The Morning Brew with Chris Bennett

Morning Games, Music, And Messy Love Advice

• Chris Bennett • Episode 158

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Holiday mornings should be easy, but real life always sneaks in. We kick off with a listener request for Tracy Byrd, a breezy holiday this-or-that game, and a candid Hallmark review that might just save you two hours. Then we shift gears into what everyone’s whispering about at holiday parties: where love meets money, and where trust starts to fray. When a boyfriend Venmo requests his partner for rides, is it practical budgeting or a relationship red flag? We break down context, fairness, and what a genuine partnership looks like when gas money becomes a scorecard.

We also field a thorny question about trust after snooping a partner’s phone, discovering flirty chats, and a teddy bear from the ex that still sleeps on the bed. Our guest doesn’t hedge: if you’re searching through your partner’s phone, the trust is already gone. We talk through boundaries, artifacts from past relationships, and how to decide whether to rebuild or bow out with grace. Along the way, we share new Christmas song picks—Mickey Guyton’s Sugar Cookie and Brad Paisley’s That Crazy Elf—for anyone tired of the same old playlist, plus a quick look at Melt My Heart This Christmas that lands at a clean two and a half cocoa cups.

The thread through it all is connection: the comfort of familiar songs, the honesty of saying a movie is just okay, and the courage to call out what isn’t working in love. If you’re navigating holiday expectations, juggling bills, or wondering whether that lingering keepsake is a problem, you’ll find clear, thoughtful guidance and a few laughs to make it go down easier. Hit play, share with a friend who needs straight talk with a festive edge, and if you enjoyed the show, subscribe, leave a quick review, and tell us: what’s your non-negotiable boundary during the holidays?

SPEAKER_01:

From the Horn Auto Center Studios, Chris Bennett and the Morning Brew. Good morning, it's the Morning Brew with Chris. Who's this? This is Susan from Snowflake. Heck yeah, Susan from Snowflake. What can I do you for this morning? I would love to hear a song. Oh, what song you want to hear this morning?

SPEAKER_02:

Someone to Give My Love To by Tracy Burr.

SPEAKER_01:

Ooh, is this uh I'll be Casey Caseum. Is this a uh dedication?

SPEAKER_02:

Kinda sorta.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, okay. You just want to hear it or you don't want to dedicate it to someone?

SPEAKER_02:

Uh, I just want to hear it.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, okay. Well, right. Well, before I play someone, it's called Someone to Send My Love to. Before we play Someone to Send My Love To, uh, will you be someone to play a game with me? Oh, sure. If it's easy. It's easy. It's just this or that. We're just gonna get to know Susan from Snowflake a little bit better. Uh, and their fun holiday Christmas themed. Eggnog mustache or a whipped cream beard?

SPEAKER_02:

Eggnog mustache.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I'm not a big eggnog fan, are you, Susan?

SPEAKER_02:

No, not really, but I'd rather have it on my lips and on my chin, and I don't have a beard, so.

SPEAKER_01:

That's right. What about uh would you rather drop your pie slice or drop your hot chocolate?

SPEAKER_02:

Drop my what?

SPEAKER_01:

Your pie slice, like a slice of pie or drop your hot chocolate.

SPEAKER_02:

Hot chocolate.

SPEAKER_01:

You'd rather drop your hot chocolate? I would drop the pie because you could still eat it. Three-second rule. But once you drop your hot chocolate, you can't really sip that back up.

SPEAKER_02:

I don't think I eat pie once it fell.

SPEAKER_01:

Okay. All right, all right. You're you're a little classier than me. And uh uh last one. Neighbor blasting Christmas music at 6 a.m. or someone rehearsing carols off key.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, the neighbors.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, yeah, definitely. Are you a big Christmas music person?

SPEAKER_02:

I love Christmas music when it's December, not before December.

SPEAKER_01:

Hey, I agree with you 100%. Well, Susan, thank you for having fun with me this morning. And now it's time for your song request, Tracy Bird, someone to give my love to on Q Country925. Have a great day. Thanks you too, Chris. Bye. Bye. And now it's time for Chris's wife to give us her Christmas Hallmark movie reviews.

SPEAKER_03:

We are doing Melt My Heart This Christmas.

SPEAKER_01:

All right, here's what I think it's about. I think it's a remake of Frosty the Snowman. And uh Frosty uh ends up uh falling in love uh with uh a lady and uh they uh hug and embrace and uh he ends up melting and melting his heart and he he dies.

SPEAKER_03:

Well, you just described Hot Frosty, which is not the Hallmark movie, but a Netflix Christmas movie, still a good one.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, good, alright. So at least there is that movie out there. What is this one about?

SPEAKER_03:

Um, this one is about an up-and-coming glass blower, and she keeps getting rejected by a festival that she really wants to get into. So she enters under a pseudonym, and then to get in good with the coordinator, she volunteers to be an assistant to the main glass blower who is kind of a diva and hard to work with. So um, obviously in Hallmark fashion, everything blows up when they realize she's been displaying under a pseudonym and they think she's had superior motives, so she's gotta think quick to save the festival. I I love glass blowers, I think it's fascinating. I love to watch it, so I was really looking forward to watching this, but it's kind of meh.

SPEAKER_01:

Ah, really? How many uh cups of hot cocoa, one out of five, do you give Melt My Heart This Christmas?

SPEAKER_03:

I'm gonna give it I'm gonna give it half. Two and a half.

SPEAKER_01:

How many?

SPEAKER_03:

Two and a half.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, two and a half. Okay, I thought you gave it a half a star.

SPEAKER_03:

Half a cup. No, we'll do two and a half. I mean, it wasn't bad. It was just kind of hmm.

SPEAKER_01:

So if you're a hardcore Hallmark Christmas fan, you probably want to check it out. But if you're running uh low on time and how many Hallmark Christmas movies you could watch, you say maybe skip this one.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, maybe watch, maybe watch Hot Frosty.

SPEAKER_01:

Ooh, there we go. Janine, you over there? Yes, I am. How are you, Chris? Good. How are you doing this Thursday morning?

SPEAKER_00:

I'm doing great.

SPEAKER_01:

You've been uh cranking the Christmas music uh for a while over there at uh Magic 1017, your official Christmas station. Are there any Christmas songs you think uh the Q country audience uh should listen to this year?

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, I I definitely think that you need to look. Mickey Gyton, a sugar cookie, that is a just a fun song. And then I love Brad Paisley's new one, that crazy elf, and then it has parentheses on the shelf. He blames everything on the elf. It's really cute.

SPEAKER_01:

It's really funny, yeah. Awesome. I'll check that out. Do you have a crazy elf on a shelf at your house?

SPEAKER_00:

Or no, if I have the grandkids over, do some of that. The elf shows up, but uh not right now. Now I'm just I'm just trying to get everything decorated and done. I'm just not quite done yet.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah. It's uh decorating is going on at my house as well. Uh, Janine, it is Thursday, so uh I was wondering if you could help us out with some relationship advice. Yeah. All right, I'm gonna read the uh story and we come back, we'll get your advice for this person. All right, here we deal. Here we go. My boyfriend, 26, Venmo requests me every time he drives me somewhere. Is this normal? She goes, yeah, basically as above, he says that he bases it off the average cost per mile since he drives me around everywhere and is very tight on money. I didn't think much about it, but once I told my friends, they thought it all was a little weird. He claims that all his friends' partners do the same thing, and it caused a huge fight. Is this normal? What do I do? What's your advice for her?

SPEAKER_00:

I I I think I I don't know. I it's one of those this story, they didn't give us a lot of it like, are they living together? Is he having to drive across town together? Is she why isn't she not driving? I mean, there's just there's some weird things, but I think uh that could be a red flag for her. You know, he needs she needs to see how invested he is. I mean, and maybe not charge her every time. I mean, it's kind of, you know, help her out some. I don't know. It that's just kind of one of those weird ones. I wanted I want to know how long they've been seeing each other. And if this just started out of the blue, or if he just said up front, you know, I'm gonna charge you for everything I do for you, you know?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, maybe she's confused and uh she's actually just dating an Uber driver.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, and she thinks she's dating him. Yeah. He wants to get rid of her, but yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

She's like, Yeah, he uh I always give him a tip, too. It's so weird. I know. That's just a weird one.

SPEAKER_00:

I don't know. But I would be I would uh just date him for a long time and see what's going on there first.

SPEAKER_01:

So you want to put on the running shoes yet?

SPEAKER_00:

That's not as big I mean, uh well, why would there's just not much in his story? You didn't tell me much. You didn't give me much.

SPEAKER_01:

So okay, just not much. Let's say they've been dating for six months.

SPEAKER_00:

Six months? Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_01:

And they don't live together.

SPEAKER_00:

They don't live together, and he's picking her up all the time. I'd say, hun, get your own wheels. Why are you not driving? Number one. And then number two, uh, you know, maybe have a discussion with him. Is she super wealthy? And we don't know that part two, and he is super poor, and then he said, Hey, I just don't have the money. Is it okay if I, you know, if I Venmo you? And she says, Yeah, up front, but now it's gone on forever. I don't know. There just seems like there's more to this story. Or if he's just straight up charging her and they're living together and that kind of thing, and he always charges her, big red flag, obviously.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, well, and he claims that his friends' partners do the same thing. I've never heard of that.

SPEAKER_00:

I've never heard of that. No, I've never heard of that. You help the person, if you're in love with them, you help them out, right? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Exactly. Well, that was relationship advice with Janine Ford today. She says something's fishy.

SPEAKER_00:

Check it out. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Sweet. Well, thank you so much, best friend. I hope you have a great day.

SPEAKER_00:

You too, Chris. Have a good one. Bye-bye.

SPEAKER_01:

Good morning. It's the morning brew with Chris. Who's this?

SPEAKER_04:

Well, Felice Zombie Dodd, Chris Bennett, it's your best friend Kirk Nermy.

SPEAKER_01:

Heck yes, Kirk Nermy coming in clutch on this Thursday morning. Did you call to have fun with me this morning, play a game, or did you call to stir up the brew crew?

SPEAKER_04:

Well, no, I heard you needed some relationship advice in your best friends uh Dave and uh Paul, or maybe ghosts in you. So to step up to the plate. I mean, now you're getting ghosted.

SPEAKER_01:

Heck yeah, Paul, he he got a promotion at work, so now he's a big boss, so he doesn't have as much time for us.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah, yeah. Well, you know. I picture him sitting in the office with one of those little uh crossing guards manager badge on it. Making big important decisions.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, uh, thank you for calling in, and you'll help me with a bonus relationship advice. I'll read the story, and when we come back, uh we'll get your advice for this person. You ready? All right. All right, here's the title. How can I, 20-year-old male, know that my girlfriend, 20, has gotten over her previous relationship? Here's the deal. I was going through her phone recently, and I wasn't looking for anything, but I noticed she'd been talking to a guy I didn't know, and she was opening up to the guy about past relationships. It made me realize there might be some red flags I ignored. She still cuddles the teddy bear her ex gave her, and she only dep deleted their pictures a couple months ago. And uh she still follows her ex on Instagram, and one day she even told me not to look through her photos because I might see something that would make me mad. We've been dating for six months, known each other for eight, uh, and she told the guy she was texting with that it took her three months to get over her ex. Friends also tell me that she's overly flirty. And I'm left wondering, did I miss any signs? Is she still over her ex? What is your advice to him?

SPEAKER_04:

Well, I think my uh ruling here and my comments are gonna be quite controversial. Ooh. But I think if uh you're looking through your partner's phone, it's not much of a relationship to begin with because you're suspicious, what have you. You don't trust your partner, period. So you two should not be together. End of story. It doesn't matter what you say.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, and it's funny, he's like, I wasn't even looking for anything. Then why were you going through her phone? Yeah, well that's the uh Yeah. And then isn't it so there there's no further discussion for you? I also think it's weird that she's still snuggling with her uh uh you know her stuffed animal that her ex gave her. Is that weird? Is that a red flag?

SPEAKER_04:

Well, that would be a red flag. She's uh she's 20 years old. I mean, you know, you you're not trusting her. It's just it's over.

SPEAKER_01:

It's over, dude. Kirk Nermi says, sorry, the relationship is doomed. Break up with her because you don't trust her, right?

SPEAKER_04:

That's right. Don't if you're snooping in your partner's phone, you don't have much of a relationship.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, Kirk Nermi, thank you so much, best friend, for filling in in the clutch and helping us with a bonus relationship advice. We love you, best friend. You bet, Chris, and I'll never ghost you. See ya, buddy. Bye. Bye. Good morning. It's the morning brew with Chris. Who's this? Who?

unknown:

Yay.

SPEAKER_01:

Yay! Oh my gosh, Paul, the show is over. We were all missing you. We missed you this week. Are you okay? Hold it down. What? Hold it down. I'm at work.

SPEAKER_06:

Oh, he's oh in his office.

SPEAKER_01:

Now that he's a a boss, he's not out in the truck all the time and can't call us. Oh my gosh. We gotta keep it down. Anything new and juicy. This blows. It does blow. We were we were gonna try and call Rhonda today since we couldn't get a hold of you, but we ran out of time.

SPEAKER_05:

All right here, pick it up. Some garbage system just to try to call you.

SPEAKER_01:

That's the worst part about an office job. When I had an office job, I used to go to the bathroom like six times a day just for something else to do.

SPEAKER_06:

And so you're not in the truck as much? No. Oh boy broke his truck. And he's in my truck. Oh, dang it. So you have no truck. I had no truck. Gosh, dang it. How are you supposed to be I've had nothing but a headache all week? Gosh, dang it! Well, we appreciate you calling in. Okay. Here we're signing out. You've been listening to the morning brew, and this was a special call that wasn't played on the radio from Paul from Bone. Like I'm doing something. All right. Talk to y'all later. Alright, love you, Paul. Bye. Yeah, don't work in an office. Bye.

Contributor

Chris Bennett

Host