Christmas Survival Guide Pt1
U1
0:12
Merry Christmas, you filthy animals!
U2
0:15
Let's start this two part episode with some hard hitting holiday questions. Do I
U1
0:21
have to go to both divorced
U2
0:23
parents houses? I got a lot to do this night.
U1
0:26
Hey, welcome to dads are Us. Be sure to listen on your favorite podcast provider if you feel so inclined. Please rate, sub or even message us on the socials if you want a hot take on basically from an unqualified, opinionated dad. So welcome to Dads Are Us where a dad could be a dad. Single dad versus merry dad. I'm Jesse, joined by my long time single friend Jess or Jimmy. Sorry. That's our we're already screwing this up. Was that also known as Awesome Lawson? And we'll just go with that.
U2
0:57
Was that a Freudian slip there, son? Huh? You're thinking about me a little too much this last week or what? Gee,
U1
1:04
I see so many things in life that make me think of you. Uh, which is funny. Uh, all in a good way. Not a not a weird way. But don't make it. Don't make it uncomfortable, Jimmy. So I'm sorry, man. Here we are here today. Oh, you'll be Dasher. Why is that? Your favorite reindeer of all the reindeer? I
U2
1:27
don't have a favorite reindeer. Actually, I just I just had to come up with something. You usually you're giving me a sparkle splash or a whatever.
U1
1:37
I would have went with Cupid. Donner. No, Blitzen. I don't even know if I can name any of them other than Rudolph.
U2
1:45
Isn't that weird? Because when we were younger, dude, that song, it just flowed. Dude, you're like, you knew him all bing bing bing bing bing, dude. Now you get older, you're like, so there's Dasher, there's Blitzen Cupid cabinet. All right. Blitzen, right. Is that it? Yeah.
U1
2:00
Blitzen. Yeah. And I think which is a cool that's kind of a that's a dope name. It
U2
2:05
kind of sounds like, uh, marine ish. Like he's ready to come kick some ass, you know?
U1
2:10
True, true. All right, man, so today's episode, we're going to let our listeners know kind of the Christmas survival guide. Married dad versus single dad. And every time I see these, these things happen in society and neighborhood, I think, what would Jimmy be doing in this situation? Because your life circumstances way different. So first thing I'm going to ask you. Because I don't have this this scenario. Does Santa visit two houses in your situation? Being divorced?
U2
2:45
Yes he does. How
U1
2:47
did you explain that to your son over the years?
U2
2:50
Honestly, he never really asked about it. I think he just kind of assumed because when we got divorced, you know, it was for somebody a little young that really put it together, I guess.
U1
3:03
So that's all he knows.
U2
3:05
Yeah. So he had each parent trying to outdo each parent at first, like who's having the best Christmas at four and five years old. And then you turn around and he doesn't remember it anyways or it doesn't matter. So now it's just kind of when we can we. Hey, what are you getting them? What am I getting them? You know, okay, you get them.
U1
3:26
So you guys, can we try I got you so you communicate and try to game plan the gift giving. It's interesting. Did you do you feel the need to overcompensate for divorce, Gil? Early on. He's older now. But when he's younger, 4 or 5, like you said.
U2
3:45
No, not really, because, I mean, I don't want to say he's spoiled, but he's my only kid. So when he's at his ma's, there's two other kids there, so there's not as
U1
3:56
much. Ooh. So he's sharing the love and affection. Whereas at your house he's getting it all. He's getting it all.
U2
4:02
So it's like, all right, well that's just him and I, you know, I don't want him waking up. And there's only like, you know, four presents under the tree. So you know, you
U1
4:11
buy. So is it better for quantity or quality. He's
U2
4:14
still in quality. He I mean he's still kind of in the quantity because it's kind of toys. So there's really no. Right.
U1
4:22
Right. You know, because trust me, when they get older, they get more expensive. Yeah. So that's Christmas shopping is the worst. Do something this morning doing it. Might as well go out with a shield and a and a giant sword, dude. Because it's just. Ah. And I didn't want to go out this morning. But I have a couple things I forgot.
U2
4:44
No. And with my work,
U1
4:47
I do have some advice. It's crazy. Yeah. It's like when do you when when do you fit it in? So right now you're getting overloaded overextended with work. Well
U2
4:54
thank God for Amazon. And let's just put it that way because that was probably 50% of the buying
U1
5:02
because I'd be at work shopping and I'd
U2
5:04
be like, all right, let me check and see if it's on Amazon real quick, and let's see if it can make it here by Christmas.
U1
5:10
That's a good lifehack. Well, 20 years ago we didn't have that option. So
U2
5:14
but I also, you know because he's in the wrestlers. But now with his birthday being January 3rd, I got an email saying oh, so I have three gifts an order. But now that we're supposed to be for Christmas by now, it's they're not coming to like the middle of January night. They might not even be here for his birthday. So now they became a birthday present. Just because Christmas will be over,
U1
5:42
that that actually works out nicely for you. I now that's. Or do you think January birthdays are worse than December birthdays? Yeah I
U2
5:52
don't know. That's
U1
5:54
I don't think I'd want a birthday in either one of these months. Yeah. No
U2
5:58
you you do get you get Chip. I'll tell you that much. You do get gypped.
U1
6:02
Yeah. I'm getting distracted over here. I got my dog just dropped. What happened? Bombs. I didn't know if it
U2
6:07
was flies or what. Oh, no. It just smells so bad. Oh, well, I talked to a lot of my other friends. The married friends, and a lot of their wives do all the shopping, so the dads don't really have to worry about it now. And that's also indicative. Usually they're the ones managing the finances. But in my household that just over the years that kind of got thrown my way. So I have done a bulk of the shopping and I did it. I did it months ago, and that's I was going to save that for some advice for the dads at the end. You know, you make your list. Basically you start early. Well, and you got to hide the gifts, right. And it helps with the budget well this
U1
6:58
year. So you don't put yourself in this situation right where you're, you know, things are going to get crazy on the holidays and you're going to be behind because you only have yourself to rely on. Right?
U2
7:09
Well, this year is honestly, honestly, up to this year I've been done by October the last. That's perfect years. Why? Because I
U1
7:19
know. So why not this year? What happened this year? I mean, with a strike at work and the cat was out of the bag for him this year. So I think that had a little to do with it. Like I wasn't I didn't feel like. All right, well, you know, let me get this from Santa, this and that. And now that the cat's out of the bag, I don't know. I guess I was just like, it's kind of just another day. That's something the Grinch
U2
7:43
would say are.
U1
7:45
But it's probably going to still be a good holiday. Let me ask you, was your first Christmas divorce? Was that the worst?
U2
7:53
Uh, but probably. But honestly, she have kids yet, so I was either only 1 or 2 years that because she wasn't married yet, I don't think that she actually came. She didn't stay the night, but she came over at Christmas morning and we opened. They gather. But I think we only did that one year because she's just not a morning person. And. I think my sons take after me. He like, he'll get up early in the morning. You know, that's that's what I do. And, uh, we'll open. So that's why I'm this Christmas sworn. I'll have them Christmas morning, and then we'll get a phone call saying, all right, well, his sisters are up. We're ready to open, so I'll jump, throw them in the car, I'll drop them off at his mom's, and then I'll get them back on Tuesday.
U1
8:42
Gotcha. So you know what the most annoying thing is with my kids is? They won't wake up early, like, the entire year. But Christmas morning is the one day where they're setting their alarms, their wake. They're dragging me out of bed at 5 a.m., and my kid told me this morning, that's his favorite tradition. I'm like, that's the worst
U2
9:03
part. That's my son. 5 a.m. duties up. But so this year. So
U1
9:09
let's get this party started. You want you want coffee? You're like, oh, God, let me find a garbage bag. I don't want all this crap
U2
9:16
all over mine will actually sit there for a little bit because. Pretty much after we open, we'll eat breakfast and it's time for him to go pretty much. Well, this year it'll be different. Like, I don't know when the sisters are getting up, you know, so
U1
9:31
he'll. Yeah. What if they start getting up early? Well, and what if the ex is like. All right, it's 8:00. You're like, I'm not done. Yeah. You get them when you get them. No,
U2
9:40
I wouldn't do that just because we've already kind of talked about it. We're doing my mom's today. Then we'll do Jerry's tomorrow and we'll do our Christmas born, and then it'll go to his Mars.
U1
9:52
Oh, you get bonus Christmases. So your son's going to get all sorts of gifts from all sorts of extended family we don't
U2
9:59
get. That's nice. We don't do gifts at Jerry's, Jerry. It's just family get together. I mean, they're doing the, um, elephant white. I was I don't want to do I don't I don't need someone else's jump like. And then and it's all 1s like, one year I got a phone, uh, thing for your car. It didn't even fit my phone. So it's like this, you know, whatever. And then some liquor, and it's like, I don't even drink that shit that I got. So it's just. I'll say my money. Hey.
U1
10:29
Why don't you do? Why? Why don't you do the same thing you do with your Halloween candy and just regift
U2
10:34
that? I'll forget about it over the year, that's why. Or it would happen. Oh my gosh, I. This year was hard because, like, sticker shock I'm like, oh I'll just do, you know, get my wife some candles. Do you know how much a Yankee candle is. Gotta be up
U1
10:48
to 40. Like you don't buy candles. That
U2
10:51
okay. Even or not, that's crazy. I how do you know that? Because I was looking at some. I almost bought one for my mom. But I want a different
U1
10:58
round. That is nuts. I I'm I'm like, there's no difference to me. A Yankee candle versus some cheap $10 target candle. You just got to wait for that like it's a brand candle sale
U2
11:08
at Bed Bath and Beyond. That's
U1
11:10
it. Hey, what would happen if one of your family members just gave cash to your son? Would that be weird? Yeah. What about definitely weird. And if it came from Santa? Oh,
U2
11:21
definitely. You know, Santas never gave
U1
11:23
up. We put that question out. That's to to me. I'm like, I wouldn't be surprised if there's downriver Detroit you know street move. So I, we put this question out on, you know, Facebook on the dad's address, you know, Facebook page. And someone actually responded like, yeah, probably not. Gosh. But you know, there's a, you know, a lot of gift cards and stuff. And then he said at one point he's like, I'll give him gift cards for those Slurpee runs, you know, gift cards to 7-Eleven. I'm like, yeah, probably fitting a Slurpee in a stocking would be weird.
U2
11:53
We don't, do we don't we don't do the Slurpee run over here that much? He doesn't ask for Slurpees
U1
11:58
that much. Oh, God, I did that all the time year round. That was my Detroit thing. Nope. Was the 7-Eleven Slurpees nuts, huh? Nothing
U2
12:07
says Christmas like an ice cold
U1
12:09
Slurpee. What about, uh oh. The one thing my kid always has been asking for is PlayStation gift cards. And I'm like, oh no, I just want to get you a game. But we talked about this before where he wants to dress up whatever character he has. It's such a bracket. Yeah. Oh, Nicolin and diamond, you. And you're like, all right, here's here's all your cards. And they open it up and it takes something away from the magic, if you ask me, I don't know. And then trying to get him to buy gifts for his brothers or his mom is such a a battle in a fight, do you help your son buy gifts for the ex-wife? Uh,
U2
12:47
I gave him money for the Secret Santa shop. So.
U1
12:52
Is that like when you go to school and they buy all the the knickknacks. And so with
U2
12:56
the money I gave when he bought for his sisters and his mom. I didn't care.
U1
13:02
Look at you. But I said, you bankrolling your son's happiness. But don't
U2
13:06
buy anything for your. Yes. That then. Yeah. The step dad is on the naughty list.
U1
13:15
He. He's cut. He's cut out. The guy doesn't deserve it, man. He's out. I mean, he's problematic. I could oh, man, I hear all these stories now about the the new stepparents. They're just evil. Horrible, right? I hate that. I hate that for you. Really? It's
U2
13:31
just crazy. My. But see, it was different from my, my my stepdad was fantastic, you know. Still is.
U1
13:39
Yeah. I, I'm fortunate in that I guess that regards as well because I, my real dad passed away when I was four. So my stepdad was my only dad and he was the only guy, you know, didn't have to compete. None of that nonsense. Ah. Hey, so does your kid give you a Christmas list? Because, you know, when they're younger, they just write it to, you know, write Santa what you want. And, you know, the parents are like, great, now I know what to get them right. But now do they just give
U2
14:12
you the list? I still how's that work? We still believe the magic over here. So everything is still Santa I. That does not make sense,
U1
14:21
Jimmy. Ah, I
U2
14:22
got you. And that's probably. So what was on his list? Did he make one? My selfish reasons, though. It's not his. Uh, dude. Just toys, man. Wrestlers, roadblocks. Uh, he wanted, um, a video game. He wanted wrestling accessories. Like, I hope the lot pretty decent this year, man. He's got, uh, when's this coming out? Is this coming out after Christmas?
U1
14:46
Um, I will probably. No, I'm. This will. We're dropping this Christmas Eve.
U2
14:52
Okay, well, then I'll hold off on what I you can't
U1
14:55
you you can't, you can't, you can't let it out. I,
U2
14:58
I can't let the audience know what Santa is dropping off here at the Lawson house yet. But he it's going to be epic for the kid. Santa got him cash
U1
15:10
and a Slurpee. Do you really think your your son would listen to this podcast?
U2
15:14
No, but you might use that snippet. Who knows,
U1
15:17
I might actually I so I did interview my son's little holiday prep work. And mostly I want to, you know, practice interview skills. You know, just get active. Right. And I asked him I was like, are you going to do the Santa when you grow up? How does that make you feel like being lied to and all that. And he goes, he goes, I'm never going to do that to my son. And he says that shit. But there's I bet you he does. I bet you he's gonna marry somebody who say, no, we're doing Santa. So speaking of kids out of the blue, the other day, I got a phone call from my ex with my son, and he was like, I don't want kids. Like, how the hell are you saying that at 11?
U2
16:04
Yeah, at 11 years old. What the hell is that?
U1
16:07
That's that's kind of fascinating. Did he give you a reason why? No, because he was with his mom, so I really never I didn't get to really, really talk to him about it because, like, I'm kind of laughing and she's kind of laughing, but I'm like, so what? What's the reason? Uh, so I don't know. I'm gonna kind of ask him about it today when I pick him up. So. So where did that come from? And 11 years old. I don't want kids. Grandkids
U2
16:34
will be off the menu for all future
U1
16:36
Christmases, do you? I can give you some perspective on this. I watched my three boys go back and forth on the fence, off the fence with being married or having kids. One year it's yes. When you're it's no. But I had a lot right now. Earliest 11. Oh really? Oh yeah. We start. Yeah. And and it's weird because when they're at school, they're with their friends and everybody's family situations different where some have two dads, some have no dads, some have a bunch of siblings, some are only kids. And it's weird how it influences. They're whatever they're feeling and you know, they're in their feelings at the time. You're like, yeah, I don't want to. I don't want this stress. I don't want I don't want to raise kids. But then. Come Christmas time. You know, my kids are like, oh yeah, I know my parents want grandbabies. Maybe I'll just say this to make them happy. It could be that. So, you know, who knows? Um, it's it's crazy because my wife and I, we really have no say. We always tease them, but we really don't have any say, and they may never have. Right. Any kids? And what's what's nuts is we talk. I talk to my wife. I'm like, well, I was growing up. I had lots of, you know, cousins. And we had this weird family dynamic where kids around the same age but different parents, but they're in our family, cousins. And my son grew up having cousins barely there so far, geographically separated. They don't talk. Yeah, that they don't have that family dynamic. And it and it plays into this I don't want kids. I'm not around a bunch of kids. Who knows. This is something you're going to have to you're going to have to follow up on this because I want to know his reasoning. Yeah. And when you get them, you be like. No pressure. But like, that's kind of that's kind of a hot take. I want to know what you're what you're thinking about getting that. Oh, man, I, I keep my kids Christmas list every year. And um, I did. I dug up this year's list versus last year's list. Last year he's like, I want red flame crocs this year. He goes, I want black Crocs. And I'm like, we're not getting them Crocs. 2s Um, last year he wanted, uh oh my gosh. Of course, the gift cards, the video game he wanted was God of War Ragnarok. And he he ended up playing that like crazy. But I asked him, I was like, hey, do you remember anything you got last year? And he goes, he goes, no, you got me a PlayStation. That's all I remember. So even though he gives me this really crazy long, extensive list, he doesn't even remember what he got. So maybe when you're talking to your son, the quantity piece, it doesn't matter what it is. Be a bunch of candy. It could be a bunch of figurines. It doesn't matter as long as he. It's a bunch of
U2
19:38
figures, dude and figure
U1
19:40
accessories. Remember opening those up? He might not remember what year he got it, when he got it, whatever. Or he might not remember what if his birthday, birthday or Christmas. Right?
U2
19:51
Right. Exactly. So. You know, other than that. Um, do you, uh, what's your take on gift wrapping? Do you do you help
U1
20:02
your wife? I do it all. In
U2
20:04
fact, do you really now, is this volunteer or are you forced?
U1
20:11
No, no, I do this. I'm. I'm the guy who brought Christmas into our family. All
U2
20:16
right. So you're you're Mr. Claus.
U1
20:18
The great gifts. Yeah, I am the my wife makes. My wife makes me do the gift wrapping because I gift wrap better. Now that has changed over the years. She has gotten crazy with the ribbons. She's done a Christmas. Our house looks like a fantasy castle. She's done. There's lights. There's. There's Garland everywhere.
U2
20:40
Fantasy neighborhood.
U1
20:41
Right? Yeah it does. Dude in our tree looks like it belongs in a hotel or a mall. It looks amazing. Like I'm not allowed to put any. If it's, you know, it's got to be color coordinated and all that. So she's really one year, she told me, hey, you're wrapping all these gifts. You can only wrap the gifts in this type of wrapping paper because it needs to match the tree. And it was the most hilarious conversation and debate.
U2
21:07
Wow.
U1
21:09
So now it's, uh, you know, it's it's all basically silver. Gold. And then my kids bring over, you know, non-matching, you know, color coordinated, wrapped gifts. My adult kids brought them over and just dropped them off at the tree.
U2
21:25
That's impressive. That's they're actually wrapping and they're not in gift bags, because I almost did that today when I was at the stores. But honestly, all the gift bags were either going to be too big or too small for what I needed because I honestly hate wrapping. I'll put out a stress call on Facebook and social media. Someone please, someone please come help me. I think next year I think I'm going to fly out your wife to come wrap my damn gifts because I hate it. I got a I
U1
21:54
got her off asking me to do it. Whatever. Well, that's. So I, uh, Jesse breaks down gender stereotypes since he can wrap his own gifts. Good to know it started last night. Dude, I, I honestly, I hate it. I still got some more to do. I still got to do the ones for my mom's party today.
U2
22:13
But if I were to show you man my rapping skills, you would probably honestly fly down and be like, that's get out of here. Now that my son's older, I don't really care. But I thought of something today or yes, last night. Then when I was doing, uh, two so-and-so from Santa. Right. As kids get older, how do they not recognize your your parents
U1
22:37
own handwriting? Yeah. No. You got come on. You got to game it, man. You got writing cursive that kids don't know how to read cursive right now. So they come up and they're like, what's this?
U2
22:46
Teaches my son's school teachers cursive
U1
22:49
still. Oh, good. Don't lose that skill. You never know when that's going to come in handy. The, uh, so in my house, it was like I just write in cursive and they're like, oh, okay, cool. For next Christmas, I'm going to throw out. Dude, let me make personal tags for you. You tell me what name you want, I'll put from boom. You mail it to him, and all I got to do is blink blink blink blink blink blink.
U2
23:12
Dude, they got apps for everything else.
U1
23:14
Except that I feel like you can just go on Microsoft Word and do that yourself too. But here's the thing. There's a
U2
23:19
lot you could do by yourself. You could walk your dog by yourself. You can go pick up your own food by yourself. But Americans are lazy. Do it if this saves them ten minutes unwrapping a gift. Bingo. Bingo, dude.
U1
23:30
Yeah. Speaking of lazy, you know what people don't do? And this kind of leads into our pop culture segment, right? I don't do Christmas cards anymore. No, they do not.
U2
23:40
I only got two this year.
U1
23:42
Did you send out Christmas cards? No, I
U2
23:44
don't I never thank you.
U1
23:46
Oh you're welcome. I've done Christmas cards my whole life.
U2
23:49
And also I would like to thank my Aunt Tina.
U1
23:52
Oh, thanks, Auntie. No one.
U2
23:54
And I'll probably get one for my parents
U1
23:55
today. Here's the thing. Here's what we need to start doing with the kids. And I'm going to start doing this next year. First of all, I learned how to wrap presents by wrapping my own, wrapping everybody's presents when I was a kid, when I'd go to Saint Mary Magdalene in Melvin Dale in the holiday craft shop, you know, with the money my mom gave me to buy everyone gifts, I would take them home and I would wrap. Now, of course, when I'm a kid, they're horrible. But you practice and everything is practice. In fact, one year I didn't have wrapping paper and I took my the Sunday comics and I wrapped presents essentially in newspaper. But there are comics and my parents, you know, it worked. Um, they thought it was. They just liked it. It was adorable. Uh, Christmas cards. You know, I started doing that when I was in fifth grade. You want to know why? Why? Fifth grade. Jimmy. Fifth grade. Dasher. Because I had a paper route, and I was trying to hustle for money in Christmas tips. And I gave all my customers Christmas cards, and a lot of them would give me Christmas cards back with Christmas tip. It's like five bucks. Five bucks. In the 80s,
U2
25:03
I went a long way, a
U1
25:04
gold mine. I went along, bought those Slurpees, bought those Slurpees,
U2
25:08
maybe a candy bar and a bag of chips, dude.
U1
25:12
Right. So the Frito-lay's man, you take me back to Detroit. So I think that next year I'm going better, mate. Oh. That's it. Sorry. I don't even know what I'm talking about. How long have I been gone? I'm gonna make my kid buy gifts. And again, he doesn't want to spend his own money, so I might have to do something like that. Essentially get help him with the gifts and then make him wrap them himself. And then eventually, he'll learn to do it himself. Christmas cards. What I'll do is basically start off with, oh, I heard that you're in tune with my dog right now. Everybody's farting around me. What is your mark? 1s I don't think so. Is there silent and deadly? Uh, emphasis on deadly. Ah. So I'm going to just make my son write Christmas cards to. I'll just pick. I'll just start off small five. What happened when I got older for college? You know, I did some night courses and I was learning. This is back 25 years ago. I was learning Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, all that stuff. I started doing holiday letters because I did it for a grade. Essentially everyone liked him so much I was forced essentially to do it every single year. And I'm telling you, after 25 years, Jimmy, it's like homework. It's such a burden. I try to start it Thanksgiving weekend and I try to get them out in the mail first, second week of December. Now getting those out this year, I sent out, I kept it at 100, 100 holiday letters. Um, and I don't even try to do them fancy new anymore. All I do is basically take the same template I have the last five years and just put a new narrative. Hey, here's the cool stuff my family did this year. Hey, hope every wish everybody well. Some years I would make fun of the kids and you know, my mom would get mad sometimes. I'd make fun of my wife and then she would get mad. This year I was like, I'll just make it all positive. Who cares? Anyways, so I get those off in the mail and for years you were seeing them go to like our friends and you're like, I'm not getting any this is bull crap. So this year you got your first hard copy,
U2
27:26
first hard copy, and it's on the fridge.
U1
27:29
You know how many I got? Uh, you know how many, uh, like Christmas cards I got in return? I sent out 100. I got 18 back. That's it. And they're not even Christmas cards. They're just of the 18. 1s A picture of their family and kids, and we tape them up on our door and that's it. What's crazy? This is the first year I got one set from a mom and her kids and newly divorced dad. I got one from him and his kids, and it's the first time, I think, in 5 to 6, seven years. I think I've got a divorced dad sending me Christmas cards. I was like, dang, man, that's that's some that's a mess. I,
U2
28:11
I don't even get like, professional pictures taken with my son and I, I've never done that like a family photo. I don't know, I just never done it. The worst crazy, funny idea my wife came up with was during Covid. She went out and we rented a bunch of tuxedos, and we went to the woods and had a professional photo shoot. And then she made those Christmas cards, and we sent them out to everybody. And then she goes, okay, the one year she was like, all about it. She goes, now I need you to write a letter. I had to write a
U1
28:44
letter, a newsletter on top of the damn Christmas card that she spent months planning. That's
U2
28:50
some crap. Crap, man.
U1
28:53
Hey, new year's resolution. Let's let's bring this back. Pop culture. Let's start doing Christmas cards again. And I bet you next year you can get more than two. All right, well, we
U2
29:02
shall see. But then again, there still might be 2 or 3 in my mailbox because I haven't checked it 3 or 4 days, because I just don't check because all my bills are electronic. You know, so nothing comes through the mail.
U1
29:16
So you never checked and I never
U2
29:18
checked the mail. And that's why one of the reasons why it took me a while for to respond to yours. Because you're, you're like, I got this thing 4 or 5 days ago. That's money that's inside. I know, man, it's
U1
29:29
been in your mailbox for a week. And I'm like, dude, you better thank me. I was like, wait for my service
U2
29:33
anyways. You made it that far yet? And then I got it. But like I said, I didn't want to text you over the phone. I wanted the face to face, you know. Face to face.
U1
29:46
And I even went. I even went against my. My advice and I got, I got Conner a dang gift card. So dumb buts. Easy because you live so far away, right? Well,
U2
29:58
he hasn't gotten that yet because he's been out this past so. And.
U1
30:03
You can wait that you can say that for you can give it. You can say, hey man, it's from saying it's from you can say it's from you. Hi.
U2
30:09
I'm not that cheap. Be the hero, dad. Not that cheap. Be the hero, dad. Hey. So, so. Okay. New year's resolution, pop culture. We're going to. We're going to bring this tradition back. We're going to bring back Christmas cards. Now, what do I do with the 18? And maybe I'll get a couple more. Maybe I'll, you know, I'm with you. It'll get late. A couple 20 more. So do I send out a hundred again next year, or do I only send out to the 20 people that sent me a card? Guess I'm out. And then. 3s Oh, yeah. Good point.
U1
30:47
No, because you said you're going to do it next year. You're not out
U2
30:51
next year. Yeah. So. But what are you going to wait? You're going to wait to get one before you send out.
U1
30:55
So that's why it's it's so important I'm going to I'm going to do my stupid letter before Thanksgiving. And I'm going to have it in the mail basically Thanksgiving weekend. So I'm going to give everybody the opportunity to read it and respond. Now you want a response from the actual letter or you just want an acknowledgement I want a Christmas card. You just
U2
31:19
want a card, okay.
U1
31:21
And an acknowledgement I'll take an acknowledgement that counts. Because let's be fair, not everybody has, you know, the resources. And when I say resources, time and and maybe they don't. Christmas cards are cheap. I like you could do homemade ones like. And that's why I like doing the letter because they're cheaper than doing this post doubles, you know, in pictures. I'll just write a letter that's free, that costs nothing should do. I'm paying for the stamp you
U2
31:49
should actually send out. The same exact letter you sent out this year to the people that didn't respond to you, just to see if they notice. It'd be like everyone sent me the same one from last year. 1s I might I might keep that. That file saved me like. Oh yeah. And just see
U1
32:10
honestly, all my years someone's
U2
32:11
like reading them or just getting it and be like, oh sweet. Another card from
U1
32:16
Jesse. Like, weird man. Jesse went to the same. He went on the same vacation and, you know, two years in a row, find out who you went to Oregon
U2
32:22
twice, who read it or not, and then the ones that respond with, like, dude, this is the same one as last year. They get a new one. They get the new one that you just sent out to the 18 people.
U1
32:33
Oh, there you go. I did have somebody respond on Facebook Messenger because I'm not on Facebook and they're like, Did Jesse block me? Thanks for the card. And I'm like, no, man, I'm limiting my platforms. Uh, so they'll always get one because he sent me a message, a text, you know, like, hey, thanks, dude. Um, and he even said, I love getting them every year. I'm like, good. I hate writing them every year. You're welcome. 2s Okay, okay. Uh, that's we're going to bring that back. Pop culture. All right. Um, stay tuned for part two, especially since Jimmy and Jesse debate the best Christmas movies and why this elf on the shelf is stealing my holiday trade space and Santa Claus influence that elf his total bullcrap.