Deck the Halls with Holiday History: A Mystic Mamas Journey Through Festive Tales & Traditions

In this festive episode of Two Mystic Mamas, Krystyn and Rachael dive headfirst into the holiday spirit, exploring the traditions, folklore, and the deeper meanings behind the season. From the Yule Festival’s roots in Scandinavian and Germanic cultures to the evolving meaning of Christmas, they explore the deep connections that bring warmth, unity, and renewal to the darkest days of the year. Whether it’s holiday prep or sharing hilarious and unexpected stories, the duo reflects on how they’re approaching the holidays differently this year compared to the past. Expect funny personal anecdotes, like Krystyn’s pre-labor holiday prep while pregnant with Evie and Rachael’s undying love for the magic of Christmas music.

Get ready for plenty of laughs as they chat everything from quirky Christmas songs to the fine art of leaf blowing in autumn. Plus, they’ll share some hilarious Catholic school Christmas memories that’ll have you cracking up. The holiday cheer doesn’t stop there! They also dive into the rich diversity of traditions that light up the season, honoring how different cultures celebrate peace, light, and love. From the Diwali festival to the WWI Christmas truce, this episode reminds us of the beauty of unity across traditions. Whether you're prepping for the holidays or simply soaking in the season, this episode is full of lighthearted holiday magic, a touch of mysticism, and a reminder to cherish those little moments of connection that make the season so special!

Transcript

What's up, girlfriend? You know, it's a beautiful day outside. Mm hmm. I'm getting in the holiday spirit. I know. Are you ready? Like, are you ready for the holidays? Mentally, mentally, physically, spiritually. All of it. Yeah, I think it's a gradual climb, right? I feel it's interesting because now that I, um, I'm just in a different place than I have been in years past.

Do you mean like mentally? Yeah, and physically, like I feel like in career wise, right? So like last year, this time was right after I had resigned. And so I really had the holiday spirit. So it was so strong because I, I, I didn't have any commitments other than to just be present and be, and I loved it so much because I didn't feel that added stress because the holidays can be crippling for a lot of folks, right?

Especially if you're. You have all of the things to do, the uh, the cognitive, the cognitive labor, I think increases exponentially on, on us, um, over the holidays. So yeah, I'm here for it. I'm here for all the seasons. I am a big prepper when it comes to holidays. I think prepping and preparing and planning are your best friends during the holidays.

I couldn't agree more. I feel like the only year that I ever felt like I was truly prepared was when I was pregnant with Evie because I was due on Christmas Eve. Mmm. And so, I had everything done before Thanksgiving. Every gift was wrapped. Everything was Oh, wow. Yeah, every, I had everything done. Oh, wow.

I've never been that. I had no idea kind of what, what was going to happen. Totally. She ended up coming on the 20th. A little bit early. Yeah. Still, but it was, it was planned that way. Yes. So they had planned to induce me. Um, but I went into labor the day that I was supposed to be induced that night. So I went into labor during the day and I just went and I went and got my lashes done.

I got a blowout. I got my nails done. Oh my god. I was like, man, if I'm gonna sit in this hospital, I'm already in labor. I'm just gonna go. That is so nice. And I do remember I went to, listen, your girl has a lot of hair and I don't mind a cheap blowout. It's a lot to blow my hair dry. Yeah, especially when you're super fucking pregnant.

Totally. No, I went to the Empire Beauty School. Oh, yeah, you got like a student to do it. Yeah, they probably quit right after that. Like this fucking pregnant lady with all this hair coming in here. I didn't know people could have this much hair. Like in labor. It's like that's fine. It took forever. Well, you knew that going into it.

I looked fabulous after I had hair though. It's so interesting when you think about women that like get prepped to go into labor. You see these videos on Instagram where women are like, all right, so my water broke and I'm going to get ready. So come with me. And it's like, they're doing all of the makeup, brushing their teeth and doing their hair.

And they have this like cute little outfit on all while they're like bent over the sink, like. Oh, okay. Here's a contraction, right? I was not that person. And I had scheduled inductions. So you'd think I would be also planned, but I just was like, no, I just want to be in my natural state. I mean, I was preparing for the fact that I didn't want to have to do my hair for a week.

Well, your hair is different than my hair. I had throughout, Emily's the only one I had long hair with because. After Emelyn, I cut all my hair off, basically, and I had very short hair. So with Graham and with Isla, I had short hair. So hair was like never a thing, but I can appreciate because you don't, you don't shower really, um, or take care of yourself for at least the next four years.

We don't shower for four years and they turn four. We're magically clean again. Yes, that's right. Uh, all right. Well, Welcome. To Two Mystic Mamas. On today's episode, we are talking about the holiday spirit, the traditions, some folklore. Stories. We're just going to get into all of it. Well, maybe not all of it.

Cause it's, it's a, it's a pretty deep rooted in history subject. To be fair. I think it's all folklore. Yeah. I mean, we're just going to touch on the tip of the iceberg. Just the tip, you guys. Just the tip. It's always just the tip said no one ever. That's not how you do it. No, I'm just gonna leave this. It's the holiday season.

Do you know, I actually listened to my first holiday song on Halloween this year. Not by choice. I was about to be like, because you played it? Uh, no, I'm a spooky season kind of girl. Uh, some of my students. at the music school that I teach, are doing a Christmas show. Oh, so they're prepping. And they received castings.

Mm hmm. And so, I had gone in on Halloween to teach a couple lessons before Trick or Treat. That was it. We were, we were working on, uh, oh, I can't even remember the name of the song now. It's Bon Jovi. Bon Jovi? Oh, yeah, it's, uh, Please Come Home from Christmas by Bon Jovi. Oh, yeah. So they're obviously all, like, rock inspired songs.

So this, yesterday when I was teaching, it was the same thing. So, so much. So much. So much holiday music. Emily loves Christmas music. She's already started listening and thank God her Spotify is connected to Jeff's, so it's not fucking up my algorithm at all right now. And I like Christmas music. I'm sure Jeffrey is loving this.

Um, he, it's, he's very annoyed. He's very annoyed. He doesn't like Christmas music at Christmas. I don't think he's kind of like the Grinch. Really? Yeah, he can be pretty Grinchy. I was thinking about this too, because I also, my best friend loves to listen to Christmas music all year. It doesn't matter. Does she really?

She does. Oh, I get jealous about her. I love this even more. And I was thinking about that on the way up, and I think it's because music has a way of Transporting us to places, right, and taking us to places and lifting our spirits and having a direct effect on our frequencies and our vibrations. So I think, and I think this is true for Emelyn, that it brings them to a really happy place.

It brings up emotions that make them feel safe and love and comforted. And so that's why they listen to Christmas music. I can see that. All the time. I can see that. Although I will say, I think it was July and I was feeling moved to be excited for the holidays randomly. I was like, you know what, I'm going to put on a holiday song.

I'm just going to see if it hits. It did not hit for me. I, I very quickly abandoned ship. But I can see because something sparked that feeling for me. It's like, it takes you to a place and you love that place. But I think too, as we age, for me, also Christmas, when I start listening to Christmas music, it makes me think about all of the things to be done to prepare for the holiday season.

Which isn't necessarily a stressful thing, but if I'm in the middle of summer vacation, I'm not thinking that far in advance. And I won't listen really to Christmas music until I start prepping for Christmas. I'm still very much in the spooky season, fall, like I just am embracing that. I mean, the leaves are basically off the trees now, but now they're in the yard.

So it's like clean up time. Though I did find this fascinating article the other day about how important leaves are. for nature in general. Oh, they're hugely important to the ecosystem to actually leave them on your grass. Yes. Yes. So, I'm kind of here for that this year. We always leave, we get a ton of leaves where we're at.

So, we do blow them, just because we have a lot of deer here and there's a lot of ticks. Um, we leave them though, we blow them down into the forest. Yes. And we leave them there. But not all of them. We're not like meticulous about it. So there's definitely some that stay and then he mows. Yes. With the leaves.

And then mulches it. Mulches it, yeah. I think too, it's like you have a round. Like I, I've already blown the leaves off the driveway. I've blown them. into the row of bushes that line our property underneath, and I will also blow them to come up against our big pin oaks, almost like a little blanket. A lot of blowing, Rach.

A blanket of leaves. Well, I'm, I'm an expert blower. You didn't know this about me? I've heard. I'm sorry, what? You are, you are a what? Expert. If there was an Olympics. She'd have a medal. I would. It might be bronze. I don't know if I could go for the gold. I'm going for the gold. You're going for the gold.

Okay, all right. The gold of blowing. The blowing gold. We have a neighbor. As many of us do. Did you blow? As many of us do. No, she is. Wait, the neighbor is. A super Karen. No, it's this one back here. Oh, okay. She's a super Karen about her leaves in her yard. I'm telling you, this woman is out every day. Oh, she probably gets pissed that your leaves fall in her yard.

A hundred percent. I've seen women like this. Oh, I've seen people like this. She picks them up by hand one By one. By one. Oh, okay. We see her out there every day, so we've named her Carrie N. Leaves. I don't actually know her name. I don't feel like you know many of your neighbor's names. Carrie N. Leaves again.

So the leaves are falling down. What's your favorite Christmas song? Do you have a favorite Christmas song? God, it's not the one with Mary's Boy Toy, Jesus Christ, because I can't. Come again? It's the Mary's Boy Child, but I always sing Mary's Boy Toy in my head, even though I know that's probably, like, terrible.

I know it is, whatever. I'm not Christian. Well, let me tell you, those Catholics, they can come up with some really good takes on holy songs. Right. Hark the herald angels sing. Oh my God, you guys are going to get a performance today. Yeah. This is two now. So this is the version that my aunt taught me when I was probably Emlyn's age, 11 or 12.

Mind you, I was in Catholic school, going to church all the time. Do you know the song, Hark the Herald Angels Sing? So this is Hark the Herald Angels. I didn't, I didn't grow up in New Orleans. The Herald Angels. Okay. Ready? Hark Hark the herald angels shout. Three more days till we get out. Three more days till we are free from this penitentiary.

Back to sex and back to drinking. Back, no, back to shit. Back to Wait. Mark the Herald, angels shout, three more days till we get out. Three more days till we are free from this penitentiary. Back to smoking, back to drinking, back to sex and evil thinking. Mark the Herald, angels shout, three more days till we get out.

Good old Catholic school right there. Holy shit. I was not prepared for this, you guys. Yep. And there's other ones too. My dad wrote a song when he was younger with a friend of his sitting on the beach with their guitars. Continue. It's Franklin the Glass Assed Reindeer. Franklin and the Glass Assed.

Franklin the Glass Assed Reindeer. Oh, Glass Assed. Yeah, Franklin with your ass so bright, won't you be my backup line? Wow. Yes, okay. I'm gonna record that someday. Nobody steal that, you hear me? With your book, Buddhism. Okay, we're going to be here for all of it. So maybe album that comes next after Buddhism is Franklin the Class Ass Reindeer.

That is amazing. Yeah. Man, who knew? So my favorite Christmas song, thanks for asking, is, um I mean, I thought it was about the penitentiary. No! But apparently I'm wrong. I, I am a big last Christmas fan. Oh, that's good. What? That's a good one. I don't, I don't know if I believe you. Oh, that's good. That was a generic response.

I'm trying, I was trying to think of it in my head. Is that the one that you It's by Wham. Yeah, that's the one. Last Christmas. Special, special, special. Yes. Yeah, Evie was obsessed with that for a while. I mean, who hasn't been? I'm just trying to remember it in my head. Yeah. And there's been like 19 different, 19, 000 different versions of that song that people have done.

It's kind of overplayed, but it's still my favorite. Or you know who has a great Christmas album? Dolly Parton. I mean, you know, I do love Dolly, but no, that's not what I was going to say. Sia's Christmas album is fucking fantastic. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I, I'm a big fan of Sia. That's so good. Yeah. She's fantastic.

My favorite song growing up was Hard Candy Christmas by Dolly Parton. It's a traditional, it's a traditional good one there. Yeah. Yeah. Also sad. Okay. You know, I love Dolly. If you listen to the lyrics. It's It doesn't make me feel like an empowered woman. No. Now that I've listened to it, like, the last years, I'm like, oh.

Last year, I found that there was a Dolly Christmas movie. I think it was originally like a Hallmark or something, but it was on Netflix. Okay. Fuck. It was terrible. Yeah. I could not get through even a bit of it. And I'm like. Damn it, I love her so much. Yeah, but not everything was a, was a raging success for Dolly.

Holy crap. It was Acting, acting is Terrible. Yeah. I love you so much. Don't take this to heart. I really love you, Dolly. No, I feel like, I feel like she would be introspective on that. Acting has not, there's a couple movies she's in that did not do so well. So. We love you, Dolly. We love your spirit. We do.

Everything, her energy is so genuine and authentic, but then she also has that side to her that is materialistic and fake, like her fake boobs. Like, I'm pretty sure she wears, like, a breastplate now. Like, if you look at You mean to hold up her boobs? No, no, no. Like, all of this skin, the décolletage, if you will, if you look closely at more recent Photos.

Yes. Of her. I think it's fake. Okay. It almost feels like not just airbrushed. Yes. Like there's zero Wrinkles. Wrinkles, pores, creases. Yeah. Zero. She is so interesting too because she's such a public figure Yet her private life is so Private. Right. I mean, she knew exactly what she was doing when she said it that way.

Her marriage. Yeah. Not so much her childhood, right? Like, her childhood's an open fucking book. But there's nothing about deep diving into her marriage, except Jolene. And there was a little hiccup there. You know, that's about a woman that was, like, in love with her husband. Yeah. I wonder whatever happened to Jolene.

Actually, I probably had to change your name. I did not lose sleep over that but I'm just so curious. Okay, so let's get into Let's get into some of it So growing up Wiccan My dad's catholic. That's right. I was gonna say you had you had to have blended it, right? You celebrated christmas, correct? Yes Yeah.

Yeah, we celebrated christmas all through my life. I Started celebrating yule probably when I was like around 14 I would say and that's a scandinavian Well, Yule has roots in, yes, Scandinavian, but also has German roots. Odin. Well, that's a whole, that's a whole different thing. That's the Norse mythology of Santa Claus.

I don't know if you've Yeah, so Known about that. So, Odin was supposedly He was depicted as having like a long white beard, right? And he would go out on these great hunts through the sky. Yes. When spirits of the dead were then released into their afterlife. Yep. And people would leave out oats and food for the people, the riders of the hunt.

And so there is. a correlation there. Yes. Well, I, I think we should also preface this that throughout this whole episode, these are based in history, but history naturally was not as it is today where it's like detailed and so written down. So a lot of this, even like the history of Jesus being born, there's a lot that says Jesus was not born.

I would say though, I mean, Jesus was born. I should probably finish that statement, but Jesus was a hundred percent born, but not in December. I have a different opinion, but that's okay. We have different beliefs and I think that's what's going to make this episode super. super interesting for people. You were talking about how history is written differently, and I don't know necessarily that it is, because while we might have more modern ways of recording history, it's still told from someone's perspective.

For sure. And every perspective is different, and I think it's the same, but A modernized version of what was happening back then is you have different areas of the world, you have different traditions, you have different beliefs, and all of these are translated from someone's perspective. Totally. None of it is captured, right?

Right, none of it's fact. Right? All of it is lore of, of some sort. And then it's up to the person that's taking it in as whether or not they want to believe it and how they're going to participate in those traditions. What I meant by that too is like, you're exactly right. Like it's the interpretation. So the New Testament was written, basically, it had started to be written 40 years after Christ had already died.

Which is kind of crazy because like you'd think you would start writing it before that. And the whole reason I'm saying this is because there's two, there's two books in the Bible that depict Christmas or the birth of Jesus, not necessarily Christmas. And they are very different. One was in a particular place.

They both said that he was born in Bethlehem. in a manger, but one said that Herod was still alive, and the other one said that Caesar was still alive, and they're like, the timelines don't add up if you're looking at it from a historical standpoint. In all of these interpretations that we are depicting, that we're talking about, just know that there is a lot out there that you can decipher and take what you want, and also Do your own research on it as well, because we're going to just hit the high notes here.

So back to winter solstice, which falls right in line with the Christmas holiday that we now know. So Yule is a. Winter, it's a festival that coincides with the winter solstice, and it's symbolizing the warmth and return of the sun. So, on the longest night of the year, the sun comes back. Basically, this is to remind us what is to come in the spring, with renewal.

And I think, really, if you look at all of the traditions, beliefs, religions, that have a holiday during this time of year. The biggest similarity between all of them is that they're all rooted in unity and renewal. For the Yule tradition, especially with like the Nordic, Scandinavian countries, they were exchanging gifts in order to honor the gods and ask for their favor in the coming year.

Evergreen, mistletoe, all of these pieces that we now see of Christmas are Yule traditions. And the Yule log was It's something that was lit that was thought to bring good luck and protect the home. We actually, we have a Yule log that Charlie made for us and he's made one for a couple of friends. That's cool.

Yeah. And I love this because I think it's also the gathering. There were celebrations where you would gather. You typically would have a celebration that was rooted around a slaughter. Because a lot of in these cultures, they didn't want to have to have to go out in the elements and feed the animals. So they would slaughter them around this time of year, and then they would have meat for all of the coming months.

And it was also when they all of the fermentation of. The drink was also ready. So it was, it was a big celebration of food and beverage and playing games, being together, doing gift exchanges. Again, I think we can all agree that it goes back to having gratitude for what you have and making. core memories, which has been a human part of this experience since the beginning of time.

Yeah. I remember, um, there was a period of time where my family and their, like, friends, their, like, adult friends, would do a cultural night, so someone would be in charge of the music for that culture. Somebody would be in charge of, like, talking about the history, and you would bring the appetizer, and I would bring the dessert, and whatever.

I don't remember it lasting long, and I don't really know how authentic the meals were, or how accurate the depiction was of these cultures, but it always stuck with me, the idea of doing this. And I think that honoring cultures other cultures than our own is like a really, really beautiful part of this human experience.

For sure. And it's where we can just be accepting of one another. And if I was going to share a message during this time of year, it is, it's important to recognize that diversity in our celebrations is a good thing. And it's a way that we can foster connections when we have families that blend traditions, or you have a friend that comes and joins you for a tradition.

And honoring that everybody has a different tradition. Not everybody celebrates Christmas. Correct. And there are so many beautiful holidays. Got Hanukkah and Kwanza and Diwali and Yol, and is it Las Pasado that the Latin American community celebrates? I might be saying that incorrectly, but the point is that not everybody celebrates the same, and that's okay.

Right. And I think also to that point, there are so many cultures that do celebrate this time of year. And when you are coming together, especially if you are of Christian faith, it's a season of peace. So we always need to just kind of reflect back and have that season of peace within us. And then we exude that out.

And with peace is open arms. It's all of branches. It's the dove. These are all symbolic. Things that we see in everyday culture and when you have like true peace, like peace on earth, peace on fellow with fellow man, then so much beauty can come out of that and so much acceptance and so much growing, right?

So. In World War I, and this is another one where you're going to have different historical interpretations of what took place. On Christmas Day, the stories have been told that there was a truce between the English and the Germans, and they played football. And on the eastern front, the Russians left gifts for the English at this one particular town on this one wall after there was a siege with a note that said, we, we don't celebrate Christmas, but right now, but you do, because in Russia, they celebrate it after the 25th.

I think it's like January 4th or something, somewhere in January. And I find it fascinating that They could honor that, they could go to that place of peace for that day, and then the next day, they're back to killing each other and fighting a war. Isn't that wild? It's wild, and it's upsetting, and it's, but it also speaks to human nature too, where at like the core, we, we can be good.

With each other. Right. You know, we don't have to, you know, resort to violence, but then back to our regular scheduled program. And there's a song Snoopy and the Red Baron. Oh, yeah. So about that. Yeah. Um, I feel kind of didn't we just do the same thing after COVID though? Like, we all kind of got to a place where we were like, caring for one another and taking time and reprieve to rest and have moments with our, the people that lived in our homes.

And then as soon as the world opened back up again, it was just right back to regularly scheduled programming. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it was just a blip that never happened. There's so much symbolism that can go into some of these moments that have defined history and that we can reflect back on. But to your point, I think, yeah, I just think, I don't know what I think about that anymore.

I think we can move on from that point, but I really enjoyed, I don't know if you have, um, A, a large population where you live of people in the Indian community, but we do here. And there's a couple of neighborhoods and they are currently celebrating Diwali, um, which I'm sorry if I am pronouncing that wrong.

No, it's Diwali. I think it is Diwali. Yeah. It is. Um, which is their festival light. And it's like a little bit earlier than, you know, the rest of the typical holiday traditions. But I do believe it's like one of their biggest, most celebrated ones. Um. Um. But it's meant to celebrate lightness over darkness and knowledge over ignorance.

And I love going around and seeing all the lights up early and watching people celebrate this. Yeah, and the food they make is thebomb. com. We love Indian food. Yeah, I've experienced a couple Diwali celebrations, um, with co workers back in the day. That's amazing. And, wow. It's one of those things too that I, I love being curious about religion, about, Tradition about holidays and and I think it's just so beautiful how many similarities there are between celebrations the light in the dark the rebuilding of um our feelings during a time of of Of cold, of, of hibernation, of where you can come together and have, you know, warm beverages.

You can have mulled wine, you know, the Christmas markets in Europe. And it's that, that energy that is created that I think is, for me, is the most attractive part of the holiday season. And just bringing people together and embracing each other and cooking for each other and laughing and playing games and, and being like, super simple.

It doesn't need to be this commercial, like for me, this commercialized, how many gifts am I going to get? How much money am I going to spend? You know, this go, go, go. It's like, no, we can just be. You know, and be together and keep things simple. And I think that just connects all of us, that connects all of those holidays is the energy that they create that peace and the love and the, you know, celebration.

We do that with, uh, like Christmas Eve, late, the, uh, the Icelandic tradition, Yule A Book A Flood. Jollabokaflod. That sounds like something out of the movie Frozen. Jollabokaflod. Uh, I do believe for On your fjord. I was, I was pronouncing Jollabokaflod. You guys, it's not Jollabokaflod. It's Jollabokaflod. Um, but it's the giving and receiving of books.

I feel like I should put a Viking hat on your head right now. I have a picture of me in a Viking hat when I was in Iceland that we can certainly share on the Instagram. You know? You're in a bulk of flood, but we exchange gifts between the three of us, or books rather, and eat chocolate. I mean, I think, yeah, I think that's a pretty simple tradition I can get down with.

Yeah, it's so simple. Listen to some holiday lo fi. Y'all have to send you some holiday lo fi. It's real good. Yeah, I would love that. We tend to keep things pretty simple too. I, we keep the holiday parties at a minimum. I think gift exchanging is where it's at, again, because I don't think you need to spend tons and tons of money to have a really good holiday season.

I love to give gifts. I love to receive gifts. I love to make food. The Christmas tradition of December 25th is actually more recent than probably most people think. The interesting thing about it is, you know, throughout probably the last 300 years, it has morphed and changed as different things have come into play.

Over in Europe and what have you, it was right around, I believe, the time of Queen Victoria. She was married to a German. The Germans did a lot with Christmas trees. So that tradition was then brought into England. And then also when the United States was founded back in the day, the Puritans, they wanted to have nothing to do with this tradition because it brought about Pagans, witches.

Yes, it brought about, but it also brought about sinful acts, sinful deeds, gambling, drinking, sex. It's all the Pagans fault. Yeah, well. Good old Puritans, they never wanted to have any fun. And so then, once it was like in the 1800s, then it became more popular again, and people started to celebrate Christmas and do little gift exchanges and all the things.

It wasn't nationally recognized in the United States as a holiday until 1870. Kind of crazy. That's not that long ago. I think that was just like the official recognition of it though. Not that it wasn't celebrated here. It was celebrated, but again, it wasn't recognized as a national holiday. And then you have books that have been written throughout time.

The Night Before Christmas was a big one. It then brought into account Saint Nicholas. Are we going to bring up Charlie's book? The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross. And every time I think about it, I think of a mushroom stamp. Literally the worst. I know, but the title has got to go. No, it doesn't. It's about, um, the emblem that was like the embodiment of divinity and basically it's challenges everything that you could think of when it comes to Christianity and all of the stories that the Bible tells you, and it has to do with an ancient fertility cult and the mushroom was the, the symbol.

Yeah. Christians don't like to be challenged. No, they do not. Tend to, uh, Throughout history kill you if you challenge them much, right? You gots to go Ho, I have not read the book yet But I do think it is there's a lot of links there. Oh sure, you know, they're Kind of talking about how psychedelic mushrooms played a role in the early religious practices and the stories of Christianity mm hmm the psychedelics they let down so much of our guard and Allow our subconscious to become conscious I don't know what the stat or the data is, but I think we only use like 3 percent of our brain.

Maybe it's 9 percent of our brain. We use like a very small amount of our brain as humans having this like human experience, this conscious experience. That doesn't surprise me at all. You know, the one thing that we're not going to touch on at all, because I don't, I don't have anything down on it, but it would be fascinating to know what the indigenous people the United States and the different tribes celebrated, they all recognize the power of the planets, mother nature, and it's all super connected.

Even when you look at Roman, Scandinavian, Greek, throughout time, they all are so connected, even though they were so different. There were so many similarities between them, and they all centered around. the planets, and Mother Nature, and Well, I think it depends on, to my understanding, it depends on where the indigenous people are based, in what part of the world.

Oh, for sure. For sure. Because naturally, winter solstice is only a northern hemisphere, because on the other side of the world, it would be a summer solstice. For us right now. Right. But then they swap. That's what I'm saying. Oh, okay. I thought you were saying we only celebrate winter solstice in the northern hemisphere.

like, wait, what? What I'm saying is it's all relative based on where you are in the world. It is. Yeah. So. But what I, I guess what I was getting at is, um, a lot of the Christian based South American traditions started to permeate the, a lot of the indigenous cultures that are in the lower part of the United States.

Makes sense. Yeah. That makes sense. Because it's also interesting if you think about Christmas and how we celebrate the winter solstice here, but then they also celebrate, naturally, Christmas over in Australia, even though There's nothing winter about Christmas. I know in Australia. So they're not harvesting anything Yeah, I went to when I went to Australia it was in February and they were just starting to come into summer there summer yeah, and it was wild because I remember having a layover in Denver and there was so much snow on the tarmac and then I got to Australia and It was like 85 degrees.

Yeah, that's wild. What is happening? That's wild. I think back to what you were talking about, there were pre colonization, the emphasis of any sort of celebration was, again, around the significance of the harvest and the connection with the spirit world and the nature of plants, animals, that kind of thing.

And then when a lot of those tribes were converted to Christianity, that's when they started to integrate those traditions into what they were doing. But I do think that there are organizations that actually focus on the role of indigenous tribes in certain areas, which is interesting. And great. That's all history too.

So, all right. So our goal for this holiday season for ourselves and for our listeners. I can only speak for myself, but is that you remain curious, remain open, have a peaceful heart. If you are looking for community, there are always people out there that are willing to help. If you find the holidays to be a sad season, And it brings up a lot of past trauma.

Just do your best to remain in your peace. And do things that don't trigger you. And if that means not going to church, and if that means not going to holiday parties, and if that means not doing gift exchanges, allow yourself the power to do that. and to heal. I agree with that wholeheartedly. And I invite you to open yourself up to a new tradition this year.

You know what's also really cool is the nationality rooms. Oh, at the Cathedral Learning. At the Cathedral Learning at Pitt. Yeah. So here at the University of Pittsburgh, what Kristen's talking about is the building Cathedral Learning. It's the Second tallest educational building in the Western Hemisphere, I believe.

They do an amazing job around the holidays of opening up the nationality rooms and decorating them according to the tradition of that particular country and incorporating different things, song, dance, um, food in some of them, historians talking about the history of those countries. I feel like the girls are at an age where they would appreciate that.

I agree. That's something we should do this season. Agreed. We do get to see you guys for the holidays, which is lovely. I mean, we're going to do our own little family thing, but we get to see you on Christmas Eve. So we didn't even touch on that, but that's like one of my favorite traditions that we have created.

As a family, we have this incredible area in Pittsburgh in the downtown Pittsburgh area called the strip district. And no, you do not take off your clothes, though. You can if you want it is a little nippy. It's a little nippy at this time of year. Historically, though, there's a lot of history in this. Area within the city and it is known as the strip district because there were large strips of factories right there where they would, I think it was mostly produce, but they had different materials that were made in the trucks would come and they would load up.

It has been revolutionized in some ways. Google has spent quite a bit of money in the terminal revamping that, but we go down. Into the Strip District there is, on Penn, there is a lot of old buildings and family run shops that are so much fun to experience. Pennsylvania Macaroni Company, Woolies, Stamoles, DeLucas.

Parma sausage, like there's just so much down there and we go down and we basically gather for our Christmas Eve, specifically meal, but also Christmas day. And we invite everybody and anybody that wants to join. And we have Bloody Marys, mimosas, beer. We get some food and we just walk around, take pictures, have a blast and make memories.

And spend all of the, uh, the time just being together and having great human exchanges. I know. It's so great. So, if you're listening and you want to join us, we'll be down in the Strip District on Christmas Eve. Weather permitting, weather permitting, I will say my father is, uh, not in the best shape. So it has to not be, like, snowing profusely.

And a couple years it was like Negative. Well, two years ago, it was Like the windchill was, it wasn't safe to be outside. I know, we went to the Steelers game when it was unsafe to be outside. It was Fall freezing! Yeah, no. I won't. I won't do it. It was Evie's first time actually going into the game. Oh, bless.

She ate it up. It was like being inside of a snow globe. It was so cool. It was snowing. It was freezing. She's just beating people all around us with a terrible towel. She was on the Jumbotron a couple times. I mean, she just was like living her best life. Good for Amy. Oh, and the Steelers play. Yes, we will.

The Chiefs. We will not be home this year for Christmas. Yeah, so interesting. We will be at With Taylor Swift! Yes, we'll be with Taylor Swift . Yeah, it's gonna be interesting to be a new, new way to spend our holiday. Well, I told the kids next year that I wanna spend Christmas in New York City at the Plaza Hotel like Kevin McAllister.

Are you gonna sell your house to afford it? No, this podcast is going to take the fuck off, so I'm going to keep my house. I like the plaza, but I like my house more. It is. I mean, New York City is absolutely so incredible. During the holidays, we took Evie last year for her birthday. We gave her like the full, it was like a elf slash home alone experience.

And we took her around, surprised her with a limo for her birthday and just went all around New York City. It was York City in the holidays. The energy is so great. So cool. I know. I've been trying to figure out if there's a way we can get back this year in the schedule. We'll see. I've always wanted to spend the holidays at the beach.

I've never done it. I want to go. This is what I want to, I want to, yeah, I want to go once and just spend Christmas at the beach, see what it's like. But I also want to go to, like, the mountains, like, Colorado, snowy, and get, like, a cabin and be snowed in for the holidays. You know what movie was filmed in Colorado that they got snowed in on?

What? The Shining. Oh, yeah. You want to have that experience? I mean, I don't want that. That sounds terrible. Yes, it does sound terrible. You know, Rachel is not going to be down for that dream. That's going to be a solo Christian. She's going to be. We will not be recording an episode in Colorado in a cabin in December.

One of us will go crazy and try to murder the other one. Oh, well, similar to the holidays and the history of, and the, and the reason we celebrate. I love history, right? Like I think, I thought it was fascinating when I was doing some research on this, especially growing up as a Catholic and then a Christian.

I about The birth of Jesus and how they don't think he was born in December, but it made a lot more sense to form it around the pagan holidays because again, they were getting more people to adopt Christianity. So it was a marketing scheme, basically. And they think that he was probably born around March because of Easter.

Easter was also highly documented. I love how I was listening and they were like, and then nine months later, and I'm like, it's fucking 10 months. We are pregnant for 10 months. It's not nine months. Stop taking away that extra month from us, you fuckers. But just the fact that like, there's just different trains of thought associated with it and how really connected, ultimately.

At the end of the day, we truly are as humans. Yeah. And just that need to, during the winter months, come together and celebrate and warm ourselves. And I just love that so much. I do too. Also, just have a great holiday season. Make it what you need it to be. Take from what you need and leave the rest, which is true on a lot of things.

Feed yourself well. Give yourself lots of hydration and lots of rest. It can be a stressful time, but it can also be a time of renewal and unity, like we were talking about. So remember that you're at choice with the people that you surround yourself with. the energy that you surround yourself with, and how you're showing up for yourself and the other people in your life.

I'll be very honest, I had a moment this week where I was struggling because I was not at choice with something and I had to have radical acceptance. I was not happy with myself, with how I was showing up. for my family in that moment. And so I got very real with them. And I was like, listen, I'm really sorry.

I'm struggling this morning. And I'm sorry that I'm not showing up in the way that, A, you're used to me showing up, B, that I want to be showing up. This is not at all indicative of how I care and love this family. But it was really important for me to have a moment where I took accountability for the fact that I was not my best self.

If anybody knows me, you know That I am a very happy, jovial, carefree kind of gal. I mean, Rachel's said it before, like, she's like, Do you ever, like, get upset? Like, and I do. We all do. I do. It doesn't happen often. And it usually happens in private with you. You're not one that would outwardly, unless something, like, Monumental happened, right?

It's not like you don't have the ability, right? I'm just not a reactive person, right? But I did wake up this morning That I was struggling with this and I was just I was not a choice with what was happening and I was grappling with all of the things that were out of my control. I wasn't proud of myself for not being my best self, but it was important that I communicated to my family what my needs were and that they did not have a part in that.

And I think that that's important that we communicate. Especially with our children, because a lot of times, especially the holidays happen, and we have this preconceived notion that our children should just be grateful for all the things that they don't know we're doing behind the scenes. Right. And there's a lot of parents that get upset because, I'm working so hard to afford this, to do this, to write all of the things, and I've seen it happen.

Totally. It can bring out the worst in people. A hundred percent it can. And I just want to remind you that you guys are at choice with how you're showing up for your family and you're also at choice for how much time, energy, and money you're putting into the consumerism of Christmas, the holidays, and the commercialism, and the capitalism of it, for sure.

Because at the end of the day, it's really about connecting and it's really about The love and the unity and not the things, the things can be super great and they can bring about a real sense of joy with children because I remember that feeling of Christmas morning and seeing all the presents under the tree and just being like, great, because it's just, it's that inner child within us.

Right? So let's not lose sight of that. But at the same time, having a gift that you receive and then playing with that gift instead of opening a gift and then moving right on to another gift. Like, I find myself on Christmas morning really trying to take it slow and not trying to plow through all of everything just to get through to the end.

Like, let's just make a whole day of it. We used to do that as a child too, where we would take breaks. And as a kid, I hated it. I was like, no, let's keep going. Let's keep going. But now I understand that it's, it's having, that's how you find gratitude is by taking the slow approach and recognizing. And I also try to incorporate as much as I can with the giving for others.

Naturally, that's a theme in Christmas a lot is the less fortunate. How do you give to the less fortunate who maybe are on hard times, are struggling, they don't have the resources that you do. And what does that feeling bring up in, inside of your soul to help a human that needs help and giving help instead of just constantly receiving, I think is a really beautiful principle.

And that's not just to be done at Christmas. I think that's just to be done all the time. Anytime you see somebody in need, if you are in a position to help, that raises the community up. And the vibration. So we love you guys. Yeah, we do. This is the kickoff to the holiday season. We are going to be taking a break.

We are. Yep. So Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve, we would be normally having episodes that are released, but we have decided we have. to take a two week break. We have. We will still be on social. We're actually going to be hosting an Instagram live. So kind of keep an eye out for those dates because that will be coming.

It's just going to be fun. It is. It is. So do what you got to do and love yourself first before you try to love on anyone else. And happy holidays. Merry Christmas. Happy Kwanzaa. Happy Hanukkah. Merry Yule. Merry Yule. I know we're wrapping up, but I just want to say that the Brits do a really good job with their lingo.

I love Father Christmas, and they don't say Merry Christmas. Happy Christmas, right? Happy Christmas, and they do, you know, they always say trimmings instead of sides. We're gonna put out all the trimmings. I'm like, that sounds so much better than side dishes. That's it, we're moving. We're moving. All right.

See you next time. See you in England. Okay, bye. Ciao.