Dysfunction Junkies
Two high school besties reconnect and commiserate their stories as they navigate the dysfunctions of life from marriage, families, illness, death of childhood families, and creating healthy boundaries. Join them each week as Chrisy and Kerry share their stories and life lessons all with a zest of wit, humor, and love. They may not have seen it all, but they have seen enough!
Dysfunction Junkies
Elf On The Shelf, Or Just Stress On A Stick
The holidays promise wonder, but the calendar creep can quietly turn December into a performance. Remember when holidays felt simple? We break down how Elf on the Shelf and early decor timelines hijack our brains, budgets, and sleep. Listen now and tell us: keep the elf or call it quits?
#dysfunctionjunkiespodcast #elfonashelf #menschonabench #dwarfinadrawer #christmasdysfunction #podcast #comdey #holidays
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Welcome to the Dysfunction Junkies Podcast. We may not have seen it all, but we've seen it up. And now, here are your hosts, Chrissy and Carrie.
KERRY:Hello, junkies. Happy December. Happy December. I'm Chrissy. Chrissy. You started your Halloween holiday decorating yet? Yeah.
CHRISY:Well, yeah, I I try to do it the day after Thanksgiving. It's starting. The idea of it. So yeah, you start. Doing it before. Yeah, I I just I I know so many people. I have seen people for weeks now. Yes. After Halloween ended. I know. They had, you know, I wouldn't be opposed. I didn't do it, but uh maybe for few to do it the day before, maybe, or that Monday before start on it. Because it might be nice to sit down for your Thanksgiving dinner. Right, right. And have lovely decorations. Right. So I can be on board with that then. Right. Anything prior to that. And just me personally, just me. I I just really don't want to because it really does throw your psyche off. I don't understand how you don't get depressed looking at this stuff for really that long. I know. I think the holiday season is a little bit of a state of mind. Yes. And you're kind of altering your brain waves a little bit. I'm not a doctor. I do not play one on TV. I don't do anything. I'm I'm just thinking that mentally the holidays are very stressful. Yes, they are. And they we get a lot of false inform it's not false information, but it's a lot of information out there where people are trying to tell us what we should be doing to be better prepared, to better enjoy the holiday. It's very commercialized. Very, very commercial, and especially now it's social media. And I have explained several times already. Yes. I am a victim of this. Yes, I do sit there and watch them do all the crazy stuff with pool noodles and charcuterie boards. Charcuterie boards and uh just everything. And your pet and you know what the hell? Decorate your pet, decorate the tree, decorate everything.
KERRY:Well, we're gonna get into on another episode my suffering for the holidays. Finally, yes, but we're gonna set that aside because we're we're gonna dedicate a whole episode to that. But what I really want to talk about today is this whole elf on the shelf dysfunction.
CHRISY:Boy, is it I never even heard of this as if they I must be like really in the dark, or it just I come from uh a parent who were not gonna be bothered with this, but I don't even remember knowing friends that were dealing with this when I was little. Yeah, no, this is when does this get born?
KERRY:What what is the DJ Nick, Gemini? When did Elf in the Shelf become a thing? Because you're right, this was not something in our childhood. No, no, I so that's why I was gonna ask you did you ever do this with your kids? Yeah, I did.
CHRISY:I got sucked into this because they do it at school. Yes, they have like this loose elf in their classrooms 2005.
KERRY:Okay, so it's the yeah, it's within the last 20 years.
DJ NICK:That's why you don't remember it because it didn't start until Until you had kids. Yeah.
CHRISY:Well, see, let me just take you back a little bit. About a decade before that. Okay, mid-90s. Yeah, I remember purchasing elves, decorative holiday, yeah, Christmas dressed elves that uh looked retro to me. Okay, they looked like them crazy 50s kind of elves, and I found them really interesting. Yeah. And I put them inside my tree, but they did not move, and I didn't even have children at the time. They were strictly a decoration, right?
DJ NICK:So I I think where you're coming from is this actually started from a family who did the tradition themselves back in the 70s. So that's why I think you you're talking about those older elves. So you thought maybe it was before 05. It was in this particular family that launched this idea.
KERRY:So this we can trace this back to one family that started this awful thing in the 1970s. It's like patient zero.
CHRISY:Patient Elf Zero. It's family zero. You know how they try to uh establish where some horrible disease started. Exactly.
DJ NICK:We call that the index case. Those of us in public health, that's it.
CHRISY:Thank you. Uh yeah, whatever. Yeah, but so I had to get involved with this with children. Yes. Uh my oldest, of course, being the first. And because they come home and they talk about they have and they have a name for the elf. Yeah. And they're doing these crazy things in in their classroom. Yeah. And I'm like, what? I didn't I was like, oh, okay. Yeah. So then you feel the pressure that you have to participate because your kids kind of looking around, going, wonder when uh elf uh Mr. Elfie is gonna show up. And so for a while I used to say, Well, they don't I don't even know. I might have made the rules up. Maybe I heard these were rules. I have no idea. But my whole explanation of when these things could show up. Okay. Was when you would decorate, start decorating for holidays. Yes, that was my understanding. Which by today's standards would be they'd be here July, November 1. Or maybe July. Yeah, you never know. And so uh, but uh I didn't start doing anything until after Thanksgiving. Yes. Uh, and maybe that's one of the reasons there have been some Christmases in the past where it's been like a week or two into December before I have started decorating. I was like, I just don't have to. I don't want to deal with that. I don't want to deal with the elf. Yeah. Then again, with the social media, you see these videos of these people with these elves that do these crazy things where like and the child gets blamed for it. Yeah. Which I think is terrible. They like they they destroy something, right? Apparent, you know, they put in these scenarios where this elf has been completely destructive.
KERRY:Right. Totally sabotaging the whole Santa Claus thing where you're supposed to be good and not, you know, rights not naughty, or the elves being naughty. Right. Right. It's terrible.
CHRISY:And and like, how do you have time to do all of this? And then you gotta worry. Eating exhausted helping Santa on Christmas Eve. Yeah. Because his parents have to help him. Right. And I'm, you know, up until two in the morning just trying to fix the mess that he made when he shot in to deliver toys and shot right back out again. So um, my elf too, this movement. My kids always wanted to know why their elf not seem to be very active. Oh. Like it would take several days for them to decide to relocate from their position. And I'm just like, well, they're just very comfortable and they're in a good spot where they can see everything. Yeah. So they don't want to leave. So my elves were very lazy and very inactive.
DJ NICK:Did you hear she said elves?
CHRISY:She called herself one. No, because then I had more than one kid and I felt like each child should be represented by an elves. Oh yeah. Which makes it even worse. Because now I gotta figure out where sometimes you forget where where they are.
DJ NICK:So now, 30 years from now, when we have all three of them, we gotta get rid of three instead of one.
KERRY:Well, wait, what does that mean? Because of the inheriting stuff, and you've got three things now. You got these three elves.
DJ NICK:Instead of just one elf on the shelf.
KERRY:One elf on the shelf that you have.
CHRISY:Don't forget about the two original. Well, wait, no, those are the two I was using, weren't they? Yeah. I was using I did buy two for decoration, but then they became elves on the shelves or on the light fixture. Well, that was because you recycled. Yeah, well, I was gonna use them because they were already here. But then my daughter came home.
DJ NICK:She bought more lights this year. As if we didn't have enough. Oh, why do you bring up the lights?
CHRISY:I did buy some white lights I wanted to use for the tree because I wanted the twinkle ones.
DJ NICK:And for those of you that are regular listeners, you already know we have enough lights to light up the whole unit.
CHRISY:I told you to throw them away. Even the ones not boxing. No, not the Kodak ones. Don't touch my Kodak lights. Throw anything else away, but not them Kodak lights. So then my daughter brought in another one. It was like a miniature one, which is even worse because now it's like a mini one. Uh-huh. So it's not even as big as the other ones, and it's harder to figure out where you're putting this and where to display it.
KERRY:And I will tell you, the some of the things that people do with these that you see on the Facebook and on the Instagram and everything, it it is impressive. It is impressive. It is impressive. But like you said, who has time for that?
CHRISY:I mean, you're making a video. Do you really you should put a disclaimer on there that says we prepped for this for weeks, yeah, and filmed it and edited it. Yeah. So please do not feel the need to try and duplicate this or you know, because it's just not happening. It's just not happening.
KERRY:Well, what I thought was interesting was the spin-offs of the elf. Yes.
CHRISY:I just now I totally was in the dark until you just brought this to my attention. And I'm even more upset now. Well, I think it's fantastic personally, on some of them. Well, we wouldn't want anybody to be left out in our suffering more with the suffering. Yeah, there you go.
KERRY:So some of the spin-offs that are definitely related to the holiday season is the mensch on the bench. Now, again, I apologize to any of our Jewish friends that if I said this wrong, I don't it I think it said mensch um M-E-N-S-C-H. This was created. Um, Neil Hoffman's son Jake asked him for an elf on the shelf. The Jewish father decided to create the mensch on a bench, a storybook and mensch doll to teach his children about Hanukkah in a fun way. So Mosh, the Mensch, holds the Shamosh candle and watches over the menorah. So I think that was that's good. It's so it's it's helping to diversify. So we have other religions and cultures that have something in addition to the elf on the shelf.
CHRISY:Well, yeah, and I appreciate that because it seems to want to inform. Yes. It has uh uh now I know the book, there's a book that comes with these elves now, right? Yes, yes, yes. Because they bought them in the 90s, they they didn't come with a book, they just decoration. So I don't know what the book says. Yeah, I don't know. So we can't speak of that, right? If it's trying to teach children about Christmas and the idea of it, and the idea of being kind and giving and to behave yourself or whatever it is, right? That's wonderful. I can't tell you for sure that it is or isn't. I don't know. Now you brought the mensch on the bench, it definitely seems like it does got a good message behind it.
KERRY:Yeah, it's a new Hanukkah family tradition. So I thought that was really cool. And along the same lines, wait, I gotta scroll down because it's like farther down on the list here, is the adventures of Amon Adam, and it's the brainchild of a Muslim man named Danny Shikaj, who decided to make a toy and book that would teach kids about Islam after seeing the elf on the shelf and the mench on the bench. So, again, here's another one that is kind of you know extending that. Um, so I I think it's that that to me is amazing.
CHRISY:It is amazing, and it shows that these the idea of this crosses all different backgrounds and uh your heritage. You you can definitely, and it there's a good message that can be uh made with this, which I'm all for.
KERRY:Now, this one though is kind of a well, I have to say, when I started reading it into more, I was like, oh my god, this might be Chrissy's Christmas gift this year. Oh it's the dwarf in the drawer, and it's a spoof on the elf on the shelf. So wait a minute, I gotta go to the Amazon page about it because they had a really good You're selling this on Amazon. Yeah, it's on Amazon. It's only $7.99. We could have it free delivery.
CHRISY:The price just went up after this free delivery, and you can get it in like three days.
DJ NICK:There's no there's no no room in any of my drawers.
CHRISY:So yeah, we do have a lot of junk in our drawers.
KERRY:Here, this is what it says the dwarf in the drawer, and I lived here before, before that darn elf, that insufferable boar. It's the most wonderful time of year, the time when tiny elves spy on the little children and then go dancing off to tattle to Sand up. What? That doesn't sound wonderful to you, right? The dwarf in the drawer doesn't think so either. Why does that dim-witted elf show up every December?
DJ NICK:Sounds like uh that's right up your alley, for some.
CHRISY:That's what I said. So you should be hopping all over that. I don't know. I I it it does sound like it's up my alley. It's it, but it again, it's they're all part of the same big problem. Yes, they are.
KERRY:Which is I don't know what to tell you. Now, then there was um uh some other spin-offs that takes it to past the holidays and more on either a different holiday or life situation. So this one's a good one. This one is Troop on the Stoop, and it's an elf on the shelf type product for military families, and it's special because it's a reminder to military children of their mom and dad. So it's kind of like to be like their mom and dad who's maybe serving, you know, and not home that they're that but they're still there watching over them. So that one, thumbs up. I like that one.
CHRISY:I like that one very much. I don't, but I think you can have that without connecting it with the I think it belittles the military thing. These people are off doing something very important, right?
KERRY:And why wouldn't you just want a picture of your child's parent?
CHRISY:I think that it probably for a child to have uh uh an item like that, it it might be consoling and yeah, and I think that's a good thing.
KERRY:Yeah, maybe like the dad or mom could give it to them whenever they're leaving and say, here, this is me watching over you. So when you remember when you hold this, I'm with you type thing. So yeah, I I think that's that's good. Thumbs up. Yeah. Okay, now we have the switch witch. And this is Oh, I know about this. Oh, you do?
CHRISY:Well, I know what it means. Oh, okay. Maybe you know more to some extent. Then tell me. One part of this I think is is to get these kids their candy is gonna be gone. Oh yeah, it does say something about that. This witch shows up after you worked really hard, Grant, from house to house. Probably soiled yourself trying to keep going for as long as you could to get all this candy. And uh you leave it, I don't know if you leave it outside or wherever, and what happens is uh this witch comes along, collects all the candy, and leaves you what? Uh uh one present. A toy or a book? Yes. Is it worth it to lose all that hard work? I mean, and and is there a judgment on her part? Like, did you like hold some candy back? So if you don't cough up all the goods, maybe your gift is lousy. Oh.
KERRY:Is this really just a parent's ploy to eat their kids' candy?
CHRISY:Yeah, where where are you going with this? Where's she taking this candy? Maybe she's putting it into a stew with your kid. Cancel and gratle type thing going on there.
KERRY:So I guess it says that this book was inspired by the author's son's disappointment with trick-or-treating due to food allergies. So that's why it was created the switch witch, to be able to um s encourage kids to switch out their excess Halloween candy for fun or a toy book.
CHRISY:So now you have children with a food allergy, which is not right fun. Because I know sometimes I try to separate candy when when we have trick-or-treaters to certain items that that that are supposedly not uh don't contain nuts or chocolate or something, and they can pick like a lollipop or something like that. Yeah. Because I know this is an issue for some children. Now you got them sort of going out and collecting this stuff anyhow, just to get a gift.
KERRY:Well, it's teaching them early how to to barter and to trade up. I don't want this shit, so I'm gonna trade it in to get something better.
CHRISY:Well, if you're getting something better, that's where's the list of what like how many pieces of candy equal what dollar amount of a a trade? This sounds like a big like economic nightmare.
KERRY:It sounds like a lot of work.
CHRISY:You have to have a spreadsheet. I mean, are five Snickers worth more than you know, five Tootsie rolls? Probably.
KERRY:And if it's what if it's the minis or the bite size?
CHRISY:A whole and what about the whole candy bar?
KERRY:You know, our our our airplane travel friends that are moving to Guam, they were giving out whole big candy bars. I was like, damn, Jim and I were like, we're coming over, we're gonna trick-or treat at your house.
CHRISY:Some of our neighbors do that here too, and it's just like it's sort of startling because we never saw this when we were trick-or-treating, and we'll go through the kids' candy, and all of a sudden there's like a whole Kit Kat in there or a whole thing of Reese Cups or Hershey, or and you're like, Wow. Yeah, do you remember what house you got this at? Because I'd like to you should have hit them twice. Yeah, exactly. I could have given you a second backup costume.
KERRY:All right, so we've got that one for Halloween. Then there was one for oh, here's this one: the troll on the bowl. This is to help potty train your kids. No, a mythical gnome doll in storybook meant to help parents with potty training and encourage clean bathroom habits. How does it do that? Now you got a stuffed animal type thing in the bathroom.
CHRISY:It is a little creepy. Here, wait a minute. Does anybody want any? Look at the picture.
KERRY:Yeah.
CHRISY:That's like that's almost like the what do you call that? The um It looks like children of the corn. Like he was in the cornfield.
KERRY:Yeah, you're right.
CHRISY:Put a hat on him.
KERRY:That's just you know that that's just something that's gonna once the friendly magical troll is up on the back of the toilet tank, a fun aiming game. What? See, may not be too far behind. Wait a minute. How is this an aiming game? Kids may soon start finding serial targets floating in the bowl for them to use as targets. When kids start keeping a clean bathroom, they just may see an occasional treat and note from the troll show up in the room. Why are you putting food in the bathroom for the kids? This is wrong. This is wrong. Every look. Okay, this is definitely a thumbs down. Yeah, I am not on board with this.
CHRISY:I don't agree with it at all.
KERRY:Sorry, Florida dad, Kevin O'Malley. Uh, we're gonna give you a thumbs down on the troll on the bowl. That's just crazy.
CHRISY:And the kids like, wait a minute, I was gonna And what about the girls?
KERRY:That's totally discriminatory of the girls. It's just no. Anything involving the bathroom. And why would you put then why would you put food in the bathroom? You don't want to give them a treat. I don't want no. They're they're probably the same people that have the toothbrush on the counter out in the bathroom too. Don't get me started.
CHRISY:Oh my god, I seal mine and like mine's under the sink and with a cap on it. Yeah, it's like a snar and it's like wrapped. Yeah, it's almost like unwrapping. I want to get that kind of scrolls when I have to get my toothbrush.
KERRY:I want the kind I have this on my Amazon wish list for when we move to our new place. I'm gonna get this, but it has a little thing you put into and it sanitizes it after I reuse. So that way there's for sure no no air germis that got on it.
CHRISY:I use the mouthwash. I usually swish it in mouthwash afterwards or before. That's like putting can sanitizer in your mouth. Well, then the toothpaste goes on it. Yeah.
KERRY:So, okay, here's another holiday-related one. This one is the bunny with the basket. Just as the elf on the shelf is a scout for Santa, the bunny with the basket is one of Easter Bunny's helpers. It explains that 12 days before Easter, the bunny arrives with a mini basket containing a golden egg. And inside the egg is a special note from the Easter bunny. The kid writes back, and the bunny with the basket delivers their message and reports their behavior. If they behave well, the Easter bunny rewards them with a basket of goodies on Easter morning.
CHRISY:You're gonna get a basket of goodies on Easter morning. Anyhow, what is this?
KERRY:Good lord. More work for the parents, is what it is. Yeah. So we're opposed, thank you. Yeah, I'm gonna say that one. Yeah. They somebody tried to do a knockoff, but uh. What about the St. Patrick's Day? You got to go to the city.
CHRISY:Oh, yeah, there was something, there was, it was, it was St. Patrick's Day. Well, we already have this, but I'm curious is do they actually have because now yeah, this was number two on the list.
KERRY:It's Silly McGilly. Silly McGilly is a cute leprechaun who visits homes and classrooms to play little tricks on kids in the weeks leading up to St. Patrick's Day. This new tradition was invented by three women of Irish heritage. Let me see if I go to the and it has a book. They all have a book. They do all have a book. Okay. Wonderful. The link is not working, so maybe Silly McGilly is no more. It sounds like a good name for a pub.
CHRISY:You guys going out for uh for a pint? Yeah, I'll meet you at Silly McGilly's.
KERRY:Saint Patrick's Day fun for your wee little one. Well, at least this one's doll isn't quite as creepy. No, it's it's actually cute.
CHRISY:But it it I mean, we already kind of have this whole thing going on because you know, uh bad enough with the classrooms having an elf being destructive in the kids' classrooms. Right. At St. Patrick's Day, they they usually do come home and tell me about the fact that they have uh a leprechaun running rapid through their classroom. Oh yeah, there is because I one year I had to have something here where I was squirting green coloring in the toilet. Right, you talked about that on our St. Patrick's Day opposite. Took uh mini marshmallows and dyed them green, and then I said that the the uh leprechaun took a dump in a box. I don't even well, I didn't know where to put the marshmallows once I dyed them. So then the question came up why is your leprechaun dumping in a box? I'm like, well, it didn't know, it's like a cat. I don't know. What do I know about the leprechaun? He doesn't talk to me, he's out of here. He takes a dump, he leaves. The leprechaun thing doesn't seem right. And it if I was uh, you know, I would think it's a little insulting. What's it saying about I it just it's wrong.
KERRY:This is wrong. I think those were the highlights on here. Let me look and see. So we talked about the yep, yep, yep. I think we talked about the oh, there is another one, the ghoul on the stool, and that's a Halloween story again about teaching kids to be nice and do good deeds, and so yeah. And there were other ones on there, they were more spoofs or political or things like that, but those were the ones that I thought were pertinent.
CHRISY:Well, they there it's it's it's it is interesting. The L thing is it's a whole thing now. It is a whole thing. The one thing I used to do, if I want to give somebody anxiety, because I used to do this, I haven't done it. I I I if I had the energy, I would do it again, and I probably will do it at some point again. Last year I didn't do it, which was kind of a bummer, but I would take wrapping paper. Yes, beautiful, overly decorated type wrapping paper, and I put it not completely on my cabinets in the kitchen. I have uh we have high ceilings and right in the house here, and the cabinets go all the way up to the ceiling and they're white. Uh, and I would buy this beautiful wrapping paper, and the like part of the cabinet, I would cut out wrapping paper and I would tape the wrapping paper to the cabinets. Oh, that's pretty. It's very pretty, and then you put a bow in the middle, and it looks like you have a bunch of presents. Nice. And I have a picture of that. It's time consuming though.
KERRY:Yeah. So in It's more work than I would ever do. So kudos to you. Yeah. You suffered. I did suffer with that.
CHRISY:And I have pictures. We'll post the pictures because it is very pretty. Yeah. And it's a nice idea, but it's time consuming. But all these other people I didn't have in it, uh pool noodle. Yeah. And zip ties. I use good old-fashioned, I bought pretty wrapping paper and tape. And uh had to sit there and measure each cabinet because they weren't all the same.
KERRY:I've seen people do that with their uh pictures where they cover their pr pictures so that looks so the pictures are now the present. So the same thing like you did with your cabinets, but they've they've covered their pictures that they have hanging all in their house. We don't want to see what the pictures are anymore. Well, I guess they were tired of looking at it for 11 months. So for one month of the year they they cover it up. I don't know. That seems a little insulting.
CHRISY:What happened to Grandpa and Grandma's picture? It's over there. It's got Polly on it right now. Forget it, grandma and grandpa, for one month. Can we forget about grandma and grandpa? Thank you. So I'm on board. I'm on board. Some pictures maybe won't be covered, but you try and figure out which ones are. Yeah, it's kind of a game, actually.
KERRY:Or you're like, what picture was there? I don't remember what picture. What picture was there? Because it's been there so long you you become blind to it.
CHRISY:Yeah, you forget all the it's it's probably a nice change, but I do have one movie shout-out I wanted to bring up. We've got to talk about it. Because this is crazy. Yes, and it does haunt me in my dreams every once in a while. It's a movie from they play it on Is this the Christmas that almost wasn't? No, I gotta talk about that though at some point. When we get closer, I will.
KERRY:Really? There's a Christmas that almost wasn't?
CHRISY:Yeah. Oh, good God, Chrissy. That one's the killer. Because they they're like their mouths are moving, but they're speaking in like Italian, but the words coming out are English. It's really good. Nick hates it.
KERRY:Of course he hates all these things. Me and Nick are usually on the same page. Okay, I'm sorry to interrupt. Go forward with the good one. This one's really bad. Oh god.
CHRISY:If I say it's really bad, you know it's bad. It's from 1959. And they ran it. The way I came across it, believe it or not, for somebody who used to watch a lot of television, I never remember seeing this until I was up during the holiday season watching TV. Turner Classic Movies. Oh, I love it. We'll run uh some really interesting Christmas type uh themed movies and TV type things or commercials or something, and it was on there. It is so wrong from the word go. It's Santa Claus versus Lucifer.
KERRY:Oh my god.
CHRISY:And it's like this the devil is like trying to encourage this little girl to steal a doll she wants, and she has to make a decision. And then there's all kinds of children, supposedly represented by their different countries of origin, and it's completely stereotyped. Like it's live action, not cartoons. Yes, it's in and it's got that great 50s vibe going, like with the colors and everything. It's like really kind of Nick shaking his head, it's crazy stuff, it's so wrong, it's wonderful because it's so wrong, it's salty Santa Claus, but you gotta look up 1959, and in some uh areas it might be called Santa Claus versus Satan because the devil's worked into this whole story. It's a total it's like watching like an acid trip, but in 1959, uh you just have to wonder why and who I think it was actually made, it's it's a Mexican film. Wow, I think I it I highly recommend it if you want to be like just sitting there going, What is a WTF moment for the whole movie? For the whole movie, and how long is it? Well, those movies back then they're generally not real long. Well, how long it might get it might take up about an hour twenty of your time. Oh, gee, that's you're asking a lot. Carrie, you're asking a lot. It's it's it's really it's so bad, it's good. And you know something is special when it hits that, it it leans, it tips itself over. You're like, this is bad, this is bad, this is bad. And then at the very moment you go, this is really good. No, because it's so bad.
KERRY:I don't know. All right, I'll think about it. I'm not sure about that. You gotta name a good one. Name a really good one.
DJ NICK:It's Spanish, not Mexican.
CHRISY:Oh, Spanish. I thought they said it was in Mexican, Mexico. Okay, Spanish.
DJ NICK:Maybe it was filmed there. I don't know, but it gets a 2.7 out of 10 stars on this.
Speaker 4:Oh, that's a really good rating.
CHRISY:That tells you how bad it is. A really good one. I don't know. What give us some more background on it? It's really it's tell me a good movie to watch. So, oh, you want to hear more about the just real quick, give us some.
DJ NICK:It's also called Santa Claus versus the devil.
CHRISY:The devil. Okay, I knew it was the devil. But if you just type in Santa Claus 1959, it'll pop up.
DJ NICK:The devil wants to prevent Santa from making the world, children of the world, happy. Alrighty. Well, I can be on board with that for a minute. However, Merlin the Magician helped Santa save the world from his evil plans.
CHRISY:There's a movie. Oh my goodness. It's so all over the place. It is so all over the place. Well, what a good movie for Christmas. I know we talked about this last year. I'm not a fan of It's a Wonderful Life. Yeah, but people love that. I'm not gonna crap all over it again. We talked about it. And I did bring up uh The Bishop's Wife. I know you did that one. I think that is a really great I like 'Twas the Night Before Christmas as far as cartoons go. I think that was like around 1974, 75. It's a rank and bass, I believe, vehicle. I'm more of a Santa Claus's Coming to Town Girl versus The Rudolph. I think just Rudolph in general. Again, so bad it's good. Frosty. If you don't know what I'm talking about, you guys gotta go back and listen to the last year about it. Because there is so much stuff you guys I've got to bring to your attention that you will be like, wait a minute, I didn't realize this, but this is really wrong. Yes. I'm not gonna talk. Touch on it anymore. So I think the bishop's wife is there. I like White Christmas just because it's kind of fun and the colors are beautiful in it. I am a classic Christmas story lover. Well, yeah, that's a class.
KERRY:Yeah, that's absolutely I've drawn a blank.
CHRISY:I know. I was gonna say hello. That's just that's a given.
KERRY:And then I am also a huge chubby chase with the um Christmas vacation. Christmas vacation. I don't watch that as often. It is good though. And and this one, I know I don't know why, but I really this one I do like at Christmas time. I get sucked into it all the time. And it's the um when Harry Met Sally.
CHRISY:Oh, you like that for Christmas? I do like that for Christmas time. There are some movies that actually aren't necessarily geared towards a holiday, but I associate them with the holiday.
KERRY:So that's yours, obviously. That was mine, yeah. And the other one like that is not sleepless in Seattle. It's the other one where she has the bookstore.
CHRISY:Oh, they see that it's more for um they do reference that on the list of movies to watch for Thanksgiving.
KERRY:Yeah, that's the one you've got mail, yeah, where she has the own looking.
CHRISY:There was actually a list where I was talking about some of the Thanksgiving ones at a prior episode. Uh there's like 60 referenced movies. And I seen some of them, but some of them I haven't. And I know Planes, Trains, and Automobiles is like a big one for Thanksgiving.
KERRY:Oh, but the ultimate one. Oh my god, I can't believe I didn't say this one first. Love actually.
CHRISY:Oh, I know what I watched this thing. I love the people in it. I love Liam Neeson. I love Emma Thompson.
KERRY:I love Hugh Grant. Oh my god, Hugh Grant. Yes. Best. You don't like the movie? I watched it. I was like, did you watch the real one with the with no cutout scenes? Are you watching the like made for TV? No, no, no, no. It was on like Netflix or something. It was it was fully intact, no commercials. So it had every character in it.
CHRISY:Well, didn't it start off with like an adult movie? Yes, that's what that's right away. Now I'm like, wait a minute. Am I in the mood for this or a holiday movie? If you're putting two different genres together that are extreme genres. Yes. But oh no, I love actually.
KERRY:I mean, I think they had their clothes on. Well, at one point. Well, that was weird. Well, because they were they were just like doing lighting and stuff getting ready, so they were like, they weren't really doing the actual filming, they were preparing.
CHRISY:So I think you gotta work that in. It was like right off the bat. Yeah, that's right at the very beginning. Yeah, like my mind just went to dark, terrible places.
KERRY:Well, I think that I love that that show.
CHRISY:But I know that has a huge following. Yeah, I love it.
KERRY:Yeah, so love action.
CHRISY:Yeah, no, uh, great movie. Santa Claus 1959. 1959. All right, you gotta come on, everybody out there.
KERRY:Just come on. Do I need a lot of farm teeny on board before I can absolutely the only way I'm gonna get through that?
CHRISY:Absolutely. Were you gonna bring anything else into this, Nick? I thought you said you were gonna say something. No.
DJ NICK:I I think I got 40% on rotten tomatoes. So yeah.
CHRISY:What? The Santa Claus?
DJ NICK:Santa Claus versus the devil or whatever.
CHRISY:I I don't understand. I have a hard time understanding the rotten tomatoes because that I don't ever use it. It sounds terrible because it says rotten tomatoes. You think the higher the score would be bad, but actually it's good.
KERRY:Yeah. I don't know. I don't ever I IMBD is my that's my go-to in movies, so yeah. It's an hour and 37 minutes. I knew it was about an hour.
CHRISY:Give it five minutes of your time. It's really, you could just pick it up wherever and be offended at any point in that movie. You don't even have to I'm not even trying to watch the whole thing. More than five minutes. When we talk about is this a Chrissy or Carrie? This is definitely a Chrissy, right? Because I like to be offended and uncomfortable most of the time. Because I am anyhow. I was telling you, that's what she said. And they were representing, but they were reading. He must have been Gemini, he wasn't listening. Well, no, he watched, I was watching it one time. He was trying to figure it, and he was offended right away because they kept reusing children for different countries. So they were basically saying, I don't know if we should be doing this, Chrissy. I'm not promoting it, but it's out there. I don't promote nothing except myself. And this podcast new and other than I'm not promoting it, but you gotta know what's out there. Turn to classic movies for Christ's sake is putting it on. Okay, granted, it's a three in the morning. So if you're up at three in the morning, it's time to do it. You deserve to be offended.
DJ NICK:So she didn't DVR it or anything.
CHRISY:I know it was on. And then I was like, whoa.
DJ NICK:I kept looking at it with my head turned side. It's bad. It's so bad.
CHRISY:It's so bad. It's good. I can't even sit here and tell you.
DJ NICK:It's so bad.
CHRISY:Wow.
DJ NICK:Yeah, you'll need my land to that.
KERRY:That was a lot. So I knew this was gonna be a good topic today to talk about a lot of dysfunction, but wow, we went down a rabbit hole. Well, I am uh looking forward to the rest of the month of December. I'm looking forward to one of our future episodes to tell you about how much I suffered for the Christmas I'm looking forward to. Decorating. So yeah, so we'll see how that goes. But don't forget that this month of December, we are supporting the Akron Canton Regional Food Bank. Regional Food Bank. Yes, and uh they do amazing things in the seven surrounding eight eight towns, eight counties in our area here. The amount of food that they help and the things that they do for everyone. So we definitely want to support that. You can go to our website, dysfunctionjunkiespodcast.com to learn more about them. And also we encourage you to maybe make a donation to a local food bank where you are uh to uh help anybody who's having food insecurity, especially this time of year. Yes. Uh with that said, uh, happy December, and we look forward to seeing you next week. Bye, everybody. Bye.
