Speaker 1: It's night's time with Dan Ray. I'm delio.
Speaker 2: Oh thanks very much, Al appreciate it. Let's move on
Speaker 2: now to the ten o'clock. We got a couple of
Speaker 2: hours left. We're going to do, of course, the twentieth
Speaker 2: Hour tonight, and I will be looking forward to that.
Speaker 2: I'm not sure what topic I'm going to throw out tonight,
Speaker 2: so be prepared. I very may well do one of
Speaker 2: my favorite topics. I think most of you know of
Speaker 2: what I speak, but we'll see. We like to end
Speaker 2: the week on a positive note, Okay. I don't want
Speaker 2: to send you into the weekend arguing about the presidential
Speaker 2: election or who's a good cabinet picker who isn't. But
Speaker 2: what I would like to do this hour is look
Speaker 2: at a tendency in this country which bothers a lot
Speaker 2: of people, and at the same time, I think there
Speaker 2: are people on both sides of this issue. The subject
Speaker 2: is what's called Christmas creep, and what we mean by
Speaker 2: that is that it seems that every year when you
Speaker 2: start to go to the stores and you're not looking
Speaker 2: for Christmas, but all of a sudden, back in the
Speaker 2: I don't know, in the twentieth century, generally holidays were celebrated,
Speaker 2: Halloween would come along and all the Halloween Halloween decorations
Speaker 2: would go up at some point in early October. Now
Speaker 2: those decorations, you'll see decorations, Halloween decorations up right after
Speaker 2: Labor Day or even before. People used to look forward
Speaker 2: to Thanksgiving, which is my favorite holiday because as they say,
Speaker 2: it's about all all you know, football and family and
Speaker 2: fun and food and festivities. It's like your fine f's
Speaker 2: and there's probably a few more f's in there, but
Speaker 2: it's it's the great holiday because it's all again, it's
Speaker 2: about food uh and uh and and having fun with
Speaker 2: long you know, relatives who sometimes you don't see during
Speaker 2: the year, sometimes you don't want to see them, but
Speaker 2: they're okay on Thanksgiving. No only kidding, I mean the
Speaker 2: people who were all like that little you know mouse
Speaker 2: mouse on the treadmill who just has to keep working
Speaker 2: to keep the electricity on and and we have to
Speaker 2: keep working. But now it seems that that Christmas used
Speaker 2: to be, you know, once Thanksgiving was over, then you'd
Speaker 2: see all of the Christmas spirit. And I don't know
Speaker 2: if it's the cable news store stations that tell us
Speaker 2: they show us. The tree that's going to be I
Speaker 2: was watching earlier this month and the tree that's going
Speaker 2: to be in Rockefeller Center. They showed us. It's somewhere
Speaker 2: in uh in western Massachusetts, and it's actually donated from
Speaker 2: someone's yard, which is great, wonderful. The tree that is
Speaker 2: coming down from Nova Scotia, the pictures of the family
Speaker 2: who's who donated the tree. I mean, it just seems
Speaker 2: that we rush every season too much. And I know
Speaker 2: that there's an economic aspect to it, but the holidays
Speaker 2: should be you know, there's going to be an economic aspect,
Speaker 2: but the holidays should be focused more on the spirit
Speaker 2: of the season. It should not be so mercantile. I'm
Speaker 2: reading a piece out of Forbes here, which which kind
Speaker 2: of I think encapsulates what I'm talking about. And if
Speaker 2: you if you can identify with this, great, If you
Speaker 2: think that I'm just an old crank, that's okay too.
Speaker 2: The articles by Kate Hardcastle, she's a contributor to Forbes,
Speaker 2: the website, Intoor, the magazine. I'm not sure. This was
Speaker 2: written on November fifth, and she writes in the first paragraph,
Speaker 2: your cup of pumpkin spice latte is barely empty, yet
Speaker 2: peppermin mochahs and gingerbread lattes are already inching onto the menus.
Speaker 2: Halloween decorations come down, and suddenly it's as if Christmas
Speaker 2: has arrived overnight. Yeah, I mean between Halloween and Christmas.
Speaker 2: There is this thing called Thanksgiving. It's not a holiday
Speaker 2: that it's great for the travel industry, but it's not
Speaker 2: great for the retail industry because there's really not much
Speaker 2: retail business associated with Thanksgiving. Each year, it seems like
Speaker 2: the festive season starts earlier. I assume the festive season.
Speaker 2: They're talking about other Christmas holidays. This isn't a mere observation,
Speaker 2: it's a retail phenomenon driven by a growing appetite for
Speaker 2: holiday joy. From Pizza Express launching their limited edition Christmas
Speaker 2: Dope in early November to Sainsbury's I don't even know
Speaker 2: what sainsbury is. I guess it's releasing a heartwarming campaign
Speaker 2: featuring the Big the BFG, the Big Friendly Giant. It
Speaker 2: is clear that Christmas campaigns are coming to life earlier
Speaker 2: than ever. This isn't just a quirk of the market,
Speaker 2: but a deliberate shift designed to align with the emotional, cultural,
Speaker 2: and financial rhythms of the modern consumer. In a world
Speaker 2: that seems to be speeding up and piling on pressures,
Speaker 2: rising living costs, the persistent demands of work, and a
Speaker 2: challenging economic climate, consumers are leaning into Christmas earlier because
Speaker 2: it offers a rare reprieve. This isn't about the soft
Speaker 2: glow of fairy lights alone. It's about finding joy in connection.
Speaker 2: For many, holiday traditions offer an annual escape, and brands
Speaker 2: are rushing to bring it to consumers just when they
Speaker 2: are most craving craving it. Take Starbucks for example, for instance,
Speaker 2: which has already rolled out it's Christmas twenty twenty four menu.
Speaker 2: This is not just a new drink lineup, but a signal,
Speaker 2: a cultural zeitgeist, zeitgeist inviting customers to pause, sip and indulge.
Speaker 2: The early release place to our collective nosalgia, and is
Speaker 2: backed by data showing that limited addition seasonal offerings drive
Speaker 2: foot traffic and online engagement. It goes on, It just
Speaker 2: goes on about all of these different businesses that are
Speaker 2: pushing Christmas, pushing the holidays earlier, and I think what
Speaker 2: happens is it may force us or convince us or
Speaker 2: induce us to spend more money over the course of
Speaker 2: the season. And I'm told because Thanksgiving is late this year. Obviously,
Speaker 2: the twenty fifth of December is marked on the calendar.
Speaker 2: Thanksgiving is a moving movie, being on a holiday. But
Speaker 2: because the United the US Thanksgiving, as opposed to the
Speaker 2: Canadian Thanksgiving is late this year, the Canadian Thanksgiving is
Speaker 2: in early October. That's another story for another time. Our
Speaker 2: Thanksgiving is always the last Thursday in UH in November,
Speaker 2: and and this year the last Thursday is a little earlier,
Speaker 2: a little later, I should say, which makes the number
Speaker 2: of shopping days to Christmas left. So I want to
Speaker 2: open up the phone lines. And does it bother you do?
Speaker 2: Is there a problem? Do we cheapen the holiday? You know?
Speaker 2: I think, in many respects the most important holiday of
Speaker 2: the year, certainly from a religious point of view, and
Speaker 2: oftentimes hanukkah Uh falls within the same season of celebration
Speaker 2: a religious holiday. Do we cheapen the holiday? Or are
Speaker 2: you happy to hear the Christmas music? And I have
Speaker 2: to acknowledge before someone jumps all over me. I work
Speaker 2: for WBZ, which is owned by iHeart as you know,
Speaker 2: and iHeart I guess beginning today has gone with the
Speaker 2: Christmas season. Iheart's annual holiday tradition has begun as broadcast
Speaker 2: stations in its key markets today, meaning literally today, switch
Speaker 2: to the sounds of the season, airing twenty four to
Speaker 2: seven through Christmas Day. As always, the holiday hit mixedpans
Speaker 2: more than eight decades, with Christmas classics from Bing Crosby
Speaker 2: and Frank Sinatra to Taylor Swift and Ariana Grande. So
Speaker 2: I'm just going to open up these phone lines. I
Speaker 2: don't think there's anything we can do about it. I
Speaker 2: don't think there's any way that we can pledge that
Speaker 2: we will not shop. And of course we now not
Speaker 2: only have the mortar and brick stores that start earlier,
Speaker 2: but if you're on the internet, I mean that starts
Speaker 2: starts even earlier. Six one, seven, two, five, four, ten thirty,
Speaker 2: six one seven, nine, three, one, ten thirty. Have we
Speaker 2: lost the meeting? Have we cheapened the holiday experience? It
Speaker 2: is the end of the year. I realize that people
Speaker 2: love the few days off, the few extra days off
Speaker 2: that most of us get. There are some professions, police
Speaker 2: and fire that don't get holidays per se, but most
Speaker 2: of business shuts down from Christmas, Christmas Eve through through
Speaker 2: New Year's Eve, which is good. I think even here
Speaker 2: in America six one seven, two, five, four ten thirty,
Speaker 2: six one seven, nine three one ten thirty, the lines
Speaker 2: are lighting up. Try the six one seven, nine three
Speaker 2: one ten thirty. Those are better lines. We'll talk about
Speaker 2: this until eleven and then we will be on to
Speaker 2: the twentieth hour and I will figure out what we're
Speaker 2: going to do. And if you want to make a
Speaker 2: recommendation on the twentieth hour, go ahead, but it's got
Speaker 2: to be a good one. It'll be better nightside right after this.
Speaker 2: Now back to Dan ray Line from the Window World.
Speaker 3: Nightside Studios on WBZ News Radio.
Speaker 2: All right, so we're talking about is the arrival of
Speaker 2: Christmas the holiday season? And again I realized that not
Speaker 2: everyone celebrates Christmas, but I think everybody celebrates the holiday season.
Speaker 2: And I do know that there are other religions who
Speaker 2: have religious holidays, certainly in Jewish religion with Hanukkah around
Speaker 2: this time of year. Let's let's see what you have
Speaker 2: to say. I just believe that it's gotten a little
Speaker 2: out of hand in my opinion. Deborah is in writing Hi, Deborah,
Speaker 2: thanks for calling in. How are you doing to hey?
Speaker 4: Hey Dan? Yes, I walked into CVS yesterday and the
Speaker 4: first thing I thought is, Okay, I want to pick
Speaker 4: up some Thanksgiving decorations. And I faced with these white
Speaker 4: Santa clauses and all of the candles and all the
Speaker 4: paraphernalia for Christmas, and I said, out loud, what happens Thanksgiving?
Speaker 4: Where did it go?
Speaker 5: I meanly, I was going to.
Speaker 4: Pick up some fifty percent off Halloween stuff, but in
Speaker 4: the meantime I wanted some garlands and things because we
Speaker 4: celebrate Thanksgiving in my family in a big way. But no,
Speaker 4: it just goes from ZIP one to the other.
Speaker 2: What CVS did you go to? Because I love kind
Speaker 2: of in your area. And did you go to the
Speaker 2: one Washington Street?
Speaker 4: Washington Street?
Speaker 2: Yes, that's not a bad CVS compared to.
Speaker 6: Yeah, it's a good CVS.
Speaker 4: But still I just went in there and thought maybe
Speaker 4: there would be some cornucopias or pumpkins are gone something,
Speaker 4: turkeys or something yeah something, yeah, because my pit, my
Speaker 4: windows and nothing, nothing at all. So when I walk in,
Speaker 4: I was just singing at an advantageant Ignatius and I
Speaker 4: walked in and the radio was still I said, Christmas crush. Yes,
Speaker 4: and it sort of drives us crazy because of course
Speaker 4: I was ordering on my catalogs today for Christmas. But
Speaker 4: in the meantime, I still want to celebrate Thanksgiving.
Speaker 2: I just think it's almost like, uh, as you get older,
Speaker 2: you're not You're not old like I am. But as
Speaker 2: you get.
Speaker 4: Older, I'm probably older than you are.
Speaker 2: But the sound voice, we're not going to go pareog
Speaker 2: as well as as as the years go by, they
Speaker 2: seem to go by more quickly because I think, you know,
Speaker 2: way second, it was just March, wasn't it. This should
Speaker 2: be like feel like April. But no, it's no longer
Speaker 2: that sort of thing, you know, the witted summer go well,
Speaker 2: what happened to spring? I don't even remember spring, never
Speaker 2: mind summer. And yeah, they they're pushing it. They pushed
Speaker 2: the calendar, simple as that.
Speaker 4: And and to just get us, you know, to spend
Speaker 4: mucho de naro. But I still have my my Halloween
Speaker 4: decorations up all over the house, and I have a
Speaker 4: flag for Veteran's Day on my skeleton on the door.
Speaker 4: Good and then I will be taking some of those
Speaker 4: down and put up what little Thanksgiving stuff I have,
Speaker 4: and then after Thanksgiving comes Christmas exactly.
Speaker 2: Exactly, that's it, and not in no time before. I
Speaker 2: just think it deepens the whole. It's like, look, you know,
Speaker 2: everything in its time, simple as that. Deborah, thank you
Speaker 2: so much. I don't know how often you call, but
Speaker 2: I love your style and.
Speaker 1: I hope you come.
Speaker 4: Yes, yes, this is the first time, first time calling.
Speaker 5: Come on, and you've got.
Speaker 2: An applause from a digital studio audience. They're standing right now.
Speaker 2: And uh, maybe I'll see you at the at the Brighton.
Speaker 4: You might see me at the Brighton CVS. Okay, thank you,
Speaker 4: thank you so much.
Speaker 1: Yeap bye, thank you for calling.
Speaker 2: All right, good night. Six one, seven, two, five, four,
Speaker 2: ten thirty six one seven, nine three one ten thirty
Speaker 2: Is Christmas coming just too quickly? Too early? Again? From
Speaker 2: an illiterative point of view, we call it Christmas creep
Speaker 2: and and I that's my feeling. I don't get a
Speaker 2: sense maybe of outrage but from my audience, But that
Speaker 2: would be determined by the number of people who want
Speaker 2: to join the conversation. If you think I'm wrong, I'm
Speaker 2: not an old scrooge here at all. I love Christmas uh,
Speaker 2: but I also love Thanksgiving, and I'd like to luxuriate
Speaker 2: in Thanksgiving, and then we'll move to Christmas, and I
Speaker 2: want to maximize Christmas. The best part about Christmas is
Speaker 2: just the anticipation of it. But I don't I can't
Speaker 2: anticipate Christmas until Thanksgiving is coming. Gone. Next up Florence
Speaker 2: and Groveland. I wonder what Florence has to say. Hi, Florence,
Speaker 2: how are you good?
Speaker 7: And you Dan?
Speaker 2: I will be surprised if you disagree with me, Florence,
Speaker 2: but go right ahead if.
Speaker 6: You want not quite Dan, I agree in thinking about
Speaker 6: what I wanted to say. They make it a little
Speaker 6: too commercialized.
Speaker 2: Well, there's always been that pressure, you know, by this,
Speaker 2: by that, Oh yeah, right.
Speaker 6: And I'm wondering now because it seems to be more
Speaker 6: so that maybe because because of all the online ordering
Speaker 6: now that people do, like, yeah, everybody's doing Amazon, you
Speaker 6: know whatever, and so I think maybe the stores try
Speaker 6: and you know, they're trying to compete with that.
Speaker 2: They're trying to survive. I think that's a pretty good point.
Speaker 2: I had not thought of that. I will tell you this,
Speaker 2: I tend to not do a whole lot of online
Speaker 2: ordering because Frankly, I liked when I'm going to buy something,
Speaker 2: I like to kind of look at it and feel
Speaker 2: it and touch it. I will do Casel online. And
Speaker 2: the other thing, too, is I'm hesitant to to go
Speaker 2: online because you're going to give your your credit card number,
Speaker 2: and the more places you have your credit card number exposed.
Speaker 2: I was. I was on the phone today trying to
Speaker 2: get a medical issue payment, a medical payment through my
Speaker 2: you know, your health saving account, and I talked to
Speaker 2: a guy who unfortunately he's offshore. He's somewhere and god
Speaker 2: knows where, pick a pick another country. He's anywhere but America.
Speaker 2: So of course they ask your name and they they
Speaker 2: then they have to send you a text to make
Speaker 2: sure they know who you really are, and then they
Speaker 2: ask you for the last four digits off your SO
Speaker 2: Security number, which you give them. So this guy couldn't
Speaker 2: bring up my account even though he had the last
Speaker 2: four digits. He said, would you mind giving me your
Speaker 2: your tot your whole SOL security number. I wanted my
Speaker 2: head to explode. It was like, that's the last thing
Speaker 2: I'm going to do anyone, anyone over the phone to
Speaker 2: someone who I don't know. So that's that's that's the
Speaker 2: downside of ordering online. And to be honest with you,
Speaker 2: grovel uh a flor As. The less that you order online,
Speaker 2: I think the better off you are in my opinion.
Speaker 6: Well, if you have an account with a particular place
Speaker 6: and they have your INPU from when you originally account.
Speaker 6: My guys have one store that I opened an account
Speaker 6: with twenty three years ago.
Speaker 2: Okay, so you can trust them. I think you can
Speaker 2: trust them. But but you know, when you're watching TV
Speaker 2: and you see one of these things, you know, this
Speaker 2: is a miracle cleaner. You'll never have to clean again.
Speaker 7: This marble.
Speaker 2: It will do floors and ceilings and walls simultaneously. It's
Speaker 2: the super mop. And you're you're contacting sub company that
Speaker 2: you've never heard of. That gets a little little makes
Speaker 2: me a little anxious. Let me put it like that.
Speaker 6: Yeah, yeah, but I think you know the true meaning
Speaker 6: of Christmas. I love okay, and I love to see
Speaker 6: the tree or trees in general. I was waiting until
Speaker 6: they light up that tree in rock Apella Center so
Speaker 6: I can go on the internet take a peek at it,
Speaker 6: all right, and then we have a tree for Boston.
Speaker 6: That's the one that came from Nova Scoture.
Speaker 2: Yep, we're we're that one, that's for sure. I hate
Speaker 2: to do this year to Florence. All good information, but
Speaker 2: I'm a little bit past my break here at the
Speaker 2: bottom of the hour, so I got to jump to
Speaker 2: the newscast. You have a great Thanksgiving before Christmas, and
Speaker 2: then you have a great Christmas.
Speaker 6: Okay, same to you, Thanks you bye.
Speaker 2: Thanks Florence Talks. We'll be back on night Side. I
Speaker 2: got one line at six one seven four ten thirty.
Speaker 2: One line at six one, seven, one thirty. We will
Speaker 2: talk about this, I hope until eleven o'clock, and then
Speaker 2: at eleven o'clock we're gonna go to the twentieth hour.
Speaker 2: And those of you who are regular listeners know what
Speaker 2: I mean by the twentieth hour. Those are you who
Speaker 2: are not regular listeners, stick around and we'll explain it.
Speaker 2: Coming back on Nightside right after the news at the
Speaker 2: bottom of the hour.
Speaker 8: It's night Side, Boston's News Radio.
Speaker 2: Thank you all. Let's get back to the phone calls
Speaker 2: talking about Christmas creep. Okay, it just seems to get
Speaker 2: earlier and earlier. At some point, I think they're going
Speaker 2: to break out the Christmas decorations about Labor Day. Let
Speaker 2: me go to Bob out in California. Bob, welcome back.
Speaker 2: How are you, sir?
Speaker 7: Yes, Dan, good evening, good evening. Uh. Respectfully, I think
Speaker 7: totally differently. I love it. Okay, the lights. They can't
Speaker 7: put them up early enough as far as I'm concerned. Okay,
Speaker 7: it's okay, sure, yeah, how.
Speaker 2: Early you're in southern cal right for the most part, Yes, yes, yes,
Speaker 2: how much? When when do you begin to see Christmas
Speaker 2: lights in southern California?
Speaker 7: Well, I think it's the same like Costco right after
Speaker 7: Labor Day, Christmas lights and decorations and all that for sale, right,
Speaker 7: but the lights are starting to go now to your point,
Speaker 7: like time goes so fast, like we both know that.
Speaker 7: Like to me, like, let's enjoy it. And if it's
Speaker 7: an extra two or three weeks of bright, cheerful lights,
Speaker 7: that's great. It's awesome because nothing is more depressing than
Speaker 7: mid January when all the lights are down and start
Speaker 7: Like to me, you know, this is a great time
Speaker 7: of year, and it can't. It's funny you mentioned iHeart today.
Speaker 7: It's it's this morning. Deliberately. I checked on the station
Speaker 7: out here and to your point, they had gone to
Speaker 7: holiday music. It's the only time I listened to that
Speaker 7: station is during the holidays. And I'll point out the
Speaker 7: ratings for radio stations that play holiday music double from
Speaker 7: their typical ratings. So I'm not the only one that
Speaker 7: likes listening, you know. I mean, no, no, I get it.
Speaker 2: I totally get it. I mean, I love you know
Speaker 2: Mariah Carey song. You know all I want for Christmas
Speaker 2: and rendition of that, I get it. But what I
Speaker 2: would have prefer to do is let them extend Christmas
Speaker 2: into January. I mean little Christmas. Other countries celebrate. I
Speaker 2: think their little Christmas is on January sixth, so they
Speaker 2: have Christmas on the twenty fifth, and then they have Christmas.
Speaker 2: The lights stay up until at least January sixth. I mean,
Speaker 2: we tend to take them down because it's New Year's
Speaker 2: and I'd rather have them start a little later and
Speaker 2: extend into January, into that dark the darkest and the
Speaker 2: deepest month of winter.
Speaker 7: That's a good point. Yeah, I would agree with that.
Speaker 7: I would definitely agree. And by the way, all I
Speaker 7: wanted for Christmas was a Donald Trump landslide, and I
Speaker 7: got my present.
Speaker 2: I got it, There's no doubt about it. We were
Speaker 2: talking about that last night in some of the cabinets. Elections.
Speaker 2: I don't understand. I don't want to open up the
Speaker 2: political can of wards, but they don't understand the Matt
Speaker 2: Gates nomination. I just I think that I hope he's
Speaker 2: putting him out there. Just it's a sacrificial lamb so
Speaker 2: that the other the other nominees. I just don't get it, right,
Speaker 2: I don't get it.
Speaker 7: I agree, I agree. We will talk very soon if
Speaker 7: you catch my drift.
Speaker 2: YEP, I got you. I totally got you.
Speaker 7: I'm looking forward and forward for a great night.
Speaker 2: You body talk to you.
Speaker 7: Thanks.
Speaker 2: All right, let's keep rolling here, we got talking Christmas.
Speaker 2: Going to go to Christine in Denham. Hi, Christine. I'm
Speaker 2: sure you're a big Christmas person, But is it a
Speaker 2: little too early as far as you're concerned to know?
Speaker 5: Yes, because like you can't even find like Thanksgiving anymore,
Speaker 5: like decorations, like turkeys, the pilgrims like this. This is nothing.
Speaker 5: It's terrible.
Speaker 2: I mean, Thanksgiving is still correct me if I'm wrong,
Speaker 2: But Thanksgiving is still like two weeks away. It's on
Speaker 2: the twenty eighth this year. Yeah, so it's nice if
Speaker 2: Thanksgiving is over.
Speaker 5: Thanks Given was like big, you know, you put the
Speaker 5: nice decorative turkey on the table and the you know,
Speaker 5: all the decorations. It was nice and everybody came together.
Speaker 5: It was you know, enjoyed it. And it's just it's
Speaker 5: like you're just be coming by the wayside. It's sad.
Speaker 2: Well, you know, I think I think that if we
Speaker 2: as the consumers and we as the customers of these
Speaker 2: companies have to basically say, hey, you know, we'll we'll
Speaker 2: do our Christmas shopping, but we'll wait until the sales
Speaker 2: of Black Friday or all of that. I mean, we
Speaker 2: had we had a special guest on last night during
Speaker 2: the eight o'clock hour, was talking about is it better
Speaker 2: to buy now or wait till Black Friday. He thinks
Speaker 2: that people should wait, not because he's you know, romantic
Speaker 2: in terms of Christmas. He thinks that the Black Friday
Speaker 2: sales this year will be very good sales. So he says,
Speaker 2: you're going to buy something in early November and yeah,
Speaker 2: you'll get it at at a better rate the you know,
Speaker 2: the day after Thanksgiving.
Speaker 5: So now the big discussion is to the stores open
Speaker 5: up earlier for black products. For Thanksgiving, I'm like, no.
Speaker 2: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, why why destroy your Thanksgiving so
Speaker 2: you can be at line at two thirty in the morning,
Speaker 2: you know.
Speaker 5: Freezing to be with family and be thankful, you know,
Speaker 5: I mean.
Speaker 2: There there were so few times during the year where
Speaker 2: people can can count on being together, and Thanksgiving is
Speaker 2: really the day during the year when because there's no
Speaker 2: other obligations, there's no other pressure. That's the best part
Speaker 2: about it. I keep referring to it as you know,
Speaker 2: it's faith, it's family, it's fun, it's football, it's food.
Speaker 8: Right.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you heard of the four for H club. This
Speaker 2: is the five F club, and they're all good f's
Speaker 2: if you get my drift. Yeah, it's that Christy. As always,
Speaker 2: thank you so much. I appreciate your loyalty to this program.
Speaker 2: Talk soon.
Speaker 7: Thank you.
Speaker 5: Great weekend.
Speaker 2: I absolutely will. I promise you I've had very good weekends. Thanks.
Speaker 2: Where are we going to go next? Okay, let me
Speaker 2: go to Teresa in Lynn. Hi. Teresa, welcome. It's interesting.
Speaker 2: A lot of ladies except for Bob all ladies this hour,
Speaker 2: which is great. Teresa. Are we being pushed to get
Speaker 2: involved in the Christmas spirit a little too soon or
Speaker 2: do you disagree with me?
Speaker 7: I disagree.
Speaker 3: I think we have to have mercy on our fellow
Speaker 3: human beings have had an awful year every year, and
Speaker 3: Thanksgiving used to be in the origin, I think, was
Speaker 3: to thank God for the harvest and being able to
Speaker 3: survive in the new country with the help of the
Speaker 3: indigenous peoples. But we're long past that now. Nowadays it
Speaker 3: seems Thanksgiving us about thank God. It looks like I'm
Speaker 3: going to live to see another Christmas. Now, let's get
Speaker 3: the tree and stuff out. That's how I look at it.
Speaker 7: So Unio.
Speaker 3: It should last. Nobody should put it away till after
Speaker 3: January seventh.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so let me ask you this. I love Thanksgiving,
Speaker 2: and I really mean that. Okay. I loved Christmas when
Speaker 2: my kids were and I still love Christmas, but I
Speaker 2: really loved it when my kids were young because all
Speaker 2: you know, you could buy them stuff, and no matter
Speaker 2: what you bought them, they loved. You know. Now, of
Speaker 2: course you don't know what to buy anyone, you know
Speaker 2: who's you know, my kids are grown ups at this point.
Speaker 2: But I love Thanksgiving. I think back of some of
Speaker 2: the best holidays were the simplicity of Thanksgiving where you
Speaker 2: got together and there was no pressure to buy gifts.
Speaker 2: There was. You just showed up and enjoyed a meal together.
Speaker 2: And I just feel we're losing Thanksgiving with all of
Speaker 2: the Christmas decorations in stores this early. You don't buy
Speaker 2: that though, right, she's still.
Speaker 7: In this hard light. Let them go for it.
Speaker 2: Let them go for it. Okay, So let me ask
Speaker 2: you this. Have you finished your Christmas shopping already? Well?
Speaker 3: I haven't, But customarily on Thanksgiving, after everybody's eaten, I
Speaker 3: might say, listen, help me get that tree and then
Speaker 3: just set it up. We're not going to light it
Speaker 3: or decorate it, but let's just set it up and
Speaker 3: get the boxes from the attic, and then you can
Speaker 3: pat your hands and say, now let's have some more turkey.
Speaker 3: That's all.
Speaker 7: That's how I look at it.
Speaker 2: So you're you're using your guests as as as.
Speaker 7: A labors, hands on deck.
Speaker 2: I was going to say, I was going to say
Speaker 2: cheap labor, but that would be unfair.
Speaker 3: No problem, and it gets them all excited and happy.
Speaker 7: You nothing wrong with it, all?
Speaker 2: Right? Well, Teresa, I really appreciated kind of a different take.
Speaker 2: You're thinking outside the box. Thanks so much, good night,
Speaker 2: I will take it. We'll take good night thereesa. See,
Speaker 2: that's a different point of view. That's what the show's
Speaker 2: up all about, even on a subject like this, which
Speaker 2: is intended to be just a little light Now, look,
Speaker 2: as I remind you, in the eleven o'clock hour, the
Speaker 2: twentieth hour of the week, which is now a scant
Speaker 2: fifteen minutes away, everybody gets a hall pass. So if
Speaker 2: you called earlier this week, even if you called this hour,
Speaker 2: if the topic that I will announce after the eleven
Speaker 2: o'clock news interest you intrigues you, you're not prevented from calling.
Speaker 2: In the eleven o'clock hour. Everyone gets a hall pass, okay,
Speaker 2: to call if you know, first time, second time, whatever
Speaker 2: during the week. You know, we try to keep everybody
Speaker 2: at one call a week. Sometimes we're successful, sometimes we're not.
Speaker 2: Sometimes we make exceptions. There are no hard and fast
Speaker 2: rules here on Night Side, except I want you to
Speaker 2: give me a call and tell me are you concerned
Speaker 2: about we're calling it Christmas creep. I think you know
Speaker 2: the concept that all of a sudden you go into
Speaker 2: a store. And I think it was Deborah who talked
Speaker 2: about it from Brighton. You go into a store and
Speaker 2: all of a sudden you realize, Hey, it's October fifteenth,
Speaker 2: and there's Christmas stuff up. There's Christmas decorations up. That
Speaker 2: troubles me. I want to keep Christmas special. Six one, seven, two, five, four, ten,
Speaker 2: thirty six, one seven nine, three one ten thirty. My
Speaker 2: name's Dan Ray. This is Nightside. Got a couple of
Speaker 2: open lines here, so we'll finish out the hour strong.
Speaker 2: Do you feel that they, when I say they, the
Speaker 2: retail industry is pushing Christmas too early, pushing Christmas earlier
Speaker 2: than it should, that we should even be engaging with it.
Speaker 2: I want Christmas to be It's the most important holiday
Speaker 2: of the year for me, holy day of the year
Speaker 2: as well. But but I think, and I think some
Speaker 2: of you have agreed with me, A couple of you
Speaker 2: have disagreed with me that we couldn't be walking into
Speaker 2: stores in early November and seeing every everything dealing dealing
Speaker 2: with Christmas. Call us up back on night Side six
Speaker 2: one seven, two, five, four, ten thirty six, seven nine.
Speaker 2: We'll be right back now. Back to Dan Ray live
Speaker 2: from the Window World Nightside Studios on WBZ News radio.
Speaker 2: All right, let's keep rolling here. We're going to go
Speaker 2: next to Karen in Leminster. Karen, are we pushing Christmas
Speaker 2: a little too early? Oh?
Speaker 8: Yes?
Speaker 1: Every year I see it getting earlier and earlier. The
Speaker 1: ads for Black Friday, I mean in the early November,
Speaker 1: you know, and you go into stores, and I mean
Speaker 1: I love the Christmas music and all, but even that,
Speaker 1: I think they can wait on that till ne a Thanksgiving.
Speaker 1: But there's one station in Worcester that has you know,
Speaker 1: just now, which is okay, But I still think they
Speaker 1: could wait on it. And I like the times when
Speaker 1: you could there was no pressure to buy something before Thanksgiving.
Speaker 1: You waited till after Thanksgiving, then you bought it up
Speaker 1: and then even then there was no pressure to get
Speaker 1: something right before Christmas or you know, I do think
Speaker 1: we it starts too early. It's a wonderful season. I
Speaker 1: love the Holy Day and you know, because it is
Speaker 1: a Holy Day and the spiritual aspect of Christmas and everything,
Speaker 1: but I do think there's not the commercial aspect too soon.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think a lot of the spiritual aspect unfortunately
Speaker 2: people miss, and I think that's the most important part
Speaker 2: of But in my opinion, but it's just frustrating. You
Speaker 2: walk into a store in mid October and you're listening
Speaker 2: to Mariah Carey singing All I Want for Christmas. Yeah,
Speaker 2: probably song, but it's just a little too early.
Speaker 1: I don't way too early.
Speaker 2: It's like the equivalent of showing up at the beach
Speaker 2: at the end of morning Arch or early April. I mean,
Speaker 2: it just is, it's it's it's the wrong time. It's
Speaker 2: just the wrong time. And uh, and I know why,
Speaker 2: it's why it's done. It's done to maximize the the
Speaker 2: the pressure on us to bye bye bye, bye bye.
Speaker 2: And that's trouble. It troubles me. I don't know. I
Speaker 2: don't have it. I don't have an answer. It's interesting
Speaker 2: most most folks agree with us on this one. Karen.
Speaker 2: I hope.
Speaker 1: Like to see them stretch Christmas music out into January.
Speaker 1: You Christmas Carol right after Christmas. A lot of gone.
Speaker 2: The Christmas season, well, we lose it because then the
Speaker 2: focus becomes New Year's and it's party time. Minutes. How
Speaker 2: you know, I'm going to go to the parade downtown
Speaker 2: and uh, and then that's gone. I mean, once New
Speaker 2: Year's Eve is over, the next morning, you get up
Speaker 2: and you say, oh my god, another year has gone by.
Speaker 2: I'm ready for the No. Thanks, you have a great
Speaker 2: you have a great Thanksgiving. That's mine.
Speaker 1: You have wonderful Thanksgiving.
Speaker 2: Thanks Garin. We'll talk soon. Okay, let's go next to
Speaker 2: We got Caroline in Boston. Hey Caroline, welcome next to Nightside.
Speaker 8: Oh hi Dan, I young listen your program. And I
Speaker 8: completely agree with you because you see, I half Latino,
Speaker 8: half Gringo, have European have whatever? And all people in
Speaker 8: different countries they have Christmas. It's very important, you know, Yes.
Speaker 2: Yep, absolutely, and in a lot of countries have I
Speaker 2: think that it's called little Christmas that that goes into January.
Speaker 8: Correct, Yes, yes, we having big scene be before and
Speaker 8: I go to the stores. I see all the advertising
Speaker 8: and I'd buy this and buy that and blah blah
Speaker 8: blah blah. But you know, we we kind of have
Speaker 8: loss of what idea what Christmas is child be And
Speaker 8: I think, like you said, when your children were children,
Speaker 8: they you enjoy very much because they will take everything
Speaker 8: back When then you have their children growing up, it's
Speaker 8: a different any story, you know, it is.
Speaker 2: A very different story. I remember my kids, you know,
Speaker 2: we will. We lived in a house that had two
Speaker 2: fours and the bedrooms were upstairs and the Christmas tree
Speaker 2: was downstairs. And I was always fumbling with the with
Speaker 2: the the cam quarterback in those days, there's you know,
Speaker 2: the video cameras that we all had, which were too big,
Speaker 2: and my wife would be holding the kids the top
Speaker 2: of the stairs because I wanted to get that shot
Speaker 2: of them running down the stairs. And you know, they
Speaker 2: they they they've woken up early at six thirty in
Speaker 2: the morning. I'm half asleep, and it's get the camera,
Speaker 2: get the cam corner, and the kids we want to
Speaker 2: get down the stairs and and and then they would
Speaker 2: come down and they would, you know, find whatever they
Speaker 2: wanted to find under the tree. And I always, you know,
Speaker 2: it was it was memorable mornings. I mean, it was
Speaker 2: more fun for me than it was for them, and
Speaker 2: for and for them it was it was always a
Speaker 2: lot of fun. I just remember them, and particularly I
Speaker 2: had a son and a daughter and they were about
Speaker 2: four years apart in age, so when you know, when
Speaker 2: when they were five and uh, well six and two,
Speaker 2: the poor little one she had all she could do
Speaker 2: to get down the stairs. But by time she became
Speaker 2: six or seven, she was pushing her older brother out
Speaker 2: of the way to get down the stairs first. Those
Speaker 2: are those are memories that I'll always I will always
Speaker 2: have as a result of Christmas. How do you like Thanksgiving?
Speaker 2: Is Thanksgiving an important holiday in your family?
Speaker 8: Well, it's very important for me. I have my family
Speaker 8: not only here in America, but I have family Latin America,
Speaker 8: I have family in Europe, I have family in Australia
Speaker 8: all over the place. But I am lucky enough to
Speaker 8: be able to be an echaristical minister, and I had
Speaker 8: gone through the studies and every sing else in the
Speaker 8: church a part of being elation Bi Linguae social worker.
Speaker 8: So anyway, what I do is I would really appreciate
Speaker 8: it very much when we have a leader group, our
Speaker 8: Spanish seniors, and they will come in and they will
Speaker 8: have this beautiful Saturday to appreciate every one and toy
Speaker 8: with the meals and everything else, and then we are
Speaker 8: going to have our own private family thank Giving. And
Speaker 8: we always shouldn't be so grateful. We Americans have lost
Speaker 8: that fact that we shouldn't be so grateful that we
Speaker 8: have family, that we have people who love us, that
Speaker 8: we have good neighbors, that we have a job, that
Speaker 8: we have people who is teaching, like myself to the
Speaker 8: senior Spanish to learn English.
Speaker 7: You know.
Speaker 8: So, I mean it's of course, it's always something to
Speaker 8: be simple for I couldn't agree.
Speaker 2: With you more. And I think that a lot of
Speaker 2: us have kind of forgotten gratitude. And I'm grateful Caroline
Speaker 2: that you took the time to call. Have I ever
Speaker 2: had the honor of having you on my program before?
Speaker 2: Is it's your first time calling?
Speaker 8: No, I have called you before, but I only did
Speaker 8: in the last time, and it was very short because
Speaker 8: it was only interesting to hear your point of view.
Speaker 8: You're good and your bad point of view, and your
Speaker 8: programs are fabulous.
Speaker 2: So a man for back Caroline. Caroline, I wish you
Speaker 2: a wonderful Christmas, you know, both as the holiday and
Speaker 2: as the Holy Day. And I hope you and your
Speaker 2: family have a great Thanksgiving and I look forward to
Speaker 2: your next call. Thank you so much. It's an honor
Speaker 2: to talk.
Speaker 8: Yes, thank you to you, and I'll keep doing the
Speaker 8: big job that you do for every one of us.
Speaker 2: I will try. Thanks Caroline, we'll talk again. Thank you
Speaker 2: so much.
Speaker 7: Bye bye, good night.
Speaker 2: All right, bye bye. When we come back, you know
Speaker 2: what we're gonna do. Brushes with celebrity. Okay, it's as
Speaker 2: simple as that. It's my favorite eleven o'clock hour. So
Speaker 2: I know some of you don't like it. I'll explain
Speaker 2: it fully and jump on board your brush with celebrity.
Speaker 2: Everyone's had them. I want to hear yours. We'll be
Speaker 2: back on night Side after this.