Dec. 21, 2024

A Christmas Show with Jenna Stocker- 12:21:24, 11.24 AM

A Christmas Show with Jenna Stocker- 12:21:24, 11.24 AM

On this special "politics-free" edition of the show, Dave welcomes longtime friend and amazing writer https://substack.com/profile/12447961-jenna-stocker?utm_source=global-search to talk all things Christmas. As the conversation unfolds, Jenna shares...

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Culture

On this special "politics-free" edition of the show, Dave welcomes longtime friend and amazing writer Jenna Stocker to talk all things Christmas. As the conversation unfolds, Jenna shares stories from her own childhood Christmases and talks about the traditions and values she is imparting to her own children in the hope that they will hold on to the memories and the lessons that will enrich their young lives beyond measure. It's a heartwarming podcast that also includes a touch of mischief before concluding with a rather poignant essay Dave wrote on Christmas Eve 2011, from the cab of his 18 wheeler at a truck stop on a distant highway. Laughs, poetic memories and an homage to the meaning of Christmas make episode well worth listening to. Merry Christmas!

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Soldier storyteller, this story of Hell Razor. It's Dave Carter

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and this is the Dave Carter Show. I'm Dave Carter,

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and it's great to welcome you to the program and

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this special edition of The Dave Carter Show. You might

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be wondering exactly what it is that makes this a

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special edition. Well, when we gathered last time to enjoy

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the services here, it was a hugely special addition because

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that sucker was done in front of a live audience

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at an exquisite restaurant in downtown Panama City, and it

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was the first time I've had the privilege of doing

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a broadcast with the audience there to provide feedback as

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it were, in real time. And I'll tell you that

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was a charge. I mean, I hear from folks who

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enjoy the show on a normal basis, but seeing and

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hearing your reaction in real time just took it all

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to a new level. It was exciting, it was hilarious.

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The guests were phenomenal. My friend Brian Rust was amazing

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as a broadcaster and the questions that he asked of

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our guests during the interviews were wonderfully insightful, and the

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result was an amazing show. If you missed it, well,

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there will be some others. Let me just say that

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in the outset there are some ideas percolating on doing

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future live events, and I'm sure it'll be even more

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fun as we go forward, So stay tuned on that one.

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But it's been a while since I've done a Christmas

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edition of the program. It's a festive time of year.

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There are many things to be festive about, so why

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not emphasize the positive this time around. I mentioned to

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my wife just a week or so back, how events

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seem to be speeding up as it were. Have you

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ever seen those works of time lapse photography. Maybe it's

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a tree, or perhaps a mountain in the distance and

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a range of mountains, and the mountains, for example, stay

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at a fixed point in the picture, but you see

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the days pass by quickly with sunrises sunsets, maybe in

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the course of just fifteen twenty seconds, maybe a storm passes,

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and then just as quickly everything dries out. I've seen

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sometime LA's photography of the seasons as they passed, and

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you watch that stately mountain would stand against the snows

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and the rain and the heat and the autumn I

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told my wife, I'm feeling more and more like that mountain,

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like that fixed object, whether it's the mountain or the

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Egyptian sphinx. Not that I'm timeless, of course, far from it.

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I seem to be changing or degrading pretty rapidly these days.

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But time, time is what keeps speeding up. It seems

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like just a few weeks ago that Christmas twenty twenty

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three was homing in on us, And here we go again.

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Another year has passed, and I wonder how did it

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happen so quickly. My daughter celebrated her birthday a few

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days ago, and I came across a photo of me

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of feeding something or other to her. We were both

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sitting on the couch and she couldn't have been more

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than a year or two old. Now she's thirty five

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and quite the lady. I might add. Meanwhile, my hair's gone,

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and somehow I've obtained Santa's beard. So you know who

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says a good bourbon it won't affect you. You ever

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had an experience where a certain aroma or the taste

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of certain foods would immediately take you back to a

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specific time and place. The smell of hot chocolate for example,

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does that for me? I mean one sip of that stuff,

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And I revert back to that eight or nine year

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old kid standing next to my dad in Tiger Stadium

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in Baton Rouge, watching LSU take on whatever opponent wandered

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into Death Valley that Saturday night. I can see just

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as vividly as it happened, as if it happened last night.

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The LSU marching band, the Golden band from Tiger Land.

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They called them a vast, huge band, and when they

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stood and faced the crowd, backs arched, horns lifted up

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toward the night air as they gave us a crisp

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and powerful blast of Hold that Tiger my goosebumps. Get goosebumps?

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Or the taste of pinwheels, those little chocolate covered cookie

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and marshmallow things, those little delights that takes me back

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again to my childhood and to Christmas Eve. My sister

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and I had to dictate a little note to Santa

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and leave a snack for him as well. And I

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had it on good authority that Santa liked pinwheels and milk,

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which was a remarkable coincidence because that was my dad's

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favorite little snack too. But Why shouldn't two gentlemen of

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such exquisite taste like the same thing? Right? Made sense

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to me. It's the time of year to reminisce, savor

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the memories, and make new memories too, And I know

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just the person to help us do that. So let's

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have some fun. Shall we Merry Christmas?

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From the day fer show?

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So tso there, my guest on the program has been

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on the program a number of times previously. It's always

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always a treat to talk with her. Jenna Stalker is

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a former Marine Corps officer. She holds a degree in

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accounting from Carlson School of Management at the University of Minneapolis.

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She spent spent time as a researcher at the Center

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for Security Policy in Washington, d C. Where she specialized

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in Islamism and military weapons system which is simultaneously very

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interesting and gives me a brain headache. She's written over

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at Ricochet, and she's the editor and publisher of American

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Experiments quarterly magazine. Her work has appeared in National Review

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as well as The Federalists. And this is the best part.

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She's a devoted wife to a Coastguard veteran and a

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mom to two precious children who I don't know. Are

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they still at the age where they keep vampire hours?

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Is that still a thing with them?

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Well, my youngest Bertie is they're opposites and they're sleeping

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and in every single way of life. So yeah, Joey

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as the very picky eater. Bertie eats everything. Joey is

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a heavy sleeper, and Birdie just doesn't sleep. So mom

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doesn't sleep.

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Oh gosh, it get there.

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We'll get there.

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It takes a while. My kids were opposites too. In

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the following way. When my son would wake up a

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little baby, he would be in a pretty good mood,

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you know, and he would kind of vocal like, yes,

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she was saying nothing, but he was trying. He was

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doing his scales and our peggios and just having a

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good time.

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But he was.

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He woke up with an open mind and he was

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willing to vocalize and just kind of have fun. When

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my daughter woke woke up as a as a baby,

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she was pissed. I mean, she woke up it's like

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Linda Blair and there you want to call it a priest.

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She never she just didn't wake up in a good mood,

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you know. She had that improved over time. She's she's like,

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she's like the class clown too now, but back then,

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I mean they were polar polar opposites. Yeah, I understand,

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I understand.

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Yeah, yeah, it's but that's what makes it fun. You

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think you have it, you think you're an expert after one,

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and then you have the second and you know nothing.

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Right right right. Yeah. It's kind of better as a

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grandparent because you can say, well, that didn't work here,

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let me give you back to mommy and daddy so

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you can look forward to that point it somewhere down

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the line. Well, thanks for appearing on the program, and

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Merry Christmas.

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Oh, Merry Christmas, David. It's always a pleasure and I'm

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happy that you are in. I can I can live vicariously.

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We just got about half a foot of snow and

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it was about fifteen degrees today, so it's Christmas here.

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Yeah, this is this is this is your your regular

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reminder from me that the borders are open. It is

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possible to make the trip down. I mean the well,

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let's just throads. There's snowed in, but you guys have

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the equipment up there to deal with it. Right.

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Oh yeah, yeah, we have armies of snowplows. We actually

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have every every winter we have a snowplow naming contest,

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and people get quite creative about it. I mean, don't

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you don't you, as a Floridian, don't you just feel

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like it's not quite Christmas? Aren't you? Don't you crave

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like to snuggle in a warm sweater and watch the

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snowflakes fall softly underneath glowing lamp lights and hot cocoa.

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And I'll I'll turn the air conditioner down and drink

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the hot cocoa.

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Now.

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Now, my wife, Becky, she would like to go somewhere

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where there are four seasons, four legitimate seasons. But you

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recall that I was on the road for a long

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time and my dispatcher was a he was a sadistic

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and so I was always in the season on extremes.

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So in the winter I was in Maine, Dakota's Minneapolis

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and all that. And in the summer, why I was

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in Miami, Laredo, you know, Tucsons sweating like you know,

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dan Quail and a spelling bee.

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So you know, sure, yeah, but you can you can

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just tell her.

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I'll just shake a snowloab you know. But now I

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saw something on exit that got my attention. You you

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and your family. We we're going to place a military cemetery.

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Was it wreaths on various yes?

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So we we we attend a church. It's the church

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that we got married in and it's Fort Snelling Memorial Chapel,

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and our kids are baptized there actually in all my nieces,

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and we kind of go ahead of the reads across

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America and they do, you know, all the national cemeteries.

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So we we pay special attention to our our former

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congregation members that have have passed that are veterans and uh.

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And I also ask people you know on Twitter for

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you know, x Twitter if if they have loved ones

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at fortunately they can't get there, We're more than happy

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to lay a wreath, take a picture. I think it

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means a lot during Yeah, so it's great. It's one

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of the speaking of traditions is something that we've done

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every year. So we get the kids out, put them

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in their snowsuits and they toddle along and kind of

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still in them. You know that that reverence for our veterans,

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our our America's heroes, and it's really something, you know,

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Fort Steling is one of the biggest national militaries in

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the cemeteries in the country, and it's really breathtaking when

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you're out there and it's cold and it's quiet, and

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you just see an army of people usually when we're

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leaving their coming in that are are there to volunteer

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and put recent all the all the grave sites.

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That's fantastic. You mentioned Rights Across from America for a while.

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I drove the Ride of Pride truck for Schneiner National,

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the military show truck. It was all decked out with

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with the digital rap you know that was that was

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the commemoration of In my case, it was po w

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M I A themed truck, but it had gold star

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over the over the the doors, you know, the driver's

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seat in the passengers seat. I don't know if you've

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seen it, but photo later. But yeah, but that they

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are part of Reads Across America where they end up

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at Arlington, I think with several other military theme trucks

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and they helped later the reads out is very moving,

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just unbelievable experience.

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Yeah, it's it's really it really gives you a good perspective,

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especially before the holidays, you know of families you know

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who are missing right well, the ones too during the

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holidays as well. It just makes you grateful that we're

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living in this country and we can pay our respects

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in that way. It's a bitsy small part, but it

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kind of gets us in the good Christmas giving, you know, sentimental.

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Things in perspective. So, uh, now I'm going to steer

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clear of political issues. It's Christmas time and that's what's important.

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Christmas Day it was Christmas, yes, no good.

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Cheer, yes yes. And uh and we've already established that

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you grew up in Minneapolis. Oh and I'm ected to

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mention for if you if you don't follow h Jenna

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Stocker on substack, you should. She's at Jenna Stocker dot

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substack dot com and it's well worth you really owe

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it to yourself to go check it out. It's really

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really great. She just did a piece recently on this

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Luigi Manzoni, the guy who murdered the CEO of United Healthcare,

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and the piece is called the Lived Experience of a

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Spoiled Brat.

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Well, that was no I I someone else wrote that one.

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Oh really I thought, okay, I thought that was you.

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No, I I think I you know, boosted.

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It or yeah, what do they call it? They stack it?

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00:13:39.120 --> 00:13:42.559
Yeah, we stacked stack, I think. Yeah, Okay, every platform

230
00:13:42.600 --> 00:13:44.799
has their own name word. Yeah, it was really intriguing.

231
00:13:45.360 --> 00:13:47.639
You've got a lot, You've got a lot of great

232
00:13:47.639 --> 00:13:50.039
pieces on there, and we'll get to some of that

233
00:13:50.080 --> 00:13:53.200
in a little bit. But I've been through Minneapolis many times,

234
00:13:53.240 --> 00:13:55.799
as I said, always in the winter time, whenever everything

235
00:13:55.919 --> 00:13:58.919
is just I was stuck at a there's a TA

236
00:13:59.000 --> 00:14:02.879
truck stop, Travel Centers of America truck stop in Minneapolis,

237
00:14:02.879 --> 00:14:04.600
and I was there for the better part of a week.

238
00:14:05.039 --> 00:14:08.279
It was so cold that apparently the uh around the

239
00:14:08.320 --> 00:14:11.799
around the Beltway around town, the chemicals they used to

240
00:14:11.840 --> 00:14:15.399
get through the ice weren't working, and so we were

241
00:14:15.399 --> 00:14:17.960
stuck there. And every day that we were there, they

242
00:14:17.960 --> 00:14:19.960
gave us a little bit more discount on our food

243
00:14:19.960 --> 00:14:21.960
because we were a captive. We were a captive audience.

244
00:14:22.559 --> 00:14:24.799
But the snow piles, I mean, they stacked that stuff

245
00:14:24.879 --> 00:14:27.559
up higher than the trucks. You know, it was unbelievable.

246
00:14:27.960 --> 00:14:30.080
And I reminded me because I went to Salt Lake

247
00:14:30.120 --> 00:14:32.200
City one year in the in the middle of the winter,

248
00:14:32.519 --> 00:14:36.639
and both places remind me of of a giant snow globe,

249
00:14:37.200 --> 00:14:37.519
and this.

250
00:14:37.600 --> 00:14:39.679
Kid just keeps shaking it and shaking it. It never

251
00:14:39.679 --> 00:14:42.480
stops shaking, It never stopped swirling around. Snow's all over

252
00:14:42.519 --> 00:14:47.720
the place, piling up everywhere. So really, now what I

253
00:14:47.720 --> 00:14:50.799
want to know is the snow the winter? I mean,

254
00:14:50.840 --> 00:14:54.039
does it all lose its magic and its luster at Christmas?

255
00:14:54.159 --> 00:14:57.639
Or is it still got that that little you get

256
00:14:57.639 --> 00:14:59.919
a little twinge of excitement versus me when I was

257
00:15:00.039 --> 00:15:02.360
he's snow on the road, I think, crap, I gotta

258
00:15:02.399 --> 00:15:02.840
drive through this.

259
00:15:03.600 --> 00:15:05.919
Well, I try, I try to remember. You know, we

260
00:15:06.000 --> 00:15:10.200
had a yesterday was really our first big snowstorm of

261
00:15:10.240 --> 00:15:15.240
the season, and uh, you know, my son wakes up,

262
00:15:15.240 --> 00:15:17.320
he's three. He looks out the window. I said, oh Joe,

263
00:15:17.519 --> 00:15:21.120
you know it's it snowed, and he's just in awe,

264
00:15:21.279 --> 00:15:24.000
you know, wow, look at all the snow and everything's white.

265
00:15:24.039 --> 00:15:28.120
And I try to remember the magic of that first right,

266
00:15:28.240 --> 00:15:30.000
you know, the snow when you're a kid, because when

267
00:15:30.039 --> 00:15:33.240
you're an adult, you have to shovel it, you have

268
00:15:33.360 --> 00:15:36.720
to drive in it. It's dirty, you're wet, it's cold,

269
00:15:37.039 --> 00:15:39.200
you know, and it's it's a pean and it's a

270
00:15:39.240 --> 00:15:41.279
pain to drive in because no one else knows how

271
00:15:41.320 --> 00:15:42.000
to drive in it.

272
00:15:42.480 --> 00:15:44.879
Oh, I know, if it's if the road ice is

273
00:15:44.919 --> 00:15:49.159
over here in Panama City, Florida, everything shuts down. I

274
00:15:49.159 --> 00:15:51.279
think people will stand by the side of the road

275
00:15:51.440 --> 00:15:53.519
and as you go sliding by, they'll give you a

276
00:15:53.639 --> 00:15:57.159
ratings nine point five on technical difficulty and artistry and

277
00:15:57.200 --> 00:15:59.240
all that as you crash into each other.

278
00:15:59.120 --> 00:16:03.960
You know, as you do some spinouts. But so, you know,

279
00:16:05.200 --> 00:16:07.919
it's nice to have around in Christmas. I don't I

280
00:16:08.039 --> 00:16:09.919
like it's you know, it's nice to have a white Christmas.

281
00:16:10.039 --> 00:16:14.200
Last year we had an unusually warm, dry winter, so

282
00:16:14.519 --> 00:16:17.159
you know, we were we were due to have a

283
00:16:17.279 --> 00:16:20.519
nice to me in an adult, nice green you know.

284
00:16:22.639 --> 00:16:25.000
And then you know, after that, yeah, it can melt,

285
00:16:25.200 --> 00:16:29.759
it can clear out. I don't want to see another flake. So,

286
00:16:30.399 --> 00:16:33.320
you know, because by the time February March, you know,

287
00:16:33.399 --> 00:16:38.840
into April, it's awful. It's awful, and you see the

288
00:16:38.879 --> 00:16:43.639
snowplows go by again. And after you've shoved your whole driveway,

289
00:16:43.840 --> 00:16:47.200
then the snowplow comes and plows you in and you

290
00:16:47.240 --> 00:16:50.279
just want to lie down in the snow bank and die.

291
00:16:51.480 --> 00:16:54.759
Let them come and put more snow over the over

292
00:16:54.799 --> 00:16:57.240
the top. I'll see you when it thaws. Like I don't,

293
00:16:57.320 --> 00:16:58.600
I don't want to see it anymore.

294
00:16:59.320 --> 00:17:04.960
Yeah, it's a pretty descriptive, pretty vivid description there, but

295
00:17:05.160 --> 00:17:07.240
I get it. I totally get it. One of the

296
00:17:07.279 --> 00:17:10.559
things that I loved about Christmas when my kids were

297
00:17:10.599 --> 00:17:14.559
little was watching the magic in their eyes as they

298
00:17:15.039 --> 00:17:18.319
experienced all the way from decorating the house and letting them,

299
00:17:18.400 --> 00:17:20.400
you know, putting lifting one of them up so they

300
00:17:20.400 --> 00:17:22.440
can put the star on the tree, all that kind

301
00:17:22.440 --> 00:17:25.400
of stuff, driving around town, letting them see the Christmas lights,

302
00:17:26.079 --> 00:17:29.039
and then you know, Christmas Morning or the Christmas Eve,

303
00:17:29.079 --> 00:17:31.960
depending on when they open their gifts. Just watching their eyes.

304
00:17:32.319 --> 00:17:35.480
Their whole countenance lights up and they tear into it.

305
00:17:35.880 --> 00:17:38.920
And it's great watching it. And do you feel like

306
00:17:38.960 --> 00:17:44.079
you're experiencing Christmas almost vicariously through watching your kids.

307
00:17:44.240 --> 00:17:47.960
Yeah, yeah, you know it's funny. I think you grow

308
00:17:48.039 --> 00:17:50.200
up and you think, oh, Christmas is so awesome because

309
00:17:50.200 --> 00:17:53.079
you get all these presents, and as a parent to

310
00:17:53.119 --> 00:17:58.759
be able to give them things or start your own traditions,

311
00:17:58.960 --> 00:18:02.240
it's one hundred times better as a parent than I

312
00:18:02.400 --> 00:18:05.880
ever had it as a kid, you know, we did.

313
00:18:06.000 --> 00:18:07.960
We didn't. I grew up. We didn't have a whole

314
00:18:08.000 --> 00:18:10.119
lot of money. So we had like one kind of

315
00:18:10.119 --> 00:18:11.920
big gift for all three of us kids. It was

316
00:18:12.000 --> 00:18:17.799
kind of like a gift. But yeah, I mean this

317
00:18:17.960 --> 00:18:19.799
is kind of the first year. You know, my son

318
00:18:19.920 --> 00:18:21.799
is three and my daughter's a year and a half,

319
00:18:21.920 --> 00:18:24.480
so she's still kind of young. We have all the

320
00:18:24.559 --> 00:18:27.519
ornaments on our tree is right here about to like,

321
00:18:27.759 --> 00:18:30.480
you know, all the way down to about a foot

322
00:18:30.480 --> 00:18:32.200
and a half off the ground and then it's bare.

323
00:18:32.759 --> 00:18:35.599
She's a little so we have kind of a half

324
00:18:36.799 --> 00:18:42.799
but yeah, yeah, you have my son every day, Oh

325
00:18:42.880 --> 00:18:44.119
it's is it Christmas Eve?

326
00:18:44.240 --> 00:18:44.480
No?

327
00:18:44.759 --> 00:18:47.079
Six more days? And he's like, oh so.

328
00:18:48.000 --> 00:18:50.759
Or as I say, now that I'm back and leave retail,

329
00:18:50.759 --> 00:18:52.400
there's only a few shoplifting days.

330
00:18:52.400 --> 00:18:57.440
Well yeah, it's you know, when you work retail and

331
00:18:57.799 --> 00:18:59.799
you know you you know this, Dave, it's kind of

332
00:18:59.839 --> 00:19:03.400
like a frenzy. Every day gets more intense and crazy

333
00:19:04.079 --> 00:19:06.680
until like there's this big sigh of relief. I think

334
00:19:06.720 --> 00:19:10.079
it's kind of the opposite for for people who actually

335
00:19:10.160 --> 00:19:10.880
have to work it.

336
00:19:11.519 --> 00:19:14.880
I will describe working retail this way. The cost of

337
00:19:14.960 --> 00:19:17.559
living since I started working there has gone up about

338
00:19:17.599 --> 00:19:23.839
two dollars a leader. So yeah, yeah, but I mean

339
00:19:24.960 --> 00:19:28.599
I walked up close to the registers yesterday that ran away.

340
00:19:29.079 --> 00:19:32.160
It looked like customers last stand there with all these

341
00:19:32.240 --> 00:19:33.799
I mean, these people were under siege.

342
00:19:34.279 --> 00:19:34.480
You know.

343
00:19:35.079 --> 00:19:38.720
Anyway, that's far away from when I was talking, but

344
00:19:38.799 --> 00:19:41.680
still I was, you know, I'm traumatized.

345
00:19:42.279 --> 00:19:45.000
And one thing, you know, we used to have when

346
00:19:45.039 --> 00:19:48.640
I was a kid, Dayton's was the big department store,

347
00:19:48.759 --> 00:19:51.759
so it was they were a big family here. They

348
00:19:51.759 --> 00:19:54.079
still are. You know, one of the Daytons was Governor

349
00:19:54.160 --> 00:19:59.440
not too long ago, but they used to have a

350
00:20:00.039 --> 00:20:03.200
whole floor of their department store dedicated to kind of

351
00:20:03.200 --> 00:20:06.440
these life size diorama display so you'd walk through it

352
00:20:06.480 --> 00:20:09.680
and it was a different Christmas story every year for them.

353
00:20:10.359 --> 00:20:12.480
And you know, and you go to the downtown and

354
00:20:12.559 --> 00:20:15.920
all the windows were, you know, dressed up for Christmas

355
00:20:16.000 --> 00:20:20.799
and every you know, it was like old fashioned Christmas

356
00:20:20.799 --> 00:20:26.079
exploded everywhere, and there's music and there was twinkle lights,

357
00:20:26.400 --> 00:20:28.480
and people were in good moods and they had the

358
00:20:28.559 --> 00:20:32.119
Salvation Army jingle bells. Now you scan a QR code

359
00:20:32.759 --> 00:20:35.799
and there's I don't know everything is just sort of

360
00:20:35.880 --> 00:20:40.920
vanilla plane. So it's in a way I missed that

361
00:20:41.000 --> 00:20:46.240
downtown experience. So retail has has kind of changed, you know,

362
00:20:46.279 --> 00:20:48.720
the malls not really a big as big a thing

363
00:20:48.759 --> 00:20:52.160
anymore as it used to be, So that part is

364
00:20:53.119 --> 00:20:56.519
sort of I feel bad that my kids won't get

365
00:20:56.519 --> 00:20:58.799
to experience that. How I did, you know, at least

366
00:20:58.799 --> 00:21:02.119
how I remember it?

367
00:21:02.279 --> 00:21:06.279
Well? We remember, but the memory does nice things for us,

368
00:21:06.279 --> 00:21:08.839
and it kind of smooths over some things and makes

369
00:21:08.839 --> 00:21:12.640
others wonderfully vivid. I mentioned in the monologue before we

370
00:21:12.680 --> 00:21:17.599
started talking about something as simple as the taste of

371
00:21:17.640 --> 00:21:21.880
a pinwheel cookie for me, well takes me immediately back

372
00:21:21.920 --> 00:21:24.920
to my childhood and leaving cookies and milk out for

373
00:21:25.119 --> 00:21:28.720
Santa because I knew that Santa's favorite cookie was a

374
00:21:28.759 --> 00:21:33.000
pinwheel because coincidentally, that was my dad's favorite cookie, and

375
00:21:33.039 --> 00:21:36.680
the two of them have impeccable taste. Right. So but

376
00:21:36.720 --> 00:21:40.920
I remember those things and all those traditions, and I

377
00:21:41.079 --> 00:21:44.000
pass those down to my kids. They leave pin wheels

378
00:21:44.000 --> 00:21:47.640
for Santa for their kids. Is that the case with you, folks?

379
00:21:47.680 --> 00:21:50.799
Have you been able to take certain traditions notwithstanding changes

380
00:21:50.799 --> 00:21:53.799
in technology and the sterility of this shopping experience. But

381
00:21:54.079 --> 00:21:55.839
have you been able to kind of pass down some

382
00:21:55.880 --> 00:21:57.079
traditions to them as well.

383
00:21:58.039 --> 00:22:01.200
Yeah, yeah, I think that's really important. And I think

384
00:22:02.519 --> 00:22:06.599
it's something about Christmas that for all the war on

385
00:22:06.680 --> 00:22:13.319
Christmas and the politicizing and and and you know, kind

386
00:22:13.359 --> 00:22:17.960
of anger about all these old fashioned things that I

387
00:22:18.000 --> 00:22:23.400
think that's kind of where Americans and and people will

388
00:22:23.440 --> 00:22:25.480
draw the line like, no, no, no, you're not going

389
00:22:25.559 --> 00:22:29.960
to take these things that that we've passed on for generations.

390
00:22:30.200 --> 00:22:33.119
We're just going to keep doing them. So you know,

391
00:22:33.160 --> 00:22:37.720
whether it's getting a tree or you know, we we

392
00:22:37.799 --> 00:22:40.559
always we we get our we get our well we

393
00:22:40.640 --> 00:22:44.400
have an artificial tree right now, but we've done both,

394
00:22:44.599 --> 00:22:48.000
you know, so and and hopefully when our kids get

395
00:22:48.079 --> 00:22:50.119
a little older, we always went and we cut down

396
00:22:50.119 --> 00:22:56.920
our tree, so you know, someday we'll do that. But yeah,

397
00:22:57.119 --> 00:23:00.799
you know the cookies, I mean Christmas cookie and candies,

398
00:23:00.839 --> 00:23:03.839
and we write letter to Santa, and we we always did.

399
00:23:03.880 --> 00:23:06.240
We didn't do an advent calendar, but we made paper

400
00:23:06.319 --> 00:23:09.279
chains and we take a ring off every every night,

401
00:23:09.680 --> 00:23:12.160
you know, before bed and till untill it was a

402
00:23:12.240 --> 00:23:14.160
fastened to a star on the ceiling. So and that

403
00:23:14.279 --> 00:23:15.000
was Christmas Eve.

404
00:23:15.119 --> 00:23:17.720
So that something that you learned that you've passed a one.

405
00:23:17.839 --> 00:23:18.559
Yeah, that's what we did.

406
00:23:18.759 --> 00:23:20.880
Okay, okay, wow.

407
00:23:21.799 --> 00:23:23.440
Yeah, we have like a little it's kind of I

408
00:23:23.440 --> 00:23:26.519
think it's a Scandinavian thing. We have a Christmas spider

409
00:23:26.720 --> 00:23:29.680
ornament on our tree. So all of my my brothers

410
00:23:29.680 --> 00:23:32.160
all have one. I have one. We always had that

411
00:23:32.799 --> 00:23:35.119
growing up. Who gets to put on a Christmas spider

412
00:23:35.920 --> 00:23:39.400
on the ornaments? Yeah? So you know, little things like that,

413
00:23:39.519 --> 00:23:42.240
And you know, it's funny because you don't remember. I mean,

414
00:23:42.279 --> 00:23:46.400
I don't remember any particular gifts or you know, big

415
00:23:46.480 --> 00:23:49.119
to dos, but I always remember my great aunt brought

416
00:23:49.200 --> 00:23:56.359
ribbon candy to our family's Christmas Eve. It's a real

417
00:23:56.480 --> 00:24:01.839
delicate Christmas ribbon candy. So I trying to find that

418
00:24:02.319 --> 00:24:04.359
you don't have around the house. Usually by the end

419
00:24:04.359 --> 00:24:06.839
of no one really likes it. I guess so because

420
00:24:06.839 --> 00:24:10.119
it's really hard by the time after New Year's and

421
00:24:10.160 --> 00:24:12.160
I am going to go throw it away. It's just

422
00:24:12.200 --> 00:24:17.200
in one congealed and I got to bang it out

423
00:24:17.240 --> 00:24:17.599
of the bowl.

424
00:24:17.880 --> 00:24:23.359
Is indestructible as fruitcake. Yeah, yeah. The two things that

425
00:24:23.400 --> 00:24:25.359
will survive in nuclear war. By the way, this has

426
00:24:25.359 --> 00:24:27.240
nothing to do with Christmas, but they're gonna be. The

427
00:24:27.240 --> 00:24:31.839
cockroaches and fruitcake both both indestructible. You could throw that

428
00:24:31.880 --> 00:24:33.039
through a window either one.

429
00:24:34.359 --> 00:24:36.400
You can pass it down. It's its own tradition.

430
00:24:36.759 --> 00:24:39.640
It's like a doorstop. So do you have any any

431
00:24:39.759 --> 00:24:42.640
any new traditions or things that you that you've instituted

432
00:24:42.680 --> 00:24:44.920
in your family that you pass along to the kids,

433
00:24:45.160 --> 00:24:47.680
like maybe raising the ornaments up a foot and a

434
00:24:47.680 --> 00:24:50.440
half so nobody.

435
00:24:50.720 --> 00:24:54.680
That'll go that'll go back down. But you know, we

436
00:24:54.759 --> 00:25:01.160
always we always go out after church service, you know,

437
00:25:01.160 --> 00:25:03.599
it's like a candle light service, and we drive around

438
00:25:03.759 --> 00:25:08.079
the neighborhoods, kind of the the nicer neighborhoods that they

439
00:25:08.319 --> 00:25:14.720
really do nice light displace, right, it's really nice to

440
00:25:14.920 --> 00:25:18.920
just drive through and the kids like to on. So

441
00:25:18.960 --> 00:25:20.519
we make that part of part of it.

442
00:25:20.599 --> 00:25:24.559
So that's cool. So I don't know if this may

443
00:25:24.559 --> 00:25:26.400
not be a fair question because it's kind of broad,

444
00:25:26.440 --> 00:25:28.039
but it gives you a chance to just say whatever

445
00:25:28.079 --> 00:25:31.960
you think. But what what do you hope that your

446
00:25:32.039 --> 00:25:35.480
kids will cherish or really stick out in their minds

447
00:25:35.640 --> 00:25:37.559
about Christmas with their mom.

448
00:25:37.400 --> 00:25:40.920
And dad, Oh man, that is a pretty brief.

449
00:25:41.160 --> 00:25:41.960
Yeah, I know, I know.

450
00:25:43.279 --> 00:25:47.680
Well, I think I hope they get the same feeling

451
00:25:47.720 --> 00:25:51.400
about Christmas. And it was in it that it's a

452
00:25:51.480 --> 00:25:56.279
happy and a warm break like that that my brothers

453
00:25:56.279 --> 00:26:00.559
and I have when we think about ours is when

454
00:26:00.559 --> 00:26:01.079
we were kids.

455
00:26:01.119 --> 00:26:01.359
That was.

456
00:26:01.400 --> 00:26:05.640
It wasn't about you know, the presence or you know

457
00:26:05.720 --> 00:26:11.079
what things new toys or things like that, but that

458
00:26:11.599 --> 00:26:14.720
we would get together at you know, three thirty in

459
00:26:14.720 --> 00:26:17.319
the morning and poke each other to see who's gonna

460
00:26:17.319 --> 00:26:20.880
wake up our dad. You know, just kind of that family. Yeah,

461
00:26:20.920 --> 00:26:23.319
you're just doing things as a family, always watching it's

462
00:26:23.319 --> 00:26:25.799
a wonderful life. You know. We'd sit around and it

463
00:26:25.920 --> 00:26:31.640
was it was a quiet time to just reflect on

464
00:26:31.920 --> 00:26:36.039
the year that's passed and the people that are that

465
00:26:36.079 --> 00:26:38.359
matter the most of us. So I think it's really

466
00:26:38.400 --> 00:26:42.039
just about the family and and what the you know,

467
00:26:42.119 --> 00:26:49.680
and and the birth of you know, the the original miracle,

468
00:26:49.720 --> 00:26:50.680
the humblest of us.

469
00:26:50.720 --> 00:26:51.480
All right.

470
00:26:51.559 --> 00:26:55.759
So really, I I we have a little major scene

471
00:26:56.000 --> 00:26:58.720
in our in our front yard. It's actually a spotlight

472
00:26:58.839 --> 00:27:02.599
that shines as like a shadow box, so it takes

473
00:27:02.680 --> 00:27:09.079
up our whole house. Yes, so you know, just kind

474
00:27:09.079 --> 00:27:13.079
of keeping that part sacred right, So.

475
00:27:13.359 --> 00:27:17.759
Keeping the safe. You know I've said before, and because

476
00:27:17.759 --> 00:27:20.039
I know it, I know it to be true. But

477
00:27:20.119 --> 00:27:23.559
in my opinion, you write with more heart and really

478
00:27:23.680 --> 00:27:26.599
than any any living writer that I've encountered, and with

479
00:27:26.680 --> 00:27:30.079
the grace of a gifted artist. And so this I

480
00:27:30.119 --> 00:27:32.240
know you wrote. But I'm going to read a paragraph

481
00:27:32.440 --> 00:27:34.720
and you just kind of spoke to it here actually,

482
00:27:34.799 --> 00:27:37.039
so it really spoke to me when I read this.

483
00:27:37.400 --> 00:27:40.480
You write, quote, the three of us now with our

484
00:27:40.519 --> 00:27:45.640
own families, married kids, but in between the pauses of

485
00:27:45.720 --> 00:27:49.200
stories and remembrances, I'm I'm back to that house we

486
00:27:49.279 --> 00:27:52.279
grew up in, all of us, sitting all of us together,

487
00:27:52.559 --> 00:27:56.319
sitting in hard chairs around the peeling linoleum kitchen table,

488
00:27:57.240 --> 00:28:00.400
at a writing desk, a telephone with an impossibly long

489
00:28:00.559 --> 00:28:04.279
cord coiled against itself, or crammed slide by side with

490
00:28:04.359 --> 00:28:08.279
blankets in the basement, together believing it will always be

491
00:28:08.440 --> 00:28:11.640
this way until one day it isn't. And I want

492
00:28:11.680 --> 00:28:14.079
to go to that little girl and shake her and

493
00:28:14.119 --> 00:28:16.079
look her full in the eyes and tell her to

494
00:28:16.160 --> 00:28:20.880
hold on to this with her whole life. Unquote. I

495
00:28:20.960 --> 00:28:23.440
remember when I was a kid growing up in Baton

496
00:28:23.519 --> 00:28:27.279
Rouge and my buddies and I at our bikes, looking

497
00:28:27.279 --> 00:28:30.359
for an adventure every day, all over the neighborhood, adventure, mischief,

498
00:28:30.400 --> 00:28:34.319
whatever happened, we were down with it, you know, until

499
00:28:34.359 --> 00:28:36.200
the street lights came on and we had to go

500
00:28:36.279 --> 00:28:39.559
home and face the music or whatever. And you're right,

501
00:28:39.799 --> 00:28:42.160
one day it turned out to be the last time

502
00:28:42.200 --> 00:28:45.319
that we would get to do that. But we didn't

503
00:28:45.400 --> 00:28:48.279
realize that that was the last day to be together

504
00:28:48.359 --> 00:28:52.319
and to find mischief with such zest, such energy. And

505
00:28:52.359 --> 00:28:55.039
I regret that terribly, you know that we just didn't know.

506
00:28:56.079 --> 00:29:00.720
So one parent slash grandparent to another parent, given the

507
00:29:00.799 --> 00:29:05.279
distractions that are besetting our kids on all sides, how

508
00:29:05.480 --> 00:29:07.799
how do we help our kids and our grandkids in

509
00:29:07.839 --> 00:29:11.559
my case, hold on to that sense of simplicity, that

510
00:29:11.559 --> 00:29:15.559
that that deep grounding in family and loved ones. How

511
00:29:15.559 --> 00:29:17.599
can we help them hold that and preserve it and

512
00:29:17.720 --> 00:29:20.039
understand that it is in fact a lifeline?

513
00:29:22.240 --> 00:29:26.680
Well, I think what was? I don't know if it's different.

514
00:29:26.720 --> 00:29:30.039
I don't know if other parents do this, but you know,

515
00:29:30.119 --> 00:29:32.799
for no matter what was going on in the world,

516
00:29:33.039 --> 00:29:37.279
no matter what you know, whether it was wars or

517
00:29:37.519 --> 00:29:41.240
you know, personal financial situations or or any you know,

518
00:29:41.319 --> 00:29:44.960
kind of hardship. It wasn't it wasn't really discussed in

519
00:29:45.000 --> 00:29:47.559
front of kids. You know. They were free to think

520
00:29:47.599 --> 00:29:51.680
the world was theirs, you know, and and to hold

521
00:29:51.720 --> 00:29:56.240
on to that innocence as long as as they as

522
00:29:56.279 --> 00:29:58.480
they can, as long as my brothers and I could.

523
00:29:58.480 --> 00:30:04.319
You know, we never new of any you know that

524
00:30:04.319 --> 00:30:07.839
that you know moved. Yeah, you know, and it just

525
00:30:07.920 --> 00:30:09.920
it just wasn't a thing. It was. It was when

526
00:30:10.079 --> 00:30:14.279
the kids are around, you know, that's that's just a

527
00:30:14.319 --> 00:30:16.559
happy time, you know, don't you know obviously, you know,

528
00:30:16.559 --> 00:30:19.000
you get into fights with your brothers and your friends

529
00:30:19.039 --> 00:30:22.440
and you know, but that's just kids stuff. Sure, that's

530
00:30:22.480 --> 00:30:26.400
part of growing up. But but the problems of the world,

531
00:30:26.599 --> 00:30:29.160
no matter what they are, you whether it's you know,

532
00:30:29.240 --> 00:30:33.359
now it's I don't know, the climate change or endless

533
00:30:33.400 --> 00:30:35.480
wars or you know, whatever it is, I mean, you

534
00:30:35.640 --> 00:30:39.480
just let it be. Let it be. Let kids be kids.

535
00:30:39.839 --> 00:30:41.599
This is the only time that they're going to have.

536
00:30:43.720 --> 00:30:45.559
And if you can't do that as an adult, if

537
00:30:45.559 --> 00:30:48.920
you can't keep that stuff away, obviously, don't, don't. There

538
00:30:49.079 --> 00:30:50.319
there's a time and a place.

539
00:30:50.119 --> 00:30:54.079
For everything, you know, and you can't the definitely.

540
00:30:53.680 --> 00:30:59.039
Yeah, absolutely, But but to have to burden them that

541
00:30:59.039 --> 00:31:04.160
that the worlds peace and prosperity is, to keep that

542
00:31:04.279 --> 00:31:09.039
on their shoulders, I think is really damaging to heap

543
00:31:09.119 --> 00:31:16.160
adult problems on kids. And you know, and that you're

544
00:31:16.160 --> 00:31:18.480
growing up in the eighties and nineties and it just

545
00:31:18.559 --> 00:31:21.400
wasn't a thing. And maybe because we weren't so connected,

546
00:31:21.559 --> 00:31:24.960
you wouldn't have ready access to the world twenty four

547
00:31:24.960 --> 00:31:27.839
to seven. But my kids are not going to have smartphones.

548
00:31:27.880 --> 00:31:30.920
I don't care. No is not a bad word in

549
00:31:30.920 --> 00:31:31.279
my house.

550
00:31:31.359 --> 00:31:31.759
There you go.

551
00:31:32.799 --> 00:31:35.799
So, you know, I think parents, they they kind of

552
00:31:35.799 --> 00:31:38.000
fool themselves thinking, well, every other parent has and how

553
00:31:38.000 --> 00:31:40.599
I'm gonna well, no, you're the parent. You can say no,

554
00:31:41.079 --> 00:31:44.880
that's your job. Kids have enough friends. You're the parent.

555
00:31:45.480 --> 00:31:46.920
So well you're the.

556
00:31:46.839 --> 00:31:49.440
Person from whom they learned that guardrails exist.

557
00:31:50.119 --> 00:31:50.319
Yeah.

558
00:31:50.519 --> 00:31:52.480
Yeah, So you know, I catch myself. You know, I

559
00:31:53.079 --> 00:31:56.039
take my husband and I take our kids to the playground.

560
00:31:56.119 --> 00:32:00.680
You know, there's we can walk them there. Other parents

561
00:32:00.680 --> 00:32:03.200
are there. They're not watching their kids, They're watching their phones.

562
00:32:04.000 --> 00:32:06.200
And I'm just like, really, like, this is how you're

563
00:32:06.200 --> 00:32:08.799
living your life like through a phone and through you know,

564
00:32:08.960 --> 00:32:09.799
and are you The.

565
00:32:09.799 --> 00:32:11.880
Kids are taking the whole time they.

566
00:32:11.839 --> 00:32:16.039
See, they know, they know way more and they observe

567
00:32:16.160 --> 00:32:19.039
way more than you think they do, and they internalize it.

568
00:32:19.279 --> 00:32:22.759
So I I and I'm just as guilty. I have

569
00:32:22.839 --> 00:32:25.160
to stop myself. I don't need to take my phone

570
00:32:25.200 --> 00:32:27.039
with me when we go for walks. I don't need,

571
00:32:27.200 --> 00:32:31.359
you know, I try to be better about living. Maybe

572
00:32:32.440 --> 00:32:34.640
I call it the before times, you know, a pre

573
00:32:35.119 --> 00:32:38.839
a pre cell phone, pre smartphone, pre internet age.

574
00:32:39.119 --> 00:32:39.640
I can.

575
00:32:41.079 --> 00:32:44.400
For their sake, because you can function without it. I mean,

576
00:32:44.599 --> 00:32:47.480
I remember you know those those McNally road maps where

577
00:32:47.480 --> 00:32:49.680
you had to look, where's the road, where's the street,

578
00:32:50.400 --> 00:32:54.119
Go in your your book and find the grid. All right,

579
00:32:54.160 --> 00:32:56.880
this is where the street is, you know. And then

580
00:32:56.920 --> 00:33:00.880
it was what map quest, And now it's just voice navigation.

581
00:33:01.079 --> 00:33:04.640
So and we lose some skills. I mean, obviously that's

582
00:33:05.119 --> 00:33:09.680
easier now for anything from pizza delivery to tracking your packages.

583
00:33:09.799 --> 00:33:15.960
But I don't know something about just some tactile, old

584
00:33:16.039 --> 00:33:19.279
fashioned skills, you know. I think it's good too, So

585
00:33:19.720 --> 00:33:20.160
I don't know.

586
00:33:20.519 --> 00:33:22.079
It was kind of cool years ago. I would take

587
00:33:22.079 --> 00:33:23.359
my kids on the road with me when I was

588
00:33:23.400 --> 00:33:26.480
driving across country and the eighteen wheeler, and in the beginning,

589
00:33:26.559 --> 00:33:31.039
I was using a commercial drivers atlas or Rand McNally,

590
00:33:32.079 --> 00:33:34.359
and I was going out to California. At one point

591
00:33:34.400 --> 00:33:36.559
I was hoping to meet Rob Long. It didn't work out,

592
00:33:37.039 --> 00:33:39.079
but I was, you know, I saw on the map

593
00:33:39.240 --> 00:33:41.240
it seemed like it wasn't that far away to get

594
00:33:41.240 --> 00:33:43.519
to Los Angeles, you know. And five hours later, we're

595
00:33:43.559 --> 00:33:46.559
still driving and I called Rob. I said, did you

596
00:33:46.599 --> 00:33:49.640
know the Rand McNally. We're Communists? What do you mean?

597
00:33:49.680 --> 00:33:51.519
He said, well, it looks good on paper, but it's

598
00:33:51.559 --> 00:33:53.720
not possible. We're never going to get there, you know.

599
00:33:54.519 --> 00:33:57.400
But my daughter would remember, particularly, she went with me

600
00:33:57.440 --> 00:34:00.319
almost every year for a while, and she would learn

601
00:34:00.359 --> 00:34:02.920
a lot. And then somebody cut us off one day

602
00:34:03.000 --> 00:34:07.519
and I did some spontaneous genealogy, if you will, and

603
00:34:07.599 --> 00:34:09.880
she heard a combination of words that she thought was

604
00:34:10.000 --> 00:34:12.440
just hysterical, and I'm like, I can't believe I said that,

605
00:34:12.559 --> 00:34:14.639
but she thought it was so funny, and so every

606
00:34:14.679 --> 00:34:16.559
now and then she would call me that just and giggle,

607
00:34:17.199 --> 00:34:19.880
you know, And I brought her back home. She was

608
00:34:20.039 --> 00:34:22.079
like sixteen years old. I brought her back home and

609
00:34:22.159 --> 00:34:24.000
I'm back on the road and the phone rings one

610
00:34:24.079 --> 00:34:26.000
day and I pick it up and I had say, hello,

611
00:34:26.039 --> 00:34:28.119
how you doing, girl? And she calls me that word

612
00:34:28.159 --> 00:34:31.840
and then hangs up laughing. So, yes, they're taking notes

613
00:34:31.840 --> 00:34:33.320
when you don't always realize it.

614
00:34:34.760 --> 00:34:38.320
No, absolutely, and you know, and I just think things

615
00:34:39.280 --> 00:34:43.000
follow a pendulum. So you know, I remember my dad,

616
00:34:43.079 --> 00:34:46.559
so he started his own insurance agency and he had

617
00:34:46.599 --> 00:34:50.079
to go take pictures of people's houses and send them

618
00:34:50.079 --> 00:34:53.239
in for whatever reason. But he had an old polaroid camera,

619
00:34:54.480 --> 00:34:57.000
and you know, we had a record player and we

620
00:34:57.199 --> 00:35:02.159
had a black and white TV. And now polaroid cameras

621
00:35:02.159 --> 00:35:04.760
are coming back and people are buying records again, like

622
00:35:04.760 --> 00:35:08.760
all these are trying to yeah, and people are saying, no,

623
00:35:08.840 --> 00:35:11.719
we're not doing the cell phone things. So it's or

624
00:35:11.719 --> 00:35:13.599
at least with kids, you know. And so I think

625
00:35:13.639 --> 00:35:18.599
it's funny realizing in maybe we got a little ahead

626
00:35:18.639 --> 00:35:21.880
of our skis when it comes to technology that you know,

627
00:35:23.280 --> 00:35:27.440
faster and more efficient isn't necessarily better because we still

628
00:35:27.440 --> 00:35:29.199
don't have any time. You still don't have any time

629
00:35:29.239 --> 00:35:31.239
to do anything. We have all these things to make

630
00:35:31.280 --> 00:35:34.400
our lives more convenient and easier and faster. But no

631
00:35:34.440 --> 00:35:36.119
one's true to do anything.

632
00:35:36.239 --> 00:35:37.920
That's very true. But I guess as long as we

633
00:35:38.320 --> 00:35:40.159
as long as we have time for the kids and

634
00:35:40.199 --> 00:35:41.920
they know it, and that they can pick up the

635
00:35:41.920 --> 00:35:45.320
phone at any time and we establish that that line

636
00:35:45.360 --> 00:35:47.320
of communication and you can, they can tell me whatever

637
00:35:47.360 --> 00:35:48.880
they need to and I'll help them through it.

638
00:35:49.480 --> 00:35:53.360
Yeah, that's great. Yeah, I mean I still remember, I

639
00:35:53.400 --> 00:35:56.920
mean the house I wrote about that, My parents still

640
00:35:56.920 --> 00:35:58.840
live there. I still know. My phone number is probably

641
00:35:58.840 --> 00:36:01.719
the only phone number I know, by how art probably

642
00:36:01.760 --> 00:36:04.239
will for the rest tell my last day on Earth.

643
00:36:04.360 --> 00:36:06.440
I remember that. I remember our old phone number back

644
00:36:06.480 --> 00:36:08.280
in Baton Rouge to this day, I remember it.

645
00:36:09.239 --> 00:36:12.880
Yeah, so and and and it's I actually tried to

646
00:36:12.920 --> 00:36:16.480
get a landline and I looked into getting a landline

647
00:36:16.519 --> 00:36:19.079
back in our house and say, I'm just gonna not

648
00:36:19.199 --> 00:36:23.119
have a cell phone line. And you it's hard, it's

649
00:36:23.239 --> 00:36:24.559
really a hard thing to do.

650
00:36:24.960 --> 00:36:28.440
So because I can't have one there, you just don't

651
00:36:28.480 --> 00:36:29.320
have to have it hooked up.

652
00:36:30.159 --> 00:36:32.360
Yeah, well, we had, we had the jacks in our

653
00:36:32.440 --> 00:36:35.239
in our house, and I think we actually plastered over one.

654
00:36:35.280 --> 00:36:38.760
But yeah, because I just wanted a home base. I

655
00:36:38.760 --> 00:36:41.960
I remember that I could always call that number and

656
00:36:42.039 --> 00:36:45.239
my parents would pick up. They still but it was

657
00:36:45.360 --> 00:36:50.159
really it's really a comforting thing that I could always

658
00:36:50.199 --> 00:36:53.960
dial that number and they would pick up. Message.

659
00:36:56.079 --> 00:36:59.199
Yeah, well you know this as usual. This has been

660
00:36:59.239 --> 00:37:01.079
a great conversation and then a lot of fun too.

661
00:37:02.119 --> 00:37:05.360
Yeah. Well, I just appreciate catching up with you, Dave,

662
00:37:05.400 --> 00:37:07.840
and I can't keep up with you. You're you're the man

663
00:37:07.880 --> 00:37:11.239
of the hour on the go here. They're traveling, getting

664
00:37:11.320 --> 00:37:16.199
you know, married and live shows and I mean people

665
00:37:17.960 --> 00:37:20.519
I don't know don't realize how much work you do.

666
00:37:21.000 --> 00:37:25.559
And and you're writing, you're writing, you're doing your shows,

667
00:37:25.639 --> 00:37:26.199
you're working.

668
00:37:26.280 --> 00:37:29.239
I mean I don't know, well what the writing and

669
00:37:29.280 --> 00:37:30.920
the s and the shows and things, that's not work.

670
00:37:31.440 --> 00:37:33.639
That's a that's a labor of love purely. That's just

671
00:37:33.719 --> 00:37:35.960
that's just that's my muse. So that's what that's what

672
00:37:36.039 --> 00:37:41.039
I enjoy doing. The other stuff, Well, it pays the bills, Yes,

673
00:37:41.400 --> 00:37:43.559
it enables me to do this kind of thing here.

674
00:37:43.679 --> 00:37:47.920
So well, thank you for taking the time to chat.

675
00:37:48.039 --> 00:37:50.920
I know that our listeners join me in wishing you

676
00:37:50.960 --> 00:37:55.280
and yours the merriest of Christmases. I hope everything goes well,

677
00:37:56.039 --> 00:37:58.039
and you really should think about coming down here at

678
00:37:58.079 --> 00:38:00.079
some point. Lo up the car, come down the floor

679
00:38:00.119 --> 00:38:02.199
to the beach. You talk about looking at snow, the

680
00:38:02.719 --> 00:38:04.559
sand is white as sugar here.

681
00:38:05.760 --> 00:38:07.960
See I get kind of like this. It's like this

682
00:38:08.079 --> 00:38:11.039
kind of I don't even know what you call it,

683
00:38:11.079 --> 00:38:14.039
this kind of twisted sense of Oh, you know, people

684
00:38:14.119 --> 00:38:16.199
use You're going to send me a picture of yourself

685
00:38:16.440 --> 00:38:19.760
with a margarita or something, sitting on the beach and

686
00:38:19.800 --> 00:38:24.199
it'll be sunshine and I'll be there with trying to

687
00:38:24.280 --> 00:38:31.840
impel myself snowshovel, screaming at that. Dave Carter, why did

688
00:38:31.880 --> 00:38:33.079
you do that? Yes?

689
00:38:33.840 --> 00:38:36.239
I love It'll be like national Lampoon type of vacation.

690
00:38:36.320 --> 00:38:39.000
It'll be great. See now it's already sounding better.

691
00:38:39.519 --> 00:38:41.639
Me. Well, maybe i'll load up. I'll find a camper

692
00:38:41.840 --> 00:38:43.960
and load up. We'll park it in front of your place.

693
00:38:44.000 --> 00:38:44.159
There.

694
00:38:44.199 --> 00:38:47.440
You go stay there for a month or two. Yeah,

695
00:38:47.480 --> 00:38:52.199
and okay, you can babysit the kids and we'll, you know,

696
00:38:52.280 --> 00:38:54.400
my husband and I land the beach and yeah, that

697
00:38:54.480 --> 00:38:57.079
sounds great, Dave, thanks for the invitation. Yeah, maybe I'll

698
00:38:57.119 --> 00:38:57.519
take it up.

699
00:38:57.960 --> 00:39:00.440
Absolutely absolutely, haven't given you the address yet, but.

700
00:39:00.480 --> 00:39:05.079
Yeah, okay, how to change daper?

701
00:39:06.039 --> 00:39:10.880
I remember, I remember, I remember. Oh well, well, thank

702
00:39:10.920 --> 00:39:14.519
you again. This has been awesome as always. I appreciate it.

703
00:39:15.400 --> 00:39:17.920
I appreciate you having me on and inviting me and

704
00:39:18.440 --> 00:39:19.320
being a great friend.

705
00:39:19.400 --> 00:39:22.320
We will do this again before much more time passes,

706
00:39:22.360 --> 00:39:26.519
I promise, folks. That is Jenna Stalker on the Dave

707
00:39:26.599 --> 00:39:40.280
Carter Program. Merry Christmas Now, Santa Claus. Santa Claus, have mercy, baby,

708
00:39:40.320 --> 00:39:46.239
miss you know why is and misery? He works retail man,

709
00:39:46.280 --> 00:39:51.840
that's why. Mm hmm.

710
00:39:53.280 --> 00:39:54.400
I've been misser.

711
00:39:55.199 --> 00:39:55.280
No.

712
00:39:55.400 --> 00:39:58.079
But these people do to a store. I mean, dang,

713
00:39:58.920 --> 00:40:05.280
you gotta be kidding me. If you want to make heaven, yeah,

714
00:40:05.960 --> 00:40:09.760
bring my baby back to me, or don't bring my

715
00:40:09.800 --> 00:40:13.599
baby back, just help me clean the store up. I mean,

716
00:40:13.599 --> 00:40:14.960
at the end of the day, you can't tell if

717
00:40:14.960 --> 00:40:16.880
it was people that went through that store, if it

718
00:40:16.920 --> 00:40:21.519
was a livestock show. Oh, have mercy, we'll cut it out. Fault.

719
00:40:21.639 --> 00:40:25.280
Get these retail people some slack. Bring your card, bring

720
00:40:25.280 --> 00:40:28.280
your charge card, bring your receipts. This isn't tough. Don't

721
00:40:28.280 --> 00:40:30.440
tear the tags off the stuff. If you don't know

722
00:40:30.480 --> 00:40:35.880
if it fits, it's ridiculous, and they wonder why people

723
00:40:35.920 --> 00:40:36.920
in retail drink.

724
00:40:36.760 --> 00:40:41.880
Huh Macy baby.

725
00:40:47.239 --> 00:40:54.239
Well, anyway, you know, I was telling uh Becky, my

726
00:40:54.280 --> 00:40:56.679
wife this a little while back. Some of the most

727
00:40:56.679 --> 00:40:59.960
heartfelt writings that I did years ago, I was actually

728
00:41:00.119 --> 00:41:04.239
done from the sleeper compartment of my eighteen wheeler. You

729
00:41:04.320 --> 00:41:09.119
can believe that I think what it was in retrospect

730
00:41:11.719 --> 00:41:15.199
this apartment is the solitude of that kind of existence

731
00:41:15.239 --> 00:41:18.480
and the simplicity of life itself on the road, which

732
00:41:18.480 --> 00:41:22.679
would lend itself to a deeper level of reflection. Either way,

733
00:41:22.800 --> 00:41:27.360
the experience yielded some essays that still resonate years later.

734
00:41:28.559 --> 00:41:31.360
I came across one that I wrote in twenty eleven,

735
00:41:31.679 --> 00:41:37.320
some thirteen years ago, though as the author, I reserved

736
00:41:37.320 --> 00:41:39.400
the right to alter a few phrases here and there.

737
00:41:39.480 --> 00:41:41.440
But I want to read this to you. It's called

738
00:41:41.440 --> 00:41:47.800
from my Truck to your Home. Merry Christmas goes like this.

739
00:41:48.519 --> 00:41:51.400
I'm just an old country girl, she once told My

740
00:41:51.480 --> 00:41:55.119
sister and I. We were youngsters and full of questions. Mama.

741
00:41:55.239 --> 00:41:58.719
We asked, what is your middle name? She assured us

742
00:41:58.760 --> 00:42:01.719
that it wasn't one that shears would have selected, and

743
00:42:02.119 --> 00:42:04.000
to our surprise, she didn't want to actually tell us

744
00:42:04.039 --> 00:42:07.000
what her middle name was, so naturally we pressed the

745
00:42:07.039 --> 00:42:10.679
issue further and refused to let up. Finally, she looked

746
00:42:10.679 --> 00:42:13.000
around to make sure, as if to make sure no

747
00:42:13.039 --> 00:42:15.159
one else was listening, even though there was no one

748
00:42:15.159 --> 00:42:18.960
else in the house, and then she slowly leaned forward,

749
00:42:19.519 --> 00:42:23.199
her nose wrinkling and mephitic disgust as she whispered the

750
00:42:23.280 --> 00:42:26.639
name with such comic repugnance that it reduced all three

751
00:42:26.639 --> 00:42:29.400
of us to giggles. We tried to pronounce it back

752
00:42:29.440 --> 00:42:32.000
to her, but she made us take an oath of secrecy,

753
00:42:32.960 --> 00:42:36.360
which oath I won't break here, but trust me, it

754
00:42:36.360 --> 00:42:38.079
was a sort of name that would put a curl

755
00:42:38.079 --> 00:42:40.559
in your teeth if you tried to pronounce it. Just

756
00:42:40.599 --> 00:42:44.280
an old country girl, she said, that old country girl

757
00:42:44.320 --> 00:42:48.559
was an amazing woman. Thirty five years later, on Christmas Eve,

758
00:42:48.599 --> 00:42:51.519
I met a truck stop listening to an application on

759
00:42:51.559 --> 00:42:56.199
my smartphone that plays classical and classic Christmas music over

760
00:42:56.239 --> 00:43:00.400
the truck speakers. Inside the truck stop, where a welcomed

761
00:43:00.440 --> 00:43:04.480
hot meal as served waitresses, they're wishing tired drivers a

762
00:43:04.599 --> 00:43:08.119
merry Christmas. Some of the people seem buoyed by the

763
00:43:08.119 --> 00:43:11.880
holiday spirit, while a very few give the impression that

764
00:43:11.920 --> 00:43:15.159
it's just another night in the parking lot for the

765
00:43:15.199 --> 00:43:16.960
second year in a row. Now I see that a

766
00:43:17.039 --> 00:43:20.079
driver has hung up colored lights around his windshield for

767
00:43:20.119 --> 00:43:22.639
the night, perhaps in the hope that Sanna will bring

768
00:43:22.679 --> 00:43:25.079
him a new cbe or since he's not home for Christmas,

769
00:43:25.119 --> 00:43:29.159
perhaps a new dispatcher. Then over the speakers, my great

770
00:43:29.159 --> 00:43:34.199
grandmother's song begins playing, and all the decades immediately fall away.

771
00:43:35.039 --> 00:43:36.199
Does music do that for you?

772
00:43:36.280 --> 00:43:36.480
Two?

773
00:43:36.760 --> 00:43:40.199
With the first notes of the song, I see her

774
00:43:40.719 --> 00:43:45.360
perfectly poised, her comfortable shoes on her cane beside the chair,

775
00:43:45.480 --> 00:43:50.000
her eyes sparkling happily. Maybe it was the story that

776
00:43:50.079 --> 00:43:53.280
touched her. We have a poor youngster who, having heard

777
00:43:53.320 --> 00:43:55.639
of the newborn king, to whom is owed quote our

778
00:43:55.679 --> 00:43:59.960
finest gifts unquote, alects to bring the only thing he had,

779
00:44:00.000 --> 00:44:05.039
a drum. Then, approaching the infant Savior, who lay in

780
00:44:05.079 --> 00:44:08.400
a simple feeding trough, the boy observes, quote, I am

781
00:44:08.440 --> 00:44:13.159
a poor boy too, unquote, While others bring gold and silver,

782
00:44:13.480 --> 00:44:17.519
the song says, The child offers everything he has and

783
00:44:17.599 --> 00:44:23.039
plays his drum his reward quote, then he smiled at me,

784
00:44:23.800 --> 00:44:29.360
Me and my drum unquote. Perhaps the story touched an

785
00:44:29.440 --> 00:44:32.760
understanding feeling in that old country girl. Now I was

786
00:44:32.800 --> 00:44:36.119
too young back then to understand it, But time lend's

787
00:44:36.159 --> 00:44:42.239
focus and perspective, something my great grandmother had in abundance. Tonight,

788
00:44:42.280 --> 00:44:46.519
the lights are twinkling, stockings are han, the presents are wrapped,

789
00:44:46.960 --> 00:44:50.840
and a peaceful calm has descended. In some homes, families

790
00:44:50.880 --> 00:44:54.559
gather to read the Christmas Story. Churches offer special services

791
00:44:54.639 --> 00:44:58.039
as the faithful give thanks for God's gifts of grace

792
00:44:58.159 --> 00:45:01.920
a peace salvation, even as they prepare to offer gifts

793
00:45:01.920 --> 00:45:05.760
to one another. The greatest gifts, of course, are priceless.

794
00:45:06.320 --> 00:45:08.960
The only thing more beautiful than the joy on a

795
00:45:09.039 --> 00:45:11.360
child's face on Christmas Morning is the love in a

796
00:45:11.480 --> 00:45:16.960
parent's eyes. But for tonight, thoughts drift elsewhere. My great

797
00:45:16.960 --> 00:45:24.079
grandmother had her favorite song. I have my own silent night,

798
00:45:25.199 --> 00:45:30.400
Holy Night. The Son of God loves pure light. Radiant

799
00:45:30.440 --> 00:45:35.320
beams from thy holy face, with the dawn of redeeming grace.

800
00:45:36.079 --> 00:45:42.159
Jesus Lord at thy birth, Jesus Lord at thy birth.

801
00:45:43.920 --> 00:45:48.079
The happiness beaming from the children the loving embrace of family,

802
00:45:48.599 --> 00:45:52.679
the warm smiles of generations gathered together, all illuminate the

803
00:45:52.760 --> 00:45:55.599
soul with just the glimmer of a light that reaches

804
00:45:55.639 --> 00:45:59.599
to us across two thousand years. It's the light of

805
00:45:59.639 --> 00:46:04.000
perfect love which shone over Bethlehem, toward which so many

806
00:46:04.079 --> 00:46:07.880
of us travel, with steps faltering and unsure, yet with

807
00:46:08.000 --> 00:46:13.440
hearts hungering after God's grace. Shall I play for you?

808
00:46:13.800 --> 00:46:17.079
Asked the little drummer boy. It's the question I ask

809
00:46:17.159 --> 00:46:20.159
each time I sit down to this keyboard, in this microphone,

810
00:46:20.199 --> 00:46:24.519
offering my own meager gifts, playing my drum for you, certainly,

811
00:46:25.000 --> 00:46:27.679
but also from my redeemer and the service of him

812
00:46:28.320 --> 00:46:32.840
and the freedom he gives to us all. And just maybe,

813
00:46:33.119 --> 00:46:36.599
if I'm lucky in heaven, there's an old country girl

814
00:46:37.239 --> 00:46:40.960
with a knowing smile right about now. Such is my

815
00:46:41.039 --> 00:46:46.159
prayer on this night, from Becky and I in our

816
00:46:46.199 --> 00:46:51.559
home to you and yours and your home. We wish

817
00:46:51.639 --> 00:46:55.280
you a very merry Christmas, Very merry Christmas.

818
00:46:55.280 --> 00:47:17.719
Indeed, go by has song.

819
00:47:27.960 --> 00:47:47.079
Chas man mear to time shall song go? He's a

820
00:47:47.320 --> 00:47:55.519
bear going quill to the man probam song. Pray SHASKI

821
00:47:56.159 --> 00:48:03.320
pray shot see

822
00:48:10.599 --> 00:48:32.559
So city, se