WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.480 --> 00:00:05.080 We mark the festival of Christmas, which is the most sacred and hopeful day 2 00:00:05.759 --> 00:00:12.320 in our civilization. For nearly two thousand years, the message of Christmas, 3 00:00:12.359 --> 00:00:17.120 the message of peace and goodwill towards all men, has been the guiding star 4 00:00:17.839 --> 00:00:23.839 of our endeavors. The spirit of Christmas's measure by the love that each of 5 00:00:23.920 --> 00:00:30.079 us has in his heart for his family, for his friends, for his 6 00:00:30.120 --> 00:00:34.039 fellow Americans, and for people all over the world. It's the Ricochet Podcast. 7 00:00:34.240 --> 00:00:37.759 I'm James Lylyx and I'm here with you. It's just the two of 8 00:00:37.840 --> 00:00:43.039 us rambling about Christmas. So let's have ourselves as a verry little podcast, 9 00:00:43.320 --> 00:00:50.719 shall we. For many of us, Christmas is a deeply holy day. 10 00:00:51.479 --> 00:00:56.799 Welcome everybody. It's the Ricochet Podcast, number six hundred and seventy one. 11 00:00:57.119 --> 00:01:00.119 I'm James Lilyx and I'm joined by No. One. First of all because 12 00:01:00.119 --> 00:01:03.680 I'm not falling apart, but secondly because Peter and Rob are off doing holiday 13 00:01:03.680 --> 00:01:07.599 things and I thought, you know, we could just take a week off. 14 00:01:07.640 --> 00:01:10.959 But on the other hand, who knows what you're doing making cookies, 15 00:01:11.000 --> 00:01:14.920 wrapping presents and tiding up the house for the kids coming home from college. 16 00:01:15.079 --> 00:01:17.719 Any number of things, and you want something to listen to us, why 17 00:01:17.760 --> 00:01:21.480 not give you a Ricochet podcast, because otherwise, what are you gonna do. 18 00:01:21.519 --> 00:01:23.200 You know, you're gonna turn on Spotify and hear the same Carrols over 19 00:01:23.239 --> 00:01:26.040 and over and over again, unless it's your favorite one that you really want 20 00:01:26.040 --> 00:01:30.519 to hear. But we'll get to that. I just have to say though, 21 00:01:30.560 --> 00:01:34.879 that in the history of podcasts, this is probably one with the absolute 22 00:01:34.159 --> 00:01:38.480 shortest shelf life. I mean, oh, you can go back to the 23 00:01:38.519 --> 00:01:42.519 two hundreds and three hundreds of Ricochet and see what Peter and Rob and myself 24 00:01:42.519 --> 00:01:47.439 we're talking about some terribly important moment in the Obama administration. I'm sure people 25 00:01:47.480 --> 00:01:51.280 want to resurrect that and I'll listen to that, but probably not punditry. 26 00:01:51.280 --> 00:01:55.480 It's a very short shelf life unless you get it right. I mean, 27 00:01:55.480 --> 00:01:59.000 if you get something really right, you can dine off that. For an 28 00:01:59.000 --> 00:02:04.400 awful long time. There was a guy named Chriswell. You may have heard 29 00:02:04.439 --> 00:02:07.920 of Criswell. Perhaps he was one of those predictors, one of those guys 30 00:02:07.920 --> 00:02:10.159 who'd show up on La TV or in the newspaper like Geene Dixon. You 31 00:02:10.159 --> 00:02:14.400 know how these people ever managed to keep a job. I have no idea, 32 00:02:14.439 --> 00:02:17.319 because every week they would make a series of predictions, but some of 33 00:02:17.360 --> 00:02:21.280 them would be vague enough in sort of a blind item in a winch will 34 00:02:21.319 --> 00:02:23.439 call him. But they Griswell nailed one and I can't remember what it was. 35 00:02:23.479 --> 00:02:30.360 He may have called JFK's Unfortunate Appointment in Dallas. Whatever it was, 36 00:02:30.599 --> 00:02:32.719 his name was made for a while and it's like, Criswell, maybe this 37 00:02:32.800 --> 00:02:37.280 guy really can predict the future. Of course, nobody believed it, but 38 00:02:37.400 --> 00:02:42.199 it got on some publicity and it earned him the opening spot in Edwood's Plan 39 00:02:42.319 --> 00:02:45.520 nine from Outer Space. That's right, Criswell is the guy at the desk 40 00:02:45.560 --> 00:02:49.000 telling us that we're going to be very interested in the future because the future 41 00:02:49.039 --> 00:02:53.080 is where we will spend the rest of our lives. Great ed would stop. 42 00:02:53.360 --> 00:02:55.080 So if your Criswell and you get one right, then maybe your punditry 43 00:02:55.159 --> 00:03:02.639 will will last. But otherwise probably not, especially if you're talking about Christmas, 44 00:03:04.560 --> 00:03:07.520 the most wonderful time of the year, the day we all look forward 45 00:03:07.520 --> 00:03:13.199 to. The whole month leads up to it, and then there's just something 46 00:03:13.199 --> 00:03:16.520 about the twenty sixth. Of course, you really don't want to hear about 47 00:03:16.560 --> 00:03:20.800 Christmas anymore. I mean the message of carrying through the whole year. Yes, 48 00:03:20.879 --> 00:03:24.120 yes, yes, I know that. But the day after maybe I'm 49 00:03:24.159 --> 00:03:29.439 just remembering as a kid, when it just the world seems flat, the 50 00:03:29.479 --> 00:03:31.319 air had gone out of the tire, and all the decorations are still in 51 00:03:31.360 --> 00:03:35.800 the tree, and the house is still bedecked for it, and you're still 52 00:03:35.840 --> 00:03:38.159 in that Christmas spirit. They may be still playing some of the tunes on 53 00:03:38.199 --> 00:03:45.800 the radio. Maybe I don't know for me. You know, Christmas night, 54 00:03:46.199 --> 00:03:50.719 the end of Christmas, when everything beneath the tree is bare, and 55 00:03:50.800 --> 00:03:57.759 you've put the last wrapping paper into the fireplace, stirred it with the poker, 56 00:03:57.840 --> 00:04:00.599 which, by the way, we were informed when we were growing up 57 00:04:00.639 --> 00:04:04.879 you were not supposed to burn the paper. Couldn't figure out why. Well, 58 00:04:04.919 --> 00:04:09.159 we like to burn the paper. We had a fireplace which was used 59 00:04:09.199 --> 00:04:12.159 once a year at our little ranch Rambler in Fargo, North Dakota, built 60 00:04:12.159 --> 00:04:15.919 in nineteen sixty two, turquoise siding, faked flags done out front. Loved 61 00:04:15.960 --> 00:04:18.600 that house, and we would burn the paper. And we also had these 62 00:04:18.639 --> 00:04:20.879 little wax things that you would throw in the fire and they would make the 63 00:04:20.879 --> 00:04:26.360 fire supposedly glow variety of colors. So the Christmas fire was a very important 64 00:04:26.360 --> 00:04:29.199 thing. It was fun and you could throw the paper in and we were 65 00:04:29.199 --> 00:04:33.160 told not to by the authorities for two reasons. One that sparks might fly, 66 00:04:33.680 --> 00:04:38.160 the pieces of paper might float out in a light on something flammable, 67 00:04:38.199 --> 00:04:40.839 and the next thing you know, you're that family that's in the paper the 68 00:04:40.879 --> 00:04:44.399 next day standing outside their houses the firemen try to put out the plaze. 69 00:04:44.879 --> 00:04:46.879 The other reason was, we were told, was that the paper contained lead. 70 00:04:48.079 --> 00:04:53.240 No, well, everything contained lead back then and didn't make it special, 71 00:04:53.319 --> 00:04:55.879 but I guess that was part of the problem. You throw some of 72 00:04:55.879 --> 00:04:59.879 this fancy flocked paper in there, and it's got leads and asbestos and chlor 73 00:05:00.240 --> 00:05:01.000 and the rest of it. The next thing you know, you're gas in 74 00:05:01.079 --> 00:05:05.839 the family, you know, undoing their DNA solidity for the next fifteen years. 75 00:05:05.920 --> 00:05:10.279 So we weren't supposed to do that. But to this day I like 76 00:05:10.319 --> 00:05:13.079 to burn the wrapping paper, except for the stuff, of course my wife 77 00:05:13.120 --> 00:05:15.839 has set aside to be reused. Now you may be like this, You 78 00:05:15.879 --> 00:05:18.600 may have a spouse who's like this. My mother was like this. My 79 00:05:18.680 --> 00:05:24.240 mother would watch you very carefully unwrapped your presence, because you wanted to just 80 00:05:24.319 --> 00:05:26.920 rip them open, right, didn't She just wanted to rip and tear and 81 00:05:26.959 --> 00:05:30.720 see what was inside there. But you know that paper could be reused. 82 00:05:31.120 --> 00:05:33.839 My mother, who grew up in a farm in the Depression, didn't grow 83 00:05:33.920 --> 00:05:38.240 up hungry, but nevertheless, you know, she was frugal, so there 84 00:05:38.279 --> 00:05:43.120 would be boxes saved, there would be wrapping paper that could be saved and 85 00:05:43.240 --> 00:05:46.639 ironed and clipped and used again. So over the years I realized that Mom 86 00:05:46.639 --> 00:05:49.519 didn't want me to do that, and I took the packages apart, very 87 00:05:49.600 --> 00:05:56.160 very carefully. So it's the end of Christmas, the end of the twenty 88 00:05:56.160 --> 00:05:59.600 fifth and as I said, the tree is denuded. All the packages beneath 89 00:05:59.600 --> 00:06:01.839 it are along with there. They've been distributed throughout the house. There's still 90 00:06:01.879 --> 00:06:05.959 sort of remnant boxes here and there, and there's something playing in the radio, 91 00:06:06.160 --> 00:06:10.399 and the fire is dying down, and you're thinking that it's been a 92 00:06:10.439 --> 00:06:13.759 good it's been a good Christmas, you think, and it's odd that you 93 00:06:13.800 --> 00:06:17.040 have that feeling at the end of Christmas Day. It's odd that you have 94 00:06:17.079 --> 00:06:21.360 that feeling after the guests have gone and you've done that Minnesota thing where you 95 00:06:21.399 --> 00:06:26.360 stand at the door and talk forever. Is that what it's like when you 96 00:06:26.399 --> 00:06:30.079 are where you are something about my culture. If people are going to go, 97 00:06:30.399 --> 00:06:34.600 they just don't go. First, you move to the door, which 98 00:06:34.639 --> 00:06:39.319 is sort of a staging area where the men fiddle with their hats and gloves 99 00:06:39.319 --> 00:06:42.839 and the women talk about whatever they didn't get to talk about in the course 100 00:06:42.879 --> 00:06:46.920 of the dinner. And then maybe perhaps if they're really into it, you 101 00:06:46.959 --> 00:06:51.439 move to the car and the father, the dad, the guy fires up 102 00:06:51.480 --> 00:06:55.279 the car, and then women continue to have a conversation at the window, 103 00:06:55.399 --> 00:06:58.399 and if it's particularly cold, it might last only five or ten minutes or 104 00:06:58.439 --> 00:07:01.079 so. It's all because gun. At a moment of the twenty fifth at 105 00:07:01.079 --> 00:07:04.480 the dinner, when the men push back from the table and slap their thighs 106 00:07:04.480 --> 00:07:10.759 and say, welp, that is the sign that it's time to start to 107 00:07:10.839 --> 00:07:15.560 wind it down. Welp, And that you know you got thirty minutes left 108 00:07:15.560 --> 00:07:16.600 before you're going to get out of the house. You got to get the 109 00:07:16.639 --> 00:07:19.720 leftovers. They have to give you the cookies, right, they have to 110 00:07:19.759 --> 00:07:23.560 find something to put the cookies in. And then of course you're the conversation 111 00:07:23.600 --> 00:07:25.879 with the door of the conversation at the car, and eventually you get home 112 00:07:26.399 --> 00:07:29.519 and the person who's left at home is standing there at the end and the 113 00:07:29.519 --> 00:07:32.759 twenty fifth looking at the tree without the presence, and the fire dying down, 114 00:07:32.839 --> 00:07:38.279 and maybe hearing a Christmas carol drifting from the Panasonic radio in the kitchen 115 00:07:38.319 --> 00:07:44.000 and the and thinking it's odd that it all seems over, because this right 116 00:07:44.040 --> 00:07:47.920 here in the evening is when it all began. Right, I mean, 117 00:07:47.959 --> 00:07:54.759 if the story goes Jesus was born on the twenty fifth at night because it 118 00:07:54.800 --> 00:07:57.920 was dark and the shepherds are tending their flocks by night, and there was 119 00:07:57.920 --> 00:08:00.759 a star and all the red, that would be the twenty fifth, That 120 00:08:00.800 --> 00:08:05.160 would be the end. That would be now Christmas night, when everything seems 121 00:08:05.199 --> 00:08:13.480 over, is when everything everything actually began. But the dates, you know, 122 00:08:15.360 --> 00:08:20.480 we don't know. If you grow up Lutheran, you may be convinced 123 00:08:20.480 --> 00:08:24.439 that Jesus was born on the twenty fourth because we had a song called I 124 00:08:24.480 --> 00:08:28.920 am so glad He's each Christmas eve, I am I am so glad these 125 00:08:28.959 --> 00:08:33.000 Christmas the night of Jesus birth, And I sang that over and over and 126 00:08:33.039 --> 00:08:35.480 over throughout my childhood without ever putting two and two together. And wait, 127 00:08:35.480 --> 00:08:39.279 wait, wait a minute, here, hold on, I am so glad 128 00:08:39.320 --> 00:08:45.799 each Christmas Eve, the night of Jesus Birth of twenty four, not twenty 129 00:08:45.840 --> 00:08:50.440 So what's tomorrow then? Exactly? Maybe it happened in I don't know, 130 00:08:50.480 --> 00:08:52.759 twelve oh one, twelve oh two, do we know? We don't know 131 00:08:52.000 --> 00:08:56.279 anyway, the strange song to sing, but we had to sing it every 132 00:08:56.639 --> 00:09:00.960 single year at the one of two Lutheran churches that I ended up going to. 133 00:09:01.279 --> 00:09:03.519 One was Elam. That was the home church, the home base. 134 00:09:03.679 --> 00:09:07.000 That's where you went, that's where, that was your place. That was 135 00:09:07.039 --> 00:09:09.200 the one where when you were a kid you went to Sunday school, you 136 00:09:09.279 --> 00:09:13.759 ran around on the church basement while the adults after church had their weak Lutheran 137 00:09:13.759 --> 00:09:16.519 coffee translucent you could see right through it. But man, you could drink 138 00:09:16.519 --> 00:09:20.440 gallons of that stuff. Or we would go to Christmas at the farm church. 139 00:09:20.600 --> 00:09:24.919 Now, as I mentioned, my mother grew up in a farm and 140 00:09:26.039 --> 00:09:28.919 my father grew up in the rural area too, but they didn't have a 141 00:09:28.960 --> 00:09:33.120 farm. They worked for farms. They got put to this house in that 142 00:09:33.159 --> 00:09:37.360 house, and this house and that house because they were poor. But they 143 00:09:37.399 --> 00:09:43.519 all went to Maple Cheyenne, which is this clapboard ancient church on the edge 144 00:09:43.600 --> 00:09:48.799 of the prairie beyond which it's just stretches forever, and you have to know 145 00:09:48.799 --> 00:09:54.039 how to get there. The roads to get there are absolutely straight, because 146 00:09:54.080 --> 00:09:58.039 when they laid everything out, they laid out straight. That's it rectangular farmland, 147 00:09:58.080 --> 00:10:01.279 farmland, school, church land and the rest of it. But there's 148 00:10:01.320 --> 00:10:05.080 one beautiful little curved road that takes you to maple Cheyenne. When you get 149 00:10:05.080 --> 00:10:11.639 there, it is not an impressive place. You walk inside and you look 150 00:10:11.679 --> 00:10:13.279 at the roof and you see that's pressed tin that they got out of a 151 00:10:13.320 --> 00:10:16.279 Sears catalog. Well, they didn't have a lot of money, the pioneers 152 00:10:16.279 --> 00:10:20.720 building this place, but eventually they did. Eventually they could afford a stained 153 00:10:20.759 --> 00:10:24.600 glass window. Eventually one of the stained glass windows was put in commemorating one 154 00:10:24.639 --> 00:10:28.679 of the early early members of the church, my great great grandfather, who 155 00:10:30.240 --> 00:10:33.759 was notable for leaving the farm during a snowstorm around the time of Christmas, 156 00:10:33.840 --> 00:10:37.240 getting lost. He's trying to bring the cows in, couldn't find his way 157 00:10:37.279 --> 00:10:43.759 back to the house in the storm. They had to sleep inside a dead 158 00:10:43.879 --> 00:10:46.720 cow for the night Star Wars style, you know, when Luke did that 159 00:10:46.000 --> 00:10:52.120 great tale. Hardy people, hardy, hardy people. And so that church 160 00:10:52.159 --> 00:10:56.000 had a different aspect the El Lutheran Church where we went, that was Fargoing, 161 00:10:56.039 --> 00:10:58.559 that was cosmopolitan, but out here with the farmers. And I never 162 00:10:58.639 --> 00:11:05.159 knew which exactly when my dad preferred. My dad loved Christmas, he absolutely 163 00:11:05.240 --> 00:11:09.080 adored it. And yeah, he'd rip up in his packages. He'd love 164 00:11:09.200 --> 00:11:11.360 to see what we could have, because I said, he grew up poor 165 00:11:13.799 --> 00:11:18.360 and he loved to give his children the fruits of his success. And he 166 00:11:18.399 --> 00:11:22.799 loved Christmas music. As a matter of fact, I remember the twenty fifth 167 00:11:22.279 --> 00:11:26.600 when the tree is empty of presents and the fire is dying out. That 168 00:11:26.639 --> 00:11:30.960 my father could frequently be found in the kitchen with the tom and Jerry's listening 169 00:11:30.960 --> 00:11:33.679 to the last Christmas Carol because that was the last time at which they really 170 00:11:33.720 --> 00:11:39.639 would seem to fit. And he said once I wish they would play Christmas 171 00:11:39.720 --> 00:11:43.759 music all year long, and I say, you know, Dad, no, 172 00:11:43.879 --> 00:11:48.080 then it would lose its power, it would lose its strength, it's 173 00:11:48.080 --> 00:11:54.240 specialness, or would it don't know? It meant something to him. I 174 00:11:54.279 --> 00:11:56.240 know that when he you know, when he was a kid, grown up 175 00:11:56.320 --> 00:12:03.440 in various impoverished situations. There wasn't a phonograph they could crank up and play 176 00:12:03.440 --> 00:12:07.840 the bing Crosby and the old tunes. There was probably a radio, but 177 00:12:07.879 --> 00:12:11.039 I don't know how much Christmas music they pulled in. They didn't have any 178 00:12:11.080 --> 00:12:16.200 instruments. Maybe one of his twelve siblings could say something on a mouth harp 179 00:12:16.320 --> 00:12:20.759 or a guitar. I don't know. But one of the stories that my 180 00:12:20.799 --> 00:12:26.639 father told me about his first Christmas away from North Dakota was when he was 181 00:12:26.679 --> 00:12:31.480 sixteen and he was in World War Two and he was on a subchaser in 182 00:12:31.559 --> 00:12:35.759 the Caribbean. The Caribbean you never think about that. You think the Pacific, 183 00:12:35.799 --> 00:12:37.679 you think the Atlantic. But no, he joins up at the age 184 00:12:37.720 --> 00:12:43.600 of fifteen to go fight because his brother, his twin, had just died 185 00:12:45.759 --> 00:12:48.519 and he wanted to get out of there. And so he was fifteen years 186 00:12:48.519 --> 00:12:50.519 old. He goes and he says, I'd like to sign up, and 187 00:12:50.879 --> 00:12:54.240 he brought his father to lie to say, yeah, he's sixteen, yeap, 188 00:12:54.320 --> 00:12:56.399 he can go. And his father, as a matter of fact, 189 00:12:56.440 --> 00:13:00.720 signed up at the same time that that my father did. Still in the 190 00:13:00.759 --> 00:13:03.759 Fargo Forum, Father and Son off to war, isn't that great? Heroic? 191 00:13:05.279 --> 00:13:07.120 Ex said the father was something the ne'er do well and was trying to 192 00:13:07.320 --> 00:13:13.440 get out of his twelve thirteen children obligation. Scallywag never met him because he 193 00:13:13.480 --> 00:13:18.159 was divorced while he was away. Scoundrel pity too, because he had a 194 00:13:18.159 --> 00:13:20.960 great last, great first name, Sam. Would have loved to have a 195 00:13:22.000 --> 00:13:24.960 son named Sam, but nobody ever had a son named Sam and the Ladlex 196 00:13:24.960 --> 00:13:26.960 family. Anyway, my dad goes off to war, and he's in the 197 00:13:28.039 --> 00:13:31.799 Caribbean for his first Christmas away from home, and it's hot and it's humid, 198 00:13:33.519 --> 00:13:37.759 and his job is to stand there on the deck and look for fish. 199 00:13:39.639 --> 00:13:43.879 And by fish, I don't mean aquatic creatures that leap out cartoon alike 200 00:13:43.960 --> 00:13:46.440 like mister Limpet. I mean the little telltale ripple in the water that tells 201 00:13:46.480 --> 00:13:52.679 you that there's a torpedo coming it away. That's Christmas. And after his 202 00:13:52.799 --> 00:13:58.320 shift was over, he stuck around for a little while and played Christmas tunes 203 00:13:58.360 --> 00:14:03.039 on his harmonica to entertain everybody else, because, of course, you know, 204 00:14:03.080 --> 00:14:05.960 when you're leaving North Dakota to go to war. You always think, 205 00:14:05.320 --> 00:14:09.960 well, I gotta pack my honor marine band harmonica. So he did, 206 00:14:11.600 --> 00:14:16.480 and he stood there and played Silent Night on Christmas in the Caribbean as the 207 00:14:16.519 --> 00:14:22.799 young men watched the water for the signs that a torpedo was coming to kill 208 00:14:22.840 --> 00:14:31.360 them all. But the good news is when he finally saw one, he 209 00:14:31.399 --> 00:14:35.399 could get the message to the bridge in time. But that was after Christmas. 210 00:14:35.600 --> 00:14:39.080 Maybe that was the twenty sixth, the twenty seven I have no such 211 00:14:39.120 --> 00:14:41.799 tales like that tell because I grew up in a land that my father at 212 00:14:41.799 --> 00:14:46.559 the time, that my father and their generation built. Lucky me. What 213 00:14:46.639 --> 00:14:50.960 I do have here, however, is a question for you, and it's 214 00:14:50.000 --> 00:14:54.000 this now Christmas music. Will all be tired of it in a little bit, 215 00:14:54.080 --> 00:15:00.440 right, But for now, I don't know about you. I put 216 00:15:00.519 --> 00:15:03.360 it off. I try not to listen to any Christmas music whatsoever. As 217 00:15:03.360 --> 00:15:07.600 the years go by, you find two things happen. Three things. Maybe 218 00:15:07.759 --> 00:15:11.080 I just made that up. Better come up with three. The first is 219 00:15:11.120 --> 00:15:15.159 I have absolutely no tolerance whatsoever for modern Christmas music of any kind. It 220 00:15:15.240 --> 00:15:18.720 is absolutely empirically true that we live in an era of meritricious pop music where 221 00:15:18.799 --> 00:15:22.879 virtually nothing that is being made today is authentic. It is created by robots, 222 00:15:22.919 --> 00:15:28.159 It is auto tuned, it is hammered together by the cynical and the 223 00:15:28.159 --> 00:15:31.200 base heavy and the a musical and the rest of it. And I just 224 00:15:31.240 --> 00:15:33.600 don't like it, No, sir, don't like it, not for me. 225 00:15:35.559 --> 00:15:37.519 But I'm correct. I mean it's we all know that as you get 226 00:15:37.519 --> 00:15:41.759 old, you just don't like modern music anymore. But we're lucky in that 227 00:15:41.879 --> 00:15:46.759 modern music is, as I said, demonstrably empirically insuperior to that of our 228 00:15:46.799 --> 00:15:50.120 youth. It's a fact. So I don't like modern Christmas music, but 229 00:15:50.159 --> 00:15:54.000 I don't even like the modern Christmas music of my youth. Jingle Bell rock 230 00:15:54.279 --> 00:15:58.639 is an utterly inate song. Rocking around the Christmas tree. I say this 231 00:15:58.679 --> 00:16:03.440 every year, rock around a Christmas tree. I don't know how you do 232 00:16:03.480 --> 00:16:07.960 that. If it's in the corner, it's a tight squeeze. I don't 233 00:16:07.960 --> 00:16:11.159 even know what rocking exactly is. It's just one of the little novelty songs 234 00:16:11.559 --> 00:16:14.559 that they did and has stuck with us forever. That thing had a shelf 235 00:16:14.600 --> 00:16:17.279 life of about two years tops. But no, we got to listen to 236 00:16:17.320 --> 00:16:22.559 this boomer stuff forever three. I have a particular affection, as do boomers 237 00:16:22.559 --> 00:16:27.159 of my generation, for burl Ives, probably a comie who sang a couple 238 00:16:27.240 --> 00:16:30.080 of Christmas songs, and every time I hear them just take me absolutely back 239 00:16:30.120 --> 00:16:33.840 to the age of eight, eight, nine ten. Why because of Rudolph. 240 00:16:33.159 --> 00:16:37.960 Because of Rudolph, right, I think I'm pretty sure of this. 241 00:16:37.159 --> 00:16:41.559 Owen Bradley was the guy who was behind that burl Ives Christmas music album, 242 00:16:41.799 --> 00:16:48.120 Holly Jolly and the connection between Holly, Johnny Christmas and Rudolph. We all 243 00:16:48.120 --> 00:16:49.000 know, we all grew up with it. We all couldn't wait. It 244 00:16:49.080 --> 00:16:53.279 was one of the things with Charlie Brown and Grench that absolutely made Christmas for 245 00:16:53.360 --> 00:16:56.320 us. But there was something special about the Rudolph one because it had peril 246 00:16:56.639 --> 00:17:00.519 and had a story in it, and the older thing. I get that 247 00:17:00.559 --> 00:17:06.200 I listen to it. All of the songs and the Rudolph special are fantastic. 248 00:17:06.240 --> 00:17:11.440 They're all great Johnny Mooks, I think. But from a modern perspective, 249 00:17:11.440 --> 00:17:14.880 it is a bit of a strange show, is it not. For 250 00:17:14.960 --> 00:17:22.599 one thing, Santa Claus is an absolute tiresome pill. When we first meet 251 00:17:22.680 --> 00:17:26.920 it, he's cranky. It really doesn't want to do this. The elves 252 00:17:26.039 --> 00:17:30.000 have been practicing this show for god knows how long, and they put it 253 00:17:30.039 --> 00:17:33.759 on for him and missus Claus gets him together and he sits there and he 254 00:17:33.920 --> 00:17:37.279 rolls his eyes and he's tired. He's obviously tired. He doesn't want to 255 00:17:37.319 --> 00:17:40.480 see this sort of thing. So he's a bad boss. And then when 256 00:17:40.480 --> 00:17:44.680 he goes to see Rudolph, who's just been born, and he walks into 257 00:17:44.680 --> 00:17:48.319 this cave where the reindeer parents are staying. The cave is absolutely undecorated, 258 00:17:48.640 --> 00:17:52.359 so you get the sense that he's not paying these guys anything. There's no 259 00:17:52.440 --> 00:17:56.160 lamps, there's no pictures. He's just bare cave with his kid bouncing around 260 00:17:56.200 --> 00:17:57.759 it. And what a Santa do? He sings a song about himself, 261 00:17:57.920 --> 00:18:03.440 I am old Chris Kringle, which you know, she's just given birth, 262 00:18:03.480 --> 00:18:06.000 she's got a new kid, and he shows up and he starts singing about 263 00:18:06.039 --> 00:18:10.119 himself. That's the kind of guy Sanny is in the Rudolph special. And 264 00:18:10.200 --> 00:18:14.519 also this about the Rudolph thing is that that was stop motion right, well, 265 00:18:14.559 --> 00:18:17.599 there was another stop motion add that they would put in that and it 266 00:18:17.680 --> 00:18:22.000 was an electric shaver, Nerelko, I believe, which had a stop motion 267 00:18:22.079 --> 00:18:26.440 Santa who was writing a Neurelko razor around the snow, and it seemed as 268 00:18:26.480 --> 00:18:30.279 if this was part of the sand part of the Rudolph verse, if you 269 00:18:30.359 --> 00:18:34.480 will. We loved it when there were commercial tie ins to Christmas because it 270 00:18:34.519 --> 00:18:37.119 was you know, wow, the commercials are getting the Christmas spirit as well. 271 00:18:38.759 --> 00:18:41.920 Well. I mean this being Ricochet, it's being a good capitalists. 272 00:18:41.920 --> 00:18:45.759 We have commercials for you here too. And I want to tell you something 273 00:18:45.799 --> 00:18:48.920 here that may not you know, it's not going to show up in time 274 00:18:48.920 --> 00:18:51.319 for Christmas, but it's going to show up in time to make somebody's day 275 00:18:51.319 --> 00:18:56.400 absolutely fantastic. I am at this moment wearing the product that I'm about to 276 00:18:56.400 --> 00:19:02.599 tell you about. It's Ron. Ron's are h n by the way clothing 277 00:19:03.119 --> 00:19:07.519 and the clothing is kept wear in the closet and men's closets. I they 278 00:19:07.559 --> 00:19:11.279 can be kind of sad. Yeah, they either do. For a radical 279 00:19:11.319 --> 00:19:15.119 reinvention, right well, Ron has stepped up to the challenge. Roane's Commuter 280 00:19:15.160 --> 00:19:18.440 Collection is the most comfortable, breathable, and flexible set of products known to 281 00:19:18.519 --> 00:19:22.039 man, and here is why. 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It's because deleted portion of that thing was that Cornelius was 318 00:21:40.079 --> 00:21:42.799 a peppermint miner. He was looking for a rich vein of peppermint, and 319 00:21:42.839 --> 00:21:47.079 that's why he would lick the end of the end of his pike, his 320 00:21:47.119 --> 00:21:52.279 stick, his pickaxe to see his ice axe whatever killed Tronsky, to see 321 00:21:52.279 --> 00:21:56.759 whether or not that he'd struck my rain. But it had the horrible, 322 00:21:56.759 --> 00:22:00.200 horrible moment. Rudolph is going off by himself to fight the abominable Snowman, 323 00:22:00.359 --> 00:22:06.160 and we think he's gonna die, but he doesn't. He gets back and 324 00:22:06.200 --> 00:22:08.119 reunited with all those sixties archetypes. You know, the guy who looked like 325 00:22:08.160 --> 00:22:11.599 mel from Dick van Dyke showed you know round he had big black glasses, 326 00:22:11.599 --> 00:22:15.759 and Hermy the little gay dentist, and the rest of it. It's wonderful. 327 00:22:15.880 --> 00:22:18.720 So when the Owen Bradley holly jolly music, burl ive stuff comes on, 328 00:22:18.880 --> 00:22:23.559 that to me is that's good Christmas music. But then there's the old 329 00:22:23.599 --> 00:22:29.200 stuff that preceded me, the old pompular tunes. Not really too much into 330 00:22:29.240 --> 00:22:33.720 the high Luckamucky whatever Christmas whatever that is. But you know white Christmas, 331 00:22:33.759 --> 00:22:37.680 of course you love it. The great songs are the sixties. Silver Bells 332 00:22:37.680 --> 00:22:45.519 is not a particularly lyrically brilliant song, but it has the wonderful recollected memory 333 00:22:45.559 --> 00:22:51.599 of somebody who's not seeing this happen, but remembering shoppers were bustling. I 334 00:22:51.640 --> 00:22:56.039 Will be Home for Christmas is a song that occasionally can unstring your bow utterly. 335 00:22:56.599 --> 00:23:02.000 It did to me. I was sitting in a bar. I know 336 00:23:02.039 --> 00:23:03.480 that sounds bad in Washington, d C. While it was in the bottom 337 00:23:03.480 --> 00:23:06.680 of my building a two thousand and ten where I worked. It was an 338 00:23:06.720 --> 00:23:10.319 Italian restaurant, but they had a bar, and it was right before Christmas, 339 00:23:10.359 --> 00:23:12.039 and I wasn't going home for Christmas that year, and it was the 340 00:23:12.039 --> 00:23:15.680 first time i'd actually that song was playing it the first time I'd listened to 341 00:23:15.720 --> 00:23:21.279 those lyrics. I'll be Home for Christmas, if only in my dreams the 342 00:23:21.359 --> 00:23:23.319 first time it struck me, you know, if only in my dreams, 343 00:23:23.319 --> 00:23:27.119 because previously, of course I'll be home for Christmas. Why wouldn't I be 344 00:23:27.160 --> 00:23:32.240 home for Christmas? Bargo was just up the road on I ninety four. 345 00:23:33.400 --> 00:23:36.720 What are the chances that are going to close down the freeway? Well, 346 00:23:36.759 --> 00:23:41.519 it happens sometimes the snow is so heavy and so thick that they will close 347 00:23:41.599 --> 00:23:45.799 the entrance ramps to I ninety four. But what if you're already on the 348 00:23:45.880 --> 00:23:51.440 highway, You have to keep going. What if it's night Well, you 349 00:23:51.480 --> 00:23:55.079 turn on your brights and you follow the ruts of the cars that came before 350 00:23:55.160 --> 00:23:59.599 you to get home. What if it's snowing a lot? You follow the 351 00:23:59.640 --> 00:24:04.319 ruts best as you can, and eventually you hope, using your high beams, 352 00:24:04.480 --> 00:24:08.519 picking out the reflective markers in the side of the road, this obscure 353 00:24:08.599 --> 00:24:11.720 path which you no longer see, which in the summertime is bone dry, 354 00:24:11.799 --> 00:24:17.559 and you take it seventy five miles an hour, absolutely zipping on your way 355 00:24:17.559 --> 00:24:18.880 to Fargo to home at the end of it, which you know has got 356 00:24:18.880 --> 00:24:22.400 to be there, it always is. Why wouldn't it be it's always home 357 00:24:22.440 --> 00:24:29.039 at this point, your hands and knees on the freeway, trusting that home 358 00:24:29.079 --> 00:24:33.880 will be at the end of the road. Then it is until it isn't. 359 00:24:36.519 --> 00:24:40.480 My mother died, my father died, and there is no house. 360 00:24:40.519 --> 00:24:45.039 There is no home for me to go to in Fargo anymore. And that's 361 00:24:45.079 --> 00:24:49.039 okay. I've been in Minneapolis since nineteen seventy six, except for a brief 362 00:24:49.359 --> 00:24:53.400 tour of duty in Washington, DC. And home is now where my daughter 363 00:24:53.559 --> 00:24:57.039 comes to be. That's the karma of it all, isn't it. I 364 00:24:57.079 --> 00:25:00.599 mean here, growing up in Fargner at the my parents were convinced that that 365 00:25:00.759 --> 00:25:03.160 was the place to be. And why did I have to go to Minneapolis? 366 00:25:03.440 --> 00:25:07.720 What was in that big What was in that place really that Fargo didn't 367 00:25:07.759 --> 00:25:10.960 have. Oh, they had colleges. If Fargar Moore had had three colleges, 368 00:25:11.920 --> 00:25:14.119 and I'd say, way, Minneapolis is a big downtown. Fargo has 369 00:25:14.160 --> 00:25:15.240 a big downtown. Well, it's kind of dying at the time, But 370 00:25:15.640 --> 00:25:18.920 anyway, of course I had to go off to the big city. I 371 00:25:18.960 --> 00:25:22.759 had to go off to the Emerald city and make my way. And I 372 00:25:22.799 --> 00:25:26.319 was repaidkarmically many years later. When my daughter did the exact same thing upon 373 00:25:26.359 --> 00:25:30.200 graduating from high school. It is that she had to go off to the 374 00:25:30.200 --> 00:25:33.200 big city and do what she had to do, which was Boston in her 375 00:25:33.240 --> 00:25:34.640 case. And I would say, why can't you stay here? We have 376 00:25:34.759 --> 00:25:38.880 got a big city, We've got perfectly good colleges. But no, she 377 00:25:38.960 --> 00:25:41.319 went, and I'm glad she did because it was good for me and it 378 00:25:41.359 --> 00:25:45.839 was good for her and was absolutely necessary. And now it's all being replayed 379 00:25:45.839 --> 00:25:53.319 where she comes home to Minneapolis, to the house, to her room. 380 00:25:55.440 --> 00:26:00.240 All of us remember going home for Christmas after being away. Right, there's 381 00:26:00.279 --> 00:26:03.720 a wait, there is, and I mean w E, I g h 382 00:26:03.839 --> 00:26:06.880 T there is. There's a lightness to it. That's joy that you're coming 383 00:26:06.920 --> 00:26:11.960 home, the traditions. You're getting right back into the old groove that you 384 00:26:11.039 --> 00:26:15.640 remember. Swedish meatballs and Christmas Eve we have to have that at the four 385 00:26:15.640 --> 00:26:18.400 o'clock handle light service, we have to have that at some point familiarly. 386 00:26:18.480 --> 00:26:22.880 We made the shift from Christmas Eve opening to Christmas Day opening. I'm not 387 00:26:22.920 --> 00:26:26.519 sure why I liked it better that way. We're always a Christmas Eve family, 388 00:26:26.559 --> 00:26:30.680 but when I made the change, it made Christmas day even better, 389 00:26:33.599 --> 00:26:38.880 stalking the stuffing. You know, I still stock my daughter's stuffing. I'm 390 00:26:38.920 --> 00:26:45.440 sorry stuff my daughter's stalking spoon rized it there at one o'clock in the morning 391 00:26:45.440 --> 00:26:48.559 after she's gone to bed, And I still put on the cookies and hope 392 00:26:48.559 --> 00:26:49.519 the dog doesn't get them. Still do all of these things. So when 393 00:26:49.559 --> 00:26:53.240 you come home for Christmas after being away for an awful long time, there's 394 00:26:53.400 --> 00:26:57.720 the familiarity of all the things that you do. There's the songs that everybody 395 00:26:57.880 --> 00:27:03.279 played. I insist on playing the Good Year nineteen sixty four in nineteen sixty 396 00:27:03.319 --> 00:27:07.519 five albums because they are the finest examples of Christmas music ever wrought by the 397 00:27:07.519 --> 00:27:12.039 hand of man with the inspiration of God. None better. I mean, 398 00:27:12.079 --> 00:27:18.680 you've got okay, you got Maurice Chevalier, Joliel Saint Nikolaos is kind of 399 00:27:18.720 --> 00:27:26.480 funny. You got Edie Gormey and Ted what's his name singing sleigh Ride. 400 00:27:27.440 --> 00:27:33.599 You have Adam Maria Alberghetti singing. You have Andre Pustolato's playing this version of 401 00:27:33.680 --> 00:27:37.720 We Three Kings, which is just to this moment, to this day, 402 00:27:37.799 --> 00:27:41.839 the recollection of it practically cracks me up and brings me tears. So I 403 00:27:41.920 --> 00:27:45.680 will play those things so and my daughter will hear them again having not heard 404 00:27:45.720 --> 00:27:48.920 them for a year, because she hasn't been home for a year. So 405 00:27:48.440 --> 00:27:52.440 everything on the tree will be familiar, the ornaments. There's a story behind 406 00:27:52.480 --> 00:27:56.119 every one of them. I can tell you we got this one at disney 407 00:27:56.160 --> 00:27:57.720 World. I can tell you got that one at Macy's in nineteen ninety one. 408 00:27:57.759 --> 00:28:00.759 I can tell you I got that one at Element's store in Minneapolis in 409 00:28:00.799 --> 00:28:03.799 eighty six. I used to hang it on my door when your mom, 410 00:28:03.920 --> 00:28:08.240 when my wife, when she first came to my room, my apartment for 411 00:28:08.319 --> 00:28:11.920 Christmas, that was hanging on the door, that little plastic, cheap thing. 412 00:28:11.000 --> 00:28:14.279 That's why I kept it here. This little bear, I got this 413 00:28:14.400 --> 00:28:17.240 for opening up a Macy's cart. It's got a little guy go dive a 414 00:28:17.319 --> 00:28:18.599 box that he's holding. There may be a chocolate in there, we don't 415 00:28:18.599 --> 00:28:22.400 know. It's about thirty five years old. This one right here, that's 416 00:28:22.440 --> 00:28:25.880 a Coca Cola one. Used to be you pull that thing back and the 417 00:28:26.000 --> 00:28:27.799 mouse would stand up. But it broke, but it's still on there. 418 00:28:27.880 --> 00:28:33.200 This right here, child, for shame to tell you is I'm not ashamed. 419 00:28:33.519 --> 00:28:36.400 I'm proud is one that you made when you were for and I know 420 00:28:36.440 --> 00:28:37.920 you're embarrassed by it now, but you shouldn't because it's beautiful. And my 421 00:28:38.119 --> 00:28:41.839 mother, until the day she died, hung on the Christmas tree a drum 422 00:28:41.920 --> 00:28:47.880 that I made from a toilet paper tube that had two little Q tips as 423 00:28:47.960 --> 00:28:51.319 drums on it, because drums and Christmas natural connection. So my mom never 424 00:28:51.359 --> 00:28:53.079 threw that away. I never threw that away from you. All these things 425 00:28:53.160 --> 00:28:56.400 abide and collect, and when you come home, you see all the things 426 00:28:56.440 --> 00:29:00.200 you haven't thought about for a year and you're back and it's great. It's 427 00:29:00.240 --> 00:29:06.960 a connection and your heart swells. But there's also a weight a w I 428 00:29:07.079 --> 00:29:14.839 j ht to it because your parents are older, a lot older sometimes and 429 00:29:14.960 --> 00:29:17.160 you think that the host hasn't changed at all. You look around and you 430 00:29:17.240 --> 00:29:22.000 say, these people done anything here, This chair moved since I've been gone. 431 00:29:22.440 --> 00:29:25.000 That picture is the same to that picture was there when I was when 432 00:29:25.000 --> 00:29:27.559 I was in kindergarten. And then you go up to your room, which 433 00:29:27.640 --> 00:29:34.200 is this this memorial to who you used to be. There's books that you 434 00:29:34.319 --> 00:29:38.000 had in high school. God can't believe the taste you had there's a picture 435 00:29:38.039 --> 00:29:41.279 that you drew. Oh, you're so much better now. There's a bulletin 436 00:29:41.319 --> 00:29:47.319 board and all the pictures and the postcards and all these things from previous pursuits. 437 00:29:47.359 --> 00:29:52.920 Oh gosh, postcard from Japan. Can't even remember if I know any 438 00:29:52.000 --> 00:29:56.400 Japanese anymore. And there's this sense that your life was sort of freeze dried 439 00:29:56.519 --> 00:30:02.640 and put on display in this room. And you sit down at your desk 440 00:30:02.759 --> 00:30:07.720 that you're sat at for your entire life, and you open up your computer, 441 00:30:07.519 --> 00:30:11.519 and of course the computer screen is a window to the world that you 442 00:30:11.640 --> 00:30:15.559 occupy. Now you can escape through it if you want to, but you're 443 00:30:15.599 --> 00:30:18.799 surrounded by where you used to be, and you know you're going to eventually 444 00:30:18.880 --> 00:30:25.039 come here and you're going to have to empty everything out. And that's the 445 00:30:25.160 --> 00:30:29.119 weight. But it's not now, and it's not next year, not a 446 00:30:29.240 --> 00:30:32.039 year after that, we hope. No, it's Christmas. No, it 447 00:30:32.160 --> 00:30:37.079 is Christmas. That's right. It is Christmas, which is why hand on 448 00:30:37.160 --> 00:30:41.799 the door. It is a little Santa Claus thing. I can't remember where 449 00:30:41.799 --> 00:30:45.279 I bought this years ago, but I made a sort of vow to myself, 450 00:30:47.119 --> 00:30:48.839 I'm gonna get out the decorations. I'm going to hang this on her 451 00:30:49.079 --> 00:30:53.200 door, and that will be the symbol that Christmas has begun. And so 452 00:30:53.319 --> 00:30:56.759 every year I get that out and I hang it on her door, even 453 00:30:56.799 --> 00:31:04.319 though she isn't there yet, but she will be tonight. So that's where 454 00:31:04.319 --> 00:31:07.440 I am right. And did I have a third point about Christmas music? 455 00:31:07.400 --> 00:31:11.960 Yeah? I think I did. It was another song. It wasn't will 456 00:31:11.000 --> 00:31:15.200 be Home for Christmas, I'll be home for Christmas. It wasn't in the 457 00:31:15.279 --> 00:31:18.400 Bleak Midwinter, which they played the other day, thinking that's a Christmas song. 458 00:31:18.759 --> 00:31:22.200 Huh, please bleak Midwinter around here, that's about the third week of 459 00:31:22.279 --> 00:31:26.599 January. I got your Bleak Midwinter. No, I think it was have 460 00:31:26.720 --> 00:31:32.720 Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, which is a very adult tune. Works well 461 00:31:32.799 --> 00:31:37.240 with small jazz ensembles, works well with a cello and a small and a 462 00:31:37.319 --> 00:31:42.319 flute, and it has that great yearning moment, which is, like all 463 00:31:42.519 --> 00:31:47.680 great Christmas music, touched with an element of melancholy. Right. I mean, 464 00:31:47.720 --> 00:31:51.160 you can't tell me that Carol of the Bells doesn't have some melancholy too 465 00:31:51.160 --> 00:31:52.480 it even though it's a very vigorous song and it is by the way a 466 00:31:52.640 --> 00:31:56.519 Ukrainian carol. Carol of the Bells is a Ukrainian folk song. It's about 467 00:31:56.519 --> 00:32:01.400 a bird that flies into the room, but it have your but have yourself 468 00:32:01.440 --> 00:32:07.680 a merry little Christmas. We will muddle through until next year. Nineteen forty 469 00:32:07.759 --> 00:32:10.440 four was when that song came out. Next year, we may all be 470 00:32:10.559 --> 00:32:15.160 together, nineteen forty four. They're thinking nineteen forty five, it'll be over 471 00:32:15.279 --> 00:32:22.079 and everybody will be home nineteen forty five. As it happens, my father 472 00:32:22.240 --> 00:32:27.160 did make it home from his long and perilous time in the Caribbean and then 473 00:32:27.400 --> 00:32:30.599 in the in the Pacific. You know, he traded ships with the guy 474 00:32:30.720 --> 00:32:36.200 they could do. That guy wanted to swap assignments, so my dad went 475 00:32:37.279 --> 00:32:42.680 to the Block Island and the other guy went to the Indianapolis. My dad 476 00:32:42.759 --> 00:32:47.960 was supposed to be on the Indianapolis, but it wasn't. So he got 477 00:32:49.000 --> 00:32:53.160 home and they had themselves a merry little Christmas. And when I hear that 478 00:32:53.279 --> 00:32:59.240 song play, I think that that's all I really want out of it, 479 00:33:00.000 --> 00:33:04.440 A big one anymore. No people will be over. It'll be fine. 480 00:33:04.440 --> 00:33:07.599 We're gonna have a great meal and give a gifts. That'll be fine, 481 00:33:08.359 --> 00:33:15.079 but I just want a merry little Christmas. It it's not hard to have 482 00:33:15.200 --> 00:33:19.559 a merry little Christmas. Even if you're by yourself on Christmas Day eating at 483 00:33:19.599 --> 00:33:23.480 Salisbury Steak Lean Cuisine, which I have done for reasons. It's still Christmas, 484 00:33:23.599 --> 00:33:28.400 and there's still something in the season and the meaning and the history and 485 00:33:28.480 --> 00:33:30.759 the memories to find and enkindle in your heart. So I am going to 486 00:33:30.880 --> 00:33:36.160 have a merry little Christmas, and I expect you to do the same. 487 00:33:36.359 --> 00:33:39.039 If you wish, if you celebrate, if you want, if nothing else, 488 00:33:39.279 --> 00:33:45.359 find your favorite song, listen, recollect, remember, smile and well 489 00:33:45.400 --> 00:33:51.359 it's Ricochet. So we will muddle through, will we not. And at 490 00:33:51.400 --> 00:33:54.480 this time next year, I hope we will all be together as well, 491 00:33:54.920 --> 00:33:59.839 with Peter and Rod should they show up. Thank you for being a member, 492 00:34:00.400 --> 00:34:02.559 Thank you for listening. This has been the Ricochet Podcast. I'm James 493 00:34:02.599 --> 00:34:29.000 Lilacs. Merry Christmas, Ricochet. Join the conversation.