Holiday Hilarity: Lessons from Classic Comedies

Holiday season is here. One of our favorite things is having some time to watch some of our favorite holiday movies. With the holiday season in full swing, we're diving into some comedic chaos and heartfelt lessons from two of our all time favorite holiday movies. These films aren't just about laughs. They're packed with insights on dealing with family, embracing the unexpected and finding joy amidst the madness. Just remember, if you find yourself stuck in an airport or with a Christmas tree that's bigger than your living room, just channel your inner Neil Page and Clark Griswold. After all, it's the holiday spirit that counts, even if it comes with a side of chaos and a sprinkle of hilarity. I'm Curtis. That's my cousin Joe over there. And we are dudes in progress. Hey, Joe.

Cousin Joe.

You get the reference.

I guess I'm the cousin Eddie, huh? I'm not quite Cousin Eddie, but I sometimes I do think, and I think I mentioned this last episode about Thanksgiving. Sometimes I do think I'm the guy that might cause people to not come to Thanksgiving just because I'm not afraid of a joust. I think, I don't think that's true, actually. I'm joking. But there's a lot to love about Cousin Eddie. There's a lot to hate too. But you know, he's, he's got a good heart.

What makes comedy funny is you see a little bit of either your family or yourself in these portrayals that we're going to review today.

You know what, as you say that, you know what, we could be, we could do a whole lot worse in life than to aspire to be somewhat something of these two main characters of these movies, right?

Absolutely. There's a lot of good here, sometimes accentuated with the crazy things that happen and go wrong. But in the end, there's some good heartfelt feelings in these two films that we're going to talk about. And what we're going to do, Joe, is we've prepared some of the lessons that we can learn from a couple of our favorite holiday movies. You mentioned one in our last episode that made me say, and I was thinking this already, I was already planning on doing Planes, Trains and Automobiles. It was something my wife said a couple of nights ago. She said, I'm going to watch, I was going to bed. She goes, I'm going to watch Planes, Trains and Automobiles. And I almost felt like hanging in there and watching it one more time with her because it is one of my top favorite just comedy movies of all time. John Candy is in my top five of comedian. I mean, you just look at that guy and you laugh, right?

I loved him. You got to love him in many movies. But if you remember his character in Stripes, the Bill Murray.

Yeah.

Oh, my gosh, he's just hilarious.

What a treasure we lost too soon. And then no doubt your movie is going to be. Which one, Joe?

National Lampoons Christmas Vacation, one of my.

Father'S favorites of all time.

So this isn't my favorite Christmas movie. It's probably. It may not even be in the top five. But I do love this movie. I love this movie because I love Clark Griswold.

Right.

I, I just. There's a part of me that aspires to be him.

I agree for sure.

I just, I like the guy and because he has a. He just has a good heart. When you think about his heart, when you think about all the funny stuff that he's. He goes through and has to try to. And he's trying to please his family and it's all about his family. And we'll talk a lot about that. But yeah, I could have picked a couple different movies, but last episode I did mention Christmas Vacation and so I thought, okay, that's probably the best movie to choose, but I have a. We should probably do a top 10 list, share a top 10 list of Christmas movies.

These are two of my favorites. And I'm glad you mentioned it because I want you to talk about it. My kids, my son Harry and my younger son Ben, they're four years apart. When we get together for holidays, I tell my daughter Lindsay, get ready for their comedy because they will go at each other and sometimes they'll relive some of these, some of the dialogue from their favorite comedy movies. Or now with the iPhones, they'll bring out the phone and they'll start playing clips for each other and they just sit there and giggle the whole time, which they did yesterday at our Thanksgiving meal. How was your Thanksgiving, Joe?

It was good. It was good. I'm going to hold that one in my back pocket for a minute for later in the show. But it was good. You talk about funny things during holidays. I make it a point to have not mundane but useless conversations that interests everybody. Like we got in this conversation yesterday for the top 10 candies or what is your favorite candy? What is your deathbed meal? Stuff like that. And you know, and then we'd structure these rules around them, these, these guidelines, like your what is your favorite candy? And we divide it candy into chocolate based and Sugar based. Now, of course, chocolate based chocolate candy has sugar in it. But for example, a chocolate based would be a Snickers bar. Sugar based would be Skittles. That kind of difference, right? And man, we spent hours talking about this stuff and people would make their arguments for it. People would. Then you people start getting passionate for it. And I love stuff like that. I love stuff like that. You know what? And I poke the bear a little bit because I'll. Somebody will bring up like Almond Joy. And Almond Joy is my least favorite candy.

Right.

And. And I will just rail on it and just make them feel like their opinion is the worst opinion ever. But it's all in fun and they know it. Right? They know I'm just. They know I'm just joking around.

You get to test that part of your personality without offending too many people because they know you're just being.

They know I'm just being silly. That's exactly right.

I love that. That's.

That's exactly.

You did a great episode last time we recorded and we've already got some feedback on that. And I think we gave some great advice. That's another great advice. I was just thinking as you're saying that play a game. Come up with a game to play with the whole family. That can be hilarious and memorable. We're going to banter back and forth of these lessons and scenes and maybe some of the dialogue. That is so hysterical. These are classic films, but the actors in these are just some of my favorites. My first one is going to be the Friendship and connection from Planes, Trains and Automobiles. Two main characters, Neil and Dell, share a hotel room and they wake up cuddling. Everybody knows that scene, and everybody knows that scene. And I'll tell you why Joe, and only Joe can see this. But I'm sitting on a pillow right now that was made from my community. And maybe you can't really see it because it's got this special. I guess I gotta fix it up so you can see it just right. But people that know my podcast, oh, maybe I can't see if I do this right, but this is two of my friends. We shared a room together and we recreated this hotel scene.

Oh, my gosh. Oh, my gosh.

And our friend Samantha made pillows of it. And that's what I sit on every day for my podcast.

That's funny. They wake up holding each other.

The song that's playing in the background.

Yeah, yeah. They automatically go into man speak.

He says, where's Steve? Martin? Says to John, Candy, where are your Hands. He says they're between two pillows. And Steve Martin says, those aren't pillows.

Oh, my gosh, that's funny.

But this is a long line of Dell just annoying Neil throughout this horrific trip back home from New York City. They're both traveling home and as the title says, planes, trains and automobiles and a lot of other ways to get there. And that's been the theme. This is the point of the show or the movie when they start to really build a connection. I think after that, too, that's, you know, even though Neil is annoyed tremendously by Dell in many of this and he's trying to separate from him as much as he can, but he never seems to until those. That pillow moment seems to turn things around.

So when's the last time you saw the movie?

Oh, good question. I think it's definitely been this year, but I can't pinpoint exactly when.

What does Del sell?

Shower curtain rings.

Yes.

Which is part of the hilarity. There's that scene when he's. They're out of money. They get robbed, and he's selling shower curtain rings as earrings, which only John Candy can do.

That's absolutely.

His comedy is just like I said, you just look at this guy and he's funny. All right, what's your first lesson to learn from Christmas?

The speak of the premise to National Lampoon's vacation. Of course, it's a follow up to National Lampoon's family vacation. So this is National Lampoon's Christmas vacation. Clark is hosting. Clark and his family are hosting Christmas this year, and they've got the in laws over and the kids are there. And unbeknownst to him, Uncle Eddie shows up. And Clark's big secret is he is expecting a fairly large Christmas bonus.

That's right.

End of year bonus. And his plan for that end of the year bonus is to build a swimming pool for the family. Put in a swimming pool, the family. And he's already cut the check for it. And. And he's anticipating the bonus to cover the check. And plus all the stuff that goes with making memories for your family and events that he wants to. He wants his family to enjoy together. Y and all. Hilarity ensues. It's just. It's sweet, it's funny, it's awkward, it's cringy at times. I do like this movie, man. I do like this movie. And like anything else, if you really try, you can find some real nuggets of wisdom in this stuff. Right. Who can deny Clark's desire to Put his family first. His desire to give good things to his family. He's this.

Gosh, that's why we love him.

Ever optimistic, patriarch. Right. And he's just determined to host this perfect family Christmas. Oh, gosh, this. You mentioned the tree earlier. You mentioned the tree, the big tree that he. That he cuts down while he had to pull it out by the roots because he forgot an ax.

Right. They have it in the car.

He forgot the chain. He shut down the whole city because of his 25,000 twinkling lights. And all this. All of this stuff that he does is for one thing, to serve his family. To make memories for his family. To bring his family together for feel good moments. And that's what I love about this guy. It's awkward and he doesn't do it quite right. And everything that you see here is an exploded view of the life that we live. From putting up Christmas lights to the Christmas tree to having family over and just wanting it to make a. Wanted it to be a fun event. I really like the importance of family that Clark Griswold has.

Absolutely. That's why we love him. I thought when you mentioned cousin Eddie, you were along with that desire to get the swimming pool. When he learns what he really got was the jelly of the month club.

Yeah, we can definitely talk about that. Yeah.

But what does Eddie say?

Well, Eddie makes a promise. Right, hold on. The gift that keeps on giving. That's right.

Well, Clark, that's the gift that just keeps on giving.

And there's Eddie being the positive influence. Right.

Eddie being Eddie.

We can go ahead and bring that up now, but. No, I don't want to. I don't want to do that because I have a point here that I want to talk about Cousin Eddie. So sorry, I didn't then.

Sorry, I took your point a little bit. Well, I'll just add this. One of the reasons I think we said. I'll give you an example that makes these films so funny. And I think my dad will always point these out too when we're laughing about these. But my wife's father came from Latvia and he had a very harsh accent. Sometimes a lot of people could not understand what he said. And we love him dearly. We miss him, especially at holiday times. And he had a lot of quirks, but he loved his family too. He gave everything for his family. So we think of that too as part of this movie. But my wife tells this story when they were kids. I don't know if it was a weekend, the same kind of thing. But he told the kids that we're getting a pool. And the kids were. And they were so excited. They told all the neighborhood kids, we're getting a pool, we're getting a pool. And they came home after school one day and they went out. They dad says, there's the pool. And they're looking, they're like, I don't see no pool. It was a clothesline pole. Even the kids didn't understand his. They tell that story and it sums up my father in law a little bit. But yeah, we see each other in these films. All right, I'm gonna get into my next favorite scene. And the lesson learned from this one is patience and perseverance. Well, I don't know if Neil has any patience at this point yet, but we can think maybe we should have some patience and some perseverance. When Neil's long rant at the car rental counter after a series of travel mishaps, to say the least, when they sent him out to a car, was it that he had no key for it? There was no key in it. He got way out there in the middle of that. Boy, you do a lot of traveling. You must relate to this scene, Joe.

Yeah, it's hard.

You've got to see it with the full language involved in this scene. But the woman behind the counter, oh, she's. She was a comedic actress back in the day. I've seen her in a couple things. I don't see her a lot, but that back and forth between Neil's rants are the best because he can rant like nobody else.

Yep.

But that scene is just the best. Can you have patience at times when you're traveling, Joe?

Yeah, I mean, you have to be able to roll with the punches. Right. And yeah, understand that. Well, I just recently had a situation where Delta airlines lost my luggage.

We talked about that.

I think that was on the win for the week.

Yeah, for sure. I was just thinking that same thing.

When I got lost my luggage and how I responded, quite honestly surprised me. And yeah, patience and perseverance.

That's the thing is we've been with Neil.

I'm surprised we don't hear more of that rant. I'm surprised that rant. We don't see more of that on YouTube shorts or something like that because it is classic.

Yeah, I saw one. My wife and I were in Orlando coming home and they kept delaying the flight. Now, if you've done any traveling, she kept saying, you know what, they're going to cancel this flight. It got. It was after midnight, it got to 2:00 in the morning. She said, let's move up closer to the counter because I think they're going to cancel this flight. Good on my wife for knowing that There was like 200 people that needed to switch flights at 2:00 in the morning. And who gets in front of us? We were second in line, but the couple in front of us did that whole rant to them, as if the people at the counter had anything to do. They got to take the heat for it, but they had nothing to do with it. And they spent, I swear, Joe, 30 minutes with all these people in line trying to switch flights, get a flight, which is going to be the next day, obviously. Boy, that. I nearly threw him out of line, I'll tell you that.

Well, you got to be careful today because there are some rules and some terms and conditions that give those attendants, those counter workers and flight attendants, they wield a lot of power. At any moment, if they think you're out of line, they can just say.

Well, the police will be here. Yeah. Because. Right.

Step aside, and, well, we're going to just cancel you all.

So much truth in that.

Yep, absolutely.

That irritates me more than anything. I try to be pretty patient when I'm traveling. But we've been with Neil this whole. This is well into the movie. We almost feel like he deserves to take the rant out. Somebody kind of give him a pass there.

So let's go ahead and talk about a Cousin Eddie. Okay, we talked about it a little bit, and let's go ahead and talk about him now. So Cousin Eddie's eccentric. Right. Really Played amazingly by Randy Quaid.

Yes.

Who just does this role.

Perfect.

He may be best known for this role. And Randy Quaid's a really good actor, of course, the brother to Dennis Quaid. And the two couldn't look any more different. Right, Right. And they have completely different roles. But I tell you, you don't underestimate Cousin Eddie. Okay? He may be eccentric, Right. But he proves to be extraordinarily resourceful.

Okay. Yes.

So we talked about how instead of a Christmas bonus, his company gave him a jelly of the month club membership. 12 months of the gift that keeps on giving, as Zeddy put it. But Clark makes a declaration, he wants something for Christmas and he wants his boss there right now. Okay. And I'm spoiling my quote of the month, my quote of the week, but that's okay. And what does Eddie do? Eddie goes, finds his boss. He ends up kidnapping his boss. And I don't know if you. I'm not going to. Okay, I'll go ahead and spoil it. But the boss ends up restoring the bonuses. But my point is, don't underestimate the Cousin Eddie's in your life. Don't underestimate those people that you think are a little weird or a little quirky. Don't estimate their ability to come through for you. Because cousin Eddie, he came through big for Clark. Now, a little unconventional. He took Clark at his word. But yeah, don't underestimate the Cousin Eddies. They. They can come through for you.

That's right. Yeah. The one I'm going to talk about, too, is very similar from planes, trains and autobiography, that lesson to learn, don't burn any bridges.

Definitely.

Boy, my uncle told me that he was a salesman years ago. Boy, that paid off a lot of dividends in my life working in Hartford and working in an insurance agency. People move around into different jobs. You never know when you might be looking for a job and someone you know is the hiring person, honestly. But, yeah, don't underestimate anybody.

What was that? The saying that I heard, the hands you step on the way up the ladder may end up being the same hands that need to lift you up. Right.

One of my favorite songs. There's a song this. You might not know this band. This band, Government Mule.

No.

Warren Haynes was a part of the Allman Brothers. And yeah, they have a song like that, has that exact same line in it. It's a great song.

Yeah.

Hard rock and country blues. Yeah. I'll go off what you just said with my next one. But judging by appearances, obviously Neil judges Del as being annoying, overbearing salesman. But we know, we learned that Dell has got a big heart and he's got a real secret there and that he has a lonely life that we don't know about yet. Neil doesn't know. He just keeps trying to run away. And it's not a good thing to judge by appearances. And one scene that, for me, that is hysterical, I was watching on YouTube trying to prepare for our episode. Remember, they. They want to get on a train. This is the part where they want to get on the train. They get off. And Del knows everybody because he's such this warm and talkative salesperson guy. He knows Gus out in the middle of Kansas. Now Gus has a son who pulls up in the truck and Del's telling Neil, hey, don't worry, I got us a ride. And Neil's like, all right, this guy does have some redeeming qualities until Gus's son shows up. They end up riding the back of the truck about 30 miles, I think longer than they thought they were, and freezing cold in the dog in the back that nearly bites them. But they did get a ride because of his resourcefulness.

But, yeah, great scene.

What's your next one?

And this is a. This is definitely a theme throughout the movie, but I just cannot get over Clark's desire to do good for his family. His. This mission that he's on for holiday perfection definitely leads to outrageous decisions. He, like we said, he uprooted. He uprooted a giant tree, a giant Christmas tree, because he didn't bring the tools with him, that light display. And he. All the stuff he did to make that light display work, because when he plugged it in the first time, it didn't work. And we come to find out it's just a switch that needed to be thrown. But his. The look on his face and the genuine affection that he had for his family as they're all sitting there staring at the lights, he says to his daddy as he goes, dog, his dad. And I hope I get this right. He goes to hug his dad, and he says, dad, you taught me everything I know about outdoor illumination. As he's talking, as he's crying, and he just wants to do good for his family, his intentions are so pure, just to create lasting memories. It's okay to be overzealous. You know what if that's your goal, man, if you're being knocked for being overzealous for. For your desire to do good for your family, That's a moniker that I'll take, man. That's a. Call me what you want to call me then. Because I love Clark's desire to do good for his family.

He never gives up.

He sure doesn't, man.

I mean, that scene when his wife flips the switch, the lights go, and.

He starts crying, and it's just awesome, man.

You don't know why. And the poor couple that lives next door.

Yeah, yeah. Julia Louise Dreyfus. I just noticed that. Again, I'd forgotten that she was in that. That she played, but, yeah, there's a little. There's Elaine from Seinfeld.

Because it's in between when that he fails with the lights. He's trying to get things working, and he falls. I think that's when he falls off the roof.

Yeah. Yep.

And the ice in the gutter goes flying into the neighbors.

Well, lots of things go flying into the neighbor's windows.

Well, they Got water everywhere. They can't understand why the stereo is ruined and there's water everywhere.

Well, that. Well, of course the house has so many lights and it's so bright that it causes a blackout throughout the city and blinds the neighbors where they are so disoriented by the bright lights going off and on that they can't fall themselves.

She's great, too.

It's hilarious. It's hilarious.

There's so many great character actors in this film, too. Classic character actors. Well, nothing teaches us more lessons than compassion and empathy, which is getting. Towards the end of the film, Neil realizes Del's loneliness when he has those flashbacks of what was going on throughout the this horrific trip. Realizing that Del is alone, his wife is gone. And boy, isn't that a horrible feeling after treating him the way he did throughout this. This is going to be part of my quote from the film at the end of our show. But that moment when you learn that is after all this hilarity that you have and they take it right down to the core of being thankful and gratitude and compassion for someone who's. He has this. Dal has such a great attitude, but he's really gone through some horrible things.

And it goes to show that, number one, you don't. And you spoke to us before about patience and perseverance and judging. Judging by appearances, you just don't know what somebody's going through. Right?

Yeah.

You don't know what they have going on in their life that can give context and think about that before you react.

Yep. That's a good thing to remember. I like that, Joe. You've said that a lot. That's really important. And I did take your. Some of your advice. We went out doing some grocery shopping on Wednesday before Thanksgiving and I said to Margita, I said, joe and I were talking about this and I promise I know the traffic is going to be horrendous. Someone's going to pull out in front of me. Someone's going to be right on my tail. But I played it cool, Joe, you'd be proud of me.

Awesome. You gotta know, shouldn't be out driving during this time anyway.

Well, I had said that to her. I wish we had done this. I was out twice already this week. Why didn't I get this done sooner?

I just have a couple more points. My next one related to the movie is resilience in the face of adversity. Do you remember the scene when the turkey deflates like a balloon because it was cooked. It was too dry. Great scene here's another thing that's going wrong. And they're all sitting around the table chewing on the turkey and it's all dry and it's bad. And then the special effects are the.

Best on that scene.

The dog starts yakin underneath the table. Right? The dog starts yakin underneath the table and throwing a bone. And the squirrel from the new Christmas tree. Because the cat burned down the other Christmas tree by chewing up the light cord. So Clark and his fury goes out. And this is after he. I think this is after he found. Yeah. This is after he finds out about not getting the bonus. He's now he's just furious and has completely lost his mind. He goes out in this front yard and cuts down another tree. So the family has another Christmas tree. And then there's a squirrel inside that tree.

I mean, who hasn't gotten a squirrel in their yard?

Or one thing after another. One thing after another. And his resilience and his craziness and his insanity really shines through his determination to salvage this Christmas holiday despite everything else. If you take a step back, this is why I love this guy. If you take a step back, it really is the power of perseverance and maintaining focus and a bit of a sense of humor to the point of.

One of my favorite scenes. And I can't redo the dialogue because Chevy Chase does it like nobody can. But when he learns he's got the Jelly of the month club, he basically rants and raves and does a lot of exploratives. But he says we're all gonna. I don't care what happens. We are all gonna. This family is gonna have the best Christmas ever. And the father's starting to get. They're starting to get a little concerned for his mental being at that point. But that is, again, what the only Chevy Chase could do. That is a fantastic scene.

Yep. Absolutely love it. Absolutely. I should find that. I should find that rant and read it.

But anyway, mine is going to be humor and adversity, similar to what you're saying. If everything's going. And this is. My wife and I laugh about this scene so many times. We think about this all the time. There's two parts of this that are just amazing scenes in movie comedy. And that's when they are driving the wrong way on the highway and they don't know it.

Yep.

And they're having. Because it just had. Dell had just gotten his coat stuck between the right and the left side. He can't. He has no use of his hands for the steering wheel.

They think they're driving the wrong way. And they think the other. The other drivers are drinking.

Oh, they rolled. They're telling them to roll down the window. And they said, hey, you're going the wrong way. And he says. He looks over, says, oh. Dell says, oh, they're. They must be drinking. He does the little hand scene. How do they know where we're going?

That's hilarious.

Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. But when. And then this, as they crash through the. In the middle of two large tandem trucks coming down in between. They end up with the luggage on the road, the big trunk that he brought along for this trip that he's dragging all over across the country. They're sitting on it, and then the car catches fire. It's like the last straw, right?

Absolutely. It's hilarious.

Oh, my gosh. Humor, adversity. But the part of that is when they just start laughing when they see the car catch fire. And the way they notice it, it's behind them.

Yep.

And you see that. You can see the back of them lighting up, so you know something's not quite right. And the car catches fire. But even then, I don't think Neil's still forgiving him because he gives him a good punch in the gut there to finish off that scene and trips over the trunk. But, yeah, if you can laugh through things when they're. Sometimes when things go bad, there's nothing better than to say, I think Dell says this, one of these days we're going to laugh about this. He's right.

Well, I just have one more. And I think this is a good lesson for us all when it comes to the holiday season, when you're planning family events, when you're really doing anything to embrace imperfection, ultimately, Christmas vacation. This movie, Kurt, reminds me that the real essence of these family get togethers, these holiday events, whatever it might be Thanksgiving from yesterday, and we're recording this on the Friday after Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving to Christmas, it's not about achieving perfection. It's really about cherishing those moments that you have together with friends and family. Learn to laugh about it. There's going to be mishaps. Let them happen. Do the best you can to pull the event together, but ultimately embrace the imperfection. Because that's what's going to bind us together. That's what's going to keep things moving forward. He says. I think this was in his rant. He says, we're going to have the blankety blank, happiest Christmas ever and just embrace imperfection. Is my Whole point.

Yeah. It was really a cute scene when the lights don't light up and his daughter and wife try to cheer him up. Ain't that the truth. Even though the parents are making fun of him. But some of those little side remarks really hurt the most, don't they? Especially if they were to come from your parents or your in laws.

Oh yeah. Yep.

But yeah, we're all imperfect. I'm going to go with one more Joe. Forgiveness and redemption. This is a point of the movie where Neil is really fed up with Del to the point where they're. They've been robbed. They have no money but Neil is able to get a hotel room. This is before the pillow scene. Del doesn't have any of the money. He's sitting out in the car with that burnt car that I think it was a convertible. Now it's got no. And it's snowing. And finally Neil breaks down and invites him in and they just have this really fun scene of redemption there. There are some funny lines. I don't know. I think this was at the same time. But Dell says they're going at it with each other and Del says you play with your balls a lot just to stab them back. This was after the bathroom that Dell left exact a mess. And he's got the sink all with his socks in his. Well, you don't know what else is in there. And Neil goes to wash, splash his face a little bit and he holds up D says Neil, I just want you to know something about. I'm doing my laundry in the sink and he's holding up his big pair of underwear that he just put on his face. But it's hilarious through it all the forgiveness and redemption. We could do a whole show on forgiveness. I think that's a great lesson that we learned from our Christian beliefs. But it's so important.

We certainly could do and we will, we'll do a whole show on forgiveness. Redemption seeking forgiveness.

I'll tell you a quick little story from real life when this goes back about 15 years ago when we were getting a lot of outsourcing from India. There was this day I had a young lady come over. Never been in the US ever before. I may have told you this story before. And she came in to help me. I was the technology I was working on. Didn't really have a second to help me out. And she came and was supporting me for about six months and then. And we became. Well, one of the first thing, very first things I didn't see it as a threat I said I really dug into my Christian faith at this point. I invite. I felt bad for her because the company just did not support her at all. Contracting company that came, she came with all alone in the United States for the first time. Different culture away from home. And I learned she was really tight with her family. I invited over for Thanksgiving. She will never forget that as long as she lives. And made a huge impression on her. We became tight friends in January 1st after the holiday, about 25 people came over and a lot of people lost their job. But I'll just say this, I didn't. And without telling the story, a lot of that has to do with her standing up for me. So there you go.

That's awesome.

But it always felt good that I did the right thing. And I'll probably get in touch with her. She's now lives in Tennessee. I'll probably reach out to her. She reached out to me at birthdays and stuff. And we still stay in touch.

Well, there's a lot I know about you, Kurt. And one of those things I know about you, buddy, is you do the right thing, dude.

Well, sometimes.

Wow.

Sometimes the blind chicken finds the corn. Well, there you go. That's.

That was awesome, man. This was fun. I like. I. I just watched the movie, but it makes me want to go watch it again.

I hope this does prep everybody because there's those movies that you watch every holiday season and they never get old, do they?

Right? You could, Yeah, I have my. What would you say are your top three Christmas movies?

Oh, wow. Well, Christmas vacation definitely. Yeah, Christmas Vacation is definitely in the top. It's a Wonderful Life would be there. What's another one? Give me some of yours.

My top three. And these have been my top three for a long time. Number three, which is a close number two is Polar Express.

I think you've heard you say that.

I love Polar Express. It just feels so good.

Interesting.

It wasn't originally intended to be an animated movie, but once they applied the animation and went down that road, it. I just love how it looks, I love how it feels, I love the story. Just a great feel good movie. My second one is my number two is Elf. Elf is one of the most quoted movies in my household. Right.

Yeah.

Call me Elf one more time. And in fact, I probably say that. I probably say the phrase, wow, you're an angry elf, or he's an angry elf at least once a week in some situation just to diffuse it a little bit.

What's the actor?

But my number one is. And my Number one movie is you'll shoot your eye out. The Christmas Story.

Well, as you were talking, I remembered my. One of my favorites. And it's the top three. A Christmas Story.

I love it, man. Yeah, that is. I want to duplicate that Christmas every year. I just love it. I. It's. It just feels so good now. He's a bit of a character. The dad's a bit of a character, but I still like that movie.

Well, again, thinking of the family dynamic and the comedy that you see, that is my dad. The old man there in that movie is my dad. That scene when they're outside changing the tire.

Yeah.

And the lug nuts go flying. That describes my dad and I when I was a kid. To me. Exactly.

That's funny.

With me holding the light, dude. That's all I'm going to say. That's one of the reasons why I've never wanted to work on my own cars. Good stuff. What was your win for the week?

Well, my win for the week is Thanksgiving went off without a hitch. It was really a good time at your house, right? Yeah, we had it at my house. We had about 20, I think there were 22, 21 people over. And we set up a big long table and everybody brought their own favorite Thanksgiving dish. And we had a great turkey made by my son in law. It was awesome. The stuffing was made by my son in law. Gravy was made by my son in law and everybody else supplement it. But guess what I didn't get this year? All gratin potatoes.

Oh, we were just talking about that.

We just talked about that. And that was my favorite. That's my favorite Thanksgiving dish. That's not turkey. And.

Yeah. Does someone make it? Did you say someone makes it in your family?

Yeah. I'm trying to think of who dropped the ball because they're going to hear from me.

There's always redemption because it's a four day weekend. If you can make it yourself, maybe.

Joe, there's some stuff that it's better made by somebody else.

I understand.

So, yeah, Thanksgiving went off without a hitch. We played this game every year we do a gift exchange for the adults. Everybody puts their name in a hat usually and you draw the name out and that's who you buy. That way you only have to buy for. You're only obligated to buy for that one person for Thanksgiving.

You do that?

Yeah, we do. We draw on Thanksgiving, then we buy. This is the Christmas.

I gotcha. Yeah. Okay.

So we draw on Thanksgiving. Well, this year we did a game called the Left Right Game. And basically you read a story that has the word left and right. And you start off with. You start off with. With the tag, right? And you don't know who's. Because it's folded over and you don't know whose present it is. And as people read, when you hear the word left, you pass the tag to the left. When you hear the word right, you pass it to the person on your right and it goes all around. So there's this random process through this entire story, and then you ultimately end up with somebody that you buy a gift for. And it was a pretty modest gift. I think we said the gift had to be between 30 and $35, right? You don't want somebody to go to the dollar store and buy a pencil, but you don't want somebody to go and go all extravagant. But what I did, and I did this last year, I have an Amazon cart that I populate with stuff that I think I want if I'm willing to spend the money for it, right? But I don't want it enough to buy it right away. But it's just sitting there. So what I did for my gift is I wrote down the exact Amazon link and the description for the person. They can't go wrong. It's there and it's $29. Right on the low end. Simple, easy, right? We'll see. We'll see what happens.

It's good to throw hints.

This is more than a hint. This isn't. Hey, I want to. I want a hat. I want a bright orange face mask. Carhartt face mask. That. Here it is on Amazon. Here's the link to Amazon. Because you can get the short Amazon link, right? Yeah, here it is. Here's the link to it on Amazon. Easy peasy. You can't go wrong.

That's fantastic.

But my win for the week is Thanksgiving went off without a hitch. It was awesome.

Well, no surprise, my win for the week is Thanksgiving too. I wasn't worried about it going off without a hitch. Well, the only thing that would have gone wrong if I was very excited that there was a really good chance I was going to have all my kids and their girlfriend, boyfriends, husbands, wives, all together, including my parents. And my sister hosts it and my grandson, Johnny B. Coming down for the very first time. This was the first time that my dad was so excited. Now my mom has Alzheimer's a little bit. She struggles to remember things. But my dad is sharp as attack and he called me during the week and he gets speaking of he's got that Clark Griswold in him. Joe. He's always big on the family, and he gets a. He's a big burly guy, but he gets emotional. Anything that's family. And you might get an idea if you look at that video I sent you. That was the moment that Johnny B showed up for Thanksgiving. They had never seen him since he was born and he's six months old now. So that getting together, my wife immediately, pretty early on, made sure that the four generations got into a picture together.

That's fantastic.

And so we got. I haven't seen the picture yet. Matter of fact, when we're done recording, I'll go check it out. But that's going to be a moment I think we're all going to remember. And all my kids were there. Got to meet my daughter's boyfriend for the first time, too. And I think it went well. I'm gonna make sure I talk to my daughter later on. But I think everything I told her boyfriend, you got two brothers and the father to meet. That's gotta be intimidating because we can be rough. But I said, don't worry, Johnny B's gonna get all the attention.

That's right. And he's the star of the show.

He was the star of the show. It was awesome.

Fantastic. What fun.

Yeah, it was. It really was. It was awesome. Not to mention the food. I was a little uncomfortable coming home, I'll just say that, if you know what I mean.

I do know what you mean.

I don't feel like I overdid it either, but I still. I think I've not been eating enough to prepare. What's your resource for this?

Well, it's that time of year again, Kurt. It's that time of year again. I probably mentioned this about the same time last year. It's time to buy your wall calendar.

Calendar?

I ordered my 2025 wall calendar from Amazon. It's a 36 by 48, big old wall calendar that I can write dates on, that I can write events, that I can write goals on. Listen, you pick any walk, pick any wall calendar, but I would really invite you to use this as part of your regular lifestyle. Grab yourself a big wall calendar. Put all the big events on there for the year. Put your. Put the deadlines for whatever goals or values, things that you want to accomplish, things that you want to do, even if you don't know that you're going on where you're going on vacation, go ahead and pencil that in so that way you can see that, hey, I'm planning on a vacation this year. I don't know where it is, but this is about the time of year that I'm going to do it. It takes some time and maybe not plan out your whole year, but at least plan out the quarter and just look forward. It's not set in stone. Get a. Get yourself a dry erase calendar and plan. Start to plan out that first part of the year. So you're off to a good start.

Is this one the 2025, like with the real dates, or is this a marker 1 dry erase 1 that you get.

This is a dry, dry erase one that you can actually write on the calendar.

It's got 12 months.

When I got this year actually has the dates on it. All right, so it won't be. It was. I don't know, it was probably 15, $20 last year. But the one I got this year is that you write your own dates on and you write the month, the month and the year and all that other stuff.

So you can send me the link year after year. Yeah, I like that.

I will.

It's a great idea. My resource, you might have heard me talk about. Matter of fact, when Joe said we got to push out our recording this morning a little bit, gave me a chance because it's Black Friday, as we're recording this, I went over to Home Depot and Lowe's.

Oh, cool.

I was looking for some. I got a great buy on was poinsettias. I did not expect that. They were $1.25. So I got my wife two poinsettias and that's all I got at Home Depot, but earlier, because they put this stuff out early. And these will be out there throughout the holiday, I believe. But I have one of them right here, Joe. And you know how hard it is to find a flashlight. Do you have a hard time finding a flashlight in your house?

Yeah, I swear, I have two dozen of them and I can't find a single one.

Exactly. Or they need batteries when you seem to need that lighting the most. And the batteries are wearing down and it's getting weak. I have a big one I had from Lowe's, but the batteries take those big D batteries and I don't feel like going out and buying them. So I've been looking for a rechargeable flashlight and I found this husky, 1200 lumens, dual power. Because you can put batteries in this too if you wanted to. But it's rechargeable and it's bright. I take the dog out at night now that it gets dark early to do his business. And this thing lights up the entire backyard. And it's small. I got right here in my hand. I was just recharging it as we speak.

Oh, fantastic. It comes with charger.

I love it so much. Yeah, just put in the USB C. Oh great. And it charges. Holds a good charge and it's bright and it's small and it's got some weight to it. Got this at Home Depot 1897. You can get this.

That's a good price. Heck yeah.

Yeah, Recharge it on Amazon.

You don't have to buy batteries for.

And then I was so happy with this. I got, I went back a couple days later and I bought the one that is the headlamp that you got the strap that goes on your head.

I have one of those for about 20 bucks.

I love that thing. I use it almost every day. I can't stand it when you're trying to work in a dark spot and you can't see and you need both your hands. I've never had one of these before. And it's rechargeable also. And I a lot of times when I clean the stove out now I just put that on my head and I can see inside the stove and get all the dust out of there. And I was using it just recently when I was doing some of the bathroom work. There's a spot. Boy, when you light it up, it's so much easier to work.

And amazingly, that's a good deal right there. That's a good.

Both of them, about 20 bucks.

Awesome.

All right, what's your quote to finish up for this?

Well, I was going to give you just a little bit of this quote, but let's go ahead and read the whole thing. Hey, if any of you are looking for any last minute gift ideas for me, I have one. I'd like Frank Shirley, my boss, right here tonight. I want him brought from his happy holiday slumber over there on Melody Lane with all the other rich people. And I want him brought right here with a big ribbon on his head. I want to look him straight in the eye and I want to tell him what a cheap, lying, no good, rotten, four flushing, low life, snake licking, dirt eating, inbred, overstuffed, ignorant, blood sucking, dog kissing, brainless, less hopeless, heartless, fat, bug eyed, stiff legged, spotty lipped, wormheaded sack of monkey crap he is. Hallelujah. Holy crap, where's the Tylenol?

I'm so glad you read that.

That is that Is Clark Griswold after he finds out he's getting the jelly of the month club instead of his bonus. And cousin Eddie kindly obliged, inspired cousin.

Eddie, his big heart. He thought he was. He didn't think he was kidding.

I cleaned it up a little bit there. It's funny.

You did it quite well too, I might add.

It's funny.

Oh, I'm inspired to watch that.

So there's my quote of the week.

That's a beautiful.

God bless Clark Griswold.

Oh, I love that. I got a big smile on my face. This has been fun. Well, I'm going to get real serious with you now. My quote comes from Del Griffith because like we said, these movies, not only they're hilarious, but they make you think and they, they touch a nerve or a little bit of feelings. This is that scene when John Candy, wow, what an actor he was too. Because this scene really gets me. This is when Dell has been ranting and he really gets personal, to say the least in that rant, saying how, hey, why don't you just say something? Maybe someone, maybe what? No one's listening to your stupid jokes or however he puts it. And, and Del says, you want to hurt me? Go right ahead if it makes you feel any better. I'm an easy target. Yeah, you're right. I talk too much. I also listen too much. I could be a cold hearted cynic like you, but I don't like to hurt people's feelings while you think what you want about me. I'm not changing. I like me, my wife likes me, my customers like me. Cause I'm the real article, which is what you get.

Lotta wisdom there man.

Ugh. Go right ahead if it makes you feel any better.

Makes you want to take a step back and think about how you're talking to people, doesn't it? It does me. It also makes you want to take a step back and look to yourself and say, this is a guy that I'd like to be like. You know, what you see is what you get. This is. And if you understand the movie when he says my wife likes me, go watch the movie.

Great point Joe.

Go watch the movie.

That's one of the reflections that Neil has later on when he really feels like a heel of the way he acted during this whole.

And I love this line, I could be a cold hearted cynic like you, but I don't like to hurt people's feelings. Yeah, I love that. I just love that man.

Yeah, I knew you would like that one, Joe.

Definitely.

Well Take us home.

Our website is still dudesinprogress.com dudesinprogress.com if you want to reach out to us, you can see some of our episodes there. But we technically have a website, but it willfully needs some work still. We're going to change formats on that very soon. I promise you. It'll be more comprehensive and at very minimum, have all the latest episodes on it. But if you want to reach out to us, [email protected] We've had listeners and even recently somebody reach out to us about our show. And you can certainly do that as well at dudes at dudes in progress.com dudes@dudes in progress.com I love holiday movies, man. I love talking about holiday movies. I love watching holiday movies. I like the sappy ones. I like the sad ones. I like the silly ones. I just. I do like holiday movies. I'm not necessarily a fan of Hallmark movies, but I do like holiday movies.

Okay.

And what I like about holiday movies is there's always a sense of imperfection. Right. People are just trying to do the best they can and keep that in mind for our own lives because progress is better than perfection. We just got to keep doing the best we can and keep moving forward.

Yeah. I hope this reminds everyone, Joe. I know it can be stressful. It can be a tough time. Try to find the funny side. Learn from these films, though. There's some great lessons in there, no doubt.

Talk to you soon, buddy. Sa.