Retrospect
Retrospect
Christmas: Still Here, Still Ours | Retrospect Ep.219
In this week’s episode we discussed the Christmas season this year. So grab a cup of cocoa or coffee and settle in with us as we celebrate with laughter, reflection, and a little holiday magic. In this Christmas special, we slow down to reflect on the year, share meaningful stories, and explore what the season really means, beyond the lights and gifts.
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Keywords
Christmas, vulnerability, cultural remix, meaning, retrospect podcast, weather, chemtrails, Christmas programming, Islamic issues, Christmas celebrations, holiday traditions, podcast statistics, audience growth, listener engagement, holiday season.
Jason
Christmas shows up every year wearing 1000 disguises. It's a holy day wrapped in tinsel and midnight mass followed by a 6am door buster sale. We sing about peace on earth while elbowing strangers over a parking spot somewhere between the nativity scene and the Amazon delivery truck. Christmas picked up a lot of baggage, but yet somehow still carries meaning. And yet despite the noise, it refuses to become empty, because at its core, Christmas makes a stubborn claim that meaning doesn't arrive through power, speed or excess. It arrives quietly in vulnerability in a world that glorifies bigger, faster, louder. Christmas insists on smaller, slower, humbler. That's why it survives every cultural remix you can commercialize it, exhaust it, you can't quite erase it. People still crave the gathering, the forgiveness, the hope that the year doesn't get the final word, the sense that light really does push back the dark. So today, we're not here to cancel Christmas or sentimentalize it. We're here to examine it, to ask what we've turned it into and what it's still trying to tell us, because beneath the wrapping paper, Christmas parties and playlists, Christmas is making a claim about who we are, what we long for, and whether Hope is something we buy or something we receive. You.
Ian
Welcome to the retrospect podcast, a show where people come together from different walks of life and discuss a topic from their generation's perspective. My name is Ian, and as always, I'm joined by Stoney,
Stoney
hello
Ian
and Jason.
Jason
Hello everyone.
Jason
How's it going?
Stoney
Got a little apology? Oh, I've been super congested, and I'm sucking on some cough drops to keep the nasal and my throat from being a little sore. So I will apologize to you guys and our listeners right now.
Jason
So this weather is not I love the cold. I would rather the cold, right? But who? Man, yeah, this, this up and down, hot, cold. It's just it plays havoc. Yes, I know I've been waking up all congested at times, and it's just that's like, oh God, here we are again, the roller coaster of winter. I'm not a big the winters here are just, they're so dreary. I mean, it doesn't stay like, Sunny and it's a lot of sunshine and cool. It's just cloudy. It's kind of dreary. A lot of times it just says low hanging clouds. And it's kind of like, it's like, Oh God, it's miserable outside right now. It's warm, yeah, I mean, it's, I think we got another front fixing to come through, and, oh yeah, they're talking about it being warm for Christmas, oh yeah.
Stoney
I remember that time when I lived in Aspen, yeah. And I may have said this 100 times on the show, but at Christmas time, it always pops back into my head. I flew home on Christmas Eve, and it was negative 11 in Aspen. Oh yeah. And so I was prepared when I got off the plane in New Orleans, it was 85 degrees on Christmas Eve, yep. And it was like, my face hitting a wall, the humidity, the heat, it was just crazy.
Ian
Very true, and that's what we're having right now. We're having one of those moments where, like, it dipped down to below freezing for us for a couple days, yes, for about a day or two, and
Stoney
it's done that, what, twice or three times
Jason
now, since Thanksgiving, or didn't we have a little cold snap before Thanksgiving
Stoney
when I was a kid, Halloween was generally cold, yeah? Where, you know, but remember, since Doge has fired all of those scientists, yeah, we have our weather is more normal. And we've had, this is the first June to December, the whole hurricane season that we have had no named hurricanes in the Gulf are hit. It's amazing how that works, huh? Yeah. And then they've came out and said, I think this is the best Christmas present we could ever ask for the FDA, and the government is coming, is putting a ban on chemtrails and saying they're real and we're going to stop we need to stop that.
Jason
I'm telling you what that chemtrail stuff is starting to pick up some some legs again. I've been seeing some news articles on it right now. So I
Ian
saw somebody put a chemical label on a water bottle that said dihydrogen monoxide, like for air airplane or like for aviation use only, and it's like a chemical logo, and it said chemtrail fluid, which is a bottle of water.
Stoney
It's on the shelf right next to the blinker. You're
Ian
right. You're right, 100% so good. But yeah, this is the time of year where we all come together. And we talk, we kind of talk about our Christmas season and things of that nature. It's been,
Jason
you know, what I did, what you do? Tracy and I sat down in front of the TV, and we put, we put on a Charlie Brown,
Ian
yeah, I haven't
Jason
seen I'm telling you, it brought tears in my eyes, because it reflected back on my youth, and it reminded me of a world that just doesn't exist anymore. And it saddens me, yeah, that it took, they took those programs off the TV, yeah, and put up a bunch of stupid stuff. I mean, they just did, and the suit, the simplicity of those little stick figures, yes, that animation had such a powerful impact. And the music, the music, it just for whatever reason, it's silly, but yet serious at the same time, yeah, and I have to think back on those type of Christmas programming, those kind of cartoons that that they were very they had a lot of deep meaning to a lot of them. They really did, and I recognize that really now. I see it versus back, you know, back when you're a kid watching this stuff, you you kind of take all that for for you know, for granted. Yeah, it's Yeah, but we watched that,
Ian
and I was doing the same thing with the first home alone movie. I didn't realize how much Christian symbolism is in the first home alone, until you really start to look at it, at least from, like, an adult perspective. And there's so much, like, I don't know it's a obviously, it's a very funny movie, and there's a lot of stuff in it that probably, you know, have your own feelings about it. But like, I just am reminded that, like, when Kevin is at this moment of distress, he runs to the church and goes and sits in a pew and and listens to, Oh, holy night. And it's like this beautiful moment where it's like, man, they would never allow depictions of something like that today, Christianity in a movie at all today was so common back, yeah, it's just a thing that I was like, Man, that's so crazy that like,
Stoney
Yeah, but I mean, realistic terms, is it really Christmas until Hans Gruber falls from Nakatomi Plaza? Hey. I mean,
Ian
that's I also watched that I watched, I watched Die Hard, maybe like last week. I think at some point, man, what a great, what a great movie. That is. There's so many great Christmas movies that I don't feel like they're Christmas movies. Yeah, yeah.
Jason
You know, unfortunately, on a sad note of watching some stuff on the, you know, scrolling and some of these, like France and Germany and Australia have had to cancel their Christmas, everything celebrations because of the Islamic issues in their country, and it's sad that this is what the result of What has they have allowed to happen to their countries for their own parades and celebrations and stuff they have been celebrating for centuries, yeah, to be disrupted by a group of people that absolutely shares nothing in common with them at all. Yeah, and they allowed all these people in their country. I I do not it's sad, man, I worry about that here. I truly do, because
Stoney
those imams are going everywhere and exactly you're born telling the stories you got to get rid of alcohol, the gambling and anything else, we're gonna burn your store down. Yeah, I
Jason
mean that to me. I mean, I mean to you know, I know that's a sensitive topic, and understand the you the whole thing and but I mean, we, people have got us. People have got to speak up and that this is just unacceptable. I don't mind people being here, but you need to respect the customs of that country that you've chosen to immigrate to and to be a part of. If you don't stay at your house and just don't participate and be done with it.
Stoney
Don't try to turn this beautiful country into exact world piece of shit you came from Exactly. And that's what I think. That's a quote from somebody, yeah. Well, I don't give
Jason
a shit, right? Well, unfortunately, that's what I'm saying. And why didn't you just stay where you're at? And, of course, I mean, I've got, we all know what, what's going on behind that, but it's just sad to see that, you know, these beautiful celebrations that are celebrating, you know, love and brotherhood and all the things that we all think of the Christmas. Seizing the birth of Jesus Christ. You know the common cultural Christian heritage that
Stoney
everybody seems to be a little nicer during this time everybody I was I was at Costco today, and broke up a couple conversations with people who just seemed happy and everybody just seems nicer. There was one little incident at Costco that I want to kind of bring right now, if y'all don't mind, yeah, to the lady at Costco with her son on the leash. I am sorry that I asked him if he was a rescue, but the profanity wasn't necessary, but I really appreciated her not Sicking him on me.
Ian
But one thing there was some converse,
Stoney
great conversation. Great conversation today at Costco, people just seemed happier, even with everything going on this time of year, yeah, and I wish that could go the whole time, because it used to be Thanksgiving, and then they put the Christmas decorations out in the stores. Now it's Halloween, and why can't we be happy that whole time at least get two or three months out of it instead of two weeks? Right? Look at all the movies, you know, a wonderful life, and even the Charlie Brown stuff, they're jumping and dancing. Everybody's happier at Christmas time.
Ian
Well, I also had recently watched for the first time in a long time, a couple different iterations of the Christmas Carol, you know, talk about something that's like, you know, kind of scary, but also hard. I remember from my childhood of, you know, just kind of putting you in a headspace of reflecting on, like, okay, you know, are you being a scrooge? Are you being a stick all these other like, insert whatever absolute baggage you carry around, you know, that kind of stuff that you can that you don't even recognize, right? And, yeah, have this moment of, like, maybe I should be a little bit nicer or a little more generous or caring, or, you know, like, like Jason said, I think, very appropriately in his opening remarks, it's a chance to slow down. It's a chance to reflect, it's, you know, that's the whole, that's the whole thing of Advent, as you know, is the season of waiting. We're waiting for the birth of Christ, and that's, that's what this is all about.
Jason
So, yeah, we know we missed, never forget that. And you know, we do get caught up in all the other stuff. But you know, at its heart is, you know, the Savior of the world became one of us and, and I think that's the most important thing to remember, that you know, everything we do, you know, it's, it's the Christianity that that motivates and produces Santa Claus. Yes, you know. So that's, that's, you know, a lot of team people focus on the Santa Claus. And I get that. It's joyful, but Santa Claus is Santa Claus because something motivated Santa Claus and
Ian
and it's also something that I feel like was so inherent and integral to, like, what made, I think, America, what it is to begin with, you know, country that was based on these values, on this stuff, and so, like we've said a couple times before, it's crazy to see how there's people coming in and telling what we can't believe or we can't celebrate what we've been celebrating for hundreds of years.
Jason
Yeah. I mean, you know, it's funny. You know, the history of, I know of Christmas and in the United States, believe it or not, at one time, it was illegal. It wasn't it was not celebrated. You know, for some of the I don't believe some of the states, I don't know if it was outlawed in every state of or the original 13 Colonies, but there were some states that viewed the Christmas celebration as a pagan or a, yeah, I forget the terminology that was used, but I mean that was a carryover from that Catholic heritage, you know, Midnight masses and all that that some of those early people, pilgrims that came to the United States, they had come from some traditions that had deviated from that that the idea of celebrating that was considered wrong, or something to that effect. But I found that interesting that, yeah, one time it was it was against the law to practice practice Christmas. And I'm sure one of our listeners will be like, Huh, that's crazy, but yeah, it's it's interesting how we've come to celebrate Christmas as we celebrate it today as a national holiday. I just saw that President Trump has given off the federal government Wednesday and and Friday, off
Ian
for holiday.
Jason
Well, Christmas, obviously, but these given three to three day. It's a three day weekend for the federal employee.
Stoney
That is for the state too. Yes, here in Louisiana, that's. And it's two weeks in a row, correct? Wow. So it's Wednesday, Thursday, Friday for Christmas and Wednesday, Thursday and
Jason
Friday for New Year's. Yeah, nice, yep. So it's
Stoney
so everybody can be happy during this. People
Jason
want to be home and people want to take care of things. So he's shutting down the government. Well, look, let's be honest. I mean, there's nothing going nobody would be doing it. Nobody anyway, those last two weeks of the lab of the year are, there's nothing really going on,
Stoney
no parties.
Jason
Thing you gotta, you know, you got to bring back all your gifts that you didn't like the after Christmas sales.
Ian
Of course, you know so plenty of eggnog, alcoholic or not?
Jason
Yeah, I'm gonna be coming over to Stoney, his house, and cooking a gumbo. So I'm looking forward to that. We had fun last year doing it, and I'm looking forward doing it again, and if it's as good as it was last year, I mean, that's the goal. Everybody, very much, devoured that big old pot that we prepared. That's good. So I'm hoping that we can, we can
Ian
duplicate that's the goal. The goal is to either make it as good, if not a little better, right? I want to make it worse than last year, because now there's a precedent set, because now they're like, oh, Jason's bringing the big old
Jason
pot of gum. Like, now that's that's a deal. As I cook, I provide the gumbo for Christmas Eve, because my family, we, we celebrate our Christmas on Christmas Eve, yeah, so, you know, about six o'clock or five o'clock somewhere up in there, yeah, you know, before that. I mean, mom would, would maybe cook a little pizza or something like that. It was a very easy,
Stoney
yeah, more of a get together then go after all the hustle and, yeah, we don't,
Jason
I mean, we don't do the big cooking anymore like we did when we were younger. Mom, I mean, she does all that stuff for Thanksgiving, and then Christmas is more of an easy going type
Stoney
of y'all in y'all pajamas, or do y'all wear regular clothes?
Jason
Well, it well, probably will be, because we take pictures. Yeah, you can take pictures, but I don't. I mean, I will probably be in regular clothes. I can't normally. I usually, prior to meeting Tracy, I was, I stayed up and went to midnight mass, okay? On Christmas Eve, yeah, so that was my tradition of what I did, right? But they don't have Midnight Mass anymore, really. Yeah, they actually, I just, I think that the attendance was just too low, and I think the bishop's order to the diocese, to the priest was basically have the masses that you only can do. Okay, so don't stretch yourself too thin. So I think they basically looked at it and went, Yeah, you know where most people, you know when it, when it comes to to that, or either attending, the most popular is four o'clock, the Christmas bell. That's where all the kids with the bells together. So that's the best that with families with little kids, that's the one they're going to, right? And the church's stuff to the rafters.
Ian
Of course, once you get any kind of kids in your performance, you get, yeah,
Jason
you got, you got everybody showing. Well, it's because you do that. It allows for people to and then that way, Sunday, Christmas morning, yeah, their kids are opening their presents, and you're not having to worry about getting ready to go to church and stuff like that. And so a lot of them go to four. I think there's a four and a seven. And then, of course, will be the next day, will be price, 730 right? And 10, I don't know, we'll probably end up going to, probably end up going to 10 o'clock on Christmas Day. We normally do. So it's, you know,
Ian
it's not, I'm going to, I'm going to a 5pm candlelight service, yeah, on Christmas Eve, I
Stoney
remember, like, when I lived in the French Quarter, the St Louis Cathedral was open, 24/7 right, in the 80s, you could still get asylum. Interesting in the Catholic Church, is that? What is that? It's asylum or, I guess, yeah, I think that's the name for it. You could still get asylum, because they were open 24/7 and if you were truly in trouble, you could seek asylum. Now it has business hours.
Jason
Well, that's because, unfortunately, some people have decided to go in and vandalize or steal or whatever the case may be. I mean, I know there was a there. Was a brings back to a remember a news report where a a satanic group had broken into a Catholic Church and stole the the the actual host to perform a perform a black mass to desecrate the host. And I thought it was ingenious, the Catholic Diocese basically filed a police report that was for them, right, and forced them to know that's the property of the Catholic Church. It's not yours, definitely. And so bring it back, of course, at that point, if it leaves, you know, if it leaves, then they would end up performing a ceremony to basically do away with them, because they're, you know, they've been kind of tainted at that point. But, yeah, you gotta, you gotta watch that. I mean, it's unfortunate that you actually got to close a church, right? But you do have people that go in and and steal or try and take advantage. Nothing is nothing is sacred anymore. I mean, it's
Stoney
there used to be a point in time where you didn't steal from the church because you you thought God
Jason
was right. That was, that wasn't mean, the idea that what I call people had real fear, a healthy fear, of God. I mean, it's like, you know, we hear the term fear of God, of like, you know, we're not supposed to fear God. And like, well, that's quite what that really means. But the idea that you really want to go there, and
Ian
it's more of a respect, right, even, even if you don't like, that's the thing is, if you, even if you don't, probably believe, or you don't want, you know, practice or whatever, there's like, there's still quote fear, but it's, I think it's more of a respect for like, okay, like, I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna, you know, yeah,
Jason
it's just unfortunate that that is what. But the only things that are open now, there are some places that have a the chapels where the the monstrance is set up with the host in it, and you can go in those places, I think, are open, where you can go in and pray. But the churches itself, I think, are locked. I know, I know mine, where I go. It's they lock it after a certain, you know, time and beyond that. Yeah, right. So, yeah, it's just a shame that's that's happening. But I'm telling you, it's just so tragic what I'm reading about right now, what's going on in Europe with this, it just saddens me so much, of course, that that terrible incident that happened on Australia where all those, those those Islamic gunmen opened up a father and son, no killed like 1516 it was start of Hanukkah, and they were on This very popular beach in Australia, and they open fired and and killed. Just started shooting people like fish in a barrel.
Stoney
Think about this. It's so premeditated, yep, that a couple of years ago, he put his home into his wife's name so that when he did this, they couldn't come take the house away from her, right? Because he knew what he was going to do. This is how premeditated this act was. Yeah, it's
Jason
just, it's so, I mean, come on, right? I mean, Europe is there, Paris and some of these places looking at this, and it's just we are this is whole thing as a powder keg right now, and they basically just out of abundance of caution, they've canceled. Now the question is, do you you permanently get rid of these things? I mean, do you let fear rule you? I mean, I just to me that tells me these countries have just completely lost control of their own country. I mean, they just absolutely just, it saddens me that what this is a time of celebration and joy and all these and
Stoney
we that's what they want. They want you to be living in fear. That's how they win.
Jason
Well, they it's up to them. They're killing their from what I've been reading here, I mean, some of these guys feel like the that are doing these things, they're basically following the tenets of of their they would be the fundamentalist of their religion. I mean, it's, yeah, it's they're doing what their religion tells them to do. And it's, you know, to them all this Christmas celebration stuff is is idolatrous, and all these other things. So it's just a, it's just a sad, sad situation right now with that. But, you know, I don't know. I mean, it's, I don't know what the answer is there, but we definitely have some something to watch as that develops over time, especially here in America. Exactly I'm very curious about, I mean, it's happening now. I saw an article some of this stuff starting to happen, and in a town of Richardson Texas, no way. Texas TEXAS Elected their first Richardson Texas elect their first Muslim mayor. What this is in Texas? What is happening
Stoney
red Texas? I mean, Houston is almost a Muslim city. Now, really, yes, Houston is, is almost lost.
Jason
That's crazy. Yeah, it. This is just, we, they have got to get a handle on this. And this idea that that seemed like no one can do anything about. It's just, I hate to say it, it's just ain't good. This is just not good. And it saddens me that something I never thought I would ever see in my lifetime, yeah, I'd never thought as growing
Stoney
New York, they apparently have forgotten. Remember the thing after 911 was, we will never forget. We will never forget. Guess what? They must have forgotten. Yeah, they forgot. That's what happened. And this is New Yorkers. These are some of the toughest people on the planet.
Jason
You know, that's what happens, though, if you look at, you look at the demographics now of that city, I think, I think the last time we talked about this. I think they said 60% of the vote came from people who are not not born and are not native to the city at all. So I mean, that's telling you, immigration is causing major issues right now. And yeah, I mean, he if it would have been native New Yorkers. That guy would have never sniffed New York, the mayor of New York, it just would not have happened, right? But you know
Stoney
what's AOC? The only reason she's in her her place is because all the Somalians and the Muslims that were brought into that state, that's how she wound up there. I say we shut down immigration. We spend some time getting rid of the people that are here, that aren't supposed to be here, and start over. We have laws in place. We need to enforce those laws. We don't need to actually change any laws. We just need to enforce the laws that we have, right? Just enforce the laws we already
Jason
have, yeah, but I don't think they'll really want to enforce the law. That's that's the deal. There's no desire we
Stoney
well, you know what this boils down to is, is the only way Democrats are going to be able to have any semblance of power. And I heard the thing, this socialism thing out there right now, everybody wants a socialist change America to a socialistic government. And basically what that's doing is, is if you take $500 away from one person and you give $100 to five people, you've lost one vote and gained five votes, but eventually you're going to run out of other people's money, which New York and and California are finding out right now, because people are leaving California and New York's in droves. They can't even celebrate Christmas this year because they're having to move Phillips 66 will be out of California by December 31 they're going to lose 135,000 barrels a day of gasoline, which is of oil, which is turned into gasoline, right? And they're estimating that that will cause gas to go between eight and $10 a gallon. Then by March 31 what's what it Valero? Is it? Valerie, Valero is leaving with another 145,000 barrels of all a day processed, which they're estimating to go between 10 and $12 a gallon, gosh. And then the day after mandami gets elected in New York, the very next day, $1.8 billion of commercial real estate was put up for sale, really. And the early in New York, wow. And the early thought processes with these taxes on millionaires and billionaires. They thought eight to 12% was going to leave, and it's looking like it's more like 30 to 35% are going to leave within the first year of the millionaires and billionaires wild. So their people are recognizing what's going on, but it's time for us to be vocal, yeah, and stop this. We, you know, we elected this man to get into office, whether you like him or not, to do these things the public spoke, yep. And it's time to do these things and start arresting some of these people. Yeah. Well. You look at Tim, what's his name, Tim waltz or whatever, what's his name? The governor of Minnesota and all the fraud under his watch, and you don't think he didn't know about it, he should be in jail. AOC should be in jail for a number of reasons. You know, I don't know if y'all heard but Nancy Pelosi was hospitalized this week, really, yes, low alcohol content, body. Okay, she can't, you know? Yeah, I don't know. That's crazy. It's time to start putting these people in jail. Yeah, they're putting a finally, they're putting a term limits. They're trying to get ready to start passing a law for term limits, which would be great. I think it's time, because our founding fathers knew that if you could eventually turn service into a full time position, corruption would follow. Yeah, and it definitely has,
Jason
definitely I'm reading here. It says, For two years during the Gaza war, all public celebrations for Christmas were canceled in Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank, yes, where Christians believe Jesus was born. But after the recent ceasefire, the holy city said that this year the festivities would return, as symbolized by the lighting of a traditional giant Christmas tree in front of the historic nativity church. It's been a bad two years of silence, no Christmas, no jobs, no work, says bethlehem's mayor. We're all living here from tourism, and tourism was down to zero. I've heard that. I know I've talked to my priest church I go to, and he's made some pilgrim pilgrimages and is taking groups over to the Holy Land, which I wanted to go, unfortunately, the god, this whole thing started, but that is definitely a trip I want to make, just to go see some of this stuff. But, but yeah, they've been really struggling right now. He goes. The mayor accepts that the idea of resuming celebrations was not without controversy, as suffering continues in Gaza, including for those in its tiny Christian community, many of whom have relatives in Bethlehem. So they say locals, both Christians and Muslims, pose for selfies in front of the tree hung with red and gold bobbles in manger square. They're joined by a handful of foreign tourists. So, you know, you know, as you read about some of these things, as always you you read stories like that, that they are, there's pockets of of of people that are trying to do the right thing, right and trying to make the world a better place, and so but, yeah, I mean that that's that's do
Stoney
our little things to make the world a better place. That's all we can do. Everybody needs to, right? And it's the little things you know that we can do to make it better. I have something I'm looking at right now. We've all heard of only fans, right? Right? I'm thinking about creating a website called, excuse me, older fans, and it's just me telling you what part of my body hurts today and what Minnesota task I was doing that caused
Ian
I want to see the person I'm
Jason
talking about hurting all right. Now I'm down with my leg. You're down with your leg. Last week, I'm having problems with this calf of mine on and it's just I haven't been able to run. I tried to run Tuesday, and it just locked back up on me. And I think it has something to do with my lower back, which I've got disc issues just from years of abuse to my body. You know, weight lifting and, you know, just it takes a toll on you. And so, yeah, I've been down with that. So I've been trying to massage it, and Ryan Tracy's been rolling it out. And there you go, trying to jump, and, yeah, trying to help me to get back, because I got to get back to running. I mean, it's I love running too much.
Ian
I feel like not being able to run a
Stoney
lot of that is a low magnesium count, and there's some magnesium oil that you can rub on your hands and your feet. Have some of that do that nightly, all right, I'm gonna try it on your feet and your hands and your wrist, because that's the highest absorption parts on your body. And don't try to do it in pills, because. You don't know what pill you're getting, and it's the stomach acid. Can tear it up right by the time it gets into your body, it's a minuscule amount, but if you take that oil and rub it on your hands and your feet, it'll get absorbed, especially if you do it like overnight and just let it suck into your body and see what that'll do. Well, a lot of things today we go through is a low magnesium, right? So just thought there something hottie. Dr Miranda always tells me, and I try to do it just, I'm passing that on to you guys, of course,
Ian
secondhand wisdom. That's awesome.
Jason
Yeah, I'm looking here. It says shoppers reading about an article here about Christmas market descends into chaos as violent Brawl breaks out between travelers in front of stun shoppers. You know, I mean, Doogie Joyce and Simon slimy McGinley were filmed, were filled were filmed clashing in exchange square outside Selfridges at around 4:35pm with stun shoppers watching as the pair grappled and tumbled to the ground. A spokesman for the Greater Manchester Police confirmed officers responded to reports of a disturbance at 4:35pm on Sunday, but the incident appeared to be over when they arrived. Officers spoke to both men, but neither would disclose anything. The men left, and no complaints were made. It's a jam shame. I could
Ian
understand that maybe a handful of years ago, but not anymore, not in this day and age, not in the year of our Lord 2025 do you guys think you got all your Christmas shopping done, or you still got things?
Stoney
I think I'm done. I just wanted two little things. Um,
Jason
I've got, I got old Bob, two more things I can get those probably this weekend, easily, nice, but I,
Ian
I'm in the same boat. I have to get a few more things for a couple people
Jason
only buy for my family. Oh, yeah, I don't really buy gifts.
Ian
I'm in the same way a lot of times, the tradition for us is we'll go to the that the candlelight service I was talking about, and then Christmas Day, or Christmas Day towards that evening, we'll all come together and usually eat something or pick up something to eat or whatever, and then we'll hang out and exchange gifts and just come and hang out. We all have this year. This year would be different, because my girlfriend, hopefully her family are going to be present, so that's going to be fun. And a new little addition. We have a couple more people hanging around.
Jason
So, well, we, I mean, we don't. We got, obviously, tell people we already have too much stuff. Oh, yeah. So I'd rather just memories. I would rather
Stoney
create a memory. Yeah, be it used to be when somebody would ask me, What do you want for Christmas? What do you want for your birthday? I would say, nothing. The best thing that you can give me is your time. Let's go to dinner. Let's go take a weekend somewhere and go do something and create that memory. And now that I'm losing my memory that's even more important to me now, right? Because it's the little things that just, you know, it's kind of like, you know, we live our lives, you know, when, when we understand that it's not one more day that we get, yeah, it's one less day that we have, and then we start realizing the things that really matter, right? And after my I've been shot, stabbed, run over by car, knocked off a building, and then this accident, which really almost took me out, they said I had a 3% chance of surviving, right, you kind of find the things that are really important to you, yeah, because you're no longer invulnerable and mortal and everything else. It's, it's like, each day that I live, I realize I got one less day to go, yeah, and it's, we just all these craziness going on in the country and the world when we we need to realize this is not an infinite thing. This is a very finite life, life that we have Yeah, and we need to enjoy it. And that's what I think I really enjoyed about Christmas, was it was like, okay, we can all be happy. We can all just take a deep breath, yeah, and love on each other and chill out and just relax and smile and and just be joyous for a little while.
Ian
I've always loved, like, November and December for myself, and partially because, think it's what my my parents have instilled in me, like I always loved getting ready and being hyped up for Thanksgiving and like, what the. Season of Thanksgiving, mint in our household. And, you know, just taking a second to appreciate what you have and all that stuff. And then, of course, then going straight into Christmas season, you know, it just oriented me in a positive headspace. And of course, was more generous and giving and that kind of stuff. And then, of course, it brings you into this season of Christmas, which is not just about receiving gifts, but it's also about giving. And so I don't know this, this time of year always, you know, around that November, December, time, like you had mentioned before, everyone feels a little bit happier, but it's for me specifically. It's just, I don't it's just been a, it's a moment every year to slow down and really appreciate all the things you do have, appreciate the people that you have, the moments that you have. And in the past couple years, I haven't done a great job of that. I've been overworking myself a little bit. And for the first time this year, I've had a little bit more flexibility because of the way in which my job is kind of structured. So it's been I a pleasant, a very pleasant surprise, that kind of has happened that I didn't realize, and I didn't realize I needed, until you know all that happened, and then I got into Jason,
Stoney
and I would be very appreciative, pleasantly surprised if we could get some more brown I
Ian
promise. I promise you,
Stoney
speaking of appreciation, okay, we have, we get reviews. Yes, stuff like that. But I got one here I kind of really liked, because of one sentence in it. Okay, and so I'm gonna read it. This is from Wes, hey guys, Wes here. I've really enjoyed y'all talking points over the past few months, things that I in the public at large wouldn't necessarily put a lot of thought into, but should are broadening my awarenesses of the world around me that I really thought I understood at one point. In short, your show makes Mondays more bearable. Look forward to learning something each week.
Jason
That's nice. How nice. I love to hear those
Stoney
we're making somebody's Mondays a little more bearable. How about that?
Jason
That's great, man. I'm glad that. I'm glad our listeners out there really are looking forward to hearing us.
Stoney
I'm really appreciative when they send stuff like this to us. Yeah? Let us know how we're doing.
Jason
Send more to us. Yeah, we love it, you know, yeah, I wish. I wish we had a lot more people kind of given their two cents of what they where they think the show should go, and what sort of topics should we should cover. And, you know, we're always looking for those kind of things because, you know, sometimes it's hard to find good topics to talk about. I think we've got some good ones coming up, yeah, that we've selected
Ian
if we can, if we can, kind of transition into our Spotify wrapped, if you guys are ready for that, yeah, what's, how is our year? Obviously, everyone knows, or anyone who has Spotify knows that they give you what they call wrapped, which is, at the around this, around the December time you as a user of Spotify gets you know you're most listened to songs, you're most listened to albums, who your favorite artists are, and a whole bunch of other fun metrics and stuff that they track throughout the year for you and for us as what they call quote creators, we get like a creator version of wrapped for retrospect. And so this year I was able to, again, over the past week or so, I was able to pull up all of our, all of our numbers. Now this isn't for YouTube and Apple podcasts and all that stuff, because not everyone does a wrapped so this is, these numbers are just for Spotify specifically, but they're, they're really good. So if you guys are ready, absolutely. It says the total audience, the increase in audience from last year to this year is up by 60% on Spotify specifically. So that means from last year we have 60% more listeners. That's great. And the numbers on the back end, we have had a few months in particular that have skyrocketed out of nowhere, and have had a bunch of listens, and also have had people who have downloaded the majority of our catalog, which is amazing, and that's probably where some of those numbers are coming from. Next on the list is total followers, so people that specifically hit follow on the podcast itself has increased to 22% from last year. I'll take it, yeah. So again,
Jason
if we can grow already 22% each year, I'll take that
Ian
so and then guess this is a good time. If you guys aren't following the podcast, there's a way you can click on the podcast and hit follow, or if you're on YouTube or Apple podcasts or something very similar, where you can subscribe, or whatever the terminology is, be sure to do that. Do you guys know what our top episode of 2025 is? Do you want to go? You want to give
Jason
any guesses? I don't even I'd have to kind of go back in. Yeah. Because, you know, we. Do that. You know, people ask me a lot about Do you Do you remember that? I said, Look, I don't remember what we did, because I'm prepping for the next one. It's like, yeah, you know, but no, I have no idea. Okay.
Ian
Do you want to throw out anything? Okay, okay. It was episode 205 and it was our Charlie Kirk episode. Oh wow. Oh yeah. Top episode on Spotify, specifically, I think other platforms may well. Platforms may have other very Yeah, our Spotify listeners really connected with that episode specifically,
Jason
cut that thing has turned into an absolute
Ian
and it also says, Here, it says that this episode was played about 300% more than average episodes. So I think that there's a lot of maybe those new followers and new listeners to the show potentially found us through that episode by a large margin, which is interesting and also a bit unfortunate, you know, given the circumstances. But if you're here, welcome. We're glad that you're here. We reached 23 countries overall in Spotify specifically. So that's it's just a metric they give us. And our top countries on that list are obviously United States as one. United Kingdom is in second place, Canada is in third place, Sweden is in fourth place, and Australia is in 5/5, place. Wow. Yeah. So at the list, we have a bunch of a very
Stoney
interesting because our hosting site says we're in 62 to 65 countries
Ian
across the world. That's unbelievable. And again, like I said, it's almost
Stoney
1200 cities, individual cities, insane, right?
Ian
So at least 23 of those countries, potentially, is factoring in from Spotify alone, which is interesting to hear from so and then this is something that I think is really cool. So I just want to give give a preface for this one. So as a Spotify user, you can on the podcast side of your users wrapped on your Spotify wrapped you have, like, your top five, and you're like number one of, like, what you're the biggest fan of. So like, if I listen to a certain music artist more than anything else, that would be obviously in my first place. So I, I am a no top number one fan for this album or this show. So for us, they give us saying that we are in the top 10 for 52 of our fans. So that means that 52 people amongst our Spotify listeners, we are on their top 10 list. At the very least, we're somewhere in that
Jason
absolutely top 10. That's wonderful
Ian
of those, so that means that, and it says that the top five, so that means that we are our podcast is within the top five for people is 42 so that means that there's only, like 10 people that have us lower down than their top 5% so 42 people, it's that's incredible. And then of those, it says that we are the number one show for 25 of our listeners, which is incredible. I think that's really cool. Like of there are 25 people on, in, on, on, on Spotify, specifically that we are their number one show. We they listen to our show the most regular.
Jason
They're consuming our content regular basis.
Ian
Literally number one fans, which is really cool.
Jason
So, oh, you know what? 25 people. That's, you know, considering where we we started, yeah, yeah. It's, you know, it's, we've slowly built a an audience. And, you know, it makes me feel good that people like what we're, you know, like listening to us for about an hour each day.
Ian
I again, I would, I'm, I'm, even, I'm cool with the fact that there's 42 people that were in their top five. That's pretty Yes, yeah, the fact that there's 25 of those people that were their number one show that's that's really cool, that's and then, and then, here the next little slide it gives me is it says that the top fans streamed. So again, of those, like people that have us in their top five, they stream our show six times more than everyone else, than any other show that they listen to, or any other podcast on the platform. So they, again, the people that like us really like us. Which is, which is great.
Jason
I'll take it, yeah. I mean, you know, that's and
Ian
then it says 20% of our entire audience binges two plus episodes in one day. That means that there's a so a lot of times, if people listen to one episode, they're
Jason
more they're probably checking out some of the older stuff. That's probably about
Ian
about a quarter of our audience, or, you know, a little less than, you know, watches two or listens to two episodes at a time, which that's great,
Jason
makes me feel good, and
Ian
then again. And then that same percentage, 20% also play within 24 hours of the episodes dropping. So that means that. 20% of our audience, again on Spotify alone the second within 24 hours of a new episode dropping, they listen to it just like you said, Wes it was like, makes our Mondays a little bit better. There's 20% is like, Yep, I'm gonna listen to this on a Monday when it drops within 24 hours.
Jason
That's great. Well, I'm glad that we were able to be a part of those people's lives. And you know, hey, spread the message, share the podcast. Talk to other people that give
Stoney
us a great gift and share it. Yeah, the gift of retrospect. Podcast to friends and family.
Ian
And then that kind of segues into this next part. If you know anybody that likes these podcasts as well, maybe you can recommend our show to them, because this the top shows that we are, I don't wanna say competing against, but the our audience, base on Spotify, also listens to these podcasts here. Which number one in that position is the Joe Rogan experience. Number two is the Tucker Carlson show. Wow. Then three is strawberry letter. Never heard of that one before. Four is run that prank again, never heard of that one before. And then five is real coffee with Scott Adams. I do believe I've heard that before. So if it is anybody that likes those podcasts, you know, like ours, because, again, great mics. Take a like.
Jason
That's great love to hear, yeah, and
Ian
then it says that fans listened to listen to you for longer than 86% of other shows. So again, as far as like, total listening hours, that means that they listen to our show throughout its entirety longer than they would. So it means that other shows, they probably turned off preemptively before finishing it. And then also, we received a bunch of comments on a couple of our episodes, which is nice because, again, it was more than last year, and we also received a bunch of shares. It says you received more shares than 85% of other shows on the platform. Oh, wow, that's great. Yeah. So we're in an upper percentile of people that actually share
Jason
the we need a, we need a, you know, kind of put a benchmark on these statues next year. I do, I do. I want to see what the difference is.
Ian
I don't think, I don't think I kept 2020 fours, but I think I do have 2023 is, I think. And I don't know if they gave me the same details as
Jason
you say. So how many people you said? 40 something people were number like,
Ian
number or not, top five for 42 people. So that means there's 42 people on Spotify that we are in their top five podcasts
Jason
next year. I'd love to see a double Yeah, yeah, that we're in the top
Ian
five for number one. So for number one, number one fans, and we have 25 so that means that 25 people on Spotify, when they receive their Spotify wrapped and it goes, let's see what your top podcasts are. Retrospect, podcast is right there, which is really
Jason
keeps us, yeah, that keeps us in that, you know, keep circulating, keeping us there. And it's wonderful to hear,
Ian
appreciate the appreciate the shares and the support. That's it's really cool. I'm excited about that. But anyways, I just wanted to share some of that, because obviously, again, this year, they went into more detail as far as all the statistics, statistics they gave me. Because I think the past couple years has kind of just been like, oh, congrats. You've gotten a couple of shares, or, you know, whatever. But this year, I was scrolling through it, I was like, Oh my gosh. Look at all this. Look at all these numbers, all these it was really cool. So I took screenshots of it all, and I saved it all for us today. So well.
Jason
Thank you so much for compiling that, sharing that with us and our listeners, and just to give everybody out there just an idea, kind of just how we're doing as a podcast, that obviously we're resonating with a certain group of people out there, and our hope is that that just keeps growing. Yeah, I
Ian
feel like we would probably still do this show, even if not a lot of people listened. But it does make it nice to know there's a handful of people. There's probably at least 2425 people out there that really like us, like listening to us and Spotify. That's just on Spotify. And if that's you out there, I hear you, I see you.
Stoney
Thank you. I think we have more than that.
Ian
I think we do as well. And it's cool to hear, you know, it's cool to hear comments like from, from Wes, you know,
Stoney
I like that makes Mondays better, yeah, which is Mondays are always hard to get to work,
Ian
100% and that's partially why we whenever we began all this, that's why we chose Mondays. We're like, it's the start of the week. We can drop something first thing in the morning, help somebody out with their commute, or as the week goes on, if they need a little pick me up. Need a little something to listen to. Here we. Are, but, yeah,
Jason
that's great. I'm glad to hear that that's exciting, that that just makes, gives it a little motivation to try to step up our game and try to do better, and try to make it a little bit more interesting, maybe bring on more special guests, and, oh yeah, you know, that's kind of what you know, a lot of people would be driving to, you know, would want to see is, you know, what other people have to say, and always that fourth person, oh yeah, adds a unique dynamic to the show, right?
Ian
You know, especially a lot of the guests that we've had in the past, they always bring, I think, a really great perspective, or
Jason
I'd love to, there's a couple I'd love to get here, but it's sometimes it's hard to try to arrange for that so, but yeah, it's, yeah, it's obviously, we're obviously doing something right. And thank you. Everyone that has chosen to to be, you know, to be a part of the real family.
Ian
The real core of this episode has been to chill out, to slow down and to really appreciate this holiday season. And I think some of this has helped out with that as well, for me, at least, to just kind of realize to stop and and stop and smell the roses, or stop and look at the statistics, that there's a lot of hard work that goes into this show from all of us individually, and to help make the magic happen. And, and then to look at that and go, Okay, so, you know, maybe all this hard work is kind of going into something. But is there anything else you guys want to touch on before we think
Jason
that's it. Okay, you know, we had a it's should be a fun season. And, and I want to wish you all a Merry Christmas. Yep, yes. And it's been a it's been fun. I agree. I look forward to what
Ian
Christmas isn't. Christmas isn't canceled around here.
Jason
Christmas is strong here. So I say, I want to thank my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, for being the center of my life. And, you know, giving me is giving me a lot of great things in my life. And yeah, and I want to thank him for that, and it's gonna be interesting. You know, I said get here and get married next year, get married next year. I am, I am excited, and it's gonna be, you know, it's a new chapter for me.
Stoney
Yeah, probably after that happens for about six months and you get somebody living with, you engage, probably have to change the name of the show to Yes, ma'am dear.
Ian
Yes, whatever you say, I'm here.
Jason
Yeah, we you love someone, and you try to, you do your best to, you know, to make that person happy. Yeah. And so, yeah,
Ian
I agree, and I'm happy for you. I've said there's a number of numerous times on the podcast and off the podcast. I'm happy for you too, and I'm excited, and I don't want to rush anything, but I'm excited for the for the wedding ceremony. I'm ready. I want to get gussied up and, yeah,
Jason
gotta go. It's coming up. Matter of fact, we met with the with the reception hall, Yeah, yesterday, had a little sit down kind of go over the last bit of details. We'll meet again to kind of kind of wrap it all up. But you know, we probably finalize a lot of things with the food and, of course, all the logistics, bar and, you know, all that stuff. So it should be fun. Hopefully it'll be the weather will be nice.
Ian
You know, I have faith I'll be good. Well, until next week. Thank you so much for listening. Bye, bye,
Jason
Goodbye, everyone and God bless.
Stoney
Normally, I do the closings here, but I want to offer our listeners a small gift in a phrase that I heard that will maybe help your life out and then do my closing. But the gift I'd like to give our listeners is, no matter how good the hand soap smells, never walk out of the bathroom sniffing your fingers. And my closing for the day is the Christmas story reminds us that Jesus didn't arrive with spectacle. He arrived with presents. He fed the hungry, he clothed the exposed, he taught the searching, and then in grace He gave joy. That order matters. So when we give gifts that reflect need, dignity, wisdom and joy. We're not just giving things, we're forming hearts. And in a world obsessed with more, choosing enough might be one of the most faithful acts left, that's Christmas. Thanks for joining us today and being part of the retrospect podcast. We appreciate you, and we need you, and you inspire us. You're the best. Best, Peace.