43. Hahn Ready Mix Christmas Spectacular!

Griffin is joined by The Grinch and Ebenezer Scrooge, who diligently dodge Christmas related questions. Also, special appreciation to Producer Lex for somehow turning a Christmas themed episode explicit.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:06

Welcome to Loaded, the Hahn Ready Mix podcast with Andrea Meyer, Griffin Hahn, and producer Lex is back.

SPEAKER_02 0:12

Yeah, it's the Christmas spectacular episode.

SPEAKER_00 0:15

Special holiday episode.

SPEAKER_02 0:17

Uh yeah. I know how excited you are because you just love Christmas.

SPEAKER_00 0:21

Is anyone in here like a big Christmas spirit person? I feel like no.

SPEAKER_02 0:27

Once at one time in my life, I was.

SPEAKER_00 0:30

You've lost all your holiday joy.

SPEAKER_02 0:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 0:33

Um this is supposed to be the time, like when your kids are little and fun.

SPEAKER_02 0:36

Like that's had the inverse effect, I guess.

SPEAKER_00 0:43

We should have invited someone jollier to this episode. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 0:48

We can do it. We can do it.

SPEAKER_00 0:49

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 0:50

I was thinking Griffin wanted to put sleigh bells as the intro. Maybe we should make him sing a Christmas song. And that could be our intro.

SPEAKER_02 0:58

Yeah. Oh. I have a good Bing Crosby voice. So we'll get to that later.

SPEAKER_00 1:06

Everyone already turns off the podcast.

SPEAKER_02 1:09

Oh God. Let's get away from that.

SPEAKER_00 1:10

Griffin's gonna sing. No thing. No, thank you. Uh well before we get to all that, let's go through a couple announcements here. Um, one thing I just want to remind everyone of is that we do have to keep up with everybody's medserts and the random drug screens over the winter. So even if you're not working, you may get scheduled for your medsert renewal or random drug screen. So just always be prepared for that. Just a friendly reminder.

SPEAKER_03 1:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:41

Uh along those same lines, we typically do wellness screenings over the winter. Um, that helps everybody with their uh insurance premiums. Um, we get a discount for doing these wellness screenings, and we are scheduling those for the third week of February. So we're gonna hold off on that until February. And then one final reminder on the insurance side is everyone's deductibles will reset in January. So when you go to pick up your prescriptions or whatever that may have been uh a lower price towards the end of this year, that will reset and you'll have to pay some more upfront deductibles starting in January. So one of those kind of bummer things that surprise people. That's all I have. What about you?

SPEAKER_02 2:25

Well, this week, Brian and Lex and Sam and I, and then Sean and Zach as well, and uh Muscatine and Geneseo, respectively, or vice versa, have been out doing cookie deliveries for many of our customers. So we've been dropping off some Old Town Bakery cookies, which are a big hit, and some calendars. And uh so that's been really fun. So like we have seen so far this week 56 customers we've stopped, which is really great. And I just want to report like how positive the feedback has been. And and, you know, generally it is that people are in a good mood around Christmas and and are appreciating getting cookies and things like that. So it's not like we normally get yelled at or anything, but really this year it seemed that there was a lot of feedback from customers just about how um how personal people are here that they work with, whether that's in dispatch or the front office or the drivers, how much they appreciate, you know, when we go the extra mile. And so many of them had um examples of that to talk about, right? Like talking about when Ed got out and helped them uh, you know, pull a cum along because they were down a person or, you know, things like that. We we kept hearing over and over again. And I I was just really proud of our group because that's what makes the difference, right? So um it was really good to see a bunch of our customers and and and they they seem very happy with where we're at. And so that's that's great. And we just need to keep it up.

SPEAKER_00 4:05

So do you you think that people like to see you coming, or do you think they hide out or sigh, oh, this guy again?

SPEAKER_02 4:14

So I think the old town bakery cookies are the Oh the hell, that gets you in the door. So we used to bring like a high V cookie cake, right?

SPEAKER_00 4:22

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 4:22

And I can't tell you how many times we'd give a cookie cake, and people would be like, I spent how much money with you, and you give me a cookie cake for Christmas, and they just were, you know, they were I feel like they were hiding from us. But then we switched to the old town bakery cookies, and now people are like throwing open the door and like, yes, yeah, the best day of the year. And uh so I think that makes a big difference. That helps. But I did see, I think it was White Cap was stole our idea, and they some people had old town bakery cookies from White Cap. And um so I think uh we need to roll up on them like Anchorman, you know. Um you can't steal our idea. Yeah, yeah. Uh we need to have a an alley fight or something about who gets to deliver old town bakery cookies.

SPEAKER_00 5:07

Yeah, well, while you were out uh delivering cookies, I was left here to receive all of the vendors that were bringing uh treats to us.

SPEAKER_03 5:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:17

And some of them, you know, people we talk to all the time that we love to talk to, like like Bob at Riverstone stops by, like that's great, an easy conversation. But then there's other, you know, random software vendors that I have to yell at all year and then they show up like we're friends.

unknown 5:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:34

Awkwardly accept my cupcakes and uh make small talk for a few minutes.

SPEAKER_02 5:38

But well, it is pretty impressive the pile of stuff in there. So um if anybody really wants to get diabetes in a in a heartbeat, um, there is a all the tools you need sitting on the counter. So we have so many sweets. But it's cool to see you know the people that appreciate uh our business as well, you know, and thinking us. So we dive into some Christmas uh topics here.

SPEAKER_00 6:08

Enthusiastic yes from everyone in the room.

SPEAKER_02 6:11

All right, great.

SPEAKER_00 6:12

Let's do this lecture.

SPEAKER_02 6:13

So I came up with a bunch of questions, so I figured we'd just go over the phone.

SPEAKER_00 6:15

Did you really come up with these? Or is this an AI generated?

SPEAKER_02 6:18

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. I don't trust you now that you've talked about how much you Well you can see that I have everything and I have one that's left open.

SPEAKER_00 6:24

That's because I guess AI would never make that mistake.

SPEAKER_02 6:26

Never make that mistake, yeah.

unknown 6:27

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 6:28

All right. So I'll ask a question. We'll go around. I'll answer them too when he gets back. But um what do you think is the correct date to start listening to Christmas music?

SPEAKER_00 6:42

It's never an option.

SPEAKER_02 6:44

I'm sure I mean it can be your okay, Ebenezer, you know, whatever.

SPEAKER_00 6:49

This is not a good start. Uh I'm okay with Christmas music in moderation after Thanksgiving. And my kids are listening to like the modern Christmas music, like the Justin Bieber and Sabrina Carpenter music that I've never really heard before. So that is fine with me. New Christmas music, but not the overdone Christmas music.

SPEAKER_02 7:10

Okay, okay. Lex, what are you what are your thoughts?

SPEAKER_01 7:16

I don't know. I really don't have a set date. Although on Monday I heard some Christmas music, and I think it was the first Christmas music I had heard all year, and I was okay with that. And that was like the 15th of December.

SPEAKER_00 7:27

So yeah, that's kind of a a change. Like people don't really listen to the radio that much anymore, so you aren't like spammed with it, or even like shop. You know, I remember going shopping as a kid, and that's all you would hear is Christmas music.

SPEAKER_02 7:39

Well, I think High V turns it on like the day after Halloween. They start with Christmas music, and it I remember when I worked at High V in high school, it would drive me nuts because you would it's like a you know, a four-hour playlist, and so you'd be doing like an eight hour, you'd just hear the same songs. It might even a two-hour playlist. You'd hear it four times in a shift and every day from uh Halloween to New Year's.

SPEAKER_00 8:04

So Halloween's your date?

SPEAKER_02 8:05

No, heck no. No. Uh I'm strongly against any Christmas celebrations until after Thanksgiving. And um my wife's always trying to put up decorations and things and play Christmas music, and I'm like, no, not until Thanksgiving's done. Absolutely not. We're all in agreement, though. That's unusual for us. I did hear something fun this year that I'd never heard of before. It was called the Wham Challenge. And is how you had is like you get a group of people together and you had to track how long you could make it into December before you heard Last Christmas by Wham, which is probably the most obnoxious. Uh uh, and which is on one of our questions later. But um that was pretty funny to to try to avoid wham for the for the uh for the month. Okay. Best and worst Christmas gift you've received. Lex, why don't you go first on this one?

SPEAKER_01 9:03

I don't even remember what I got last year.

SPEAKER_00 9:06

Ungrateful. Ungrateful children. That's exactly what I'm dealing with, Lex.

SPEAKER_01 9:12

This is a loaded question, too.

unknown 9:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:14

Oh yeah, people are going to be able to do that.

SPEAKER_02 9:16

Yeah. Okay, Andrea, what do you got? Since Lexus.

SPEAKER_00 9:24

Uh the worst gift I can remember getting was I was probably eight, and my sister was probably five, and she begged and begged and begged for uh money. She wanted money for Christmas. So Santa brought each of us$100, and she was very excited about it. And I didn't really care either way. It was fine. But then in the throwing away of all the wrapping paper and packages, the$200 bills were thrown away.

SPEAKER_03 9:55

Oh jeez.

SPEAKER_00 9:57

It was it was devastating. And luckily, uh, my grandparents uh kicked in and gave us uh replacement uh money to go shopping with, but that was terrible. Yeah, like some of the best memories that we have were talking about that. Yeah. And the best, I would say um, I had really wanted a Peloton bike and they're very expensive. And my husband is extremely frugal and as a technology person, very against uh specific hardware required technology. So like he would much rather buy a program that could be used with different um equipment. So he was adamantly opposed to buying it. But one I don't remember how long, maybe two or three years ago, he found a brand new Peloton bike, like the upgraded model that someone else had received for Christmas and didn't want it. And so he went and picked it up for me at an outrageous discount, and I still have it and use it. So that was a good one.

SPEAKER_02 10:55

Good.

SPEAKER_01 10:56

Anything come to you, Lex? Uh no. Okay. I don't have like a worst gift I can think about, but I don't I don't really know about the best gifts either.

SPEAKER_02 11:06

Well, my best gift is easy. I got Danny as a Christmas kid.

SPEAKER_01 11:10

Oh, yeah, I got Kai. Oh, okay. I just kind of forgot.

SPEAKER_02 11:15

Puppy as a Christmas gift is pretty great.

SPEAKER_00 11:19

He doesn't even register your memories.

SPEAKER_02 11:21

And you don't remember him. Um so yeah, that that's definitely the best. And then I I'm trying to think of the worst though. Um, you know, I don't I don't love it. Well, sometimes my wife will put like toothpaste in my stocking, and I'm like, this is hardly a gift. Uh but um uh I remember the worst gift I've given. I was in like elementary school, and I kept telling my mom, I said they had this uh market or whatever in at the school where you could buy stuff. And I was like, hey, I got you this thing, you're gonna love it. You know, I don't know, it was in like fourth grade or something. And I bought her a toy VW Beetle that I thought she'd like because she was old and VW Beatles were old. And I just remember her being like, what is this? Why did you give it to me? So yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:20

Maybe you'll be receiving something like that. If you have a kid in school now, so maybe you have a school marketplace.

SPEAKER_02 12:26

Hopefully he's got a better tree now. Uh a better talent for gift giving than me. So okay. Uh next one should be more lively. What are your top three Christmas movies?

SPEAKER_00 12:38

You are wrong that this is going to be a better question. I do not watch movies. I don't think I don't. We really should I do watch my kids love like the cheesy, cheesy Hallmark movies. So we watch all of those, but none of them register in my brain as good.

SPEAKER_02 12:54

Yeah, so just abstract, bad Hallmark romance movies. Okay. Okay. How about you, Lex? What do you got?

SPEAKER_01 13:02

You know, you really put me on the spot here. I didn't get any of these questions. There everyone else was given these questions, and now I'm you like to be on the show. I know. That's why you have answers.

SPEAKER_00 13:16

Are you looking up Christmas movies right now? Because you don't know any?

SPEAKER_01 13:20

Yeah. Home Alone. That's a good one. Home Alone. Yeah. That's the only Christmas movie I can think of.

SPEAKER_02 13:26

All right. While you're looking them up, I will tell you my top three, Die Hard for sure, is the best one. And it's because it's the least Christmas movie.

SPEAKER_00 13:35

It's not a Christmas movie.

SPEAKER_02 13:36

No, it's definitely a Christmas movie. And then uh I'm gonna go with Home Alone, number two. And then I do like Elf, but I don't think it's gonna make my top three. I'm gonna go with the Guardians of the Galaxy Christmas special, which is super funny. And uh it's pretty good. That just came out a few years ago. The Grinch is good. Yeah, but which one? There's been like seven.

SPEAKER_01 13:59

Uh the one with Jim Carrey, or the new one that's like animated. That was pretty good.

SPEAKER_02 14:03

Yeah. I think I'm already on the tenth time I've seen that. This is Yeah. Yeah. In two minutes. It's just creepy in the It's the uncanny valley of the faces that look almost like humans but not like humans. Yeah, it's no good.

SPEAKER_01 14:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 14:20

No.

SPEAKER_01 14:21

Weird.

SPEAKER_02 14:21

No good. Yeah. Just wait. Just wait till you have kids someday and you can watch it on repeat. Uh-huh. Okay. So let's do top three Christmas songs.

SPEAKER_00 14:32

Oh, I just told you these new ones are the only ones I've in my head, but I don't know. I gotta look it up.

SPEAKER_01 14:38

Last Christmas?

SPEAKER_02 14:41

All right, let's bring in the wham.

SPEAKER_01 14:42

I want you to sing it for me though. I can't sing it for you. I haven't heard it all year. I can't sing wham. Don't you want to make my wham come true?

SPEAKER_02 14:52

No. No. Alright, I I would say uh I do like the classics. It's like a little Bing Crosby White Christmas is a great one. And I definitely I do ooh, the fairy tale of New York, which is a pretty new one by the Pogues. It's uh it's a good one. It's like the boys of the NYPD qua we're singing. Oh, you really are gonna sing. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Clip it.

SPEAKER_00 15:25

Uh as I was looking this up, I do remember that I do like the pentatonics, the acoustics. I heard they were just here and I heard people went to the concert, but they're not really acoustic anymore. Oh, really? They have like a big band track behind them. Sure.

SPEAKER_02 15:40

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 15:41

It's not the same material.

SPEAKER_02 15:42

Not as cool. Trans Siberian Orchestra is normally pretty good.

SPEAKER_00 15:46

So Justin Bieber song that's on repeat with us is called Mistletoe. Listen to it on the way home.

SPEAKER_02 15:51

I've heard that a thousand times. Yeah. Okay. On that topic, since you talked about Wham, would you rather listen to Last Christmas on repeat all day or All I Want for Christmas is you? At least Mariah carries hot. Is she?

SPEAKER_01 16:10

Is she I hope no one's listening anymore?

SPEAKER_00 16:19

I think I picked Last Christmas on that one. But there is, I think there's a new version of Mariah's. There's a I don't know what the remix is, but there's a new that I get to hear too much. Maybe that's why that's not on my list.

SPEAKER_02 16:32

Yeah. I get to go back. She's not hot. Thank you for your contribution, Lex. We're gonna get sued by Mariah Carey now. Good.

SPEAKER_00 16:42

Allegedly. Allegedly, no longer.

SPEAKER_02 16:45

Right. Okay. If we were gonna sing, if Hon Redimix had a Christmas album, who is singing lead?

SPEAKER_00 16:53

Uh Mike Kilgore has one of the loudest voices.

SPEAKER_02 17:01

Darren too. Darren's pretty loud, but I don't I don't know about his singing. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:07

I bet he can sing. He he's pretty musical. He talks about music a lot. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 17:11

He plays a lot of shoes. Darren's probably a good shout. I was thinking uh dubs might be a good. I can see dubs doing it. Yeah. Alright. You guys are a lot of help. What what job would Santa's elves be best at at Han Redimix?

SPEAKER_00 17:33

Tripping drums, probably, right? Like they're little and they can get in there and magically wipe that out.

SPEAKER_02 17:39

Yeah. I was thinking, yeah, mechanics. It'd be good mechanics. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:46

I don't know if they're just like cool if they were good at technology and could just build the software that I need to work. That's what's on my Christmas list this year.

SPEAKER_02 17:55

Uh yeah. I don't know if the elves would be like OSHA approved. I feel like PPE is not their strong point.

SPEAKER_00 18:03

Or yeah. Or they'd probably do it overnight. It would be magic.

SPEAKER_02 18:07

Yeah. Okay. Um, all right. So some would you rathers shovel snow for three hours or untangle Christmas lights for three hours?

SPEAKER_00 18:18

Lights. I'm an expert with lights.

SPEAKER_02 18:20

You are?

SPEAKER_00 18:20

Yeah. Very patient. It's sort of like jewelry, like if your necklaces get tangled up, I like doing that too.

SPEAKER_02 18:26

Hmm. I don't have that experience. Yeah. Lex, what do you?

SPEAKER_01 18:30

I'm shoveling snow.

SPEAKER_02 18:31

Yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_01 18:32

I'm getting a workout while I'm doing it.

SPEAKER_02 18:34

I make it worth it.

SPEAKER_03 18:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 18:37

There is nothing more infuriating than like the Christmas. You pull out the lights, you plug them in, and one little bit of the strand doesn't work. And you look up online and like, oh, you gotta find the one. There's one bulb that's bad, so find it. And then you tr replace every single one with a bulb that you know is good and then still don't work. And you have no choice but to just start over.

SPEAKER_00 18:57

Sounds like a user error.

SPEAKER_02 18:58

And it's like every day, every time you wait to the last second to put the lights out, and then you gotta go to the hardware store to get replacement lights, and then they don't match the ones you previously had.

SPEAKER_00 19:08

As a follow-up to Lex selecting to shovel, isn't it true that two weeks ago you didn't even own a shovel?

SPEAKER_01 19:16

I owned one. It snapped in half the first time I used it.

SPEAKER_00 19:22

I thought I remembered there was a struggle with you and shoveling as a first-time homeowner.

SPEAKER_01 19:28

Yeah. That was sad.

SPEAKER_00 19:30

There's time. You have time to get better. You're just starting home.

SPEAKER_02 19:33

I'll learn. Okay. Next one. Would you rather wrap 100 presents or hang 10,000 lights?

SPEAKER_00 19:40

I'm an expert present wrapper. I worked at a Hallmark store in high school and I was trained to wrap very meticulously and wrapped hundreds and hundreds of presents. We even at our store, like people could bring in their gifts that they bought anywhere and buy paper and leave it with us, and we would have to wrap all their gifts and they'd come back and pick them up. So I love it. That's my favorite part of Christmas. Wrapping presents.

SPEAKER_02 20:03

Wrapping presents? Yeah. Well, uh, if you have spare time and you want more of your favorite part, you could wrap presents at our house.

SPEAKER_00 20:11

Yes. I'd love to.

SPEAKER_02 20:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:13

What about you, Lex? I don't know if you've seen our Christmas truck, but that definitely has 10,000 left. Yeah, there you go. So you've done it. You've done it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 20:21

That your answer doesn't tell us that you liked doing it, though.

SPEAKER_01 20:26

I didn't dislike it. At least it's something to show. Like I can see my work, yes.

SPEAKER_00 20:31

Yeah. That is the sad part about rapping, is then that just ends up in the trash.

SPEAKER_01 20:36

Yeah, you just rip it up.

SPEAKER_02 20:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:37

That's kind of fun.

SPEAKER_02 20:39

Yeah. I was trained to be a very good rapper by my stepmom. The rapping, I'm pretty good at it. Um but ten a hundred would be a lot. That's that's a lot. I feel like my back would start hurting from hunching over after that long. But so yeah, I could go either way on that. So okay. Uh overrated Christmas food.

SPEAKER_01 21:06

What's uh what's a Christmas food?

SPEAKER_02 21:14

You get like a holiday ham, Christmas cookies.

SPEAKER_01 21:18

Uh just good.

SPEAKER_02 21:21

What's the multicolored cake that everybody's got a fruit cake? Like a fruit cake.

SPEAKER_01 21:28

Isn't that like gelatin?

SPEAKER_02 21:30

Yeah, I think maybe. I don't think it's highly rated though, so that can't be you're overrated because normally people could get a jelly of the month club.

SPEAKER_00 21:39

I don't have any I don't have any foods that I am hoping to avoid in the season. I think it's all it's all okay.

SPEAKER_02 21:47

It's all good. It's uh it all has lots of sugar in it, which makes it good. Yeah. Well, so what's your guys' take on eggnog? You like eggnog? Oh see, that's your answer then. But I don't think

SPEAKER_00 22:00

Anyone likes it except for you.

SPEAKER_02 22:01

I love eggnog. It's like snot. It's not like snot. It's wonderful. It's creamy. It's great. Um now it totally doesn't do well with my stomach, and and uh I pay the price for it later, but it's worth it.

SPEAKER_00 22:17

You do think it's worth it.

SPEAKER_02 22:18

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 22:19

No, thank you.

SPEAKER_02 22:20

Absolutely. I'm pretty sure I gained five pounds in the month of December just from drinking eggnog.

SPEAKER_00 22:26

You just go home from work and drink a glass of eggnog by yourself?

SPEAKER_02 22:29

Well, those like at night after the kids go down.

SPEAKER_00 22:32

Like with alcohol in it? No.

SPEAKER_02 22:34

No. Just Anderson Erickson, classic eggnog. It's delicious.

SPEAKER_01 22:40

I want to ask questions, but I'm not passed.

SPEAKER_00 22:43

So just remind everyone that you can send your comments to Griffin about his choices.

SPEAKER_02 22:48

Listen, I'm a uh I'm happy to argue eggnog with anybody. It's good, it's good stuff.

SPEAKER_00 22:53

You can have it all.

SPEAKER_02 22:55

What are your take on lawn inflatables? Yes or no? Christmas, like the big Santa Clauses and those types of things.

SPEAKER_01 23:01

Hell no.

SPEAKER_00 23:02

Yeah, do it. Kids love it. It's fun. It's easy. It's easy to store. Like, yeah, do it.

SPEAKER_02 23:08

I'd say if you have them up today in the 40 mile an hour winds that are out there, you're not gonna have them long.

SPEAKER_00 23:13

You have an inflatable on your Christmas truck out here, Lex.

SPEAKER_01 23:16

Yeah, it's okay. Uh I don't know, man. We call that what we like to call that is yard shit. And here we are, explicit Christmas episode.

SPEAKER_00 23:26

That's why we limit airtime to produce Lux.

SPEAKER_01 23:30

I make it enjoyable to listen to.

SPEAKER_02 23:33

Uh yeah. So I would I agree. No yard shit. Do not like the uh the inflatables. At least not in my yard. It just looks like a lot of work. Even like I've never done it, but it just seems like Bro, you gotta plug it in and it just inflates. Yeah, it's so easy.

SPEAKER_00 23:50

It's less work than anything else.

SPEAKER_02 23:52

It's not less work than nothing.

SPEAKER_00 23:54

Oh, so nothing is your best option.

SPEAKER_02 23:56

The amount of stuff that I want in my yard related to Christmas is nothing. Zero. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 24:02

I was in Muscatine the other day and I was driving down a road, and someone in their butt backyard over the fence probably had like a 20-foot Santa Claus. Yeah, that's fine. It was kind of cool. But when there's like a thousand of them in your front yard and it just looks clustered, it looks really I don't like that. You're lame. I'm lame. You're no fun. I know this.

SPEAKER_02 24:25

Who, since Andrea, this is really for you since you have the experience with the Hallmark movies, but who at Hahn could be in a Hallmark movie?

SPEAKER_00 24:34

I did see this question ahead of time. I have I have so many answers. Oh, okay. Um I think Chris Erickson is a good he fits an image of a typical Hallmark character with the beard and like the lumberjack vibes. We also have like the young, single, handsome Lex here that could be a character in a Hallmark movie.

SPEAKER_02 24:55

Yeah, that doesn't like Christmas and meets some girl that likes to be around. Just waiting for someone to come. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Could be. We could make that could be a reality. We just need to get cameras on you.

SPEAKER_00 25:04

We start our own show. Something good came out of this.

SPEAKER_02 25:09

Your face right now is what a pain. I'm so happy to be here.

SPEAKER_00 25:14

I also think like Marla has really good, like the sweet grandma vibes that she could be a character, you know, making cookies and packaging up presents for her grandkids. We have a lot, we have a lot of good characters here.

SPEAKER_02 25:27

Yeah, I agree. That's good. That's good. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 25:31

Um you don't have any? You guys don't have any characters.

SPEAKER_02 25:35

I want to fit like the the the female lead normally has like the slightly crazy best friend. I feel like Angela. Oh, okay. Yes, yes. She would be in the in that. So yeah. Lots of fun. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 25:51

So nothing from Lex. Can't contribute.

SPEAKER_01 25:56

I'm running through every person.

SPEAKER_00 25:59

None of us are fit for street.

SPEAKER_01 26:02

Well, what's a Hallmark Christmas movie? I've probably never seen one.

SPEAKER_02 26:06

Oh, you are a lucky, lucky, lucky man. Lucky man. Nope. Don't don't do it. They're awful. They're awful. They sound awful. Yeah. Alright, we're gonna pivot. Last question. Best white elephant Christmas gift idea. Lex, do you know what a white elephant gift is? Is that where you just bring like uh stuff people don't want to? Well, stuff actually people don't want, but sometimes they're funny. Like you could give like a porcelain white elephant, would be a white elephant gift. Nobody wants that.

SPEAKER_01 26:37

This is a bad question to ask me.

SPEAKER_00 26:39

Have you ever participated in a white elephant gift exchange? We used to do them here.

SPEAKER_02 26:44

Like you could get a shape. You could get a shake weight, and that would be a no comment. No comment. I can tell you the best one that I've gotten. Um my wife's mom's side of the family does a white elephant gift exchange, and one of her cousins brought uh a package for a Chicago handshake, which is a bottle of Malort and a bottle of um old style lager that you're supposed to drink back to back in. Malort is the absolute worst, the absolute worst tasting liquor that exists. And uh tastes like wormwood and death. And so, and you follow it up with a chaser beer, so yeah, it's brutal.

SPEAKER_00 27:34

My husband's family does this, and it's not I don't know, like maybe it's not white elephant, but it's just like you bring something that would be okay for anyone to get it, and he always brings a bucket of like car wash supplies, and then he always tries to get it himself and bring it back home, which is a pretty good strategy, I think.

SPEAKER_01 27:55

Just keep it. I mean, it makes sense. Get something you're gonna use and then just bring it in and then oh thanks.

SPEAKER_00 28:03

He does it every single year. So no surprise to anyone.

SPEAKER_02 28:06

Great. All right. Well, that was a total disaster of a Christmas episode. Wonderful.

SPEAKER_00 28:13

We're gonna be better in 2026.

SPEAKER_02 28:14

We're we are gonna be better. Are we at Christmas stuff?

SPEAKER_00 28:18

No, no, no. Just podcasting in general.

SPEAKER_02 28:20

We're I hope so. What I've learned from this is when we have holiday-themed episodes, we need to have a guest that's gonna invite someone who has pleasant opinions about holidays.

SPEAKER_00 28:31

Yes, exactly. Good idea.

SPEAKER_02 28:32

We're gonna do that. Well, regardless, we want to wish everyone listening a very Merry Christmas. Thank you all for everything you do for us, and um, we're excited to see you in the new year.

SPEAKER_00 28:45

So thanks for listening. Talk to you soon!