Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - Ep 541 ｜ Christmas Hot Takes

00:00:00.000 Hey guys, welcome to Relatable. Happy Tuesday. Hope everyone is having a wonderful week so far,

00:00:14.340 getting ready for Christmas. As you guys know, these are pre-recorded episodes this week and

00:00:19.180 next week that I recorded before this week so my team and I can take a break, enjoy the holidays,

00:00:24.660 spend time with our families, rest, all of that good stuff. But I wanted to make sure that you

00:00:28.980 still got new episodes. So two new episodes this week that were pre-recorded, two conversations

00:00:34.000 next week that are awesome that were pre-recorded. Then that first week of January, there are going

00:00:39.340 to be no new episodes. We might do some replay episodes of some older episodes, but no new

00:00:46.400 episodes that week, just taking a break. Today, we're going to listen to some fun voicemails from

00:00:52.460 you guys. I asked you your unpopular Christmas opinions. And then we're going to talk to a

00:00:59.200 friend of the show, Nathan Nipper. He just wrote his first fiction novel and it's a Christmas novel

00:01:06.420 and it's just lovely. He's a lovely person. And I think this novel is going to be especially

00:01:11.920 great for my audience. And so we're going to talk to him at the end of the episode. This is just going

00:01:17.180 to be a fun, lighthearted Christmas episode to get you in the mood as you are making those

00:01:23.580 gingerbread houses. I don't think I've actually ever made a gingerbread house, but I think that's

00:01:28.280 something that people do before Christmas. When I tell you guys that I am not a crafty, artistic

00:01:32.940 person, I really mean it. So anything creative like that, I'm just, I'm just not good at it. And

00:01:38.160 honestly, I don't enjoy it. But for those of you who do, maybe you're enjoying, enjoying that right

00:01:43.180 now. And you're listening to this podcast episode as you do that. And so this is going to be fun.

00:01:50.120 And then on Thursday, we're going to have a little bit more, a more profound, a deeper episode,

00:01:55.820 a theological episode, an encouraging episode about why we celebrate Christmas, what the gospel is,

00:02:01.720 who this Jesus is, who came to be born in a manger and died for our sins on our behalf, that we might

00:02:08.320 live forever with him. So we'll be talking about all of that on Thursday. I highly recommend

00:02:12.020 listening to that episode. But today, today, we're going to do some fun stuff. We're going to listen

00:02:17.000 to your voicemails, and I'll have some commentary to give after each voicemail, I'm sure. So let's go

00:02:23.380 ahead and get started with that. Our first voicemail for the day. Hello, this is Karen. I'm calling from

00:02:29.560 Florida. I love your show, but my Christmas pet peeve is people taking photos in front of their

00:02:37.180 Christmas tree on Thanksgiving. How do you know the following year or later? Was this Thanksgiving

00:02:43.800 or this Christmas? It is Thanksgiving. You don't take your family pictures in front of the Christmas

00:02:48.660 tree. All right, that's all. Have a great day. I love your podcast. Wow, that is oddly specific.

00:02:55.020 I had to really think about that as you were talking about, okay, so you don't like when people take their

00:03:00.380 Christmas picture in front of their Christmas tree on Thanksgiving. I didn't know that was something

00:03:05.500 that people did. However, it does remind me of my Christmas pet peeve, which that wasn't totally

00:03:13.600 the assignment, but I appreciate it because I love hearing people's peeves and pet peeves. And so thank

00:03:20.200 you for telling us what you dislike when it comes to what people do on Christmas. But I don't like it

00:03:27.080 when people decorate before Thanksgiving for Christmas. I want everything to have their season. Now, I

00:03:32.840 understand there are people who literally, they legitimately get offended when I say that I think

00:03:37.460 we should wait to play Christmas music and put up your Christmas tree and your lights and all of that

00:03:42.400 stuff until after Thanksgiving. My preference is December 1st. But some people, they do it, they're

00:03:49.020 like before Halloween, they're starting to take down their Christmas decorations from their attic.

00:03:53.780 And when I, you know, I speak truth to power about that. When I push back about this very important

00:04:00.900 issue, I get some people who message me and say, why can't you just allow people to enjoy what they

00:04:07.460 want to enjoy? It's been a hard year and people can enjoy out of Christmas. Why can't you just let

00:04:11.880 people enjoy it? Well, look, I am not, I am not proposing any legislation here. Okay. I am not,

00:04:19.320 I am not banning your Christmas celebrations. You can leave your, you can leave your Christmas lights

00:04:27.380 on, on your front porch all year. And in fact, if you drive through Arkansas, you'll see a lot of

00:04:33.120 people with their lights on their front porch all year and their Christmas decorations. So that's fine

00:04:38.520 if you, if you want to do that. And by the way, I can say that because most of my family is from

00:04:43.140 Arkansas and we go to Arkansas a lot and you're lovely people. I'm just saying that a lot of people

00:04:48.080 leave their Christmas decorations outside all year in Arkansas. And that's fine with me. If that

00:04:53.360 brings you joy, you should do that. I am just saying my preferences and my opinions, and you

00:04:57.920 listen to this podcast and follow me on Instagram because you want to hear my opinions. So you can't

00:05:03.420 get angry with me when I say that I think that you should leave your Christmas decorations in the

00:05:09.880 boxes until after Thanksgiving. I just like everything to have their season and there's a time to celebrate

00:05:15.220 fall and harvest and Thanksgiving and all of that good stuff. And I just feel like we railroaded it

00:05:19.560 with Santa Claus. And, um, I don't know. I'm just against it. I'm against it. Uh, all right,

00:05:25.380 let's listen to the next, um, the, the next voicemail.

00:05:29.700 Hi, Allie. This is Stephanie from Indiana. Here's my hot take on Christmas no-nos. Adults just should not

00:05:36.440 wear Santa hats. It's kind of the equivalent to putting eyelashes on your car. Just had to say it.

00:05:41.880 Thanks for all you do. Thanks for your work. Putting eyelashes on your car. That's hilarious.

00:05:47.440 I think it's weird when people do that too. If you do that, you know, going back to what I just

00:05:51.800 said, if that brings you joy, that's fine. There's no moral qualm that I have with putting

00:05:56.200 eyelashes on your car. I just think, I feel like it only happens with people who have VW bugs and

00:06:01.720 people who drive Jeeps and VW bugs have like their own personality trait. It's like your own,

00:06:06.880 it should be your own Enneagram number, like VW bug over here, Jeep people over here. You have

00:06:12.760 your own characteristics. One of the characteristics of people who drive VW bugs is that they put

00:06:18.940 eyelashes on their car. I don't understand it, but again, you know what, if that makes you happy,

00:06:23.000 that's fine. Okay. So adults wearing Santa hats. All right. I guess, I, I, I guess if you're doing it

00:06:34.760 in like a serious way, I would have a problem with that. If that was like your real accessory,

00:06:38.720 it doesn't really bother me. I think for just, uh, you know, taking a picture in front of the,

00:06:44.680 the tree or something like that, that doesn't bother me now. Now adults dressing up in like

00:06:50.920 Christmas footie pajamas or something like that, that freaks me out. I think when adults are,

00:06:57.600 when adults are into things that really are just for children, that kind of freaks me out. And that

00:07:07.620 also is true when it comes to like Christmas traditions. Personally, I don't want, like,

00:07:14.720 I don't think adults should be wearing like footie pajamas on Christmas. So maybe that's also like the

00:07:19.400 vibe that you're going for the, the eyelash on car vibe. I'm going to really start thinking about,

00:07:25.180 I'm going to start thinking about what that means. What does it mean for someone to do something that

00:07:31.020 is similar to putting eyelashes on your head, on your headlights? I'm going to be thinking about

00:07:36.860 that. Kind of like I thought about, you know, that term Chugi that has gotten so popular this year.

00:07:41.960 That's kind of intangible, unquantifiable and not definable. Like what exactly is Chugi? All of us

00:07:49.780 millennials probably fall into that category. I'm going to be thinking, what is an eyelash on the

00:07:56.000 headlights of your car vibe? That's very interesting. Thank you for introducing me to that.

00:08:02.380 Okay. Next voicemail. Hey, Allie, it's your girl, Ansley. I loathe Hallmark Christmas movies.

00:08:12.120 I don't understand them. The plot is the same every single year. Every title is the same.

00:08:18.660 You've got a Christmas star, a match made at Christmas, a pen pal for Christmas, a royal

00:08:26.060 Christmas. They're all the same. They're all about city flickers with high paying corporate jobs who

00:08:33.240 are sent to a small town that loves Christmas. And I'm just over the same movie. And I would rather

00:08:42.660 watch Will Ferrell eat spaghetti with chocolate syrup and candies on it, aka Elf, for 24 nights in a row

00:08:52.020 than be subjected to curling up with hot cocoa watching Hallmark Christmas movies. No, thank you.

00:08:58.460 I will find anything else to do with my time than to subject myself to horror movies like the

00:09:05.340 Hallmark Christmas movies. Anyways, love you, friend. Hope you're doing well. Merry Christmas.

00:09:11.300 Merry Christmas. Okay. So that actually is a real life friend. All of you are my friends in one

00:09:17.380 sentence, but Ansley, she really is my girl. I love, I love you, Ansley. Thank you for leaving a

00:09:24.680 voicemail. Thank you for listening to Relatable. That means so much. So Ansley and I, this is a total

00:09:30.400 like a side and I don't know if anyone is interested in this at all, but the first job I worked after

00:09:36.760 college, I worked at this PR and social media firm and the people that worked there were just the most

00:09:42.420 amazing people. I still love them to this day. I still talk to my bosses from that first job. I learned

00:09:47.280 so much from that first job, but my coworkers were just amazing. I'm still friends with them. And Ansley

00:09:52.140 was my coworker. I think I started working there. It was like a week after graduation. I think she had

00:09:56.400 just gotten engaged like the night before. And I remember it was the night of her wedding. I went

00:10:02.300 to her wedding that my now husband asked me to go on a first date and I couldn't go because I was at

00:10:07.200 Ansley's wedding. So that's Ansley. And Ansley also did my makeup for my wedding. She's just an

00:10:11.420 incredible person. She and her husband are awesome. And it's got a cute kid and a really cute dog and

00:10:16.980 they're just wonderful. And she's hilarious. And I loved her unpopular opinion about the Hallmark

00:10:24.000 movies. I know a lot of people love Hallmark movies. Let me tell you my experience with

00:10:28.240 these Christmas Hallmark movies. I don't have very many because I feel the same way that Ansley

00:10:32.120 dies. They are super cheesy. Now I can see why people like them because it's so simple and it's

00:10:39.500 just like, you know, it's going to be pretty wholesome. Although some of you have told me there

00:10:43.520 were maybe some woke progressive themes in Hallmark movies this year that you don't appreciate and you

00:10:49.140 feel like you're not going to watch the Hallmark movies. I mean, Hallmark has got to know their

00:10:52.540 audience. Like they're mostly like conservative 50 year old women that are watching these Hallmark

00:10:58.560 movies. But of course, they're going to push, you know, Hollywood ideals on you eventually.

00:11:03.700 But I understand why people like them. So I'm not, you know, making fun of you for that. It makes a

00:11:08.420 lot of sense to me. But I just personally don't accept for. So sometimes I get my hair done at

00:11:16.680 what's it called? What's that? What's that called? Is it? What's it called? The place that does your

00:11:23.620 hair? What's it called? No, not fly bar. What is it called? They dry bar. Okay, I think I'm mixing.

00:11:34.900 I think that there is like a bar B A R R E place called fly bar. And I think that at dry bar,

00:11:41.700 they call they like there's like signs that call you like a bar fly if you go there. Okay,

00:11:47.340 so that was just my moment of not being able to use my brain properly. But dry bar. So sometimes I

00:11:53.560 go there to get my hair done. And this month, they have like this deal with Hallmark where they play

00:11:58.220 Hallmark movies continually. And so I just find myself because I'm just getting my hair done. It's

00:12:04.140 right in front of you. And they've got the captions on. I find myself just raptured watching these. I think

00:12:09.060 I watched two in a row the other day when I was getting my hair done. As you guys know,

00:12:12.720 I have a lot of hair and it takes forever for me to do it, which is why I go and get it done.

00:12:16.780 And it takes I have to sit there for like two hours as they're blow drying my hair. And I was

00:12:20.360 watching these Hallmark movies. And I was thinking the same thing that Ansley was watching. I'm like,

00:12:23.700 oh my gosh, this is the same exact storyline is the last one I just watched. And yeah, but you know,

00:12:33.500 I think that they probably make a lot of good money on that because people watch them. So it must be

00:12:38.920 a good industry. But Ansley, my friend, I'm right there with you. I would watch Elf any day of the

00:12:44.600 week over a Hallmark Christmas movie. All right, next voicemail. Hi, Allie. This is Stephanie. I'm

00:12:50.820 calling from Virginia. In response to your request about Christmas movies and traditions and that kind

00:12:57.780 of thing. I'm with you. I love It's a Wonderful Life. So hands down, that's probably one of my favorite

00:13:02.520 movies. The one movie that I can't stand, and I've never watched it because I just can't get

00:13:09.400 through it is I think it's called The Christmas Movie. Yes. It's about the one with the Red Rider

00:13:13.760 BB gun. Anyway, I can't stand that movie. And they play it like for 24 hours on Christmas Day. It's

00:13:20.580 like, oh my goodness, give me a break. Yes. Anyway, one thing that I love and other people around me

00:13:24.940 don't like, I love fruitcake. My mom and dad made the best fruitcake. They make a baked fruitcake and

00:13:32.700 they made a unbaked fruitcake that you use marshmallow cream with. And I'm just, I love

00:13:37.700 fruitcake. But anyway, so I thought you might get a kick out of that. Thank you so much. I hope you

00:13:42.620 have a great Christmas and I love your show. Bye. Well, thank you so much for leaving a voicemail.

00:13:48.060 So right there with you on It's a Wonderful Life. As I said last week, you can give me all

00:13:53.940 kinds of unpopular opinions in these voicemails. One thing you cannot say is that you don't like

00:13:57.540 It's a Wonderful Life. You can have your own opinions, but you're not entitled to your own

00:14:01.560 facts. Like you're not, you're not in that. It's a fact. It's a fact that It's a Wonderful Life is a

00:14:07.020 good movie. And we have some atrocious opinions on the relatable team. And it just goes to show how

00:14:14.760 truly tolerant I am that there is a person who will not be named, but his name rhymes with

00:14:21.420 Billen. And he not only doesn't like It's a Wonderful Life, he also, he also doesn't like

00:14:30.220 The Office. And I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, oh my gosh, is he even allowed

00:14:35.100 in the building when you guys record? And I say, yes, we've had to talk through it. I've had to really

00:14:42.100 try to understand where he's coming from. He says there are no jokes in The Office.

00:14:47.800 I'm pausing for dramatic effects for you to just be able to take that in. Because I know some of

00:14:52.080 you out there, you had to gasp and say, what is he talking about? So maybe it doesn't surprise you

00:14:56.240 that the same person doesn't like It's a Wonderful Life. We've had to, we've had to hash it out and talk

00:15:02.400 through it. He brings other things to the table. And so we say, okay, well, you're not fired for that.

00:15:08.840 It's close. Those are two strikes. If he says, I don't know, that he doesn't like,

00:15:15.240 I don't know, that he doesn't think Curb Your Enthusiasm is funny, or he doesn't like cheesecake,

00:15:21.040 or something like that, then that just might be, that might be it. That might be the final strike.

00:15:27.380 I'll let you know about that. So It's a Wonderful Life. Yes, beautiful, wonderful movie. I will say

00:15:31.800 that it's long. It's long. Okay, so by the time he is trying to jump off the bridge, it's like,

00:15:37.280 whoo, we got a whole other half of the movie left. This is usually on Christmas Eve for me. And so

00:15:42.380 I'm like, trying not to fall asleep. But it is a great, wonderful, redemptive movie, Christmas movie

00:15:49.480 or Christmas story, whatever it's called. I also don't know. I also haven't been able to get through

00:15:54.180 it. It's just like very dark and depressing to me. I don't like it at all. Now, this is coming from

00:16:00.020 someone who just watched the movie Stepmom for fun the other day, and he actually loves sad movies. I was

00:16:05.500 just talking about this. I love movies that end sadly. I don't know why. Like, I love The Notebook.

00:16:12.380 I love What's Eating Gilbert Grape. But it's like a Christmas story or Christmas movie. Again,

00:16:18.620 whatever it is called, it's different. It's not just sad. It's just like miserable. It's just as

00:16:24.820 pitiful. I guess that's the way I describe it. I just don't think it's funny or good or classic at

00:16:29.720 all. And it's strange to me that we have decided that we are going to play it constantly. And then

00:16:37.040 for your unpopular opinion about fruitcake. So I think everyone kind of has a different definition

00:16:42.900 of what fruitcake is. We have these like fruit logs that my grandmother used to make. And she

00:16:50.560 passed down the recipe and my mom makes them and she does a really good job. And I honestly am not

00:16:55.980 even totally sure what's in it. There are different nuts in it. There are raisins. There's like graham

00:17:00.000 cracker on the outside, I think. But it's I don't think it's like your traditional fruitcake. But

00:17:06.100 that's really good. I mean, I could eat like a whole one of those by myself. But some people have like

00:17:12.360 fruit, like congealed fruit salads that they call like fruitcake in a way. So I don't know what your

00:17:19.220 definition of fruitcake is. But I believe you when you say that it's good. I'm more of a chocolate gal

00:17:23.520 myself. I would rather take chocolate than something broody. But I also just like sugar

00:17:28.820 in general. So I probably wouldn't turn it down. All right. How many more voicemails do we have?

00:17:34.580 Lots. Okay. Um, maybe like three more. Okay, so let's play the next one.

00:17:41.820 Hi, Allie. My name is Marissa Lee. I basically listened to your show. And you had asked your listeners

00:17:49.720 to call in and say something that is funny about Christmas or like a Christmas tradition

00:17:58.140 that most people like, but we don't. I guess I'm kind of boring. I like most of the things

00:18:04.060 that you're supposed to like at Christmas. But I do have a good, funny, recent Christmas

00:18:10.360 story for you. So my family and I, my husband and my two children went to a Christmas tree farm.

00:18:16.960 We live in Washington State. And it's our family tradition to go pick a Christmas tree,

00:18:22.980 cut it down or have them cut it down, a fresh tree. So I'm out hunting for trees. And I'm

00:18:29.960 seeing some good ones in a certain area. So I call my husband over and I say, come check

00:18:35.020 these trees out. I find a nice looking tree. And I see kind of middle of the tree. It's a

00:18:42.900 noble, a noble tree. What I think is like a long pine needle sticking down out of the

00:18:52.880 tree. And I go to reach for it with my bare hands. And at the very last second, I discover

00:18:59.860 it's actually a rat tail. So there is a dead rat that had crawled up inside this Christmas

00:19:06.620 tree and its tail was just hanging down ready for me to grab. And I realized what I was

00:19:12.840 doing at the very last minute. And I just kind of screamed and freaked out and did a little

00:19:17.940 bit of a, you know, kind of breakout thing and just realized, like tried to process like

00:19:26.500 what I almost did, grabbed a dead rat with my bare hands. Oh, so gross. Never had that happen

00:19:32.020 before. My husband, of course, was laughing and thought it was hilarious. And I finally

00:19:38.340 realized, you know, that. Oh, okay. So it kind of cut off there. Oh my gosh. Did you cut

00:19:46.240 off your hand? I think that I, I think I would have, and I think I just would have moved my

00:19:51.300 family to a new state and I would never be able to live down that memory. What? Oh my gosh. That

00:20:02.140 is terrifying. I'm really sorry that that happened to you. Wow. I didn't know where that story was

00:20:08.440 going. I didn't. And I was just shocked by that. But we had the exact same reaction, like

00:20:14.400 the same exact pitch to our, to our scream. That is really scary. I'm sorry. Sorry that that

00:20:20.340 happened. Maybe that's a sign you're not supposed to be in Washington state. You're not supposed to

00:20:24.020 be in that liberal hellscape anymore. You need to move to a free state. And maybe that was the

00:20:28.580 Lord telling you that this place is infested with rats. Figuratively, literally, just kidding. I'm

00:20:35.000 sure it's a lovely area where you live. Thank you for telling me that horror story. Now everyone's

00:20:41.920 not going to be able to sleep tonight because they're going to be thinking about that. But I do

00:20:45.680 appreciate you taking the time to leave your voicemail. All right. Next, next voicemail.

00:20:50.340 I'm Lacey and I'm from Ohio. And my unpopular Christmas opinion is that I don't like the

00:20:58.340 Christmas dinner, like turkey, mashed potatoes, all of that stuff. I'm okay just having it once

00:21:06.880 a year for Thanksgiving. And after that, I'm pretty much done. My family actually takes a

00:21:13.160 different meal. One year we did a seafood boil. And this year I think we're doing Italian again.

00:21:20.080 And we're not Italian, but we like Italian food. So that's my unpopular Christmas opinion.

00:21:26.080 I love it. I don't think that's unpopular. I don't really like it either. We just went through

00:21:31.360 having to eat the turkey and the ham that no one really likes on Thanksgiving. We don't need to

00:21:36.940 pretend again on Christmas. There's no need for us to go through that. I think we have had Italian in

00:21:42.540 the past too. Like I'm good with barbecue. I love the idea of a seafood boil. That's a great idea.

00:21:48.680 Like just eat what you want to eat. Now for Thanksgiving, I do for whatever stick more to

00:21:54.060 the formality of tradition and all of that. I'm more of like a sides and dessert kind of girl for

00:21:59.180 Thanksgiving. But for Christmas, just do what you want to do. I don't know what we're going to do this

00:22:03.780 year. I think we're kind of laying low. I don't know if we're going to do anything special for

00:22:08.300 Christmas Eve dinner. I think we're going to do like a Christmas day breakfast. And I'm thinking

00:22:15.180 of doing some, my mother-in-law makes these amazing ham and cheese rolls that she puts in the oven that

00:22:22.040 are just like melty cheese and butter and ham. If you can tell my whole family is from the South

00:22:27.360 and it's so good. She also makes these really good quiches and breakfast quiches that are so good.

00:22:34.620 So maybe I'll attempt to do those things. I am, I have limited abilities as a cook. And so I might

00:22:42.540 try to do those things, might do some, you know, cinnamon rolls out of the can or something. Cause

00:22:46.020 I think my whole family is going to come to my house for, uh, for breakfast. And so, yeah, I,

00:22:53.140 and I like breakfast food maybe even better than dinner food. So that's probably how we'll,

00:22:57.360 how we'll do it. I don't think that's that unpopular of a position. So I support you. I support

00:23:03.660 you and your Italian food endeavors this Christmas. All right. Maybe one more voicemail.

00:23:10.040 Hi, Allie. My name's Heather and I live in Georgetown, Texas. Okay. So my unpopular Christmas

00:23:15.440 take is The Grinch, but let me be clear. It's not the original Dr. Seuss book with the cute characters

00:23:22.320 and the sweet storybook ending. I appreciate the classic cartoon character and story as much as the

00:23:28.540 next person. It is the cosplay type dressing up as the Grinch that totally freaks me out.

00:23:34.600 I think it's scary, the face paint or the mask and how he always has that big belly sticking out of

00:23:40.620 a Christmas sweater. It's just super weird. It's not cute. It's disturbing. As much as I desperately

00:23:47.000 want to love Jim Carrey as the Grinch, there's just something about the humanoid Grinch that freaks

00:23:52.780 me out. We have a huge lighting of the square event in Georgetown, Texas every Christmas and

00:23:57.880 every single year. The Grinch is there and people love it. And here I am cringing and crossing over

00:24:03.780 to the other side of the street to avoid him. Those pictures that trend every year during the holiday

00:24:09.240 season where parents pay to traumatize their kids or pets and snap a picture of it as the freaky Grinch

00:24:16.780 pops out of the bushes behind them. And the photographer captures the moment of pure terror in their

00:24:22.600 faces. That is just a big Christmas no for me. Let's leave the story of the Grinch in the pages

00:24:29.280 of the sweet classic book and stop terrorizing the town in our scary Grinch costume. Surely I'm not the

00:24:36.420 only one who feels this way. I love your podcast, Allie Best. Merry Christmas. Thank you and Merry

00:24:42.940 Christmas. I love how you so clearly explain your position on that. So I agree with you and disagree

00:24:49.060 with you. So I love the like, I don't know what year it was 2000, maybe 2003 version of the Grinch

00:24:57.300 with Jim Carrey. I have always loved it. I think it's so quotable. Now I agree with you. There are

00:25:03.460 some like freaky parts to it. It actually came on TV the other day and I was watching it and I was like,

00:25:08.360 I don't really like this part where he is like being force fed eggnog and he is being forced to like

00:25:15.260 eat all of this food to the point of being overly tired. It's weird. There are some definitely some

00:25:20.360 dark parts to that movie, but Jim Carrey is hilarious as the Grinch and it's so quotable.

00:25:28.360 And I love, I just think that he does a really good job. Dinner with myself at eight can cancel that

00:25:34.740 again. I love that part. I love that part when he says like a 630 wallow in self-loathing or something

00:25:40.980 like that when he's deciding whether or not to go to the whole, you know, the whole shebang down in

00:25:47.000 Whoville. It's so quotable. It's so quotable. We also do love the original Grinch book in our house.

00:25:55.120 We are, we have to read it on repeat like every single day because it is a favorite in our household

00:26:00.920 and it's super cute. I do agree with you though. I don't think that I would take my young kids to get

00:26:06.460 their picture with the Grinch. It is kind of freaky. It is kind of scary. And so that's not

00:26:12.620 something that I would be like clamoring to do. So I'm with you there. I'm with you. It is kind

00:26:16.780 of freaky. It is kind of creepy. I just think that the, uh, not the original Grinch, which is the

00:26:22.340 cartoon, but the Grinch in the early two thousands, I personally think it's just really funny and is

00:26:27.460 good acting. It has a lot of quotable lines. That's my take on that. All right. That's all we have

00:26:32.880 time for as far as unpopular Christmas, uh, Christmas things go. Nathan, thank you so much

00:26:41.140 for joining us. Can you tell everyone who you are and what you do? Sure. Um, well, I'm a Christian,

00:26:47.920 um, a husband, a dad, father of three. And, um, I work for, um, I'm a writer by trade and work for

00:26:56.320 the Glenn Beck team on his TV and radio shows, um, writing primarily for them. And, um, yeah,

00:27:03.620 I've been here for several years. Yeah. How long have you been here? That's what I was going to ask.

00:27:07.080 I started here in 2016. Okay. So about five and a half years. Very interesting time. Yeah. To join

00:27:13.300 the show. There's a lot that has happened since 2016. Yes. If I had been able to see at the time,

00:27:20.420 oh gosh, I mean, I did not know what I was right. Yes. Uh, not job wise. It's been great. I love the

00:27:29.060 team that we work with and everything, but just the chaos and U S politics has just been something

00:27:34.800 else. You've been really busy and you've also written a novel life on Christmas Eve. Is this

00:27:40.360 the first novel that you've written? Yes. Um, I wrote a nonfiction book several years back. Um,

00:27:46.160 but this is the first, my first attempt at fiction. Okay. Um, although it's not totally out of left

00:27:51.420 field because, uh, way back early in my career, I did some screenwriting. And so in fact, this started

00:27:57.240 as a screenplay years ago. Oh yeah. And, um, I thought it might actually get made into a movie,

00:28:02.720 but you know, when in the screenwriting world, so many times deals get to the, on the cusp, you know,

00:28:09.920 and then fall apart. And that happens all the time. It's just part of the process. And so that's

00:28:13.720 what happened with this one. And then, okay. Yeah. So tell us about it. Life on Christmas Eve.

00:28:18.300 What is this about? Why'd you write it? Yeah. It life on Christmas Eve is about a 31 year old,

00:28:23.420 a small town woman who watches. It's a wonderful life for the very first time. And shortly after

00:28:28.900 she does, uh, she starts to notice some kind of weird similarities between things that happened

00:28:33.740 to her and things that happen in the movie. And so it's, uh, her, her journey basically to figure

00:28:39.620 out why these things might be happening and what they might mean. If anything leads her to,

00:28:44.480 uh, uh, an encounter, a life-changing encounter with a mysterious stranger on Christmas Eve.

00:28:51.120 So, okay. There's kind of, it's kind of a fun, I hope, uh, quirky type story that, uh, is set during

00:28:58.260 the holiday season. Very heartwarming sort of fun read that I hope in the end kind of packs a surprise

00:29:04.260 emotional punch. Yes. And I'm sure that it will. And I think a lot of people in my audience can

00:29:10.160 relate to this because there are a lot of 31 year old women who are in this audience. Maybe some of

00:29:15.980 them who haven't seen it's a wonderful life. Maybe they'll be watching. It's a wonderful life for the

00:29:19.820 first time this Christmas. And so they can actually see themselves in this story, which I think just

00:29:24.660 kind of adds another layer to it and is really fun. And where can they find it? So, uh, well,

00:29:31.020 the hardcovers actually have almost, are almost gone. That's awesome. You can still find it on

00:29:36.360 Amazon. They, because of the supply chain issues and the publishing world, um, there hasn't been

00:29:41.600 a second print run, but there, there are still paperbacks. They had to do a paperback actually

00:29:46.180 to try to, um, keep up with the demand here. So you could still get it in time for Christmas,

00:29:51.820 but it may be a paperback. Okay. And of course, digital it's available. Yes. Okay. So life on

00:29:56.860 Christmas Eve, they can get it on Amazon and wherever, and they can get the digital use

00:30:00.920 that they can get it on Kindle. Okay. That is wonderful. And what else would you say that people

00:30:08.660 in my particular audience, what do you think that they could get from this or that they

00:30:12.300 would like about this? As you know, most of my audience is young women. Like I said,

00:30:17.100 they kind of fit this category. What's your hope that someone would get out of this book?

00:30:21.300 Yeah. I mean, there are several themes. Um, you know, the main character is, is a Christian.

00:30:27.160 There's this, uh, a theme woven throughout of faith, not just sort of a generic faith, but

00:30:33.300 this idea as believers, you know, we want to know answers for why things are happening in our lives.

00:30:39.380 And, you know, sometimes you get that clarity and sometimes you don't. And what do you do when

00:30:43.840 you don't get it? Um, do we still trust God? He's, he's infinitely trustworthy, but we're,

00:30:50.580 and I'm speaking from personal experience here. We're kind of bad at the trust part. A lot of

00:30:55.600 times, you know, we just, we fade easily, uh, in that walk. And so there's that element. Um,

00:31:02.620 there's also the theme of a strong theme of grace and sort of, uh, generosity and love. There's sort

00:31:09.380 of a nemesis character in this book that the main character, Julie has to deal with. And I was really

00:31:16.340 sort of preaching to myself, you know, this idea of, do I really love my enemies as I'm commanded to

00:31:23.060 by Christ? Do I pray for those who persecute me? Or even if I'm not personally persecuted by

00:31:29.380 something, which I'm not that often. Um, but do we, do I pray for those who are on the opposite side

00:31:36.480 of the political spectrum from me or whatever? Um, those are convicting words. And I don't spend a lot

00:31:42.840 of time with that on that, you know, I don't love my enemies very well. And so I was really sort of

00:31:50.160 working through that, um, as one of the themes in the book as well. And then, uh, ultimately it's not

00:31:57.060 a book about abortion. There's the, the, that word is not mentioned. That's not part of it. However,

00:32:03.740 uh, without giving away sort of a surprising ending, I do hope that this book, the story gives you sort

00:32:12.640 of a different lens for considering the unborn and, um, the theme of the inherent value of each

00:32:21.480 individual life is, is very strong in the end. Yeah. Yeah. I think that's something that a lot

00:32:26.680 of people can learn from that point that you made about the importance of forgiving our enemies,

00:32:32.240 even when they don't ask for forgiveness or praying for those who persecute us or who slander us

00:32:39.180 or whatever it is. Um, that's certainly something that we like to say that we do as Christians or

00:32:45.260 that we want to do. And certainly at Christmas time, there's a lot of talk about redemption and

00:32:50.760 love and reconciliation and things like that. But I think a lot of times myself included, we pay lip

00:32:56.400 service to those things without actually examining our hearts. Is this really true? Am I living out the

00:33:03.880 undeserved love that God gave to me toward other people? And very often we talk about, you know,

00:33:10.600 Christmas cheer and generosity and charity and things like that. But when it comes to repenting

00:33:16.420 of our lack of things, our lack of those things in our heart, that's much more difficult to do. It's

00:33:22.000 easy to put it on a Christmas card and just talk about it. Um, you know, or hear about it in a sermon

00:33:28.420 or sing about it in Christmas hymns, but when it comes to applying it to our lives, it's a little

00:33:33.980 bit more difficult. Easier in theory than in practice a lot of times, right? Yeah. Um, you know,

00:33:40.380 if there's one thing the last couple of years in our culture has shown we've, we've, we've had a

00:33:46.500 pandemic and then we've had a pandemic of a lack of grace, I feel like. And goodness, I mean,

00:33:53.400 just preaching to the choir here, but you know, the Christian community, our reputation has taken a

00:33:59.640 hit. Yeah. And there are freedoms to be defended. Certainly there are issues in our culture that are

00:34:07.400 concerning and all of that. But if we don't have a, if our approach isn't graceful from, from the get

00:34:14.540 go, then no one's going to listen to what we have to say, you know, and we're not representing Christ if

00:34:20.800 we aren't stepping out with, with grace first. And it can be difficult to balance grace and boldness

00:34:27.000 because grace doesn't, uh, being gracious doesn't mean that you don't speak the truth. But thankfully

00:34:32.700 we, we see such beautiful examples of that grace and truth and boldness and bravery and love in the

00:34:39.920 person of Jesus. That's what his ministry was. He, uh, was harsh toward the people he needed to be harsh

00:34:45.580 too. He was clear when he needed to be clear. Um, but he was also full of grace. We see that in

00:34:52.140 the testimony of Stephen too, who was filled with grace and truth. And so Christians, when we're

00:34:59.380 trying to balance that and say, okay, what does that look like to love our enemies, but also to speak

00:35:04.880 against, you know, uh, ideologies and ideas and policies that we see as dangerous. We actually have

00:35:12.620 really good examples of that in the Bible. So, so while I'm very thankful for this book that you've

00:35:19.220 written and talk about all of that stuff in a very fun way, um, in a lighthearted way, but also with

00:35:25.400 serious and profound themes, and that can be the most effective way to communicate some of these

00:35:30.720 important issues. Don't you think? I hope so. And, you know, it's, it's my small way of, of putting a

00:35:38.720 little salt and light out there because it just pushing back against the darkness a little bit.

00:35:43.680 I mean, these are dark times. I mean, there's so much to be grateful for and celebrate about life

00:35:49.780 still, of course, but I mean, it's discouraging sometimes, especially in the entertainment

00:35:54.340 world or, you know, the books that are the big hits and whatever. It's just such overwhelming

00:36:01.500 darkness sometimes. And so this is my, my flying the rebel flag a little bit to say,

00:36:06.460 to push back against that. And I think that that's important.

00:36:11.260 It is so important. And, you know, there are times when I feel overwhelmed with that stuff too.

00:36:15.060 And I just feel like nothing that we do as Christians, nothing that we say,

00:36:20.640 nothing that we push back against is effective. And, you know, we're just, we're just two people,

00:36:25.640 even this entire network, we're a drop in the bucket of everything that goes on in the world.

00:36:29.900 And my dad always reminds me, he always says, fishes and loaves, fishes and loaves. And it's

00:36:34.560 true. God does use what seems like small obedience and small faith. And he is going to do what he

00:36:41.720 wants to do with those things. Like we are small and finite, but we do serve a big God. And all he

00:36:46.900 calls us to is obedience. And if this book is an act of obedience, then God is going to use it for

00:36:52.280 his glory and the good of other people. And that's all any of us can do. And speaking of the darkness

00:36:57.680 we were talking about before we filmed, I was telling them just about some of the like trashy

00:37:02.900 things that I read as a teenager that were not good for my mind. Just, you know, the trashy teen

00:37:07.880 fiction and romance that I look back and I'm like, that was not good for my little 15 year old heart

00:37:12.660 and processing what love looks like. And so for parents who are thinking, how can I get my kids to

00:37:19.480 consume good things, especially over Christmas break when they're in front of a screen, like this

00:37:23.620 book, Life on Christmas Eve, could be a good, like it could be a good option. Like you could give it

00:37:28.500 to one of your teenage kids and say, read this instead of, you know, whatever it is. And hopefully

00:37:33.440 you won't be bored to tears, right? No, no, you definitely won't be. So they can get this on Amazon,

00:37:38.780 correct? Life on Christmas Eve. And if you want it before Christmas, which I recommend, get the digital

00:37:45.380 copy. If you've got a Kindle or something like that, you can get the paperback if you can't get the

00:37:49.760 hardback. Thank you so much. Can people, if you put out other books, can people follow you and

00:37:55.880 follow your writings and, you know, the work you do? Is that possible?

00:37:58.900 Yes. I do have nathandipper.com. It's N-I-P-P-E-R. And so they can get in touch with me there.

00:38:07.300 And I'm on Twitter, but I'm not a big, not a big Twitter guy, you know?

00:38:11.140 Yeah. You're mostly behind the scenes when it comes to what's being,

00:38:14.040 what's being talked about, right?

00:38:15.640 So, but you can find me on Twitter as well.

00:38:18.620 Okay. Awesome. Thank you so much, Nathan. I appreciate you taking the time to come on.

00:38:21.900 Thanks for having me.

00:38:26.260 All right, guys, that is it for today. Thank you so much for listening. Thank you

00:38:29.820 to everyone who sent your voicemails. I'm sorry that I couldn't play all of the voicemails. They

00:38:34.700 are all hilarious and charming and awesome. And I have the best and the smartest and the most

00:38:38.800 wonderful and kindest listeners in the world. And thank you guys so much for the time that you take

00:38:43.720 out of your week, out of your busy schedules to listen to Relatable, to leave me voicemails,

00:38:48.000 to send me messages and emails, to leave me reviews. It means so much to me. I'm so thankful

00:38:53.040 for you guys and thankful for this Christmas season that we get to enjoy together, even if

00:38:57.440 not in person with each other. I still feel like we are a community and we get to celebrate

00:39:03.140 as fellow Christians. And of course, as a Relatable community, the wonder of our Savior's birth.

00:39:08.140 And we're going to talk about all of that even more on Thursday. So make sure you tune

00:39:12.860 into that episode. You can listen or you can watch on YouTube. Thank you guys for being

00:39:17.760 awesome. I will see you guys back here soon.

Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - December 21, 2021

Ep 541 ｜ Christmas Hot Takes ｜ Guest： Nathan Nipper

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