The Saints That Serve Podcast
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Where each week, your hosts dive into the crossroads of faith, culture and the unknown.
Christ is Lord and the Kingdom is now!
We are The Saints That Serve!
The Saints That Serve Podcast
Episode 13 - Unwrapping Christmas Traditions
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Ever wonder if your Christmas traditions are more than just rituals? Join us as we unravel the history behind some of your favorite festive customs, promising to surprise you with the real stories of their origins. We explore the fascinating journey of the Christmas tree from its roots in medieval Europe to its modern-day significance, debunking myths about its pagan past along the way. You'll hear about Martin Luther's starlit inspiration and a personal tradition of hanging a special picture on the tree, blending historical insight with heartwarming family stories.
As we embrace the holiday spirit, our conversation shifts to the delightful world of Christmas media. From the heartwarming antics of Kevin McCallister in "Home Alone" to the explosive events of "Die Hard," we debate what truly qualifies as a Christmas movie, all while sharing laughs over holiday film favorites. You'll appreciate the performances of legendary actors and revisit iconic moments from classics like "It's a Wonderful Life" and "Elf," while also pondering the deeper themes of family and togetherness these films evoke.
Finally, we reflect on keeping Christ at the center of our celebrations, turning festive traditions into opportunities to share the gospel message. Whether it's through setting up a Christmas tree or enjoying a classic holiday tune, we explore how these beloved customs can deepen our understanding of the true essence of Christmas. Join us for a joyful, insightful, and entertaining exploration of all things Christmas, wrapped in love and simplicity.
If you want to send us a question or a comment you can by texting us by clicking this link!
Exploring Christmas Traditions With Joy
Speaker 2Welcome to the Saints that Serve , podcast where , each week , your hosts dive into the crossroads of faith , culture and the unknown .
Speaker 1Christ is Lord and the kingdom is now . We are the Saints that Serve . Saints that serve . Welcome everybody to the saints that serve podcast . I'm going such high energy and you slowed it down so hard .
Speaker 2Sorry .
Speaker 1I am Jairus and I'm Johnny , and this is episode 13 . That's right . Of the Saints that Serve podcast . That's right and right now . We are in the middle of our joyful season .
Speaker 2Joyful , joyful . You missed the opportunity .
Speaker 1joy to the world the lord has come so , yeah , we're in the middle of our joyful season . Uh , that is our christmas season . If you haven't yet go back back to episode 12 of this podcast , that's the beginning of the Joyful Season . This is right now episode two of the Joyful Season , which is episode 13 . Of the podcast overall , that is correct . That's how I don't know . It is weird a little bit right how we number things like this is episode one of Joyful Season , but it's you know what I mean , or 12 , and then this is 13 and yeah , this is our second episode of the joyful season , labeled as episode 13 .
Speaker 1My question to you is next year , when we get back to joy joyful season again , will that be episode ? Because we'll have five episodes of the joyful season here , four or five , one of the two , I think it's five , yeah , five , okay , we'll have five episodes of the joyful season here , four or five , one of the two , I think it's five . Yeah , five , okay , we'll have . We'll next year's joyful season be episode six of the joyful season , oh , or will it be 2025 joyful season ?
Speaker 2Episode one . I think we should cross that bridge and tackle that bear when we get to it .
Speaker 1I would just shoot . I would just shoot the bear , I wouldn't tackle it . Sometimes more more likely to win . You know , I'm not a I'm not a freak like you who can take down a bear barehanded I'm not a fighter , I'm a shooter anyway . So yeah , welcome to the podcast . Um , do we have ? Do you have any announcements for us ?
Speaker 2no , just uh . If you need prayer , we're praying for you Every Friday , every Friday . Make sure that you reach out to us , jairus . How can people reach out to us ?
Speaker 1People can reach out to us on Spotify . They can make comments on Spotify . They can make comments on YouTube . They can email us at saintsthatsthatserve at gmailcom . They can text us .
Speaker 2And you can text us by scrolling down to the bottom of the description of this video and clicking the link that says hey , you can text us , um , and if you're not watching the video on youtube , the description for this episode , wherever you're getting your podcast just scroll down to the bottom of that description and then there's a link and then you can message us that way . That's what I just said . Yeah , but you said video , sorry .
Speaker 1So , yeah , wherever you listen to your podcast , whether it be watching it or listening to it , even though it's just a still image , not like metal , but a stationary image of our logo . Yeah , I got you .
Speaker 2I'm picking up what you're throwing down .
Speaker 1Please do , because I didn't throw it . I dropped it , alright . Well , anyways . So you want to get straight into it ?
Speaker 2Yeah .
Speaker 1I will say we don't have any comments on episode 12 , because , as of this recording , it has not released yet .
Speaker 2We are recording episode 13 and we recorded episode 12 20 minutes ago .
Speaker 1Yeah , so you're going on a trip , so we got to bank these bad boys while for a while you're gone .
Speaker 2We got a little bit behind because I went on a trip and then now we gotta double up just to stay afloat and then then we'll be .
Speaker 1Whenever you get back , we'll be behind again , yeah , and then we'll have to get back and find some way to double up , but that's okay .
Speaker 2That's okay , that's fine , because you know what we do it for you guys , because we love you guys . We love you guys , even those in Germany .
Speaker 1You need to look up real quick how to say I love you guys in the different languages of the countries we are currently getting views in .
Speaker 2Oh yeah , that's going to be Go ahead . It's going to be tough . Come on , just pull out the Duolingo . Ich liebe dich , I love you . Nice , that's German , is it ? I love you or I love you guys ? I don't think it makes sense to add guys to it . This is but I'm probably pronouncing that really wrong . Yeah , and then here , here we go . Uh , jag askardig in swedish , once again probably wrong , hey they'll .
Speaker 1I bet you they'll hear it enough to know what we're trying to do . We are making an effort to make you feel welcome there we go and belonged in this community .
Speaker 2That's right I won't be able to do chinese because it doesn't translate it into a english pronunciation . Yeah , look at that . Yeah , it just does it in uh they're in their , uh , chinese , chinese symbols .
Speaker 1Yep , so there you go , and then um . The last one you need to do is Canadian , canadian , oh .
Speaker 2Oh , I really appreciate you , fellas , eh , eh , oh , yeah , I really appreciate you guys . There you go , that's Canadian , oh , there you go .
Speaker 1Oh there you go , Breaking my heart again that was more like Swedish the way I did my oh yeah , oh , that was more like it wasn't Swedish the way I did my oh yeah , oh yeah , yeah . What's the difference From Canadian and Swedish ? I mean location . Swedish are like the Canadians of Europe Just downright kind great people , really northern people that are just nice . So are the Germans . They made a great car . The Germans are not the Canadians of Europe , europe I said they're also great people .
Speaker 2Oh , oh , yeah , they are . They've made some mistakes , but we all have no , they made a mistake with one leader . That really just tarnished our image yeah , but they're responsible for two world wars .
Speaker 1I was trying to figure out what you were doing with your fingers up as two . I thought you were trying to give me a sign like shut up , we're not going to talk about this , or something .
Speaker 2A comedian did that as a joke . He's like , germany announced that they had finally paid off all of their debt from World War I . He's like can you just imagine a German accountant being like mean , like okay , we've got that on the z books now . Uh , what do we have next on the docket ? Oh , oh yeah , number two , number two , anyways . Are you ready to get into christmas joyful ?
Speaker 1season I am . I'm ready for the most joyous season ever . Sweet , all right . So , hey , tyler , this is your transition . You're now moving on to talk about joyful things . What ?
Speaker 2do you know about the Christmas tree ?
Speaker 1I know that . It is a tree that we put in our house . We put presents under it and we put ornaments on it , yep , and we put a star , angel or bow .
Speaker 2I saw that you have a bow on yours yeah , we need to get in , we need to get like a star , an angel I was gonna say , is it because ? Because , like your tree is real , you have a real tree yeah , that's just what we've always had as a topper since we got married . I got you .
Speaker 1I well , I was gonna say that , like , your tree is like one inch from touching the ceiling , not even an inch . Like half an inch is very close to the top of the ceiling . Yeah , did you pull ? Is that just how it happened for this year ? Yeah , yeah , you cut it and it was perfectly cut . Yeah , be right there . Yeah , that's awesome . Yeah , I didn't have to trim it or anything . So , anyway , so we decorate it . Uh , in my family we kind of did ornaments and then just like the ornament , like you know , store-bought ornaments and then a mixture of the ornaments that we made as children on the tree .
Speaker 2Yeah , so that's probably everybody right well , yeah , I was gonna say because apparently a lot of people do themed trees or their tree , if they only have one tree has a theme like , like a color theme or like what do you mean by theme ?
Speaker 2Yeah , like a color theme or decor theme . Like you know , people are notorious for having a Grinch tree , so everything that's an ornament on the tree is Grinch themed , gotcha . Or like a Disney tree , like everything on the tree is Disney or you know . Whatever it is , it's themed , it's everything decoration wise on the tree has to do with whatever the theme is . I've got you Growing up it was always for us it was lights , we would do garland , and then it was , yeah , everybody's ornaments that they either made or got as a gift . So it's just , whatever ornaments were on the tree were on the tree .
Speaker 1What is your tree upstairs , right the tree . What is , uh , your tree upstairs right now ? What is the theme of that one ?
Speaker 2it's pretty much that it's . It's just ornaments that we've had been gifted to us . We just put them on the tree for that as as memories um , and then we do like all natural perishable things , so , like we've got pine cones that we've um strung up , we're gonna put some orange slice dried orange slices I did see those sitting out yeah , so we do different stuff , like that on the tree nice is that , uh , that thing that your kid hit me with really hard a minute ago , supposed to be part of the tree ?
Speaker 2it was like a beaded thing oh yeah , we got that , uh , as a like a wrap for around the tree , but then it ended up not being long enough .
Speaker 1I got you so now your kid uses it as yeah , now he's just been running around with it , hitting people with it I was just chilling in the kitchen talking and like all the kids were kind of play , play , fighting , and just out of nowhere I just get hit so hard in the arm , whacked , just whacked . So youngest child , I'm watching you , I almost said his name , oh no , I'm like well dang it . Yeah , so , hey , I caught myself , good
Debunking the Christmas Tree Myth
Speaker 1job , but anyway . So Christmas trees , it's pagan , right , it's a pagan tradition .
Speaker 2So that's what people say , but it's not my research . For the Christmas tree , as far as like what we do , has nothing to do with any pagan tradition . People like to say that its origins come from these different pagan festivals that have to do with solstice Right , which we talked about last episode , with the adoption of the winter solstice and you said the rebirth of the Roman sun , god .
Speaker 1And so whenever Christianity became the prominent religion in Rome , they took that and , instead of completely abolishing that week of celebration that they had , they replaced it with a Christian tradition . Yep , and that's why Jesus's birthday , even though it wasn't actually on December 25th , is why we celebrate it for December 25th . That's right .
Speaker 2That is a bit of summary of last week's episode there you go yeah , so yeah , there's something to do with the tree that has to do with Sol Invictus , I think . And then there was like something with the Germanic peoples that had to do with trees , and then the Yule Log for the Vikings and all this other stuff . Throughout history people have used trees for different festival things , right stuff . Throughout history people have used trees for different festival things , right . So everyone was just wants to say , yeah , the christians just adopted a pagan practice for their holiday , but the christmas tree was developed somewhere around the 13 to 1500s as a celebration for christmas . So this is hundreds of years after these other pagan festivals subsided . So have come and gone . Yeah , so it's not like they were like we got to do away with this pagan holiday and celebration and and so let's just make it a christian thing and they can still do their tree thing , but it it'll be for Christian stuff .
Speaker 2It didn't happen that way . The Christmas tree part aspect of Christmas happened in a Christian environment . So the church started . Somehow it got started in the church . So there's argument about how it came about . One argument I heard was that Luther Martin Luther Right .
Speaker 1He's pointing at a book of Martin Luther . If you go watch the election live stream , you can see it to John's left .
Speaker 2Yep , we got a book of Martin Luther . I just noticed it said catalog it's a catalog , I don't know , it's Martin Luther Treasures of the Reformation . And then it says catalog I don't know , anyways , cataloging these pictures . Yeah , yeah , it says that he was walking home one night . Who was he In winter ? Martin Luther , martin Luther , martin Luther . And he noticed how beautiful the combination of the stars and the evergreen trees were . So he chopped down a tree , brought it home and then put candles in it and lit the candles to try and replicate that imagery of the stars in the tree .
Speaker 2And of course that didn't last long , because when you put a fire in a tree in the tree and , of course , that didn't last long , because when you put a fire in a tree , well so , but that's the part of the evergreen tree . The idea is that it because it's an evergreen meaning it's always alive . That's the imagery behind that . As Christians , we are eternal .
Speaker 1No , I was making a joke that he set his house on fire .
Speaker 2No , because that's the thing is before electricity , people would put candles in the tree and they would light them . Well , how would they not ?
Speaker 1Not like in the core of the tree , sure , but still even around it . I feel like . I feel like people's houses burned down for just having a lit candle in the middle of a table .
Speaker 2Like if , yeah , if you're irresponsible , it can catch on fire .
Speaker 1It sounds pretty irresponsible to put a fire in a tree .
Speaker 2So if your Christmas tree , if it's a live tree , if it dries out , meaning you don't keep it watered , it will get flammable , but if you keep it watered it won't be combustible like that .
Speaker 1All right . So all these statements are coming from me , a man who has always had fake trees . Yeah , we've never had a real tree growing up .
Speaker 2It's so much fun , like just the process of picking it , like not going to the like home depot and grabbing a pre-cut tree , not to dog you out or anything , but it to me really doesn't sound that fun . No , I get it . I mean it's not .
Speaker 2It's not for everybody , but it is fun , especially with the boys yeah I take my kids and my wife and we go to a tree farm .
Evolution of Christmas Tree Tradition
Speaker 2We look for a tree . We pick out the one that we like that we think would look good in our home . We cut it down , you know , and then we pay for it , and then we drive it home and we set it up and we put all you know , then we decorate it , we put all our ornaments on and we water it , and , and , as we go through the christmas season , we keep our tree watered um , and , you know , decorations end up coming off of it because of the boys , and so we keep on redecorating and ?
Speaker 1but because you said that it's all natural decorations , it's .
Speaker 2It's not like anything's getting destroyed yeah , no , no , we don't have any of our really nice like glass ornaments up on the tree or anything like that .
Speaker 1So I will say you do have a very important decoration that you put out before the tree , though that's right , we do our very first decoration , a picture of jairus that's right .
Speaker 1It says to my biggest fan with love merry , christmas , jairus , bleep , bleep , because it has my last name on it . Yeah , so , um , and you posted a picture of that right ? Yes , it's on the instagram . You can come go see . Look at our first ornament that gets put up every year . It's beautiful . It is beautiful . I am 10 years younger in that photo because you've had that thing for 10 years right , yeah , jeez , yeah , dude .
Speaker 2We've been putting it up for a decade . It's crazy . Yeah , so Christmas trees started somewhere between 13 and 1500 .
Speaker 2And it started along there's kind of a foresty area along the border of France and Germany , and so that's a spot that people seem to say like this is where the tradition started , was kind of along the French side of the river or maybe the German side . Whatever the idea is , it's during a predominantly Christian because Europe is all Christian by this point and so it started in a Christian culture . People were bringing , cutting trees down and bringing them into their homes around the Christmas season , specifically , around the Christmas season specifically , and then , over time , things like decorating them get more elaborate , and then , when we get into America , they didn't start decorating trees in America until after the Revolutionary War , like the Haitians from Germany brought the idea of decorating trees at Christmas time to America during the Revolutionary War , and so they didn't really start taking off in the America until the 1800s , though that is quite further back than I would have pictured it trees being in America for some reason yeah , it didn't .
Speaker 2Now it didn't get popular like mainstream popular until , I think , like the 1900s , and then it started getting commercialized . I think that the first White House Christmas tree was like 1920s or something like that and then the whole idea of artificial trees started popping up and people started doing artificial trees and they had like the tin or the aluminum trees I don't know if you remember that was a thing , not that was like before us , but still historically like people would put up an aluminum tin or a tin . I don't know , it was a metal tree , I don't remember like .
Speaker 1Was it just like a rudimentary , like hexagon shaped , or or did they try to make the pine needles out of it , with metal as well ?
Speaker 2I don't know . I think it was kind of more of like a cone shape and then it had ornaments on it that feels super weird , like a more modern day hipster thing , Like I'm going to have the metal tree . Yeah , so they did try to make it look like a , like a actual christmas tree with like thistles and stuff , but it was all metal , I guess , gotcha I don't know , man , that sounds like that'd be awful to put up , because I you would get stabbed .
Speaker 1You get stabbed so much putting up a normal tree , right ? Yeah , so like imagine , ow , ow , oh , that's through my hand now .
Speaker 2Yeah , you know the the guy I was listening to here . Yeah , here's some pictures of them , so they look . I mean , it looks like a tree pretty much yeah , it just looks like a .
Speaker 1It looks like a fake tree . That's shiny . But yeah , I see what you mean .
Speaker 2Yeah , it's just a shiny tree , yeah , but uh , yeah , the guy I was listening to he's like the . The , the aluminum tree got pretty popular until charlie brown christmas movie came out and then everybody wanted a puny little tree . And then , well , but because they they correlated in the movie the aluminum tree with the commercialism of christmas and that's not what christmas is about . And so then after that the sales tanked and now it's like nobody wants a aluminum tree all right , you can , everybody in the audience can shame me .
Speaker 1You can shame me here . I've never seen that . You've never seen charlotte around christmas . I have not , never seen I know what it is . Same way with , like um the great pumpkin people really like to watch that one around Thanksgiving and Halloween .
Speaker 2Yeah .
Speaker 1I've never seen that one either .
Speaker 2Well , it is good and it's at the very like towards the end of it , because they're trying to put on a Christmas pageant and they all get carried away in the pageantry of trying to make Christmas look big and spectacular and stuff of trying to make christmas look big and spectacular and stuff , um . But at the end of the towards the end of it , um , what's his name ? Linus charlie , I think it's linus lucy , no , linus dirt bag .
Speaker 1He gives the who , sorry , who's dirt . I said dirt bag , who's dirt bag ?
Speaker 2uh , pig pen , pig pen , pig pen no , linus gives the nativity story at the end of it and brings it back to . That's what christmas is about . It's about a child coming into this world who's going to be the savior of humanity
The Origins of Christmas Traditions
Speaker 2. Woodstock no , it was not woodstock . Woodstock doesn't even talk . Snoopy . Snoopy doesn't talk . The parents , snoopy guys what about the parents ? They go what they're talking , dude . What if we made up our own language ? That was wah-wah .
Speaker 1No , we were actually able to communicate no , what we need to do is to play a prank on your children , show them Charlie Brown a whole lot , and then around them just start going wah , wah , wah , wah wah now you got to create the dialect where it's like however many wah is in the like you start with in your very first go depends on what you're talking about .
Speaker 2If it's one , it's singular .
Speaker 1Talking about yourself two's plural , three's that's so complicated I thought you're about to say how long you hold your wall is the letter . So it's like what is a , y is b and z is ?
Speaker 2no , but like you know , if you're talking about yourself , you go wah , wah , wah and you go into it . But if you're talking about us , we go wah , wah , way , wah , wah , wah . Or if we were talking about a third party , someone else , you go wah , wah , wah , way , wah , wah , wah , like that I love how you just made up a more complicated language than japanese , and japanese is already very complicated , isn't ? I thought English was one of the most complicated languages yeah but we're speaking that right now .
Speaker 2So yeah , but that's just because we're born into it . But apparently everyone who learns English is like this is so hard , sure , but it's hard for us because they keep on making up words you already know English .
Speaker 1I was making a comparison . Comparison for you that you could say oh yeah , japanese .
Speaker 2Do you know what I think would be a really hard language to learn Klingon .
Speaker 1Ancient Phoenician . What's that lost language ? There's a lot of lost languages . Just name one of those .
Speaker 2Ancient Phoenician .
Speaker 1That would be really hard to learn .
Speaker 2Yep , what's another one Babylonian ? Nobody speaks Babylonian anymore . Why not ? Because babylon doesn't exist . God wiped off the face of the earth by the meat and persians a hundred percent yep , so anyways . Yeah , christmas tree dude , it went down in like the 13th century Purely a Christian creation .
Speaker 1That's crazy . Do you think that is like an attack on the enemy to take something that is Christian originating and try to make it look lesser ? Because you know I hear a lot of people like well , you know Christmas tree is pagan , you know it's a pagan tradition and they belittle the holiday celebrating christ .
Speaker 2you know what I'm saying yeah , um , this is my personal opinion . This is not backed by any research . But people come up with , people see something and then feel the need to create content around it and put the idea out there , and then a lot of people run with it . So someone's like , oh , did you know that for this viking festival that happened around the same time that christmas happened , they would burn a log and they called it the yule log and they would decorate it before they burned it and all this stuff . So that's where we got the tradition of the christmas tree for christmas , because jesus wasn't born in december . So where did we get this holiday ? Why do we do it in december ? Oh , it's because it's pagan and so . And then they go into it that way . So really , anything to confuse and distract . I I don't know if that's where the intention is . I think that the heart is in the right place , where it's like let's bring it back to Christ . But they're not doing the full research on the specific things . That's the thing it's like yes , there's a Yule log for this Viking festival that happened somewhere around December . Yes , there's other pagan holidays that happened to this .
Speaker 2Here's the issue is every single culture inside and outside of Christianity . Every single culture celebrates the winter solstice in some way or another . They all have their own holidays because it's a changing of the season . So they have a festival to acknowledge that . We , as Christians , we celebrate that solstice or the changing of the season , because for us this is the end of the year . So we're going into a new year , we celebrate the birth of Christ , because the birth of Christ is the start of the new covenant with Christ , right ? So that's the idea , is that at the end of the you know , yeah , the founding of it was to replace Sol Invictus and we would remember the birth of the , the son of God , and we would celebrate the birth of the , of the one and only son of God . But it is also kind of beautiful that it starts at the end of the year . We're starting to move into a new year and we're starting that with the remembrance of the birth of Jesus Christ , who starts the new covenant for the people of God . So it is beautiful .
Speaker 2And then we get around to the Christmas tree and the imagery of the Christmas trees . It's an evergreen tree that , no matter the season , no matter the challenge , it's living and it's active . And , as Christians . That's what we are , no matter the challenges of this earth . We are alive in Christ and we live on in Christ . So that's the beauty of the Christmas tree is that it is a evergreen tree and , yes , we decorate it up , we bring it into our homes and we decorate it up to celebrate the birth of Christ as a party tree . But it's the imagery is it's the eternal tree . It's a tree that lives all year round . We are eternal beings , we live all year round and we're being clothed in righteousness or being decorated in Christ . So that's a that's an interpretation , in a way that you can look at it .
Speaker 1Yeah .
Speaker 2For all those out there who have believed for so many years that the Christmas tree is a pagan tradition it's not . It was created by Christians , because , once again , there's a lot of different cultures that do a lot of different stuff with trees , but when Christmas trees started , it was in an area that was 100% Christian and it was hundreds of years removed from any kind of pagan correlation to it , and the intent behind it is to give glory to God .
Speaker 2Yeah , it was adopted to be a part of the festivities of the birth of Christ , mm-hmm , of the festivities of the birth of Christ . So you know , we're so smart because we've got all this information at the tip of our fingers in the 21st century . But , for you know , they changed the they , they acknowledged the birth of Christ in December to replace a pagan tradition or whatever . 300 years after that , we , or 300 years removed from it , they could have changed it because no one had any care whatsoever about that pagan religion , because it was totally dead . So they could have been like you know what we really need to be honest and stay true to Jesus' birth . So we're going to do it in April . But they didn't , and everyone was fine with acknowledging the birth of Christ at the end of the year , at the winter solstice , and it didn't take away from the fact of who Jesus is . It didn't take away from the glory of who Christ is and no one cared about the pagan stuff that it was kind of adapted from .
Speaker 2So for hundreds of years people have celebrated Christmas with the intentions and acknowledgement of it is the celebration of the birth of Christ . That's the reason we do it , so to say , like we shouldn't celebrate Christmas because it was adopted from a pagan holiday . And now here we are , 2,000 years removed and we're in a very modern society that just worships with consumerism . All we do is buy , buy , buy and take and give and give and take and take , and it's like all about the stuff . And take and give and give and take and take , and it's like all about the stuff . And it's because it's got all this pagan undertones is what people you know try to say . But it's like no , we just need to have the context of history . Yes , we get it . There was a pagan holiday on December 25th and the church adapted to celebrate Jesus' birth on that so that people would stop celebrating the pagan holiday . Got it ? Still acknowledging jesus . It's still all about jesus .
Speaker 2Here we are with the christmas tree . We , you know different cultures and different religions have different trees that they do stuff with for holidays . But the Christmas tree was specifically started by Christians in a Christian time in history in remembrance and celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ during Christmas . St Nicholas . Santa Claus talked about that last week . It was founded on and based on a true person who was a devout Christian who followed the Lord , who is all about selfless giving and reflecting the love of Christ through selfless giving and at the core of Santa . That's what the idea of Santa is . It's about selfless giving because Santa Claus doesn't get anything in return . That character is he gives toys to all the good little girls and boys . He doesn't get anything back from them .
Speaker 1Well , I get gifts . I'm a grown man , yeah .
Speaker 2So , but you know , we just need to take these things and realize that , hey , we have these different quirky little things that we do for Christmas , to celebrate Christmas and to celebrate the Christmas season . How did they get started ? And , at the core , what is the essence of these things ?
Speaker 1And another thing , and we talked about it last week we can take these things that you know does have a paganistic background to it and we can claim it and redeem it and make it about Jesus and take away the evil that is associated with it , like we did with the winter solstice , and make it about God .
Speaker 2Well , and it's yeah . And let's remember that the winter solstice is the acknowledgement of the changing of the season . God created that . God created the changing of the season . God created that , god created the changing of the seasons . And he said that he set the stars in the sky for people to be able to tell the times and the seasons . So you know , he acknowledges , and he even gives Israel different holidays to celebrate at different points in the year . So you know , god's not anti- , celebration , yeah , but it's important to make sure that we are not idolizing our celebrations .
Speaker 1Or making it about the wrong thing .
Speaker 2Yeah , I mean , it's like what we talk about with this podcast all the time is take what you're doing . Can you make it about Christ ? If you can't , then you need to get it out of your life . But if you can make it about Christ , if you can't , then you need to get it out of your life . But if you can make it about Christ , then do it for the glory of the Lord , 100% , 100% . So there you go . There's the Christmas tree , and now actually , I think I'll have to look at the stats again , but I think that more Christmas trees were sold last year than ever before .
Speaker 1Do you think it's the illusion of a recovery COVID society getting back to normal ? So it's like let's get out More and more . People are getting more and more comfortable going out now .
Speaker 2Yeah , no , it's the opinion of the guy that I was looking at . I was taking some of the info from .
Christmas Media Favorites and Reflections
Speaker 2It's the photo op . People love getting pictures of their trees and putting it on social media , so they're taking pictures of their trees .
Speaker 2So unfortunately it is the selfish look at me side of things um , I don't know if it's the look at me as much as it is like I love how beautiful a a Christmas tree looks , and so I just want to share with everybody how beautiful this is , Cause I mean it's important to acknowledge that that you know , some things are self-motivated , like it's motivated out of a look at what I did versus look at God's beauty .
Speaker 2Yeah , it's like look at what , look at what I can do , or look at what I've done in comparison to , like this looks good . I really like the way this looks and so I'm going to post it to social media so that other people can enjoy it like I enjoy it , because that's I mean really , you know , when a lot of people they get joy out of just sitting and looking at their Christmas tree , you know , and so for me it's , you know , kind of like what we were talking about . Like think about the imagery of an evergreen tree and it gets brought into your home and decorated . Now let's take that imagery and apply it to our Christian truths that we have from the gospel .
Speaker 2We are eternal beings that are clothed in righteousness when we're brought into the kingdom of God . So an evergreen tree is eternal , is the imagery of eternal , clothed in righteousness , the decorations brought into the home , brought into the kingdom of God , so that's kind of the imagery of it . So you know , you look at your Christmas tree and like brought into the kingdom of God , so that's kind of the imagery of it . So you know , you look at your Christmas tree and you're like , wow , that looks really pretty . But you can also be reminded of your identity in Christ through this Christmas tree , this decorated thing . So not to say that's what everybody does , a lot of people probably don't do that , but you can do that . So if you're a Christian and you get a Christmas tree out , just remember you are an eternal being clothed in the righteousness of Christ and you're a part of the kingdom of God , and let your tree remind you of that . Amen , all right .
Speaker 1That's what I got for the Christmas tree . I still got to get mine up , out and up . Ours is tiny , ours is like a five foot tree . You didn't , I thought you were putting it up this weekend . No , we didn't . We didn't get around to it . So You're busy cleaning , yeah , getting ready for the fams . The fams is coming over , going to fams tomorrow .
Speaker 2I just want to apologize to everybody . My throat got like really dry , so I'm like over here coughing and wheezing and stuff .
Speaker 1Hey , you're good , we'll . It'll all be fixed in post , it won't ? I'm gonna make it even louder , just I'm gonna . I'm gonna magnify my just where , um , you cough , right , I'm gonna make sure I'm gonna . I'm gonna isolate that one moment and I'm gonna take , turn it up all the way , so beautiful it's gonna be a oh , all right , tyler , we're moving on . Bear with us as we transition please , please , bear with us as we make this transition , make this transition .
Speaker 2So what are we talking about now ? This is our Tyler transition .
Speaker 1This is our Tyler Our Christmas . That's going to be our fifth shirt . This is our Tyler transition . This just says Tyler . We're now transitioning to our next topic .
Speaker 2Okay , next topic Christmas media Media . What's your favorite christmas media ?
Speaker 1so in general , I like the movies . You know , yeah , I'm typically the one who , I know a lot of people really like to get started , like you know , right after halloween and so now it's like the christmas season now , even though it's Thanksgiving , yeah , but I like to , you know , when it starts , you know , turn on the music , not like this new stuff , right . I like the classics . You know some Ben Crosby , you know , okay , that kind of stuff . I really like that kind of Christmas music and then I'll put that on while I'm driving , okay . And then I really like sitting down and watching a good Christmas movie . Okay , to name off the classics , I'm sure it's the normal ones . Everybody usually absolutely loves Home Alone , elf , how the Grinch Stole Christmas , both the cartoon and the Jim Carrey classic , okay , old christmas , both the cartoon and the jim carrey classic , okay . And then throwing a curveball out there , uh , christmas vacation is also a really good , okay , christmas movie , though it does not in any way , shape or form reflect the love of christ in that movie at all . Oh my gosh , what's that ? What's that character's name in that movie ? Um , which movie ? Uh , christmas vacation , the ? Uh , griswold , the griswolds , yep , yeah , yeah , the old griswolds . There's not a family to model or look up to in any way , shape or form . Yeah , I remember watching um as a kid , walking in and my grandma was watching um the griswolds .
Speaker 1Uh , vegas vacation , I think , is what it was , and I have such a distinct memory of my at the end of that movie . Right , they've blown all their money in vegas . Right , they end up putting everything on one last thing in ve . I don't remember what it is specifically . Yeah , but as they're sitting there , they lose , right , as a family , and this is everything they could possibly do to get back home and leave . You know what I mean . And so they lose , and then this old man sitting next to them is like I won , I won . And then he just has a heart attack and dies what he has a heart attack in that movie and dies and drops the winning ticket on the ground right , and then you see a guy with a vacuum cleaner slowly coming towards it . Right , and just , I have a distinct memory of my grandmother sitting there screaming at the TV Pick it up , pick it up , you idiot , what are you ?
Speaker 1stupid , and so in the movie it's just to cause a lot of tension and make people angry , and at the last second he just takes his foot and slides out of the way . And they claim the money and leave Vegas . Oh my gosh . I know that got a little off topic , but that's funny . Those movies are really funny .
Speaker 2All right . So what's your number one Christmas movie ? Elf , elf . Okay , what's your number one Christmas song ? Ooh , I know , this is one song , tuffy , I know , little Drummer Boy , right .
Speaker 1No , probably like . Just like one of those slow bend drums . Have yourself a merry little .
Speaker 2Christmas . All right For me . My favorite Christmas song is Blue Christmas by Elvis Presley .
Speaker 1You're a good Elvis fan fan , right ? Yeah , or you really like elvis , I do . I know I love elvis . Yeah , that's a hint to next week's episode in our cryptid corner , our corner , the corner yep , yep .
Speaker 2And then , as far as a christmas movie , I don't know if I have a favorite christmas movie . I enjoy muppets christmas carol .
Speaker 1I forgot that one . That one is great . We watched that with the boys .
Speaker 2We actually watched that for our tree day . Oh yeah , tree up . Yeah , we watched , we put the tree up and then we made cookies and then we watched muppets .
Speaker 1Christmas carol uh , because that movie I was and I wasn't familiar with the original charlesens Christmas Carol movie . I always thought that it was . What was his name ? The two ghosts in that ? Yeah , you thought there was always two , I thought there was always two . Yeah , yeah , yeah , and it's just the two old cranky men , yeah , stanton , and what are their names ? I can't remember their names . Okay , good , at least it's not me , just me , yeah .
Speaker 2I'm going to just type in old guy Muppets . It's like Stanton and Waldorf or something like that . Yeah , stettler and Waldorf , okay , I was close . Yeah , stettler and Waldorf , yeah , and I found this out the other day via my intelligent wife . Um , the Muppets Christmas curl . Out of all the different adaptations , all the different movie adaptations of the Christmas curl , the Muppets Christmas curl recites the book the most . Yeah , and it's because I firmly believe , it's because Gonzo is the narrator .
Speaker 1Because he's supposed to be Charles Dickens , right ? Yeah , gonzo is Charles , so he's just reciting his book , yeah .
Speaker 2Every time he's interacting with the story , he's reciting a passage from the book and then him and Rizzo have a little quirky whip or whatever . But yeah , it's a good movie . I do it's a very good movie .
Speaker 1And I think it helps that it's a musical yeah , just in the sense that there's aspects to that that become so rememberable . I always remember it's Bob Cratchit and his son , tiny Tim , just walking down the street and they're singing that song together .
Speaker 2Yep . Boom boom ba-ding , boom , boom , boom , boom . Yeah , it is the season to be jolly .
Speaker 1It's just like that just sticks out to me so much . Yeah , yeah , Classic . You know you can see the dog from Fraggle Rock in that movie in the background . Oh really , yeah , Sprocket , I think , is his name . I did not know that . Yeah , you see him dancing around Nice . It might have just been . I don't know if it's a callback to Fraggle Rock or if it's a reused puppet type thing .
Speaker 2They do a lot of that in Christmas Carol and in Muppets Treasure Island . A lot of repurposed puppets , yeah , muppets .
Speaker 1Treasure Island A lot of repurposed puppets .
Speaker 2Yeah , it must be intentional then A lot of those little like Easter egg stuff in there .
Speaker 1But Do you want to hear some really sad news .
Speaker 2Yeah .
Speaker 1They're shutting down Muppets 3D at Hollywood Studios . Oh really yeah , dang , that is the last thing that Jim Henson worked on before he died . Oh really yeah . And a lot of people are upset that they're getting rid of it and they're replacing it with Monsters Inc Land . But they are changing another ride there to be the Muppets . Can you guess what ride they are repurposing to be a Muppets ride ? No , I have no idea . Rock and Roll Roller Coaster .
Speaker 2What ? Yes , I feel like that , one's , another like classic , I think that people are less upset about aerosmith going away .
Speaker 1Oh really , yeah . So it's uh , except aerosmith . He's probably like probably , but uh , they're doing uh dr teeth in the mayhem roller coaster . So rock and roll roller coaster with dr teeth in the mayhem oh , okay , that makes sense .
Speaker 1So it fits . So like picture animal , like it works out . I'm not mad , it's just like I always last time I went on that ride I was just like this ride does need to be updated in the queue . So you go and you watch those movies , all those videos and whatnot . On the inside the tvs are very old , like old square box tvs and whatnot , yeah , and they don't have to be perfectly , like you know , widescreen . They just need new monitors in those , yeah , and all that stuff .
Speaker 1But the film in the actual theater and how everything's set up , with interaction with animatronics and puppets and live actors and 3d , yeah , it's one of a kind it does not need to go away and people are really upset because it's like you're getting rid of this area . Yeah , that people love , yeah , but you have another portion of the park which is um animation courtyard that no one ever goes to , which is the perfect amount of space as well , yeah . So people are really upset , but we'll , we'll get into that more um , next week when we do our theme park episode . That's right . So sorry , I got a little off track . A preview of next week . I can get really passionate about this theme park stuff . So , anyways , movies , yeah , muppet , uh , muppet , christmas carol , muppet christmas carol really great must watch , a must watch , uh , apparently . Uh , charlie brown's Brown's Christmas is a must watch , and I'll probably need to put that on my list .
Speaker 2It is good , so I'm on the top 100 Christmas movies of all time in .
Speaker 1IMDb . Are we going to do guess the top five ? We'll do 10 . Guess the top 10 . Okay , so I'm going to say Elf is in there For the top 10 ? Top 10 , yeah yeah , elf is in there . I'm going to say A Christmas Carol of some kind . Do I have to be specific ?
Speaker 2Yeah , A Christmas Carol is in there .
Speaker 1Yeah , michael Caine , by the way , being in that movie . He makes that movie so good . Sorry , I had to get off track there . Um , I'm going to say Home Alone . Okay , Uh , die Hard's on the list . Okay , uh , harry Potter's on the list . Nope , nope , dang , not in the top 10 . But it is on the list . Oh , I don't know .
Speaker 2I haven't scrolled down that far .
Speaker 1Oh , I don't know I haven't scrolled down that far , that's fine , that's fine . I know that Harry Potter that you always had like on ABC Family the TV channel around Christmas is like watch these Christmas movies , and they always threw in Harry Potter because there is a . I always thought it was weird because , yeah , there's a Christmas scene in that . Yeah , but it's such a short part of the overall film ?
Speaker 2Yeah , because isn't it like everyone goes home on holiday and there's only a couple of students that stay for Christmas ?
Speaker 1Yeah , and they open up presents and it's like maybe 10 minutes of the movie . I think it's because they have that such famous scene where Harry's out in the snow like letting his owl loose to fly . Yeah , yeah , it's such an iconic moment , yeah .
Speaker 2Probably do that . Well then there's the O to Christmas in Narnia , carl and Chris in Narnia , lion , the Witch and the Wardrobe there's that Christmas for like a minute , right and Santa's there , right and Santa's there . So it's a Christmas movie now technically .
Speaker 1Yeah , do you want to get into that conversation ? I know that's going to dig into our time , but I will say that movies like Die Hard , like you gave that example of Narnia , harry Potter , are not Christmas movies . Yeah , okay , just because the movie takes place during Christmas does not mean that it has the characteristics of a Christmas movie .
Speaker 2Yeah .
Speaker 1Those characteristics being hope , joy and God . Hmm , Okay .
Christmas Movies
Speaker 2Well , but on that note , you can't really put Home Alone as a Christmas movie .
Speaker 1I don't think Home Alone . It does have the themings of family and togetherness . Okay , all right In that of even though he's home alone . Yeah , it is set during christmas , sure , but then it's those positive themings that christmas has along with it outside of the religious aspects , okay , which is family , and it has that coming togetherness at the end of that movie .
Speaker 1yeah , yeah okay so I would argue that it is in fact . So again , die hard . A guy in a tower . You know , taking out terrorists doesn't really convey the love of christ or the themes of togetherness with family during the holiday season . So die hard is not a christmas movie , well , but he is trying to save his wife from terrorists .
Speaker 2So it does have a concept of family in there . Sure During a Christmas party .
Speaker 1I'm going to leave this long silence in on purpose , okay , because that's a load of baloney , okay , but yeah , I think Bruce Willis even said it's not a Christmas movie . It's not . But again , really , just because a movie takes place on Christmas does not make it a Christmas movie . It has to have a specific tone or theming to the film for it to be a Christmas film .
Speaker 2But I mean probably one of the greatest . Oh sorry , we're looking at the list Acting moments of Alan Rickman right .
Speaker 1Of course I'm not saying it's a bad movie . I love that movie . Some might even say that that is the best performance he gave . So you know that moment where he falls at the end . Best character he ever played no helman . Uh , what is it ? Uh , space quest , what is it ? Oh yeah , is it space ? What's the name of the movie ? Yeah , space Quest , that movie is great .
Speaker 2No , I was playing off of the Harry Potter stuff , because that's what everybody's all about .
Speaker 1I mean , alan Rickman is a great actor . He plays Snape phenomenally . I do not think that that is his best acting , though as a character . Let's be honest , he is in so much he's a great actor . That's no . People love those movies , so a lot of people get really offended when you say it's not the best of anything . Yeah , that is not alan rickman's best acting . Yeah , not saying it's bad , it's just not his best so you really liked him in pride and prejudice .
Speaker 2Yes , okay , I , yes , okay , I've never seen that . Anyways , okay , so on this list number one .
Speaker 1Did I name number one ? No , jeez , I'm going to be mad . Go ahead . It's a Wonderful Life , oh , of course . And then the man dies .
Speaker 2Yeah , where he dies and then he gets to experience the world around him , like his community around him and they're the world without him and everything is terrible , right without him , and he thinks that he has to die ? Yeah , everybody . Well , he wants to commit suicide because he thinks his life's terrible um oh , easy , easy , unalive , unalive .
Speaker 1Sorry , I'm kidding , we don't actually do that .
Speaker 2Yeah , we don't censor silliness , um and then , uh , and then he gets to experience like if he had never been born . What would the world be like ? I ?
Speaker 1feel like a lot , a lot there . Always I feel like in media the it's a Wonderful Life episode .
Speaker 2It's a Wonderful Life . As a movie , it is kind of long , not even though it's two hours . That's not .
Speaker 1Maybe back then and to those movie standards . Yeah , it was long , it was long . But , do you know what I'm talking about ? It's like the episode where the person gets an angel and they show them the world . I feel like in the 90s every cartoon had that kind of episode . I remember Rugrats for sure having that episode . Yeah .
Speaker 2I will say that as a movie like the traditional movie with James Stewart , like you need to watch it , yeah , because it is really good Is that the same one that quotes let me lasso the moon , yeah . Yeah , you want , let me lasso the moon . Yeah , yeah , you want me . You want me to lasso the moon , you want ? Do you want the moon ? I'll throw a lasso up there and I'll pull it down for yep uh , okay , number two .
Speaker 2You've already named this and it will make you upset that it's number two . Is it die hard ? Yeah , yeah , yeah , all right , number three already named um elf nope christmas girl a christmas girl , does it specify which one ?
Speaker 1so the old og got it .
Speaker 2Girl . Uh , number four , what do you think it is ? Did I name it ? Uh , yeah , I think you did name it , I don't remember everything , not elf is it elf ?
Speaker 1no , it's not elf , so it's elf it's home alone .
Speaker 2Uh uh , number five you did not name this one and this one is a claymation , so that's a dead giveaway for it . Right there , nightmare before christmas ?
Speaker 1no , I thought that that would have been hold on . Um , I'm , I'm blanking . Why am I blanking ? Um silver ? Oh , rudolph the red-nosed reindeer . Yep , that's not claymation , that's stop motion . There is a difference . Oh , I thought that it was claymation , my bad , nope . So same difference , but same same technique . But there is a distinct difference between the two yeah , no , I know , but that's what I'm saying .
Speaker 2Is I for some reason ? I was thinking it was claymation , but you're right it is stop
Discussing Christmas Movie Favorites
Speaker 2motion .
Speaker 1Um , do you know that we're getting another wallace and gromit movie next year ? I'm excited . I feel like I did know that . It's the first one in 10 years , I think Really . Yeah , it's been a while since we've got one . Those movies are great , I guess because they don't count Shaun the Sheep . Huh , yeah , they don't count Shaun the Sheep . If we're talking about the mainline Wallace and Gromit storyline , this is the first one in like 10 years . Okay , I think the last one was the Curse of the were-rabbit or something like that . Oh , okay .
Speaker 2Yeah , since we're talking about movies , just a quick side note In episode 15 , or episode 14 , when we're talking Disney parks , we will do a review of the War of the Rohirrim , because that comes out right before , or no , we won't be able to , never mind .
Speaker 1What we'll do for that is we'll have a bonus episode . Yeah , we'll do a bonus episode for war of the roe here , because my birthday is around that time , so we're gonna go for my birthday to go see that , okay okay .
Speaker 2So yeah , we'll do a bonus episode and we'll review it and let you guys know what we thought of it . Okay , anyways , back to the list number six . Um , you have named this one and we have talked about it for a little bit um charlie brown no , I don't think charlie brown's on the list . I don't . I think .
Speaker 1I said that it wasn't um , I'm trying to think um , jeez , what is the first letter in the name ?
Speaker 2of chevy chase oh gotcha national lampoon's christ Vacation .
Speaker 1Yep .
Speaker 2All right , and then number seven is A Christmas Story .
Speaker 1Oh yeah , you don't need a baby gun , you'll shoot your eye out . Yeah , exactly , yep . And then , like the movie that started the entire craze of people wanting to , for some reason , lick a pole . Yeah , yeah , that can't be true , that can't happen that way . Oh , it happens , that's true .
Speaker 2Yeah , don't lick a frozen pole , you'll get stuck all right number eight you're never gonna get .
Speaker 1It is miracle on 34th street and that is the one about the man , about the man who is santa claus . I can't remember . Is he defending santa or was he actually , uh , did something wrong ? I can't . I've never seen it .
Speaker 2She hires him to be the santa at the store at macy's , and , through injecture or however it comes out , he's like , no , I really am santa claus . And then they put him on trial for it . And then they put him on trial for being santa claus , yeah , and a lawyer has to defend him in court they remade that and the girl who plays matilda is the little girl in that . Oh really all right , number nine . You've named this several times number Is it ?
Speaker 2elf Yep , and then the okay number 10 on the list you have not named and I would not have said that it's a Christmas story or a Christmas movie .
Speaker 1What's the first letter in the name of the movie ? G , g , one word Goodfellellas . That's two words . Yeah , goodfellas , I think , is one title . Oh , really , yeah , I think so . No , it's not that it's gremlins . Oh , of course it is . That actually is a to the argument . Um of die hard . That whole movie takes place around christmas the yeah , yeah , gremlin . It's the night before , right , it's on Christmas Eve . Yeah , his dad goes to the place and gets the gremlin from . I think he first is there looking for a gift for his son , then he ends up stealing the gremlin . Okay and yeah , so he steals the gremlin and then , through events , the gremlins are born from the gremlin , if you get them wet and all this . So it takes place during Christmas . That one's hard , because I think it is very much a Christmas movie in the sense of seeing Christmas around everywhere and seeing the gifts . I mean he is given as a gift . So if we're talking about the themes of Christmas , I believe they are there .
Speaker 2Yeah , the consumerist themes of Christmas .
Speaker 1Yes , yeah , yeah , but is it a Christmas movie ? It's really hard to say Like , is Silent Night sorry , not Silent Night , violent Night ? Is that a Christmas movie really ? It's the same way . Is a horror Christmas movie really considered a Christmas movie ? Yeah , I got you , because does that really convey the themes of positive themes of Christmas ? Yeah , the same way . With Krampus too , that is very much a very easily thing . Yeah , of course it's a Christmas movie . It takes place around Christmas and all that stuff .
Speaker 1But I don't think it is . I don't think it's a positive film that brings the warmth and joy of Christmas in Christ . Yeah , yeah . So are they fun to watch ? Sure , are they okay to watch around Christmas ? Sure , are they what you would define as a true Christmas movie ? I'm going to say no , yeah , um , and if you want to argue with me , you can argue with me in the comments . Yeah , uh , and you can also send us an email at the saints that serve at gmailcom . Here you go , and you can leave us a , send us a text by going to the bottom of the description of this video slash um podcast and clicking the link um the show community on one of their outros .
Speaker 2At the end of an episode they did a um , they did um make fun of gremlins , and it was the hispanic version . Really , what was the joke there ? It was it was gremlins , but like they had a different title , like it was , the creature was named something different and everything was like latin , like south , like mexico , mexican , themed gotcha , specifically like mexican it was . It was pretty funny anyways . Uh , so we're gonna run through these songs real quick before the best we go to the christmas songs .
Speaker 1I couldn't , I mean , I I feel like that . That is like harder to gauge the popularity . We all know Mariah Carey's number one , yeah , I mean .
Speaker 2This is a , so this is just a top list for like a radio station , so everyone's got their own opinion .
Speaker 1Yeah , yeah , I feel like for me . I don't like modern Christmas songs . I like classic old ones that I grew up listening to Like around the house growing up around Christmas time .
Speaker 2Yeah , so number one is All I Want for Christmas is you , mariah Carey . Number two is White Christmas by .
Speaker 1Bing Crosby . I feel like Bing Crosby is going to be a lot on this list .
Speaker 2Maybe we'll get through it . Number three is Last Christmas by Wham Jingle Bell Rock . By Bobby Helms , the Christmas Song , just Nuts Roasting on an Open Fire . By Nat King Cole Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree , brenda Lee , silent Night . Silent Night in general . Whoever's singing it ? Feliz Navidad , jose Feliciano night . Just silent night in general . Yeah , whoever's singing it ? Yep , felice navidad , jose feliciano I wanna wish you a merry christmas yeah , um number nine . Santa baby by eartha kitt oh yeah , the really weird .
Speaker 2You know who arthur kidd is do you know the film the emperor's new groove ?
Speaker 1oh yeah , that's uzma isma why , in case , she was an artist , she was a singer . She also sang um . Santa baby was one of them , and there was another christmas song that's famous . I believe that she also sings . Okay , but yeah , she is uh uzma in the emperor's new groove voice actress as well there you go .
Speaker 2Yeah , I only see santa baby . Maybe if I type in christmas songs , maybe I'm wrong . Let's see if she's saying anything else .
Speaker 1No , Maybe it's all that comes up with Santa baby , maybe it's just a song in general that she sings , that you'd be surprised that it's her who's singing .
Speaker 2Oh , okay , and not necessarily All right . And number 10 on this list is Do they Know it's Christmas ? By Band-Aid .
Speaker 1Do they Know it's Christmas by Band-Aid ? Do they Know it's Christmas by Band-Aid ? Do they Know it's Christmas by Band-Aid ? Do they Know it's Christmas by Band-Aid ? I have to look that up .
Speaker 2I've never heard of that . Yeah , I don't even know who Band-Aid is , band-aid Band . We'll just say Band Feed the World Feed the .
Speaker 1World Feed the World . It was one of those songs that bringing all these mega art like a mega song with all the artists on it , type thing .
Speaker 2I guess Bob Geldof was the vocals and Boy George was vocals . George Michael was vocals .
Speaker 1Oh , what is it ? What's that song it's like ? So this is christmas and what have you done ? Yeah , yeah , it's like something . Santa christmas , yeah , that song . Okay , uh , shine down , did a cover of that song , shine down dude .
Speaker 2Yep , just a simple kind of man . Yes , sir , someone learned to One , learn to love and understand .
Speaker 1Just so you know , Johnny is singing the Shinedown version of that song , not the Lynyrd Skynyrd version of that song , Baby be simple Kind of man , anyways , no you got to hit that last note . You can do well for me so yeah , for me . So if you can , no , he hits it really hard and vocal if you can yeah , there you go so , baby , be a simple , kind old man .
Speaker 2Is that good enough for you ? Yeah , okay , thanks , now my throat's dead .
Speaker 1Now I'm gonna cut all that out too , so so it was for nothing .
Speaker 2Everyone's going to go from us talking about Shinedown . We're going to see like why is it ?
Speaker 1Why is our viewership going like , just like , plummeted ? No , it's because John's singing .
Speaker 2They're going to no , they're going to . They're going to hear in the episode you say you mentioned Shined down , and then it's just gonna cut to us laughing all right anyways .
Speaker 1No , it's gonna be just like a whole , like two minutes of silence . I'm not gonna cut it out , I'm just gonna mute it that's funny no , I'm not gonna do that .
Speaker 2I'm gonna leave it in okay , ty ty , are you ready to go for our tyler transition into the corner ? So this is the corner uh , fix it because it cuts . I know I'm getting frustrated that it just fades in like that .
Speaker 1there must be a setting or something for the board . Yeah , I'll have to , but welcome to the corner where we discuss all things , conspiracies , all things , and cryptid and downright mysterious .
Speaker 2That's right . So I figured , since we are talking around the Christmas festivities , one thing that people like to talk about as the more fictional side of Christmas is elves at the North Pole are Santa's little helpers .
Speaker 1So we're talking about reindeer on this episode of the Corner no .
Speaker 2Yep , so we're going to talk about the abominable snowman ? No , no , we're going to talk about the little people .
Speaker 1Elves .
Mystical Creatures and Little People
Speaker 1We talked about elves in previous episodes in conversation about a different topic in general , when we were talking about um , when we were talking about giants , we did kind of get on the subject of elves .
Speaker 2Yeah , we did I don't even remember , it was because it was .
Speaker 1Akaswagium or whatever . Mama Shop Squant .
Speaker 2Malshop and squant yep . Squant was of the little people mouse shop was the giant and we're not talking about , you know , dwarfism .
Speaker 1We're talking about elves and fairies .
Speaker 2Yeah , yeah like tiny , tiny people , magical , tiny people , magical tiny people , not normal humans that just have a defect .
Speaker 1So , jairus , what do you know about elves ? Well , all I know about elves is that they make either cookies and trees for you , or toys in a cold place Mm-hmm , mm-hmm , yeah or they fight to defend Middle Earth from the tyranny of the One Ring . That's right , yeah , they do that . It's funny to me that , like the idea of elves , it's always that you know they have pointy ears . Yep , that's always a common trait of elves . But then after that , it's just like they could be big , they could be small , they could be mortal , they could be ugly . You know what I mean ? It really just depends on the story you're telling , because I feel like elves just really almost seems like a generic term for a mythological creature with a pointy ear , and after that the aspects of them could be anything .
Speaker 2Yeah , I have noticed that how like illustrations people will create for mystical creatures , a lot of them give them pointy ears .
Speaker 1So even like they'll be talking about trolls or they'll be talking about goblins , but they give them pointy ears and that's I don't know what that's about like I don't know why everybody Maybe just pointy ears in general is just a kind of like because it's abnormal and it's easy to describe and to see . It's a way to describe a mythical . It's not quite like us , so it's a mythical because their ears are pointy .
Speaker 2You know , growing up my grandfather I always in the back of my head was like I wonder if he's an elf , because he had really pointy ears . Yeah , his ears he had like not like big ears , but he had like long ears and they were kind of pointed at the top . You're a descendant of elves , yeah , but all around the world they have these legends of these little people or these small , mystical , magical people , and they all have kind of the same MO , like they are the protectors of the , of the wild or of the earth . So they're kind of the , the , yeah , the guardsmen of the earth and everything that has to do with that . They protect it . They've got superpower , or not superpowers , but mystical powers , um , all of them , like they have the ability to be invisible , uh , so that they can hide very well . Um , so do hobbits . So I did want to get at that . Hobbits are kind of like . Jrr Tolkien made hobbits more like little people than the actual elves of Middle Earth .
Speaker 1In his stories . Yeah , In his story , yeah , yeah . So it's like , yeah , hobbits really do have elf-like traits for sure , yeah .
Speaker 2have elf-like traits ? For sure , yeah , and that's another . So a big thing is in Iceland they have the little people , or the invisible people . They call them elves . But the majority of people in Iceland , like native Icelandic peoples , they believe that they're real icelandic peoples , they believe that they're real . So it's not a small minority of people think that they're real and then the vast majority just go along with the fun fantasy of it didn't they have aspects of that in that willfail movie ?
Speaker 2euro vision , yeah his , because his , his girlfriend or his wife at one point they would get . But she takes offerings to the little people's house . I remember that .
Speaker 1Yeah .
Speaker 2And she keeps on trying to get him to go with her and he's like I don't want to do that .
Speaker 1That movie was really funny . Yeah , yeah , ding dong Ding dong . We want to hear ya-ya .
Speaker 2Want to play ya-ya ding dong ding dong .
Speaker 1We want to hear yaya , want to play yaya ding dong ? Yeah , I am a multi international platinum artist and you want to hear yaya ding dong yaya ding dong .
Speaker 2Yeah , this is a pretty funny movie , but , um , yeah , so , dude , like they're all over the world , I do think it's interesting that , like iceland , it's such a small place , such a small population , but they have these like very predominant mythos of these different creatures , but they're all , they're all bought . They're bought in . You know , I think when you get into a community that's that isolated , um , and that's small , that it's easier to like . The echo chamber is smaller , right . So , yeah , if everybody's on board with it , it's easier to believe in it , right , whereas in , you know , like in america , especially with the internet , and you can just go I mean , I can hop in my car right now and drive for like four days , right , and and be not , be somewhere new with , do new people and and all this stuff and two .
Speaker 1Like you said , it's like you know you could drive for four days straight and not find anybody who say they believe in elves . Yeah , but for some reason , it seems like on the internet , it's like because you have your small groups , your echo chambers , it seems like that group of people are a lot larger than they actually are , and I'm just using elves as an example .
Speaker 2Well , I will reinforce what you're saying a lot of these like communities online that they do believe in the different mystical , cryptid stuff that we talk about . Like those communities are very closed off .
Speaker 2Like you can't just get in , like I tried to get in on a dog man community on Facebook because I've heard like stories from podcasts community on facebook because I've heard like stories from podcasts and everything that I get from these podcasts is these guys are like , if you get into these communities , there's a ton of people with pictures and stories and videos and all stuff .
Speaker 2I was like dude , I want some documentation what you do is you got to get a part of the community , and it's really hard to get a part of the community .
Speaker 1That's when you , uh , create a podcast revolving around um , or at least an aspect of it about around cryptids , there you go , yeah , and then you say , hey look , we talk about this all the time . Yeah , we'd like to feature you on an episode .
Speaker 2There we go , there we go , yeah so . But yeah , we kind of talked about little people for episode 11 with the Native Americans .
Speaker 1We were more so talking about giants , though but the one giant , that was one with the little people .
Speaker 2Yeah , he did marry a little people person Mama knows . But I will say the little people .
Speaker 2I don't really have a whole lot to say about them , but it has always like intrigued me that there's a part of the world where the predominant , the , the majority of the population believe in , in their existence and that they're real . I always found that interesting . So do that with you , will . And I've heard stories that are not like of people that have seen the little people like the North American version , like the Native Americans talk about . They've seen them more recently , like in our time . They've seen them more recently , like in our time , and they they've seen them moving around . So you know , maybe , maybe , so maybe there is a race of little people moving around out there . Um , maybe it's a demonic thing .
Speaker 1You know , we don't really know again I will always reinforce this that if there is actually this thing out there and it's working in the shadows , it's more than likely demonic .
Speaker 2Yeah , if it if the goal is to not bring glory to god , then it's probably not working for god . So a hundred percent yeah . But you know we do have to be careful with the way that we say that , because you know like we look at all of creation and it is a testimony to God's name , and he does say that it all submits to him and his glory . But like , if you just look at a grizzly bear , you know like they can be pretty destructive . So it's like well , how does that bring glory to the Lord ? But that's not the point . The point is that even the grizzly bear is in submission to God , right ? I don't think a grizzly bear is demonic per se .
Speaker 1Sure , but isn't grizzly bears usually only destructive when disturbed ? No , or being , or let me rephrase that when they're being protective .
Speaker 2No , no , it depends on how hungry they are , what time of year it is , um , all those are factors . So it's like the the more hungry that a grizzly bear is , the more aggressive it's going to be . My wife's the same way .
Speaker 1Yeah , my wife's spirit animal is a grizzly bear . No , her spirit animal is a little bunny rabbit , but it turns into a grizzly bear when she's hungry .
Speaker 2Dude , that sounds like an anime right there . Just the main character is just a little bunny rabbit that goes about their life , but then when they get like angry , they turn into a giant grizzly bear and just start mauling people .
Speaker 1There is actually technically a close , uh , comparison to what you described in an anime . Oh yeah , it's the raccoon who worked like . It's a called agresco agresco I think I'm saying it wrong , but in in the comments correct me . Okay , but uh , it's a working . It's a world of animals . Yeah , but she works in an office , regular old day job and whatnot , and to relieve the stress she goes to karaoke and scream , sings , screamo and heavy metal at karaoke by herself . So she turns from like being this timid little raccoon I think she's a red panda to becoming like this really aggressive , like yeah thing when she's by herself singing uh , uh at karaoke .
Speaker 2That has nothing to do with what we just talked about .
Speaker 1Sure , it's something that's timid becoming something aggressive . I guess so .
Speaker 2But I'm saying like a little white bunny rabbit , sure Transforms into a giant grizzly bear and just starts wreaking havoc , agreska , okay . All right , well , that's all I got . So that's the episode right there , wow .
Speaker 1So , Tyler , again we are transitioning out of the corner Yep and into the middle of the room .
Speaker 2Out from the corner , out of the corner and into the middle of the room .
Speaker 1So you have any closing thoughts for this really good episode .
Speaker 2So you have any closing thoughts for this really
Keeping Christ at the Center
Speaker 2good episode ? Yeah , I just want to remind everybody that you know , when we're in the Christmas season , let's just look at all the different things that we do , like setting up Christmas trees , talking about Santa Claus , going out with friends to look at Christmas lights , watching the movies , listening to the songs . Christ needs to be at the center of all of it . The goal of the Christmas season was to celebrate the birth of Christ , the coming of Christ into the world , signifying the beginning of the new covenant with God .
Speaker 2So , you know , let's make sure that we are we're taking all these different activities that we do within the holiday and let's make sure that we're establishing clear parallels to the gospel message and the nativity story . So that's what I would say . I just want , I mean , you can , like I said , with the Christmas tree , there are parallels you can make With Santa Claus , there are parallels that you can make . So , you know , look at all these different things that you're doing to celebrate Christmas and try to bring forth the parallels to Christ and the nativity story so that when you do those activities and festivities , you can be reminded and then you can use them as a tool to bring forth the gospel message to people , and then you get to use Christmas as an evangelistic tool . That's what I would say as a closing statement .
Speaker 1I agree , good .
Speaker 2So anyways , again um god bless god bless us everyone , as tiny tim would say so instead of closing , uh , the next couple episodes with crisis , lord and the kingdom is now .
Speaker 1I need you to end us on with the tiniest little little voice . Just God bless us everyone . Christ is Lord and the kingdom is now . We are the saints that serve .
Speaker 2Goodbye . Love you guys .
Speaker 1Goodbye , love you guys and be a simple .
Speaker 2Sing it . Sing it like a grandpa . Oh kind of man . Oh baby , be a simple Kind of man . Oh baby , be a simple kind of man . A little goofy there for you . Yeah , you are really goofy . Was that close ? Did you think that sounded kind of close ? No , no .
Speaker 1No Aw .
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