The Morning Brew with Chris Bennett

Regifting Rules, Relationship Red Flags & The Light the World Machine

Chris Bennett Episode 163

Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.

0:00 | 21:21

Send a text

Today’s episode kicks off with a studio crossover as we check in with Jineane Ford next door at Majik 101.7/ITalk 106.7. She’s got Jace Green in to talk about the Light the World Giving Machine coming to Snowflake, but before he heads into our studio, we detour into a far more urgent topic: the rules of regifting. (If you win it at the company Christmas party… can you really pass it along? We investigate.)

From there, it’s Relationship Advice Thursday, and we’ve got two experts on deck — Jineane and Jace — helping us break down listener dilemmas with equal parts wisdom and comic relief.

Once Jace joins us in the QCountry studio, we dive deeper into the Light the World Giving Machine (Dec 18–Jan 2): what it offers, who it helps, and why it’s one of the simplest ways to turn charity into tradition.

Then the phone lines light up:
• Virgil the Cowboy calls from Eagar with a birthday song request 🎶
• Kirk Nurmi phones in to celebrate Andrea’s now-legendary Hallmark nostril review
• So naturally… we call Andrea to update her on the chaos she’s created
• And we get a brand-new Hallmark Christmas movie review — blessedly, with
zero giant nostrils today

We wrap the show by sending Jace off with gratitude and recapping how the Giving Machine can bring real impact to real families this Christmas.

If you love holiday laughs, relationship real talk, and stories that remind you what giving is all about, this episode’s packed end to end.

Studio Banter And Party Recap

SPEAKER_03

From the Horn Auto Center Studios, Chris Bennett and the Morning Brew. Janine, you there? Yes, I am, of course. Ooh, are you alone? No. No.

SPEAKER_06

Jace Green with Mountain Mobile Autoglass Intense.

SPEAKER_02

Oh, Jace Green.

SPEAKER_03

Good morning.

SPEAKER_01

Good morning.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, he's gonna be coming over uh to my studio a little later talking about the giving machine.

SPEAKER_06

That's right.

SPEAKER_03

We're so excited about that. Yeah, yeah. And Jace also works with us here at Country Mountain Airwaves. And uh we had our company Christmas party two days ago at Cattlemen's Steakhouse. It was awesome. Big shout out to Cattlemen's Steakhouse. Thank you so much.

SPEAKER_00

Good food.

SPEAKER_03

Good food, and their uh their new uh lounge is really nice.

SPEAKER_06

Yeah, the remodel was uh really successful, just beautiful, really juicy.

SPEAKER_03

I for some reason I got stuck holding a potato. I don't know.

SPEAKER_06

There was massive potato confusion and trading of the steaks. It was I've never seen anything so crazy. It was funny. You've got my potato. No, I'm uh but I have a bite out of that potato. Well, this one it went on.

SPEAKER_03

And one of the coolest things about the Christmas party is uh we always have some amazing gifts. Thank you, Jace. Thank you, Jace. And uh this year would I the um uh what was the the big oh the massage chair? Jace won that one. Yeah, heck yeah, really nice. But I have a question for you guys. I won two gifts that my wife is gonna love. Like uh the what what were those pots and pans, those cooking things? What are they called? Non-stick, non-stick, yeah, some fancy brand. And so I know she'd like that roaster combo thing. That was air fryer, chicken rotisserie roaster, and dehydrator. My wife's gonna love these things. My question is she wasn't at the Christmas party, she doesn't know I won these. Would it be okay if I wrapped them and gave them to her for Christmas and act like I got them on purpose and didn't tell her I won them? What say you? Absolutely. You think oh, Jace, so you think that's okay. Totally okay.

SPEAKER_06

My friend. Me too. You do do. Yeah, yeah. Okay. Because she wants them and it's cool. Yeah, but did you already spill the beans and tell her?

SPEAKER_03

Well, I have a hard time keeping secrets.

SPEAKER_06

I know you.

SPEAKER_03

Now you ruined it.

SPEAKER_06

But what you could do is say, hun, I won some great prizes that you would love. I'm gonna wrap them up and put them under the tree. Yeah. You could say that and then she still doesn't know what they are, but you probably just spilled the beans and told her.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, did you tell her?

SPEAKER_06

Yeah.

Gift Dilemma And Secret-Santa Ethics

SPEAKER_03

I did. It didn't feel right to wrap it up, but you know what? My wife's so awesome. She's like, you could have wrapped these up and given to me for Christmas. I'm like, gosh dang it. Gosh name. Uh, well, today is Thursday, so Janine, you know what that means. It is now time for relationship advice. And we have not one, but two relationship advice experts today. Janine Ford and Jace Green. Yes.

SPEAKER_06

And you know, Chris, I think I'm being upstaged because Jace has been married one time. Beautiful wife, forever, same one. And me, it might have been multiple. You know.

SPEAKER_03

But you know what, Janine? I think that makes you a better relationship advice expert because you've seen more. Jace just has one thing to draw from. You have multiple experiences to draw from.

SPEAKER_00

Oh, there you go. Right?

SPEAKER_06

Unfortunately, most of my most of my advice involves running with tennis shoes. Put your, what do you always say? Adidas. Adidas on your own.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, or new balance. We need to get new balance to sponsor this segment. Uh, so I'm gonna read the story, and when we come back, we'll get you both your advice. You guys ready?

SPEAKER_06

Yep.

Relationship Advice: Long-Distance Red Flags

SPEAKER_03

All right, here we go. I'm a 42-year-old guy who met a 35-year-old woman on a dating app two years ago. I live in the U.S., she lives in China. From the start, we talked about wanting to get married and have a baby within a year, but our video calls were tense and nothing ever turned into a relationship. We met once when she visited the U.S. and she was so nice in person, but again, no romance. Recently we connected and I asked if she wanted to meet me when I traveled to Asia, and she said she'd only meet me if I flew her to the US because she needs to, quote, fix her phone here. She also said she won't see anyone uh else uh in person, yet she's talking to multiple guys and says, whichever man promises to fly her out to America first will win her love. She wants me to buy her a very expensive airplane ticket. I refused, and she said I'm wrong and don't trust her. I honestly don't know what to think. Should I buy her an airplane ticket or should I run the other way? What say you? JC Starr.

SPEAKER_01

Okay, so you could see this a couple different ways, but my wife, she always sees the scam side of these kind of things. She said, This this person, you may not even be dealing with this person. You may be dealing with their helper or supporter, and they're the ones that you know is on the video call or and shows up once in a while, but someone else is gonna be collecting the money and giving them a percentage.

unknown

Exactly.

SPEAKER_01

Total scam.

SPEAKER_06

Total scam. Yeah, exactly, Jace. See, Jace is so nice in the way he puts it, and all this kind of stuff. I don't think there's any other way to look at this. He's an idiot. Yeah.

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06

That's yeah, that's no way. That is an old, yeah, old scam. You'll buy me tickets. No. No, sorry.

SPEAKER_03

Sorry, sorry. Sorry, Fang, or whatever your name is. So he wanted to know if I should buy her a ticket or run the other way, and of course, Janine says, put those running shoes on and run the other way, you idiot. She's not real. So stupid.

SPEAKER_00

Why why is he an idiot?

SPEAKER_01

Why why are guys that way?

SPEAKER_06

I I don't know. Why are they dumb? Why are guys dumb, Jason and Chris?

SPEAKER_01

This is my my opinion. Well, they talked about having a baby, right? Right away, yeah. So a guy, I don't know who this guy is, but I don't think he's thinking having a baby. Yeah, I think. He's thinking what, making a baby, right? That's why he's so dumb. Why are guys like that?

SPEAKER_03

He's lonely, yeah. He's lonely and he's just he's looking for love in all the wrong places. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. It'd be better to sit at his local cheers or something car and just yeah. It's stupid. Well, thanks so much for having fun with me, best friends. And Jace, we'll see you uh in a little bit to talk about the giving machine.

SPEAKER_00

Looking forward to it.

SPEAKER_03

All right, talk to you guys later, best friends. Bye-bye. Joining me in studio is Jace Green. Good morning, good morning. Heck yeah, Jace works with us here at uh Country Mountain Airwaves, also owns a Mountain Mobile Autoglass, does a lot of great things in the community, and he's also involved with the Light the World Giving Machine. You are this year's media specialist. Woo, woo, woo. Pretty cool title. Uh, why don't you tell people uh what is the light the world giving machine? I know it's coming to Snowflake December 18th, but tell those that uh might be living under a rock what this is.

SPEAKER_01

All right, so the giving machine is a big, beautiful vending machine. It's like Christmased out, you know, red, beautiful, it's awesome. You can walk right up to it. And inside this big vending machine are all kinds of items that you can choose to make a huge impact and difference in a lot of people's lives.

SPEAKER_03

It's so much better than a regular vending machine because normally a regular vending machine is uh just gonna give me diabetes, or it's gonna give me Snickers or something delicious. But this giving machine gives so much more than that. You're really helping people in need, and there's charities from all over the world and local charities, right?

Scam Concerns And Hard Truths

SPEAKER_01

Yes. Yeah, and there's a lot of great people here on the mountain that have big hearts and they want to give. Yeah. And what the giving machine does is it creates an opportunity for you to go, and those that need the most are gonna be featured in this giving machine. You know, kids that don't have enough food, um, people that are struggling with addiction, uh, a woman that's in a bad situation and needs some counseling or needs to get away, a family over in Jordan that could benefit from a sheep. And you know, you can buy a sheep in the machine that's gonna go directly to them. You can make a huge impact in in people's lives locally, all over the world, just by simply going to this vending machine, picking an item, and a hundred percent of what you give is gonna go directly to them.

SPEAKER_03

That's my favorite part. A hundred percent goes to exactly what you're buying in the giving machine for that charity. The giving machine makes giving back easy. So I'm so excited to have my best friend Jace Green in studio today. And we're we are talking about the Light the World giving machine. And uh uh Jace, you explained that this is uh a vending machine, but a vending machine for good. You're able to uh uh help people in need, and there's a lot of amazing charities that are gonna be in the giving machine, and it starts December 18th and goes through January 1st, right?

SPEAKER_01

Yep, January 2nd.

SPEAKER_03

Till January 2nd, and it's located in Snowflake where?

SPEAKER_01

At the historic Freeman Pioneer Home right there on Main Street.

SPEAKER_03

All right, and then so starting December 18th through January 2nd, you can donate to some amazing charities and buy some great items.

SPEAKER_01

100% of your donation goes to the charities like the Silver Creek Senior Center, which is which is an amazing charity. They actually, I can't believe the thousands of boxes of food that they give out to people in need all over the White Mountains.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, they're amazing. We had them on yesterday. Who else is in there?

SPEAKER_01

Nexus Coalition. They do the education on uh substance abuse, they teach uh healthy stress coping skills, uh diversion classes, resiliency. They and there's a huge need for that, unfortunately, all over the world, but you know, with addictions and people with all the substances and stuff, they make they make a big difference in people's lives.

SPEAKER_03

Absolutely, they are an amazing uh nonprofit here in the White Mountains. And uh, who is the third nonprofit here in the White Mountains that will be in the giving machine?

SPEAKER_01

The Holbrook Emergency Food Bank.

SPEAKER_03

Yes, the Holbrook Emergency Food Bank. Uh they were on yesterday.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, they feed hundreds of people a month in the White Mountains. They make a big difference too. We have some really good charities this year.

Introducing The Giving Machine

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, and there's uh you can uh there's items uh for as low as$10 that you can buy for people. Again, 100% of that money goes towards that charity. And and uh there's also some national uh uh charities in there. What what are some uh other items you could buy in the giving machine?

SPEAKER_01

So from$5, you can, you know, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to some kids in need, or you can go up to$200 for a sheep, which could make a huge difference in someone's life. You know, Chris, you and I, if we got a sheep, that's not gonna make a huge difference. But for somebody in Jordan or in different parts of the world, that can be life-changing.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, it is amazing. It is the light the world giving machine coming to Snowflake starting December 18th. Mark your calendars. Good morning. It's the morning brew with Chris. Who's this? Hey, good morning, my friend. Oh, it's Virgil the Cowboy from Eager Arizona. I have my friend Jace Green uh with me. He's gonna be talking to us about the uh giving machine that starts in Snowflake on December 18th. Say hi to uh Jace, Virgil.

SPEAKER_01

Hey, good morning, Jace. Hey, what's up, Virgil?

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, Virgil, to what do we owe the honor of your phone call this morning? Uh well, this uh girl, her name is Randy. It's her birthday today. Randy, is she one of the uh the cowgirls that helps you on the ranch? Yes, Randy, uh you I probably can't ask you how old Randy is, huh?

SPEAKER_02

She's 28.

SPEAKER_03

You're not supposed to tell us, Virgil.

SPEAKER_02

Well, happy birthday, dear Randy. Happy birthday to you.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, yeah. Good morning, it's the morning brew with Chris. Who's this? Well, police not we got Chris Band, it's your best friend Kirk Nermi. Heck yeah, Kurt Nermi. We are international from the valley. Are you getting your pump on this morning?

SPEAKER_04

I I'm about ready to do that, but I had to call it the morning brew because I listened to the brew podcast yesterday, and there's so much juice. I had to talk to the man himself.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, there's uh if you don't listen to our podcast, you're missing out because you'll catch a lot of the great stuff that you hear on the radio, but then you even hear some stuff that didn't make the radio. What's your question for me this morning?

SPEAKER_04

Well, could you talk to the great Andrea Bennett? Because her uh Hallmark review, usually, you know, I'm not into Hallmark movies and everything, but she needs to keep with this nostril-related content that she professed yesterday. I mean, her assessment in the nostrils of the actress is innovative. I have never heard of anything like it.

Local Charities And How It Works

SPEAKER_03

It's funny the things that stick out to my wife. But in yesterday's review, she did not like that the uh the main actor had huge nostrils, and the way they were filming it, you would see him, and she showed it to me yesterday, and she's right. Like, holy moly, the dude has the biggest nostrils ever, and when he goes in for the kiss at the end, uh the camera just shoots right up his nose. It's kind of gross.

SPEAKER_04

Oh, well, yeah, I'm with I'm with Jan from Haver. That was great content, great review. We need to understand the kind of nostrils we're getting into if we make a commitment to one of these movies.

SPEAKER_03

That's right. Yeah, yesterday's review really caused quite a stir. Jan called into the podcast, and uh yeah, he thought it was uh hilarious that she was talking about his big nostrils.

SPEAKER_04

So And of course, the the question of the day is uh, you think uh Mrs. Chris only loves you for your nostrils?

SPEAKER_03

Uh I have some pretty uh I have decent sized nostrils, but they're not anywhere as big as that guy in that Hallmark movie. So I think she loves me for my tiny nostrils.

SPEAKER_04

All right. Well, that's good to hear, buddy. Good to hear. Well, we hope to hear more content of that because you're not gonna get nostril-related reviews anywhere else with the morning.

SPEAKER_03

That's right, that's right. And we have her Hallmark movie review coming up next. I love you, best friend. Thanks for calling in, Kirkner. Love you. Bye now. Bye. On the phone, we have my wife, Andrea, and also I have an in-studio guest, Jace Green, who uh we're gonna be talking about the Light the World Giving Machine that is coming back to the White Mountains in Snowflake starting December 18th. Where's it gonna be at?

SPEAKER_01

Good morning, good morning. It's gonna be on at the Freeman Pioneer Home, the historic Freeman Pioneer Home, right on Main Street there in Snowflake. Yes, my wife.

SPEAKER_03

My wife and I love going to that every year. And uh, speaking of my wife, she does Hallmark Christmas movie reviews for us, Jace. And uh Andrea, yesterday you reviewed the Christmas cup, and your review has caused quite the stir uh because in it, uh one, she gave it only one and a half cups of hot cocoa, which is a horrible review. Uh and uh, but the main thing that bothered her was the love interest, the main dude. His nostrils were enormous, and the way they were filming it really accentuated his nostrils. Oh no, right, Andrea? Yes, yeah, and you showed uh me last night the guy's nostrils, and she's not joking. Check out Christmas cup, check out the final kissing scene. This guy's nostrils, you look like you could put a couple hot dogs in there. Oh wow, and so uh people are wanting more nostril reviews from you.

SPEAKER_05

So my goodness.

SPEAKER_03

But uh, how about when we come back, my love? We get another Hallmark Christmas review from you. Uh today does today's review involve nostrils?

SPEAKER_05

It does not. I'm sorry to disappoint.

SPEAKER_03

And now it's time for Chris's wife to give us her Christmas Hallmark movie reviews.

SPEAKER_05

We are going to review, she's making a list.

Caller Shoutouts And Community Vibes

SPEAKER_03

She's making a list. All right. Uh what do I think this is about? Uh I think uh this is about a girl that uh is in recovery and she's making a list of all the people she has to make amends to. And uh she ends up going back and making amends to someone uh that she was mean to in high school, and they end up rekindling their romance and fall in love. Is that what this one's about?

SPEAKER_05

I mean, that's a good story, but no.

SPEAKER_03

Oh no. All right. What's uh she's making a list about?

SPEAKER_05

So it's about um this lady that is a naughty or knife list inspector.

SPEAKER_03

Ooh, for Santa?

SPEAKER_05

Santa has kind of outsourced his naughty or knife list, and so she goes and inspects like the borderline. It might maybe be nice if you kind of make those decisions.

SPEAKER_00

Right.

SPEAKER_05

And um this one is really about um the rule versus like getting into the spirit of things, and so she realizes that all kids are nice, they just need some understanding.

SPEAKER_03

Oh do you believe all kids are nice?

SPEAKER_05

I mean, I want to.

SPEAKER_03

Some of them can be mean.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah, yeah, it's true.

SPEAKER_03

Well, how many uh cups of hot cocoa do you give for she's making a list?

SPEAKER_05

Well, this is with Lacey Charbet, and I like love her. So just because she's in it, I it wasn't a super exciting movie. Um, but I gave it three cups of hot cocoa.

SPEAKER_03

Three out of five cups of hot cocoa. So if you're running low on time, you can't watch all of them. Maybe skip this one. But Andrea likes it, and the nostril sizes of all the actors are normal, right? Perfect, perfect. I love it. Well, awesome. Well, thank you so much for your Hallmark Christmas movie review, my love. We'll talk to you tomorrow.

SPEAKER_05

Okay, bye. Bye. Bye.

SPEAKER_03

I gotta let our best friend Jace Green out of here. He's been talking to us today about the Light the World giving machine that is gonna be in Snowflake from December 18th to January 2nd at the Freeman Historic uh house there in Snowflake, right?

SPEAKER_01

Right, right on Main Street.

SPEAKER_03

Right on Main Street. What does the uh giving machine uh mean to you, uh Jace, and and and why is this such a great thing for the mountain?

SPEAKER_01

So I love the giving machine around Christmas time, right? And and uh the giving machine is about Jesus Christ. You know, he taught to to give to everyone, doesn't matter who they are, what denomination, what color their skin is, what community they live in. The giving machine is about helping everybody, it's about everybody coming together to help everybody. And that's my favorite part about it. If you want to feel the spirit of Christmas or the spirit of Christ in your life, go check out. The giving machine because when you leave, that's how you feel. You you just feel peaceful, happy, joy. And my whole family loves it. It's a great family, you know, Christmas tradition, one that we've done a couple years now, and all my kids look forward to it. It's a lot of fun.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, and it's uh so it's gonna be from December 18th to January 2nd. And when can people show up and and and make their donations and use the giving machine?

SPEAKER_01

So it's it's basically open 24-7. You can go anytime, even during the night, but there'll be people there from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. There'll be some entertainment and some music and some Christmas activities going on in the evenings, and they make it a lot of fun.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, if you're looking for a uh a fun new tradition to do with your family, the giving machine is a great thing. Uh and uh like Jay said, they have entertainment every night so you can go and feel the uh the holiday spirit and then uh give back, which is uh really an amazing thing to do this time of year.

Hallmark Nostril Debate Returns

SPEAKER_01

Yep, it's called the Light the World Giving Machine. And and it it while you're lighting the world and lighting other people's lives, it it really lights your own. And that that is the spirit of Christmas. Don't don't miss it. It's a great opportunity.

SPEAKER_03

Don't miss it. The light the world giving machine in Snowflake December 18th to January 2nd. Jace, thanks so much for being on the morning brew this morning.

SPEAKER_01

Thank you, Chris. Have a good one.