Ever wondered how your favorite Christmas movies, like 'Elf' and 'Home Alone', became the heartwarming traditions they are today? Join us as we draft our ultimate festive film lineup, share a hearty laugh over cinematic quirks, and even delve into the nostalgia of first-time viewings in theaters. From the comedic genius of the Jelly of the Month Club meltdown to the booby trap hilarity of the McCallister residence, we're unwrapping the gift of holiday movie magic and the laughter it brings to the season.
Setting aside the tinsel and the popcorn, we step into the transformative world of event planning, taking you behind the scenes of a Christmas program that captivated nearly 500 attendees. Discover the labor of love involved in turning a gymnasium into a winter wonderland and the heartwarming performances that left everyone spellbound. Embrace the simplicity of the Christmas message through our reflections on the event, and hear how your feedback can shape future celebrations, ensuring everyone feels the warmth of our community's embrace.
As the flicker of candlelight services beckons in the peaceful night, we contemplate the profound impact of carrying the light of Christ into a world shrouded in darkness. With stories that inspire and a call to live as beacons of hope, we discuss the importance of being a guiding light and the comfort that comes from knowing we're never alone, even in the darkest of times. So, grab a mug of hot cocoa, settle in by the fire, and let's revel in the sounds and stories that make Christmas a time of joy, reflection, and connection.
Ever wondered how your favorite Christmas movies, like 'Elf' and 'Home Alone', became the heartwarming traditions they are today? Join us as we draft our ultimate festive film lineup, share a hearty laugh over cinematic quirks, and even delve into the nostalgia of first-time viewings in theaters. From the comedic genius of the Jelly of the Month Club meltdown to the booby trap hilarity of the McCallister residence, we're unwrapping the gift of holiday movie magic and the laughter it brings to the season.
Setting aside the tinsel and the popcorn, we step into the transformative world of event planning, taking you behind the scenes of a Christmas program that captivated nearly 500 attendees. Discover the labor of love involved in turning a gymnasium into a winter wonderland and the heartwarming performances that left everyone spellbound. Embrace the simplicity of the Christmas message through our reflections on the event, and hear how your feedback can shape future celebrations, ensuring everyone feels the warmth of our community's embrace.
As the flicker of candlelight services beckons in the peaceful night, we contemplate the profound impact of carrying the light of Christ into a world shrouded in darkness. With stories that inspire and a call to live as beacons of hope, we discuss the importance of being a guiding light and the comfort that comes from knowing we're never alone, even in the darkest of times. So, grab a mug of hot cocoa, settle in by the fire, and let's revel in the sounds and stories that make Christmas a time of joy, reflection, and connection.
Welcome. Welcome back. Welcome Welcome.
Speaker 2:Welcome, welcome Welcome.
Speaker 1:Welcome to the plugged in podcast. Yeah.
Speaker 3:Let's do it.
Speaker 1:Welcome everyone. Are you guys okay?
Speaker 3:I'm great how are you Matt?
Speaker 1:This is about like level 13 tired.
Speaker 2:I don't have any more numbers. It's the highest level 13 is the last. Yeah, as far as you go. Yeah.
Speaker 1:It doesn't go above 13. I'm there.
Speaker 2:That's where I'm at.
Speaker 1:I'm sorry, good to know.
Speaker 2:Good to know going into it where you're at, but I feel like everyone's like that tired right.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, I feel great, you look great, I feel fantastic.
Speaker 2:Alright, alright, natesi anomaly, but everything's good.
Speaker 1:So we are launching into our Christmas episodes here on the plugged in podcast.
Speaker 2:Yay, if you couldn't tell from the video, yes.
Speaker 3:In the festive backdrop here Winter wonderland.
Speaker 2:We literally are.
Speaker 1:We bought some of this stuff for the sounds of Christmas. I'm glad that we could use it again, right.
Speaker 2:Yes, this is like. This is the issue with the three of us is we are each our own level of extra. Too much, too much. Nates, or Matt's like can you put together a list for our draft today? Couldn't just, couldn't just do a regular draft, had to go all out. We're doing a draft. We are doing a draft. You were like launching our winter episodes. Matt's like all right, I'm going all out with a backdrop and lights. He walks in. He's like we need lighted trees.
Speaker 2:Like the three of us are our own worst enemies but it's a little too much.
Speaker 1:Sometimes. I did text you guys. I was just like I got into the classic scenario of I start something, I get way too far down the rabbit hole and then halfway through I'm just like. I've got off way more than I want.
Speaker 2:And you can't back that one up.
Speaker 1:That's a character issue, a character complex, like it's just too much.
Speaker 3:That's what our devotion is about today. Just kidding, oh, being too much.
Speaker 1:Okay, I have an opening rant. I don't know if you like, my opening rants.
Speaker 3:I love them. I look forward to them.
Speaker 1:Okay, so this is not Christmas related at all.
Speaker 3:Okay.
Speaker 1:But I'm just going to go for it. Yeah, so I don't know if your social media feeds have been See my brain is so worked up. I know I know I've been seeing a lot of trailers for a new movie that's coming out on Netflix called Maestro. Have you seen it?
Speaker 2:No, okay, so it hasn't been channeled. All right, so this is good.
Speaker 1:This is letting me know. Is this movie actually going to be really big, or is it just being funneled?
Speaker 3:to my news feeds.
Speaker 1:So it's a movie about the life of Leonard Bernstein and it's directed, written and starring Bradley Cooper. You haven't seen this at all. No, not in the slightest bit.
Speaker 1:Okay. So Leonard Bernstein, I am just this isn't even really a rant, I am just like nervous sweating for this movie. I am so worried that this might be a bad movie, for two reasons. Okay One Leonard Bernstein is like my whatever is above, like musical hero, like when I was coming through college, like so he's maybe the most famous American born conductor we've ever had. Leonard Bernstein wrote you probably know the music of West Side Story. Oh yes, that's written by Leonard Bernstein. He conducted the New York Philharmonic for many, many years. As the music director championed the music of Gustav Mahler and those symphonies and stuff. Just like a musical hero is not the right word. It's more than that Like borderline, like I don't want to use the word worshiped, but like this guy was like way, way, way, way up there for me Legend yeah, so.
Speaker 1:I've watched so many videos about him conducting. I've wanted to look like him. I've studied him. He had a series of an anthology, really, of lectures at. Harvard back in the day, and this is about, like the deepest ins and outs of music you can possibly think of. But Leonard Bernstein is just. He's an absolute genius. Now combine the fact with I'm going to let you in on a little secret my Hollywood man crush is Leonard Bernstein. No, Bradley Cooper.
Speaker 2:Oh, okay, took me a second.
Speaker 3:How did you know that? Because Leonard Bernstein is not in Hollywood.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no no, bernstein died in, I think, 92 or 93. So he's been gone for a while now. But Bradley Cooper is my Hollywood like man crush, and so it's a good choice, I understand that Do you have a man, you have a Hollywood man crush. Yeah, Ryan Reynolds. Oh, okay. Yeah he just seems like a cool guy.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that one real quick, I was ready.
Speaker 3:Loretta do you?
Speaker 1:have a Hollywood man crush. Oh careful.
Speaker 2:Oh, I don't know.
Speaker 1:Or a lady crush, lady crush.
Speaker 2:I got a T swift crush. I love Taylor Swift. Fair enough, that's big star, big star.
Speaker 1:But anyways, so fast forward. This that was a really long range about nothing. But I love Bradley Cooper, I love Leonard Bernstein. Combine those two things and if this movie is terrible.
Speaker 2:that's why I'll be heartbroken. Yeah, no, I can understand that. That's why it's being channeled directly to you. You might be the only one. No, no, no, that this movie is being.
Speaker 1:Well, so I mean like so my feed is filled with a lot of people from my music past and like who I've studied with and stuff like that. So I feel like I've seen a lot of it, because a lot of the music community is hyped for this music, for this movie, because Bernstein isn't just like a you know, a rogue like figure that I'm enamored with. He is like he's legendary, the guy.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's, he's up there, so anyways that is my opening rant.
Speaker 3:We got some stuff lined up on the pug in the Pugdance man. We need to stop, I'm just going to press.
Speaker 1:Stop recording. That's going to be thanks for joining the show.
Speaker 2:everyone it for today.
Speaker 1:Peace. So a little bit later we have we're doing a Christmas draft. Yeah, and we really enjoyed doing our Thanksgiving draft. It was so much fun, did we? Um so Larita.
Speaker 2:I already know what you're going to say. I didn't know.
Speaker 1:Larita potatoes Heinzman.
Speaker 2:And whatever.
Speaker 1:So I really saw you had some great stuff on social media about our drafts, but I never saw like a conclusive like who won? Yeah it was actually really close.
Speaker 3:It was close, yeah, it was very close but got a huge turnout.
Speaker 1:We did Like there were. There were a lot of people that voted, a lot of people that were sending in their thoughts, but I didn't know if there was a. Yeah final tally.
Speaker 2:Yeah, nate one.
Speaker 1:Yeah, there was close to 60.
Speaker 3:Wow, you looked really excited. There was over 60 votes close to 70.
Speaker 2:There's, we were following it all day. It was actually really fun.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I only beat map by one boat, though. Oh, so the read was last.
Speaker 2:Yeah, All right everyone spit a nice one. I'm gonna head out.
Speaker 1:No, the draft idea was fun. It's not unique to our podcast, but today we're doing A Christmas movies. Yeah, loretta, tell us about the list that you've put together.
Speaker 2:Oh, my goodness, it's in, it's a lot. So we just we were gonna do everyone chip in a couple movie ideas and then I just went top 100 Christmas movies of all time. So we got a little bit of is that what's on?
Speaker 1:there's not a hundred on this page.
Speaker 2:No okay, no, I some of them I had never heard of and was like there was one called Christmas in Connecticut.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's like I don't know obscure ones.
Speaker 2:Do you know that one?
Speaker 3:No, I saw that on the list.
Speaker 2:Oh, okay, when I was looking so tell our listeners what we got. Should I read down this whole list? Yeah, yeah, right, here we go ready, say go and meet me in st Louis. Miracle on 34th Street, nightmare before Christmas. It's a wonderful life, home alone. Home alone to lost in New York, home alone three.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that was lame anyone picking them.
Speaker 2:Elf, a Christmas story, the Grinch, which is the Jim Carrey version, okay, how the Grinch? Still Christmas, which is animated, jingle all the way. I'm up at Christmas Carol, the Santa Claus, rudolph the Red Nose, reindeer, frosty, the snowman, national and poo and Christmas vacation, the polar express, the holiday diehard Nate had to have that one in there for.
Speaker 1:Christmas is.
Speaker 2:Fred Claus Christmas with the cranks, the family stone, here we go. We're still going, guys, because we're all parents here. Mickey's Christmas Carol, scrooge and Medea Christmas. I'll be home for Christmas. White Christmas, earn a saves Christmas, arthur, christmas jingle, jangle, a Christmas carol, a boy called Christmas spirited, scrooge, the Christmas Chronicles. And then love actually, and little women.
Speaker 1:Wow, that is comprehensive. Yeah, that is a bulldog of a list.
Speaker 2:I, I was gonna print all hundred, but then I was like, oh, that might be.
Speaker 3:Keep our options open. That's good, I like it.
Speaker 1:All right, well done, so a little bit later we're gonna have a draft of Christmas movies. Yep, if you're tuned in On YouTube or wherever you listen to podcasts, you'll have to hook up with our socials. It'll come first on the Instagram for mass youth and then it'll hit SA mass music. But I'm sure the reader will whip up something again that showcases her draft board.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and then I'll put up my winner board and then, and then, if she, loses, she'll never announce the winner.
Speaker 3:Never happened.
Speaker 1:That's awesome. Okay, so in just a second we're gonna have our devotional thought. For today, nate has something planned for us, but before we do, we wanted to recap just this last weekend yeah, we had the sounds of Christmas.
Speaker 2:Yeah eighth annual right Eighth annual which is probably the number one reason why Matt is slurring his words and a little all over the place today. It was fantastic, it was a great night.
Speaker 1:It was a really really good night. So we set up. We set up 50 tables, 400 chairs, transform the crock center gymnasium from a gym into we're trying, we were really going for a winter wonderland, you know, just kind of a real Christmas-y place. And let me tell you that is the most red, yellow, blue gym I've ever seen in my life, Holy moly cow.
Speaker 2:I hadn't seen it until you were talking about it and I was like I can't be that bad like that gym is like hashtag salvation army. Yeah, those bleachers.
Speaker 1:You know where you are, and the blue I don't know. William Booth would have been proud. We sang that in Sunday school when I was a kid.
Speaker 2:Wow, you and me are like Sunday school song aficionados. I'm like I love Sunday school I'd but anyways.
Speaker 1:So we transform the gym. We set up 50 round tables they all had treats on them 400 chairs we think I'm estimating just under 500 in attendance because we had the 400 chairs set up. We ended up not me personally, the program was actually running, but I remember like 15, 20 minutes into it, looking out people were setting up additional chairs in the back. You had a couple rows, 35 people in the band on stage and so just overall, I Did remember like thinking in the middle of the program, like I don't know of me personally if I was able to like really enjoy it because it was like such a An absolute marathon of like setup, but it was also like there was no break from the setup into the start of the program.
Speaker 1:It was like one, like Continuous line of like work, work, work, work, work, work, work program started, so it also felt like work, yeah. And then at the end I was just like it was like one of those will ferrell moments where you're just like I think.
Speaker 3:I blacked out what just happened.
Speaker 1:I just concluded the concert. I told everyone to go home. Like what happened.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, it's true. Yeah, cuz it was just like go, go, go people arrive, we're still going, going, going, and then you start yeah, tear down.
Speaker 1:It was crazy highlights for me, the ones I can remember, you know. No, out of your blackout at the end of the program the yam course did a number with mass brass Combined. It was called who is he? Yeah, really great arrangement actually. Paul Leslie alerted me to that Arrangement. Paul Leslie is the officer in Greenfield.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and he said, hey, check out this piece of music. It's a really good arrangement, and so the mass brass played with the yam course and that it just was a very special Kind of highlight. In the second half of the program Victor Morales was a special guest. He's awesome guitarist singer just a virtuoso, virtuosic musician.
Speaker 2:Awesome so engaging to the audience. Yeah, yeah, definitely.
Speaker 1:They're a big sing-along. Everyone's going after the carols.
Speaker 2:The beat's not me. Yeah, yeah, she loved it.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, yeah, she's all about it, yeah, yeah and then in the first half we did a non Christmas piece, but it was with a narrator. Yes a script of basically the birth of Jesus and Emily, full up from Waltham yeah, was our narrator. She did an awesome job.
Speaker 2:She's good.
Speaker 1:She's a she's kind of born for that kind of dramatic, theatrical kind of things and she was absolutely fantastic.
Speaker 2:Yeah, she's not afraid of the stage. Nope, no, it was really good. No, it was really good.
Speaker 1:So it was a great evening. I'm already trying to think of what we're gonna do for the ninth annual that's just kind of how my brain works that the day after the concert was over I was like, well, how can we fit more people in that gym? Like what if it's gonna grow, and but I don't know, I'm just really pleased. I kind of think of the sounds of Christmas now, not Only as an event. It feels like a brand.
Speaker 1:Yeah yep, and I hope that it's something that people look forward to, and I think it still has room to grow.
Speaker 3:I don't know if you've heard this, but we were told yesterday that there was a family visiting the area from New Zealand who had really no connection with the Salvation Army, but they saw an ad for the sounds of Christmas concert and they just came and enjoyed the night, which is pretty amazing.
Speaker 1:I've heard a couple different stories like this, where People not associated with the Salvation Army were at the concert and some people were invited and some people just saw it online and decided to come. Another good story was Gary Pearsie from Quincy.
Speaker 1:He brought his whole softball team and and yeah so at the end of the concert I saw he was taking a picture with a bunch of people and someone said like who's who's that with Gary? And he's like he invited his whole softball team and they came and awesome, but he had said something to the Quincy core band.
Speaker 1:At our last band rehearsal he said the thing that they took away was they didn't know. They didn't really know the Salvation Army, so this was their first exposure to it. But they were just so pleased and kind of blown away with how Jesus centered it was and how the Christmas message was Loud and clear. That's great.
Speaker 1:I think, at the end of the day. That's kind of where I draw the line at. You can do an insane amount of work. You can physically feel tired. You can almost say like, oh my gosh, is this, is this worth it?
Speaker 1:Yeah you could really push yourself to the limit. But then at the end of the day, I always want that program to be something where the very basic part of the gospel message is presented in a very simple way, right that people can understand that they are loved by God enough that he sent Jesus into the world to be born and then to die for us. And so when I hear stories like that, it it just kind of wipes away the physical tiredness and you say like yeah, that was worth it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that was worth it percent. Whenever we're programming, we always talk about the thread Where's the thread, what's? The thread and and what's the takeaway? And I think the very simple thread and the number one takeaway is that, like, no matter where you come from and whether this is your first visit at the salvation army, this is what you say every year. Whether this is your first time at a salvation army, anything, know that you're loved and you're now family.
Speaker 1:And so.
Speaker 2:I think it's just so good we were. When we were setting up on Saturday some of the croc staff was just kind of watching an amazement, which was really cool, and the one of the maintenance guys was like man. He's like you guys, know how to make people feel special and I was like that's it. It's in the details, it's in the little things like the little carpet and, yeah, the Christmas trees, and you know the cookie platters.
Speaker 2:It's just it's important to make people feel valued and special and, you know, especially this time of year, to feel love, not just to be told right. So I think that was Communicated and I think it happened.
Speaker 1:So and the fact that the program is free. Yes, I mean. So admission is free, kind of like that special Christmas feeling is free, it's it's. I see that as an, that as a. It's not free for everyone. Obviously this albation army has to pay for that concert put on, but I've kind of always seen that program as an extension of God's free gift of Christmas, you know. So that's something we're all very thankful for here, that the salvation army is able to Put themselves in a position where we can offer that program as a gift to the division.
Speaker 1:To the people in the New England area and I do want it to continue to grow. If anyone's listening out there who has comments about the sounds of Christmas, both positive and negative, I would love to hear them. So just very quick story before we transition. The reason the program moved into the gym was because of a critical Feedback comment that.
Speaker 1:I received from a survey that I sent out I sent it to core officers about all the programs we do throughout the year and there were some comments that came back that just said we showed up at the sounds of Christmas last year. There were no seats, we felt unwelcome, so we went home. Yeah, that broke my heart. Yeah, now I didn't know that was happening right until someone said it. Right, and because it was said, we decided to make the change and.
Speaker 1:So I think that's so important if you have feedback about an event or things we're doing, there's constructive ways to deliver those messages and in this case, it was highly, highly effective. Yeah, so yeah, that's our recap on the sounds of Christmas. In a little bit we're gonna have our Christmas movie draft. We're gonna take a short break right here on the plugged-in podcast and then when we Run, my peas are really like nice.
Speaker 3:I'm really getting into the microphone.
Speaker 1:Yeah, sorry, so I just ruined the broadcast. All right, well, we are gonna take a short break and then when we come back, nate, can you give us a little teaser about our devotional for today?
Speaker 3:Yeah, we're really focusing on the light of Jesus, which, during this season and also today is the first date of Hanukkah, the festival lights, so I wanted to keep a theme centered on the light of Christ and what that means in driving out the darkness in our world.
Speaker 1:Oh, awesome, yeah, All right, we'll. We'll be right back here on the plugged-in podcast. Happy, happy, we're having an off-air fight.
Speaker 3:We collect ourselves well though.
Speaker 1:Rita's still. She's not happy. She's not happy with how Nate and I well I guess it's me.
Speaker 3:No, it's both of you. Matt's the chief antagonizer, but am I I think that's a little far.
Speaker 2:I believe you just called me la Rita potatoes hind.
Speaker 3:Yeah, enough said, right there.
Speaker 1:La Rita is still a little salty About the characterization of her Thanksgiving draft. I liked your draft. I did, I liked mine the best and and Nate's the second best, but I also liked your draft. Yeah, all right time to talk about Jesus. Welcome back to the plugged-in podcast, nate, you have a devotional for us.
Speaker 3:I do, I do. I just wanted to start by reading second Corinthians, chapter 4, verse 6, and says this for God, who said let there be light in the darkness, has made this light shine in our hearts so that we would know the glory of God that is seen in the face of Jesus Christ. Well, I mentioned earlier we're gonna be focusing on the light of Christ with our devotional thoughts today and I want to start with a quick story. I don't know if this story is real or not, but it helps drive home the point.
Speaker 2:Interesting yeah.
Speaker 3:Just want to give a disclaimer. So here's the story. There was a captain of a large Ship and he looked out across the water on a dark, dreary night when he noticed, way off in the distance, this faint flickering light that caught his attention. Fearing that another ship was headed his way, the captain told his signalman to send a message over the ship's radio. And so the message that was sent was attention, please alter your course 10 degrees to the south. Well, almost instantly a return message was sent back From the other supposed ship in the distance. It said no, you alter your course 10 degrees north. Oh, boy.
Speaker 3:Yeah, you know, power struggle, going here and taking a back. By the response, the captain began to grow pretty irritated and thought to himself Are they crazy? Who do they think they are? I'm the captain of the ship, I'm trying to just alert them to potential danger. But the light in the distance continued to grow bigger and brighter with each passing minute.
Speaker 3:And the captain was convinced that if someone did not correct their course soon, there would be a devastating collision, and so, frustrated and panicked, the captain ordered his signalman to send a second message. I repeat alter your course 10 degrees to the south by orders of the captain. So after what seemed like an eternity, another return message came through the wire no, I repeat you, alter your course 10 degrees north by order of signalman Jones. The captain thought to himself who is signalman Jones and why is he being so belligerent? He couldn't believe what he was hearing. He was determined that he was gonna teach the signalman Jones a lesson in compliance. Knowing the fear that he would evoke, the captain angrily growled his command a final time. You don't understand. Alter your course 10 degrees south. I'm a battleship and I'm headed your way. Oops, yeah.
Speaker 3:You know, little fish, a little fishing boat, has no, cannot stand against a battleship right.
Speaker 1:I like the name of signalman Jones, by the way. Every time you say the captain, I'm just thinking captain Bill Belichick, and like this, like you do this, sorry.
Speaker 3:Thanks for that cool story, bro.
Speaker 1:I'm gonna edit that out.
Speaker 3:So, anyways, here we go several seconds past Several seconds. I know that the audience has gripped in this tale right now.
Speaker 3:I'm sorry, several seconds passed and the light continued to inch ever closer when, finally, another message came through sir, it doesn't matter what type of ship you are, you need to alter your course 10 degrees of the north right now, or you will crash into the rocks. I'm stationed here at the lighthouse and I'm trying to save your life. Yeah, you see, darkness can be pretty disorienting, right when we can't see what's around us. We live in a dark world. That's. That's the truth. We know that, and we know that there are so many competing voices in this world that are shouting for our attention. Every day, we're asked to make decisions that determine the course of our life and can alter the course of our life forever. Yet it's also here in the darkness that we know that there is one true voice that signals something quite opposite from the rest, a Voice that echoes hope and a light that brings peace from a God who desires to bring us safe, safely, through the choppy waves of our human experience. Yet the sad reality is that for many, the light of Christ goes unnoticed because the darkness has become a comfortable place for so many to hide.
Speaker 3:From the first verse of scripture we read how God illuminates the darkness in this chaotic world by speaking light into existence. Genesis, chapter 1, verses 1 and 2, tell us in the beginning, god created the heaven and the earth. The earth was formless and empty and an endless expanse of darkness covered the depths. Think about that total Darkness. Yet it's here, in this great void of darkness, that we find the spirit of God Hovering over the surface of the deep. And his first action that's recorded in scripture he speaks and he says let there be light. And instantly light breaks through this void, this formless, empty state of darkness in Hebrew it's best described as confusion and chaos. And right here, smack dab, in the middle of that chaos, we find a God who is already present. And what does he do? He brings order to the chaos by shining his unmistakable light. Well, light is a very important concept. All throughout scripture is a very important concept to the people of Israel and the Old Testament authors Frequently used light to represent the quality of life that was pleasing to God.
Speaker 3:In Psalm 56, 13, obedience to God is described as walking before him in the light of life. And so we see light as this agent of guidance, of direction, of being in step with God's will in his way. Well, prior to Christ coming. It was God's word, direct word, that he spoke to people and his word that was conveyed through the prophets that brought direction and guidance. But the moment that Jesus arrived, we read in scripture that a new light dawned for all people, and this light revealed the father's heart to a world trapped in darkness. The prophet Isaiah, in chapter 9, verse 2, says this the people living in darkness have seen a great light. On those living in the land of the shadow of death, a light has dawned.
Speaker 3:So here's the here's the point. Light always prevails over darkness. We think about darkness. Darkness does not have the power to extinguish light Physically.
Speaker 3:From a scientific standpoint, darkness in its nature is actually nothing more than the absence of light.
Speaker 3:If you've ever camped out in the woods at night, no matter how deep and how dense that force might be, no matter how blinding the darkness might seem, all it takes is a tiny flicker of light to cut through it.
Speaker 3:Right, if you light a match, if you open up your phone and turn on the flashlight, whenever light is introduced, it cuts through the darkness and our eyes instantly start to adjust to that light and soon we are able or capable of making sense of our Surroundings.
Speaker 3:But here's the point it's not simply enough to recognize the light, we also need to be committed to living in the light. Quick story when Jackson was an infant, you know, we would take turns getting up in the middle of the night when he needed to eat, when he needed To be changed as all babies do, right and I remember there was one specific time it was probably around three in the morning when it was my turn to get up and I got up I heard him crying on the monitor and instead of grabbing my phone, instead of turning on the light, I just tried to navigate through the bedroom in the pitch black and ended up stubbing my toe on the side of the bed, which it's the worst because you feel, you literally feel your heart beating in your toe, probably, and you feel like man.
Speaker 3:I wish I could just cut this off right now because this is so terrible. But I remember that and I remember thinking to myself how dumb it was. I didn't just turn on the lamp on the nightstand or just grab my phone, but I preferred to just try to avoid the obstacles, completely blind. And when I was thinking about this, I'm thinking that's really like that's a metaphor for life. Right, we know what we should do and we know that God has already commanded us to live a life worthy of the calling We've received, but so often we prefer to wade through the darkness and simply try our best to navigate it, and that's where disaster strikes. This is why the Apostle Paul says in 1st Thessalonians 5 that, instead of blending into the darkness and lurking in the shadows, be an agent of life. Help expose the darkness for what it really is a place of hopelessness fear shame and guilt.
Speaker 3:Allow the light of God to drive that out, because God is intentional in meeting us there and desiring relationship with us. Well, here's the obstacle to that. Nobody likes to be exposed. Exposure can be a scary thing. We'd much rather trudge along in the dim light than flick on the switch and allow everyone else to see the mess Going on in our lives. Perhaps we avoid the light because we're afraid of what it's going to reveal. But John 3 17 promises that God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. And so we don't need to fear Christ's light, but rather welcome it, because it's in his light that there is freedom, healing and fullness of joy. And so here's where we get to the application. What's the challenge? If you're listening to this today and you're thinking okay, I know Christ's light, I know, I know the Lord, I have a relationship with him, what's the challenge for me today? Well, the challenge is this if you have seen the light, then we are called to go and reflect the light.
Speaker 3:In the Gospels, jesus refers to himself as the light of the world, but then he commissioned his disciples to be a visible light and witness for him. Matthew 5, 7, 516 let your light shine before others so that they may see your good deeds and bring praise to your father in heaven. Is he because of God's great love for us? He refused to be a distant spectator. On the contrary, he willingly stepped into the darkness. He linked his story with ours and a desire to live what we live and feel what we feel. And Because he's done this, because we've experienced this, the world needs to know they need his light to shine forth in their lives as well.
Speaker 3:By sending his son, jesus, into the world, god canvassed the darkest places. He met us there in his perfect love, and it's there, in the fullness of everything good and pure and true, that God embraces you and me with peace, hope and joy. Sometimes it might feel like the darkness is winning. We oftentimes feel like the darkness is winning, but don't lose heart. Instead, cling to the promise of God's presence, knowing that, even in the shadows, our great and merciful God is camping out there with us. He is the light that shines in the darkness. He is the the one who brings peace to the chaos, and he is the light that cannot be overcome. Amen amen.
Speaker 1:Yeah, make it eight. Yeah, it's awesome, thank you.
Speaker 2:So doing the, the devotional in the middle, like switching it up a little, it's got me all Confused just combobulated yeah cuz I feel like I'm like, I'm like all silly in my head and I'm like, oh, I gotta be, gotta think serious time to sign off and I'll buy.
Speaker 1:End of the episode no draft for you. The only thing I was thinking about at the beginning that story was Well, I mean, I was just thinking, why didn't the lighthouse just say that sooner?
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's what there wouldn't be a sermon illustration.
Speaker 1:I know, I know, but I was just like, why wouldn't that be the first? Like I'm a lighthouse, I'm trying to save you.
Speaker 2:Excuse you, I don't care if you're a battleship here comes a battleship.
Speaker 3:Let's see if I can get him.
Speaker 1:Thank you me Sorry, I was that's my contrarian mind like thinking like yeah, I don't know.
Speaker 3:I don't know where I've, where I found that story, if I made that up or if I found it somewhere.
Speaker 1:I think, I've heard I don't think you made it up. I've heard I honestly, can't remember. Yeah, no, I think I've heard that in other sermons before. Okay, and thought the exact same thing sermon illustration, dot-com or something. Yeah, is that a real?
Speaker 3:sign. I think so, or something there's a sermon, central calm, which is like a hub of people's sermons, but one they're not many of them are very good and two you need a membership to access them, so I don't.
Speaker 2:I don't know places you can go to get. Yeah, you can find illustrations.
Speaker 1:You guys have any plans to do. Speaking of light overcoming darkness, yeah, and like that is like a classic Christmas Eve service candlelight service, silent night oh, holy night, like you've ever been a part of those services where at the very end they pass out the candles and, like those, are gonna love that.
Speaker 2:Turn the lights off. We did that at spring Valley.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's definitely one of my, one of my favorites, it's certainly like a Christmas Eve, even New Year's, to kind of turning over a new leaf like yeah, no, but I love that stuff.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I'm a sucker for it. When I graduated college and lived in a small town called Maslin, ohio, there was all the all the churches in town. On Christmas Eve they opened up their doors and you went from church to church in a candlelight walk from church to church and a each location there would be a different homily, a different part of the Christmas account and then a different carol that was sung, and those were some really, really cool memories.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's great. If you're listening out there and if you are a core officer at our core here in Massachusetts and you have a Christmas Eve service or a New Year's Eve service and you'd like Either mass youth or SA mass music to put that stuff out there on social media, we'd be happy to do that. So just let us know the more people that we can make aware that your doors are open. We'd love to help, yep. So we're gonna take one more break on the plugged in podcast and then, as we said earlier, we are getting into the Christmas movie draft. I have no strategy. I've just looked at this list for the first time.
Speaker 2:Do we need to hear our draft song sound one more time? Oh yeah, it's all about it's new right, it's a new one, it's a new draft and it's a new producer.
Speaker 1:I got fired, so Larita is in charge of the draft chime.
Speaker 2:Here it is.
Speaker 3:Oh, I feel like there's reindeer on the Santa is here.
Speaker 1:Okay, we'll be right back on the plugged in podcast. All right, welcome back to the plugged in podcast. Yeah, end of episode number Is 14. Yeah we're somewhere in the middle of season two somewhere in there.
Speaker 2:That's all I got.
Speaker 1:We'll say part one of our Christmas special.
Speaker 2:Yay.
Speaker 1:Like how we I shouldn't even say we I've come up with these names the Thanksgiving special, the Christmas festival, christmas special and I've said them at the end of the episodes, like it's never at the top.
Speaker 2:Okay, it's time to retire mid branding, mid branding, we're good.
Speaker 1:Okay, so Nate has the first pick. Uh, in the Christmas movie draft. Uh, larita will pick second, I will pick third, and then snaking back around, oh, I thought you were.
Speaker 2:I thought you were doing second because you came in second.
Speaker 1:Oh, okay, sure, that's fine, all right you don't want to be in the middle.
Speaker 2:No, it's fine. What's wrong, All right. So I'll go second.
Speaker 1:Oh, seconds, fine, all right. So Nate, and then me, and then Larita, and then Larita again. I think we're picking five movies, right, oh man?
Speaker 3:five.
Speaker 1:Yeah, there's a lot of pressure with the first pick. There is pressure. Oh oh, oh, so All right. So if you're watching on youtube, uh, we'll have the list of movies up that we are picking from. If there's one not on the list, you can go for that as well, and uh. Yeah, one of the cameras just turned off.
Speaker 2:No, I clicked my pen.
Speaker 1:Oh, maybe it was the pen I don't know, that's maybe it's, maybe that was it. Yeah, okay. So with the first overall pick, we throw it to Nate.
Speaker 2:All right, oh, here we go first.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 3:Ooh, the pick is in. So here's my rationale. Right, I always have to have a rationale, yeah, so this is not my favorite Christmas movie. It's up there, but I'm going for again, trying to appeal to the audience, right?
Speaker 1:And I know that it's trying to win the draft yeah yeah, I have a clear, definitive one.
Speaker 3:That's my favorite, but I don't think it's everyone's favorite. But I'm going to pick with the first overall pick in the draft the classic that is now 20 years old Elf Will Ferrell's Elf. I saw that coming and I know that I will get at least one vote from Captain Marsha Barter from the Pitzfield Corps with that selection.
Speaker 1:True that? Do you have a memory of the first time you ever saw Elf?
Speaker 3:I saw it in the theaters. I do remember that.
Speaker 1:Bum, bum, bum, bum, bum. Baaay buddy. Hope you find your dad so good.
Speaker 2:Mr Narwhal, but it's still like I was just at Wal-Mart the other day and there's still like buddy the elf pancake mixes.
Speaker 1:Like it's still, people are still making money off of this. Shout out to my mother number one listener of the Plugged In podcast.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Mama Lone.
Speaker 1:Yeah, she loves the movie Elf. It quickly became a tradition in our household that on Christmas Eve we would all watch Elf together. That's good, that's good. So, yeah, elf, good pick Nate, well done, thank you, okay. So we move over to myself.
Speaker 2:Okay, ready, so rough.
Speaker 3:Nice.
Speaker 1:There's a lot of great movies on here. I am pretty torn. I think that I am going to go with, for the first round, national Lampoon's Christmas.
Speaker 3:Vacation, so good Holiday room.
Speaker 1:There are so many moments in this movie, there's too many to count. My favorite scene, though, is probably when he gets his Christmas bonus, is a Jelly of the Month Club, and he absolutely goes off on his boss. It's Frank Shirley, right? Yes, frank Shirley I think so.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I don't know the name, it sounds new.
Speaker 1:Yeah, just classic classic scene. I also love when there's just too many moments we're going to recap the movie real quick yeah when he turns on the lights and it's like Joy's on the wall.
Speaker 2:Yeah, great, great he's just so good.
Speaker 1:So Christmas Vacation I'm taking with my first pick.
Speaker 2:Good one, all right, so my first pick this is hard to do, I will say it's hard to think for two different things. I'm going classic, home alone. Yes, good pick, that's my favorite that is like I think I could watch that, and I have to watch that every year multiple times, Anytime it's on TBS. That's what I click this time of year.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and it's a multiple watch per year for me, you have a favorite moment.
Speaker 2:I have one, but Well, actually funny, not favorite moment, but I just saw something recently where someone calculated what Kevin spent at the grocery store in current day and it was like $75, but he paid to like a $20 bill.
Speaker 1:It was unreal. The eggs, the milk, the toothbrush, like yeah, I don't know.
Speaker 2:I just love. I love the like, the scheming, I love all the traps and stuff.
Speaker 3:The one-liners.
Speaker 2:Buzz's girlfriend.
Speaker 1:Woof Do you if you're into the criminal, the criminal characters? Are you a? Are you Harry or Marv? Oh, I love Marv.
Speaker 2:He's such a lovable idiot.
Speaker 1:I love him, my two favorite moments are one when he steps on the nail.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And he's like. And then the other one is when the tarantula is on the screen.
Speaker 2:It's the most incredible screen. I love that. Like for like half the movie he has the iron mark on his forehead.
Speaker 3:It's so good, I just think it's awesome that Joe Pesci like infamous for these like gangster movies is just like a villain in a kid's movie. It's great, all right.
Speaker 1:All right, so recapping the first round Nate takes elf, I take Christmas vacation, loretta strong pick with home alone. Now we're turning around. I'm just curious if Loretta is going to take home alone too Get the whole thing right there.
Speaker 2:So I took one, two and three on one.
Speaker 3:No one likes three.
Speaker 2:All right, so pick number four.
Speaker 1:Loretta, you're up.
Speaker 2:I did think Sounder oh see, it's difficult. Pick is in. I did think about going home alone too, like the Boston New York one, but I have to go. The holiday, the holiday.
Speaker 1:Have you seen that one Sleeper pick? I don't know. Tell me about it.
Speaker 2:It's Cameron Diaz.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, jack Black, yeah, and they like switch houses.
Speaker 2:I love Jude Law. I'm a Jude Law sucker, but like the switch, they switch houses for the holiday and I think I saw it for the first time just a couple of years ago. But I was like, oh, instant fave.
Speaker 3:Love the love story. It's weird seeing Jack Black in like a serious role.
Speaker 2:Yes, it's weird, yeah definitely that's where I'm going on my with my draft. It's just like people that you wouldn't ordinarily see in these roles. That's what I'm going to go for, All right. All right, Matt ready.
Speaker 1:I'm ready. Okay, I'm a little torn here because I do love the home alone franchise and I really like want to pick home alone too. But I don't think I'm going to. I'm going to go with another absolute family favorite in the LUN household. I'm going with Tim Allen in the Santa Claus. Oh, I had that one.
Speaker 2:I love the Santa Claus, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:I'm not, so. Uh, I think I like the second one. I don't know if I ever saw the third one with the Jack Frost.
Speaker 3:Martin.
Speaker 1:Short.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, but the first one the Santa Claus.
Speaker 1:What an absolute classic. Oh, so good, and even now as an adult, if you like. Tell me if you were to ask me like picture Santa Claus in your head.
Speaker 3:It's Tim Allen. It's Tim Allen's Santa.
Speaker 1:Claus. Yep, a little fun fact. He came to Boston last January and Heather and I went to his comedy show Did you really. Yeah, very interesting.
Speaker 3:I'll just leave it at that.
Speaker 2:Leave it there. Enough appreciates in there.
Speaker 1:Okay, so this goes back to Nate to round out round number two.
Speaker 3:Well, I'm out of it. I don't know if there's anyone else out there who feels like I do on this topic, but I think that home alone 2 is superior to home alone 1. I love lost in New York Because I think the traps are better and I love the city.
Speaker 1:I love the.
Speaker 3:Plaza hotel with Tim Curry and Rob Schneider guest appearance by Donald Trump. You know right, yes by Donald Trump, yeah, and. And the pigeon lady in Central Park.
Speaker 2:I was terrified of her for the longest time. I was afraid of that pigeon lady.
Speaker 1:Here's my music brain, though, like I watch this as an adult and I am so jealous that pigeon lady basically lives in the attic of Carnegie Hall.
Speaker 2:Oh, really, yeah, so in her like house.
Speaker 1:She's she in her opening monologue in that house. She's just like I've heard all the world's great. I've seen Luciano Pavarotti, and like I'm like what.
Speaker 3:You just. You're living my dream and you just live up here in the attic, the phantom of the opera. Oh man, I never put that together. Yeah, no, that's a good thing you would, though, but yeah, sorry, that way to go, way to go and also the fact that, like the family could leave him home a second time, it's like come on, yeah, get your act together, guys.
Speaker 1:Colkin just got a star yeah and Catherine O'Hara right, yeah, a homo loan mom was there with him. That's very, very touching, yeah, okay, so here's the first two rounds Nate has elf and home alone to. I have Christmas vacation and the Santa Claus, and, and then Lerita has home alone, the first one and the holiday. All strong list so far, yeah, and so now we're snaking back to Nate.
Speaker 3:Nate's gonna lead off round three. All right, this is this. Is that this is a sleeper pick? Go ahead Jingle all the way, arnold Schwarzenegger and turbo.
Speaker 1:My pick I was. That was next on my list turbo man.
Speaker 2:You. I grew up thinking like no one else watch that besides our family come on man. That's a line up I think you said jingle all the way.
Speaker 1:Yeah, jingle all the way was absolutely a favorite in my house as well. So many good moments from that one as well. Sin bad, yeah, so bad.
Speaker 2:The postman yeah it's so good I end up fighting in like the parade.
Speaker 1:It's terrible died.
Speaker 2:Wow, you guys should go on the road. Really terrible.
Speaker 1:Okay, well, now I'm a little scattered because boy yeah. I really had. I really was thinking that no one would pick that one. No it was like kind of my mid draft, like Pick, so I'm just gonna scan the list here because I'm the least prepared of the three of us today. This is a favorite of Heather and Heather and me. Heather and I what's the grammatical? Heather and me?
Speaker 2:us.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we've grown to love this movie. I'm a. I am a fan of Vince Vaughan, even though he's kind of the same character, and most of the movies. So there's two on here right back to back, for Christmas is in Fred Claus. I like both of them, but for this draft I'm picking for Christmas is. That's another one that's become every holiday season. I could watch that multiple times. I didn't jingle. Oh Okay, I'm selecting for Christmas is.
Speaker 2:I think it's my third round pick. I'm not sure. I've definitely seen, I just can't remember it.
Speaker 1:It's great, it's, it's very funny. It's more on the Try to think. It's not like an adult movie, but it's more on the adult side.
Speaker 2:The comedic jokes and stuff like this early a family.
Speaker 1:Hey, I didn't write down. You told jingle all the way, that's right. Yeah, sorry man.
Speaker 2:He's protesting, your pick.
Speaker 1:Yeah, all right. So, lorena, it's your pick, the third, third pick of the third round. Okay. Here we go.
Speaker 2:Okay, again I'm gonna go For one that I'm not sure other people have seen, but our family watches it. Every Christmas, when we all get together, the family stone the family, so I have not seen that. Oh, it's a good one. It's oh, sarah, sarah Jessica Parker. What's the girl from the notebook? Her? Oh yeah, um then the girl from twilight. All I have is the girls from. I don't know any of the, but it's so, it's just good. It's a good family movie. It's funny. Oh, what's the mom's name?
Speaker 3:This is your.
Speaker 2:Merrill strip is in my head. It's not Merrill Street. It's not Merrill Street.
Speaker 3:Oh, I'll come back and keep Diane Keaton. That's what it is, it's just it's a good one.
Speaker 2:It's become a Vaughan fave, so nice anyone else out there like it? Let me know, because.
Speaker 3:Here of this movie.
Speaker 1:Family stone. All right, so recapping, we've got three rounds in a. Loretta has home alone, the holiday and the family stone, I am with Christmas vacation, the Santa Claus for Christmas is, and then Nate so far has elf home alone to and jingle all the way and Loretta starts off round four.
Speaker 2:Oh my gosh, I wasn't ready, crazy right. Crazy. Okay, you guys have stolen all the ones that I was going for. Okay, another classic, one of those ones that is, whenever it's on, we make sure we turn it on Christmas story.
Speaker 3:Which is on all the time, which is on, I think 24 hours on Christmas day, yeah you'll see, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:Christmas story strong.
Speaker 3:They love when there's a strong mashed potato scene in there, so I'm not, I'm not going there anymore with this.
Speaker 1:I'm not touching that You're taking your own crepes, sir, oh my goodness. Okay, I'm going with an absolute classic here on the list. This is the, the old-school claymation oh, rudolph the red nose. Yeah, that's good. Hey, that's the. I think it's the original. If it's not, then I don't know what the original is, but that is always a fun one to watch and it's like I want it to be that time now when, since I have kids like I, want to watch that as well, yeah actually so yeah, so claymation.
Speaker 1:Rudolph, the red nose reindeer, is my round four pick. I almost took die hard just because I know Nate wants it. I was gonna block him cuz he blocked you. Yeah yeah, he did with jingle all the way.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, we're going with. I was debating it, but not yet Because in all right, so Hold on, I need to get, need to get my bearings here, yeah you've had 20 minutes to get your bearings.
Speaker 2:I know also sent me half the list, so yeah, that's got another.
Speaker 1:So let's remind the audience while he's looking over there's some favorites on here. So you have Vince Vaughn, and Fred Claus is still on the list Tim Allen with Christmas with the Cranks. You got some classics like Scrooge. It's a wonderful life, miracle on 34th Street. I feel like this is. There's some on the list here that are just if the hosts of the podcast were of a different generation, yes, some of these would already be gone. Yeah, but I don't know if if those are really like, beloved to our Generation we've seen them because they're classics, but I don't even know if I have.
Speaker 1:Like I have not seen meet me in st Louis.
Speaker 2:No, I haven't seen that one.
Speaker 1:It's a wonderful life. I know how like iconic that is and I feel like I have have seen it many times, but never in one sitting like so I know the that's my problem and I also like in my head.
Speaker 2:I think it's a wonderful. Life is blurring with Miracle on 34th Street. I'm like all the characters are in one movie at this point in my head, so I can't remember. All right, go ahead, nate.
Speaker 3:Yep, all right, so I'm going to pick one that we always watched Christmas Eve growing up. I love the store, the Charles Dickens story of Christmas Carol. It's one of my favorite. But the version that I like is actually called Scrooge and the it's starring Albert Finney 1970 version. The music is fantastic. The I don't know.
Speaker 2:I'm really picky when it's the one line you always sing. I.
Speaker 3:Don't know. You put me on the spot.
Speaker 2:So but uh.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so it's. It's these like these cockney English accents and they're just like they roll dying gel sink. Wow, back off the mic a little bit that was awesome. It's just a fantastic, continuous, fantastic version, like I'm really okay, I'm kind of like a Christmas Carol snob because there's like a Jim Carrey version there's a little bits one. Yep, I like the Albert Finney 1970 version of Scrooge.
Speaker 2:Okay, yeah thank you, can you?
Speaker 1:pick one more girl sing in that, in that accent. That was awesome.
Speaker 3:Can you joy to the wild.
Speaker 1:Our friends across the pond are getting. I like turning off the dial. Okay, so Nate with his fourth pick in round four or I guess it's just yeah, scrooge, okay. Yeah, this is snaking back to me, right.
Speaker 2:No, oh man, I'm still up to Nate. There is, it's Nate back to me.
Speaker 3:And just because I want to be that guy die.
Speaker 1:We all know die hard yeah.
Speaker 3:Yes.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I thought you would take a higher.
Speaker 3:He, I knew that. I knew that it would still be there at this point.
Speaker 2:Oh evidently you didn't, because Matt almost took it from you.
Speaker 1:All right so there's a lot of good picks on here on the list. I still see the polar express on here, the Jim Carrey the Grinch Polar Express that's a weird one. Fred Claus, christmas the cranks. I'm going off the list though. Oh so I see on here it's Mickey's Christmas Carol. There's several of those out there, I'm gonna go with there's one. Thank you, luria, straight up with the hand up before I said anything. There's one from 1999 and it's called Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas.
Speaker 1:Oh that's a good one, and me and Caleb are watching that right now just about every night, but it's like a three-part story, and the first one is with Donald Duck and Huey Louis Dewey, and then the second part is goofy and his son, max, and then the third part is with Mickey and Minnie and they're trying to buy each other a Christmas gift.
Speaker 1:But it's just a. Really they're great stories. Uh, also, I feel like it marks like a a a gone era for Disney, cause if you watch it and listen to it, it still has classic Christmas carols Like you hear. Oh, come on, you, faithful you hear joy to the world.
Speaker 1:I don't feel like Disney is in that Like Christian zone of Christmas anymore. I feel like it's uh more of a secular thing and uh, but anyways. So I'm going with uh Disney's um one to pawn a Christmas. The Mickey mouse, that's my, my sleeper pick, okay.
Speaker 2:All right, I'm going to bring it home here, yeah.
Speaker 1:Last week. Last pick of the draft.
Speaker 2:Let me do this there. It is All right Again, another classic one that we watch for sure every year the Grinch. You said it and I was like, don't take my Grinch Jim Carrey, bird Jim. Carrey. Jim Carrey I mean the animated one is great, but the Jim Carrey they're like ooh, ah, that's it, I'm not going. And he walks off. It's so good, there's so many good. Like little silly Jim Carrey one liners, and only he could pull off.
Speaker 1:Now you have really long hair.
Speaker 2:Have you ever tried to make it like uh, I have 100% picture of doing that I took um a a coffee mate bottle and put it on top, and then I put my hair over it.
Speaker 1:Yes, yep, chris missed that picture for the YouTube for the YouTube fall for the, for the podcast, the video I'll try and find it.
Speaker 3:It was two summers ago, from Christmas in July at Camp Wonderland.
Speaker 2:No, that was a wig that we wore.
Speaker 3:Oh, nevermind.
Speaker 2:No, this was like 10 years ago. Allison and I were snowed in and we were just being wild.
Speaker 1:Nice but.
Speaker 2:I, we were like hey, I wonder if this fits under the Rita's hair.
Speaker 3:And it did. Do you guys have any other ones on this list that, like I, was trying to?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I was trying to think like I feel like there are more, so we're obviously bypassing. Like could you put the entirety of the hallmark output into one category and just say hallmark Christmas movies?
Speaker 2:But if you did that, it would have to. You'd also have to do Netflix Christmas movies, because they're starting to. I just watched Lindsay Lohan Lohan a.
Speaker 1:Christmas movie just a couple of days ago. Yeah me too and uh, but the hallmark Christmas movies. Like I can, you can. Pretty much we could write a movie right now.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:Like a successful businesswoman moves to town and she wants to. You know she wants to really make her business. You know, win it all. But along the way she learns a lesson that, like it's not all about money and also like some Prince Charming, swoops into her life Some farmer. Yeah, some, some, some guy with no money shows up and they all learn that family is the most important time you know part of the year.
Speaker 3:It's basically the plot of sweet home Alabama in a Christmas movie.
Speaker 2:I love sweet home Alabama, one of my old time faves. I'm just a sucker for like a rom-com, yeah. And so when Christmas comes around, I will, even if they absolutely suck, I will watch every single one of them. Same plot. Nate's like I'm leaving the room because this is so stupid and I will fold all the laundry and watch.
Speaker 3:Starring Candice Cameron-Barre I almost picked.
Speaker 1:Uh love, actually, I know that like that. Uh, it's like right on the, it's not even right on the verge. It's like it's inappropriate, it's like it's very much an adult movie, yeah, uh, but it's shocking because it's really build on TV like a family favorite, and so that thing's on TNT TBS like all the time Right and I was just saying to you.
Speaker 1:when you click on like holiday collection on Netflix, it's the first thing that pops up, so I'll just say, if you watch love actually on TV and that's the only version of it that you've ever seen, the first time you ever watched the actual version you'll be like, oh, my goodness, like this is shocking you will be in for. Don't watch it next to your parents, don't so. But okay, so here's rounding out our draft. Uh, the draft is over. Nate, your five picks. Uh, you want to read them off?
Speaker 3:Sure I went with elf home alone to lost in New York. Jingle all the way the 1970 version of Scrooge and diehard Nice.
Speaker 1:I still love that jingle all the way. Pick mid draft. It's really solid. That's good. I love, I love that movie, thank you, thank you. Uh, my picks, uh, first round. I have a national lampoon's Christmas vacation. Uh, the Santa Claus for Christmases, uh, the claymation version of Rudolph the Rudolph the red nose reindeer, and then, uh, mickey's once upon a Christmas.
Speaker 2:And then I have home alone the holiday, the family stone, a Christmas story and the Grinch.
Speaker 1:Nice, all right. So those lists, uh, we'll make it to social media soon and then you'll uh be able to vote for whose uh list is your favorite, but also, uh, if you think that you have a better list or if we've just forgotten some. Yeah, we would love to hear from you, yeah.
Speaker 2:Let me know we should agree to watch all of our picks. We should all watch all of them.
Speaker 1:Oh, I like that, let's do it. Let's do it For a second, I was like what are you talking about?
Speaker 2:I know I had to keep explaining because no one responded.
Speaker 1:I was. It was lost on me. No, that would be. That would be fun. Uh, you guys have any uh Christmas traditions you're looking forward to coming up, or just anything in general that got your eye on this season. I'm an. I know I'm putting you on the spot.
Speaker 2:I don't know I just we got our Christmas tree. That's one of our, our big traditions we go out and get a real tree um and decorated it. Uh, that was a bit of a catastrophe.
Speaker 1:How's Jackson with the ornaments? I was just going to say he's getting.
Speaker 2:He's gotten better. This year has been better. Last year was the worst, so good luck.
Speaker 1:Well, I was just like. So we were decorating the tree and Caleb was into it and we had an ornament of our uh wedding cake we used to have an ornament of our wedding cake.
Speaker 3:I used to have an eardrum too.
Speaker 1:That thing shattered that thing shattered into a million pieces and he was just like oh, I sorry, mama.
Speaker 2:Oh my goodness, jackson's his new thing is I so start I never do that again.
Speaker 3:I'm like liar, but we we set Jackson up for failure though, because we have, like, a Mickey mouse ornament, we have a spider man ornament so he like thinks they're toys, but Mickey mouse is plastic, and so he can have that one.
Speaker 2:but we're getting better. We're getting better, but they do end up as projectiles.
Speaker 3:Spider man's head has come off multiple times.
Speaker 1:Thinkin' is for super glue guys, this is the first time we've ever hit the exit music like in stride. Wow, that was good. I didn't have to add this in post.
Speaker 3:It's happening in real time. Well done, guys. God's timing is perfect. God's timing is perfect.
Speaker 2:I mean, one thing had to go right this episode, everything else is kind of been yeah, it's been off the rails, all right.
Speaker 1:This has been the plugged in podcast season two, episode number 14. It's part one of our Christmas special. We're going to be back in a couple of weeks. We've got some more Christmas things in line for you. Make sure you check us out wherever you listen to podcasts and also on YouTube at SA mass music. All right, everyone, we will see you next time.