Quirks, Bumps, and Bruises

A Christmas Collection: Keeping Christ at the Center of the Season

• The Morning JoyRide • Season 4 • Episode 11

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This special Christmas episode of Quirks, Bumps and Bruises is a thoughtfully curated collection of favorite Christmas moments from the morning show, selected by Melody. Alongside laughter, kids’ voices, and simple traditions, the episode gently makes space for those experiencing grief during the holidays.

Following the loss of her father earlier this year, Melody brings a tender, honest perspective to Christmas—one that acknowledges sorrow while still pointing hearts toward Christ, hope, and love. You’ll hear encouragement for choosing presence over perfection, comfort for those carrying loss, and reminders that the most meaningful parts of Christmas can’t be staged.

If you’re navigating the season with both joy and sadness, this Christmas collection is for you.

SPEAKER_06:

Melody along with you here on Quirks, Bumps, and Bruises, the Christmas edition. And these are just a few of our breaks from the morning show, all during the month of December, that I think are funny. Some are a little bit more heartwarming, and some even deal with loss and grief at Christmas. So here is the Christmas edition of Quirks, Bumps and Bruises. Alright, let's settle a debate. It's the Christmas flower that we see each and every year called a poinsettia or a poinsetta. I have always said poinsettia. Many others say that I'm wrong and that it should be poinsetta. And so I went to Webster's Dictionary where they actually have what something should sound like so that you can hear it. So I'm gonna go along with Webster's, no matter what that is. Let's look it up and we'll see. Okay, Webster's what do you say?

SPEAKER_05:

Poinsettia.

SPEAKER_06:

So that made me feel better. Although, to be fair, Webster's has two different ways to pronounce it. The one you just heard, poinsettia, which is what I've always called it, was the first. But they did offer this as well. Poinsetta. So I think from that we can just conclude you can call it whatever you want. Poinsettia, poinsetta, or that red flower over there in the corner.

SPEAKER_03:

An angel came to see Mary. She was doing laundry, and then the angel just appeared and she was really scared. So Gabriel was like, Mary, you're gonna have like I can't say good. Mary, you're gonna have a baby. You're gonna have a baby and you will call him Jesus. And then Mary was like, I'm not gonna have a baby yet. I'm only a teenager, I'm not married. Then the angel Gabriel told Joseph that Mary is not lying. She you are having a new baby. And so they met up. They went to Bethlehem, which was Joseph's old town. They ride a donkey. A camel. Oh yeah, a camel. She said, this donkey's fast. Would they try to go to a hotel and they asked the keeper um for a place to stay. The keeper said, We have no rooms. Literally, no rooms. So Mary and Joseph walked away sadly, but then he said, The only place in here in Bethlehem that you can stay stay is a staple. And then he just pointed the way they followed. When the shepherds were taking care of the sheep, then they saw angels. The angel said, A new baby is getting born who is king of the Jews. The angel were singing. Reason. And then the shepherd said, I think we should go there and meet him. The second Tai Sang said, Yeah, I agree with you. And the other said, Yeah, me too. They had to walk through a bunch of grass and bushes. Maybe have to camp out a night. And then the wise men heard about it. And then a star appeared. We should probably follow that star. It's pointing down to the barn. So maybe we should follow it. Maybe. So the wise men went to Jesus. They gave them gifts. Like a header one. And I have at home. Some diapers, some wife, some milk, some shoes, some Jordans. Gold Frank and Latimer. And I don't know how it would survive in that barn. Too stinky, too crowded, and ugh. I think he probably because the room is very smelly. Thank you for coming. He's adorable. He's gonna be our best friend. I love you and you're the best baby I ever seen. There, I said it. The new baby is gonna change the world.

SPEAKER_06:

It's the morning joy ride melody along with you. Y'all, 10 days until Christmas. So just keep this in your mind. If you are frazzled, you're filled with being overwhelmed or full of anxiety. Remember this. If the house isn't clean, it's still Christmas. If the desserts aren't made yet, it's still Christmas. If the gifts aren't even purchased yet, much less wrapped, it's still Christmas. Because if it's not about Christ, it's not Christmas. So no matter where you are in your journey to Christmas in about 10 days, just remember that. It is about Jesus Christ. All the other things are wonderful and fun and nothing wrong with them, but always keep in our minds that if it's not about Christ, it's not Christmas. Melody here with you on the joyride, and some of you may know that I keep my little grandson Benson throughout the afternoon until my daughter comes home from school. She's a teacher. And uh seeing Christmas this year through the eyes of a three and a half year old has been wonderful. It's been good for my heart, especially this year in a season that has been full of grief. Losing my dad, uh Candy coming off the morning show, and y'all know she's my go-to girl. And so I'm uh that was a loss, and losing dad was a loss, and then some help things. It's just been kind of a rough, hard year. But being able to see Christmas through the eyes of a three-year-old has just really done something for my heart. So if you have children that are that young, I know it can be loud, I know it can just be a lot, but let them, I'm gonna say that this morning, let them. Let them stay up a little later, let them make a mess, let them eat chocolate for breakfast, let them sing Christmas songs to the top of their lungs, let them play with loud plastic toys because y'all, they will never be this little at Christmas again. So if you have those young children at home or you have young grandchildren that like me, you help take care of, just let them. Christmas to them right now is absolutely magical. Their eyes light up, they love everything about it. So just let them. Good morning, welcome to Joy FM. We're glad you're here with us, Melody along with you. And on our social media, Josh, who heads up all of our social media and does such a fantastic job, puts something on there that really has gotten a lot of traction, and it's called this the gospel according to a Christmas tree cake. And you know, everyone loves those little Christmas tree cakes that come out around Christmas. And so the gospel according to that Christmas tree cake is this the tree shape itself points upward because our hope and help come from above. The white icing on this little Christmas tree cake is a picture of grace that covers us completely. The little red swirls on the tree represent Christ's love and sacrifice woven through everything. And then the layers inside, life has layers, right? Jesus meets us in every one. So today, taste and see that the Lord is good.

SPEAKER_04:

One of our favorite games to play as a family around the holiday season uh is uh Have You Seen Jesus? It's just something we do. We have this plastic nativity set. So on a really windy night. We usually lose them. It's always a family cousins. We all gather in and we just go through the night. Excuse me. Have you seen Jesus? It's weird. I know you're not going to never store, I'm sorry, but we have Jesus back. He's in your he's in your bushes and come home from church and Joseph is facing down in a ditch somewhere. Mary's falling over a big hole in her head. Mary don't know. It's over, you know, and so we just we just scattered. You know, we just messed up the time of the just to make sure we're, you know, altogether. We water the wise men on the front of my husband's car. This is the only, you know, documented incident where men actually ask for directions. Look at how I'm going. She just had a go learning.

SPEAKER_06:

Melody here along with you on the joy ride. And moms, I know that Christmas is a special time for families, and you want everything to just be as perfect as it can be, especially for your children. You want to make holidays fun for them. You want to do all kinds of exciting things. You want to just make incredible memories with them and things that they'll bring up later to you as they get old. A lot of times that puts so much pressure on the mom. So today I want to talk to you moms, especially you moms of young children. It's okay if you don't take Christmas pictures and matching pajamas this year. Or spend hundreds of dollars on endless activities every day during December. Yes. You don't have to do an elf on a shelf. You don't have to do that stuff. And if you don't do that stuff, this is what I want you to know. You're still a fantastic mom. Even at my age, there is still something so heartwarming about the Charlie Brown Christmas reminding us what Christmas is truly all about.

SPEAKER_02:

I guess you were right, Linus. I shouldn't have picked this little tree. Everything I do turns into a disaster. I guess I really don't know what Christmas is all about. Isn't there anyone who knows what Christmas is all about?

SPEAKER_03:

Charlie Brown, I can tell you what Christmas is all about. Lights, please. And there were in the same country shepherds, abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night, and lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them. And the glory of the Lord shone round about them, and they were sore afraid, and the angel said unto them, Fear not, for behold, I bring you tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you was born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you. You shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel, a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men. That's what Christmas is thought about, Charlie Brown.

SPEAKER_06:

Hey y'all, it is Friday, and you know I love fun fact Fridays. I love trivial, useless information that you don't need to know. Yeah, but it's still fun to know it. And so Parker Webb is in here with me today. So, Parker, I'm gonna give you some trivial information. Right. And you can take it back to those you love and know.

SPEAKER_01:

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_06:

So, did you know that the first artificial Christmas tree was made from dyed goose feathers? Wow. How about that?

SPEAKER_01:

That is I did not know that.

SPEAKER_06:

We're gonna keep moving. More than three billion Christmas cards sent in the United States every year. Oh my God. Now I find that amazing knowing how much a stamp costs now.

SPEAKER_01:

No joke. Well, think about I mean, if they sent it through the Postal Service, why are we in such a deficit with the Postal Service?

SPEAKER_06:

I don't know. Christmas should catch a stamp.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, it's it's a lot.

SPEAKER_06:

It is a lot. Y'all getting a text from me. Right. Right. All right. The top selling Christmas song of all time.

SPEAKER_01:

White Christmas. White Christmas.

SPEAKER_06:

Being Crosby's White Christmas.

SPEAKER_01:

I love that's my number two favorite movie after It's a Wonderful Life. Oh, it is. It is. I love White Christmas.

SPEAKER_06:

All right. The best-selling Christmas toy all the way back in 1980.

SPEAKER_01:

Yep. The Rubik Cube. I love my boys have one.

SPEAKER_06:

I never could do that. Oh. My brain just does not work that way.

SPEAKER_01:

No joke. I I use it as a baseball more than I did the a Rubik's Cube.

SPEAKER_06:

We talked yesterday about places in the United States that have Christmas names. Yeah. Like there's an Eggnog, Utah. Did you know that? I did not. But there are two islands named Christmas. One is uh in the Pacific Ocean, the other in the Indian Ocean. Wow. So there you go. Christmas trees. You think about where they are grown. But they are grown in all 50 states. Are they real? Every state.

SPEAKER_01:

Even Florida.

SPEAKER_06:

Yes.

SPEAKER_01:

That is amazing.

SPEAKER_06:

Fruits were the first ornaments. People hung fruit on their trees.

SPEAKER_01:

See, my mother would do that. My mom used to put oranges and had little special and cinnamon and stuff. It was really nice. That's great.

SPEAKER_06:

So here in the United States, you know, Parker, we think about ham and turkey when we think about eating.

SPEAKER_01:

Right.

SPEAKER_06:

But uh just so you know, in Japan, their favorite holiday meal is Kentucky Fried Chicken. Well you can't go wrong with that.

SPEAKER_01:

Did do you love fruitcake? Uh well, it depends. I love the Southern Supreme fruitcake from North Carolina. Down East Carolina. I love it too. Yeah. So good. Yeah. Now some of it not so good. Well, when I lived in Alabama, people would send Southern Supremes to my in-laws. I would receive it because they didn't like it. They never even tried it. But I for sure wasn't gonna tell them because I was the recipient of the Southern Supremes they didn't want. I love it.

SPEAKER_06:

Well, it can last a lifetime, and that's a little scary.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, so can a McDonald's, the cheeseburger. So I don't we still eat that.

SPEAKER_06:

So Parker Melody back with you with some fun fact trivia things that you don't need to know, but hey, it's fun to know. So Parker, the highest grossing holiday movie of all time, home alone.

SPEAKER_01:

Now, see, that surprises me. Me too. Here's the thing. I watched it when I was a kid. We try to not watch that. In fact, I've I've told my boys we don't because he's a little spoiled acting. He's got an attitude that I don't want my boys to emulate in some of the stuff he says to his mother. Now, watching him beat up on those two robbers is pretty funny. I love that.

SPEAKER_06:

It is. I personally don't think you can, you know, mess with the Grinch movies.

SPEAKER_01:

That's right. And Jim Carrey's part in that is amazing. Did you hear about it took him eight hours to put that costume on? A day. And he did it a hundred times.

SPEAKER_06:

I don't think I'd have the patience to do that.

SPEAKER_01:

No way, uh-uh.

SPEAKER_06:

Well, money talks, I guess.

SPEAKER_01:

That's right, that's right. Several million of work.

SPEAKER_06:

So the song Jingle Bells, everybody loves that, originally started out as a Thanksgiving song. Yeah. It was written for the church Thanksgiving concert in the mid-19th century.

SPEAKER_01:

Right. The it was the pastor's son. I don't know if you knew that. He had he had done something bad, and his punishment from his daddy, who was the pastor, was to write a Thanksgiving song. And it was jingle bells? And he did not preview the song before the little boy got up and sang it. So he was in more trouble because he sang jingle bells. Isn't that great? Look at Parker giving me a fun fact. Listen, how about that? I don't know. Useless, useless facts there.

SPEAKER_06:

Speaking of jingle bells, the astronauts, Wally Shearer, Tom Stafford, aboard the Gemini Six, right? They did jingle bells all across the atmosphere.

SPEAKER_01:

Isn't that great? Yeah.

SPEAKER_06:

The most recorded Christmas song, of course, Silent Knight.

SPEAKER_01:

I love Silent Night.

SPEAKER_06:

I don't know that you can ever really beat Silent Night.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, it's great.

SPEAKER_06:

Just in its original, simple form.

SPEAKER_01:

That's right. No fancy stuff. That's right.

SPEAKER_06:

Kind of like the national anthem. Don't be all fancy.

SPEAKER_01:

No, just sing it. Get the job done. Yeah, the words can speak for themselves.

SPEAKER_06:

This one is not funny, but it's funny. Christmas decorating sends nearly 15,000 people to the ER every year.

SPEAKER_01:

There's my proof. I need to we procrastinate so long putting our decorations up, and I like to stay kind of minimal. I there's my proof to tell my wife it's dangerous.

SPEAKER_06:

Falling off those ladders. That's right. I'm not getting up on a ladder. All right, Chris Griswold.

SPEAKER_01:

Uh talking about Christmas trees. You know that uh the best way if you if you have allergies around this time of year, usually it's from a Christmas tree. If you bring a live Christmas tree in.

SPEAKER_06:

We have a live one. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

So I worked at a Christmas tree lot all through high school. Oh, did you? And what we would tell people is the trees are like filters up on the side of mountains. Make sure before you bring in the house, hose it down for several days. Of course, keep it in a bucket of water so it stays live. Hose it down and it takes all the pollen off the tree. And it'll usually bring that back a little bit so you don't have as as bad of allergies. So look at there.

SPEAKER_06:

Not all useless knowledge.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, that's useless. It might be helpful for you.

SPEAKER_06:

So you got some fun fact trivia and you got a tip.

SPEAKER_01:

That's right. That's right. All in one swoop here. Now what's our what's our phone number here at Joy FM? You can send your uh donations in to ParkerWebb at Joyfm.org.

SPEAKER_06:

Melody along with you here on the Joyride. And if you have lost a loved one, holidays can be difficult. I hope that this by Tim Keller will help encourage your heart during this season.

SPEAKER_00:

If you lost a loved one this year, if you have uh had actually any kind of sorrow, major grief or major loss this year, Christmas is you're just dreading Christmas. I'm so sorry because Christmas should be a time of joy, but the fact is that Christmas reminds you of the other Christmases you had with the person, for example, that you've lost, or maybe you've lost a condition, a job or a home or something like that. Then Christmas actually almost wounds you more. Um but there's two ways to deal with suffering. One is to let it drive you away from God, and one is to let you let it drive you closer to God. I mean, uh suffering can be the hammer that drives you like a nail into the love of God uh because you just cling to him. Uh I would say at Christmas, even if you feel like you're getting weaker, even if you don't feel like praying, pray. If you don't feel like worshiping, worship. If you don't feel like going to church, go to church. And afterwards you'll actually feel, just like when you go into a gymnasium and you're exercising, you feel like you're getting weaker. Even though you're actually getting stronger. Uh if you just hold on to God during hard times, and Christmas can be a really hard time for someone who's suffered recently, you'll find that when it's over, when you're out of the gymnasium, you're stronger for it. So don't let suffering and don't let Christmas drive you away from Jesus. It can let it drive you toward him, even though it may be painful at the moment.

SPEAKER_06:

This is a beautiful way to think about and live out the Christmas season taken from 1 Corinthians 13, but the Christmas version of it. It says this If I decorate my house perfectly with plaid bows, strands of twinkling lights, and shiny balls, but do not show love to my family, I'm just another decorator. If I slave away in the kitchen baking dozens of Christmas cookies, preparing gourmet meals, and arranging a beautifully adorned table at mealtime, but do not show love to my family, I'm just another cook. If I work at the soup kitchen, carol in the nursing home, and give all that I have to charity, but do Do not show love to my family, it profits me nothing. If I trim the spruce with shimmering angels and crocheted snowflakes, attend a myriad of holiday parties and sing in the choir's cantata, but do not focus on Christ, I have missed the point. Love stops the cooking to hug the child. Love sets aside the decorating to kiss the husband. Love is kind, though harried and tired. Love doesn't envy another's house that has coordinated Christmas china and table linens. Love doesn't yell at the kids to get out of the way, but is thankful they are there to be in the way. Love doesn't give only to those who are able to give in return, but rejoices in giving to those who can't. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails. Video games will break, pearl necklaces will be lost, golf clubs will rust, but giving the gift of love will endure. What a beautiful way by Sharon James, who wrote that to keep us in perspective of what love truly means, even at Christmas time.

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