that everybody has a great Christmas with your family, friends, and whoever else is there. Watch a little football along the way, have some fun with that. Uh, but just enjoy the time. But remember, whatever you're feeling now, try to spread that out through the whole year. Make the world a better place.
SPEAKER_01:Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas.
SPEAKER_00:Happy New Year to both of you guys. We'll see you in 2026.
SPEAKER_01:Like a Merry Christmas, peace out.
