Kids & Santa – New Year’s Resolutions

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Hello everybody, Julie and Sean. Sean, sorry, I already messed up. I said Julie and Sean and then I went Don and Julie.

Don and Julie.

Don and Julie, because I was thinking of Dennis. Sean and Julie, everybody. Hello and welcome to what we're now calling Dennis and Julie, with Dennis continuing to be in the hospital. Even with my, uh, bad attempt at getting our new name right, it's great to be with you, Sean. Don, likewise.

Don, we now are gay apparel.

Oh well, there we go, already a segue into Christmas. Um, You know, just to start out front, I know that as always, many people are wondering about Dennis, and I have seen him many times. I see him several times a week, and I am very happy to report that he is in excellent spirits. Things are improving. David and Marissa came out with a video speaking about his breathing difficulties, so I feel comfortable telling you that he was on a trike, which you probably probably knew for a while, and he is still on that trach, but he is breathing more and more independently of the trach, which is really good because once he is off of that, he can get back to speaking, which I know is perhaps the greatest thing that we want for him is to be able to speak again. But in the meantime, we are communicating through these kind of haphazard methods. Anyone who's been with an ICU patient who for some reason or another can't speak but is Nevertheless, mentally competent, you know how it goes. You have a letter sheet and the way that we communicate is we'll point to a row of letters, you know, A, B, C, D, E, and then it goes F, G, H, I, and we'll go down and he'll shake his head no, shake his head no at certain rows. And then when it's the right row, we'll go over and he'll get to a letter and then we'll write down that one letter. And it takes a lot of time, as you can imagine, to spell out a full word. He also mouths words. But we were having a really fun time the other day. Charlie Kirk came to visit the hospital, which was really lovely. And Dennis said to us, I'm a changed man. And that's not surprising, but nevertheless, I asked why. And he said, boy, if I appreciated life before— and by the way, please appreciate how long it took for us to discern that this is what he was saying. If I appreciated life before, you can only imagine how much I appreciate it now. And I said to him, I bet you have a lot of theories as to why this happened to you. And he goes, he mouths thousands. So we'll be hearing those. And he just continues to be so stoic and dare I say, even happy.

I was talking to somebody, I forget who it was, and they were saying of all the people for this to happen to, One bright side can be once he's able to speak again. Oh my gosh, can you imagine the analysis he is going to have from this experience that only he could bring? Um, and I know you out there and, and all of us here were inundated with prayers and well wishes from Dennis on an hourly basis, and we do our best to bring those gifts and, and prayers to Dennis And I would just like to pray. I would like to pray if you would.

Right now?

Yeah, right now.

Sure. You lead us.

Because I pray, Lord, that you, that you surround Dennis with the love for everyone out there that wants him back and give him the strength to overcome this trauma. And come back to us in full spirit with the ability to do what he does. And I ask in Jesus' name, amen.

Amen. You know, I was there and someone, uh, Dr. Bob was there, who's a dear friend of Dennis's and now a dear friend of mine. And we were reading some Psalms to Dennis and we read Psalm 23. Which is, of course, "Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for you are with me." And, you know, Dennis really bowed his head and took that in, and all of us just started weeping. And for the first time in my life, I realized I was sitting across from someone who was in the shadow of death. I was in the shadow of death. That's not to say, though, that He is still in the shadow of death. He was, but now he's okay.

Serious injury. And, um, but through God all things are possible.

That's right. And he's, um, he's on the up. And as I have said, really truly, I'm not just saying this to make people feel better, he's, he's joyful, if it can be believed.

That's who he is.

We're laughing at things. And I'll tell you one, one final thing, which may seem a little sad, but It's a very powerful message he gave. He said that when people would ask him how he's doing, his typical response would be, better than my country, right? He says, correct, correct. Exactly. And we do that. We do that a lot, too. And he says, now my response is, well, my country's better, doing better than I am.

So I feel like the right side of the aisle got an early Christmas gift this year with, with the Trumpster.

That's right.

Now, you said Dennis is a changed man. Did he elaborate on that?

Yeah, he said, if I appreciated life before, I appreciate it even more now. And then he indicated that he had all of these theories. You know, as I said, it's so hard to communicate and he is so gracious. I can only imagine how frustrating it is, especially for someone whose whole essence is his ability to communicate. But he's very patient. And sometimes, you know, we'll get a word, we'll get the row wrong. I thought he nodded when he shook his head and I'm going through all these letters and he's just, you know, trying to indicate to me that I got the wrong row. I mean, he's, he's so, he's so patient. He can't elaborate.

I smile because I can only imagine how much that's frustrating him.

I know, but he, but he is so like— I mean, when I said to him, if I admired you before, you can only imagine how much I admire you now. But you know, he's still him. He's still asking about dating and about— he, uh, he's, um, you know, uh, he was asking me if I'm doing a good job of hitting the microphone. Like, he's, he's himself. So anyway, Just wanted to say that about Dennis. You know, I wanted to talk with you, Sean, and this is very apropos of Dennis and Julie because Dennis and I go into these shows and we truly have nothing prepared beforehand.

It drives me crazy.

Really?

But I've learned over the years to trust you guys that you'll, you'll, you'll find gold. Yes.

You can see now that it's the same thing. We haven't done any kind of, hey, you got even, we haven't even asked if the other one had a topic. But Dennis every year, as you know, on his radio show, dozen-hour dedicated to why children should believe in Santa or why you should keep that alive for your kids. And I was thinking about it recently, and I came upon something, and I actually can't claim credit. It was my uncle who you've met before, who's very wise, little idiosyncratic, but nevertheless very wise. And he has these fantastic insights. And I was asking him, why do you think that is so important? And we had this kind of back and forth. And then he said, it teaches children how to have hope. And I thought that was such a keen insight because there are a lot of things in life that you can teach, especially children, language, manners, concepts, tradition. You know, there are a lot of things you can teach. You can't really, it's harder to teach hope. That, how do you teach hope, that specific emotion? Joy is not something you teach. Joy is something that you experience, or, you know, patience, some of the other things that are associated with the story of Santa. But I thought that was a great insight, hope. And it's through these, I mean, I remember that's how I learned that emotion, that I would get so hopeful and excited at Santa coming, or so hopeful when I would lose a tooth that the tooth fairy would come. Et cetera, et cetera.

So how does believing in Santa teach you hope?

Because you, it gives you a sense of optimism and it's, it helps you wait for an outcome knowing that you may not get it.

It's not guaranteed, but when you write that little letter to Santa and send it into, uh, yes, the post office, which may not exist anymore.

Yeah. Right. What's going on with that?

Well, I think the argument is nobody uses it anymore. It's antiquated. And it can be completely perfect.

You know what, as an aside, I actually this morning did this. I am a big handwritten thank you note person.

Uh-huh.

And I think, I think we need to make America write handwritten thank you notes again.

I don't disagree with you on that. My sister is teaching my young nephews to do so. And I remember when I was growing up, my mother would force me to do it and I hated it. But it is a nice little tradition and it's so lovely to get a thank you note from the nephews, even knowing they hated every second of writing it. I think it is a great tradition. It's a lost tradition. It's something that a text doesn't quite cover.

Or an email.

A handwritten note. Yeah. Or even an email, anything like that. Yeah. We got sidetracked with the post office. Hoping in Santa. I think there's a correlation between believing in Santa and believing in God.

Yeah, that's another great insight.

Uh, and I think an argument gets made that teaching children to believe in Santa is like teaching children to believe in God, and they're not real, and you shouldn't do it. Have you ever heard this argument?

Probably not in many years. I probably put it back in the dregs of my memory.

Well, I've heard Dennis make this argument. That's why he does that hour on believing in Santa. I think the correlation is true that not that God is fictitious, but there is a similarity in, in believing in God, and it's important to do so. And that believing— did I say Santa or God?

You said God.

Believing in Santa is important. It's even more important to believe in God. But I think it— believing in Santa can lay the groundwork for true and believing in unseen things. And I, I think there's another aspect we may need to unpack aside from hope, which is teaches you to be naughty or nice. It teaches you to be mindful that someone is watching you. As Dennis would say, I don't care so much that God is loving me, I care that God is judging me. And in a way, Santa is judging you throughout the year. He's making a list, he's checking it twice, he's gonna find out whether you're naughty or nice. I think there's a correlation to God in that as well.

Absolutely. It's— I was going to say that Santa, like God, divides the world between good and evil and is judging you morally. It really is kind of a nice gateway to God. The thing I fear is I don't want— and this didn't happen to me, I don't think it happened to most kids of a certain generation— but I don't want kids when they find out that Santa isn't real to then go, oh well, God must not be real.

Yeah, it's probably a little late to say this. If you're under the age of, I don't know, 75 and you believe in Santa, you may want to turn this off.

Hey, you know what? It was actually so touching. I got a letter from a 12-year-old who listens to Dennis and Julie. She's in Boston, Massachusetts, and she was the most well-written 12-year-old I had encountered. She wrote the most gracious email. It made me more mindful when I was speaking. Did you believe— you believed in Santa, right, growing up?

I did.

And when did you find out it was a hoax?

I can't remember exactly what age it was, but I was the eldest. So even when I found out, I had to maintain the, uh, the illusion, uh, for my younger siblings. I remember my grandfather, he was into tech. He, he had a tape recorder, the old kind of tape recorder where you'd hit record and play at the same time. It was just a little— look at that— hold a cassette.

And he— I'll take your word for it—

he recorded himself And he told us it was a recording of Santa, of Santa arriving at the house and delivering presents. And he made all the sound effects like he was making his own production on this tape. And he played it for us the next morning. And he had a bump on his head. My grandfather was always hitting his forehead. He was a tall guy. And he said that one of the reindeer kicked him in the head. So I think that was the year I figured out this is not quite kosher, that Santa may not be real in the sense of existing, but I, I do believe Santa is real in spirit and the lessons we can learn from it, much like God. But yeah, the year that he had the Band-Aid on his forehead and made the, the fake Santa recording, I think I saw through that.

That's sweet. My mom made Christmas and every holiday so magical. She's so creative. She would leave, um, you know, we would put out the milk and the cookies Right. She would drink half the milk and she'd, you know, leave, like, eat some of the cookies and leave crumbs in certain places. And maybe she'd drop a glove or she would write with her left hand a note, a handwritten note from Santa. And she'd put like, you know, maybe a paw print for the reindeer stepping on it. And it's, it makes me excited for hopefully one day when I'm a mom that I'll do all those crazy things.

Well, try to remember that reindeers don't have paws. They have hooves, you're going to want to leave a hoof print.

See, this is LA. This is LA, kid.

And is it reindeer or reindeers, plural?

I think it's reindeer.

Reindeer, plural. Yeah, I said reindeers. You're welcome.

Like a deer and reindeer. This is why you tune into Sean and Julie, everybody. You can find out this distinction. But it is a very important thing to do, I really believe, to keep this tradition up with your kids. And I have to say, I think my uncle hit it on the head. It teaches you hope.

I envy that. I don't think I'm going to have children and I will miss out on that. While I'm sure it is a frantic and desperate time for parents to try and recreate that magic for their kids, it also has to be so special to try and do that. I can just see you now being neurotic.

Oh yeah. I mean, where do you hide the presents? Those are some questions I want, I want to ask my parents. Like, yeah.

And you have to stay up all night once the kids pretend to go to bed. You have to get everything wrapped and put.

I remember one time I came down and there was a bicycle with a big bow on it. Mm-hmm. And I look back at that moment as the, the peak of my life.

Wow.

The joy and surprise and awe I got from seeing that bicycle there.

Man, I did that once for my dad. He needed a ladder, so I bought him a ladder and I wrapped the ladder in the shape of the ladder so it looked like a wrapped ladder sitting up against the tree. It took forever to wrap a ladder. I remember when I was a kid, the most— the gift that stands out to me the most was a puppy, a puppy in a box. We came out and there was a giant box and it had holes in it and it was very odd. And we were being rushed to get out of bed and get down to where this box was. Obviously, for obvious reasons, they were worried about the oxygen in the box for the puppy. And it was—

was it barking?

No, she was a little puppy. We named her Muffin. She was a Shetland sheepdog.

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And I, I will never forget that Christmas, opening the box and seeing this fluffy little puppy in there.

You know, I— there are a belief in Santa is one of those traditions that has really gone by. There are just increasingly more families who are not doing that. And this may seem like a total 180, but—

There's families that are doing the not believe in Santa Claus?

Yeah.

Really?

Yes. I see, I see them in the comments section of the New York Times. Wow.

That takes a special level of education.

You know what, Sean? That is the perfect way to put it. That is actually the perfect way to put it. It takes a special level of education. That's right. Dennis is so funny. Me on his radio show sometimes, he'll say a word and he'll go, "For those of you who went to college, this word means da da da da da." But anyway, speaking of my uncle, he, as you know, is a very special man and very dear to me. And he lives in a rural town in Massachusetts where my mom grew up too, and he still lives there. And he did something a few months ago, which I thought was so touching. And so him, and so different from the kinds of things that we now see, or rather don't see. When they were young, there was a woman in their town who was, I think, stabbed to death and she was 17 years old. And my uncle at the time was maybe 8 years old. And he said that it made, I know it's, by the way, this, this place, this is a great Christmas story. I know. Woo-hoo. Um, by the way, that place where my, my mom and her siblings and all her cousins grew up, it's like, I kind of think it's a haunted place. You wouldn't believe how many stories my mom has of— I, I mean, we would go back to visit my grandparents and my mom would go, um, the, the people in that house, uh, their Christmas tree caught on fire and they, uh, the house burned down and they all died. That house, I remember this one, the baby ate paint. Like, the room had recently been painted, and the baby got up on a window ledge and was, like, licking some of the paint and then died of poisoning— paint poisoning. There was, you know, another girl that was hit by a car. I mean, I'm like, Mom, this is so Irish Catholic, maudlin, why be happy when you could be sad kind of haunting stuff. Anyway, so when my uncle was really young, and I guess my mom was really young, there was this woman in the town who was stabbed. To death. And 50 years later, my, my uncle's now aged, he still lives in that place. And he held a little memorial in that town for this woman. And we talked about it. And I said, why are you doing this? And he said, I think it's, it's a really important thing to do. Just reminded me when we were talking about traditions, he said, you know, growing up, this was something that we always did in our town, we would honor the World War II vets who came from our town. We would honor the founders of the town every year. We would all come together for these people who maybe we hadn't met, but we would, it would bolster our sense of community and it would tie us with the past. And so he did this lovely thing. He planned this whole service in the town square for her. This woman who was deceased got a little church choir to sing, had a reading from scripture. Said aloud, and one person in the whole town showed up.

Total?

Total.

Were there any family members from this deceased woman still in the town?

There was a sister, and she said, I just can't go. It's just too painful for me. But she said, it's a really lovely thing that you're doing to, you know, remember her.

So the choir sang to one person?

The choir sang to my uncle and the one attendee. And my, my uncle got, you know, Boston local news to cover it. And really?

Yeah.

And they asked him— there's a, there's an article about it, I think, in the Boston Telegram or something. And they, they asked my uncle if he could go back and do it again, knowing that only one person would show up, would he? And he said yes. And I've been thinking about that more recently. And I just think it's such a lovely thing he did. And I can picture how in his day, when he was young, this was something that you would do. And then now it's almost seen as weird.

I'm reminded of— oh, which Cuomo was it? The Governor Cuomo.

Andrew.

Not the father.

The son.

Andrew Cuomo.

By the way, forgive me, the first day I ever guest hosted for Dennis was the day he resigned.

Really?

Yes.

I remember saying during COVID if it helps just one person, But this thing your uncle did literally is the example of that. If it helps just one person, it was worth it.

I mean, I don't know if it helped one person. I don't know if it helped anyone, but he just, I actually was kind of pushing back on him. I'm like, Chip, I don't know if this is the wisest thing to do. You didn't know this person, you know, maybe people won't come. I just, for some reason I was kind of opposed, but he was really adamant and now I see the wisdom in it and it makes me go, what, what am I doing for my town?

You know, is he going to do it again next year?

No, it was the 50th. It was 50 years. So yeah, it wasn't, you know, some random year.

My hope was that it would grow in number, but perhaps not.

But I think things like this are important because, you know, it's easy every year to do Santa. Well, easy for me to say. Maybe when I, when I'm a parent, I'll amend that statement. But, you know, you can do the Santa tradition, you can do the, the Tooth Fairy and the Easter Bunny. I think it's harder And dare I even say more important to do these kinds of local filial community traditions. I don't do them and I don't, and I'm not proud of myself for that. I think I should.

We have lost that to a certain extent.

Did you have any of that growing up?

Uh, with the advent of the internet, with, uh, the largeness of cities, I think it still happens in rural towns.

Yes. It does.

But, uh, the advent of large cities breeds anonymity and the internet breeds anonymity and, and these little—

and laziness and just let's scroll. Why not go outside?

These things are going by the wayside.

Uh, but I just, I, I loved that, you know, this thing that he did, it was, it was sweet. It was like this, this was a woman in our town. She was one of us. We, we must honor her. We must remember her. It was, It was nice that he felt such an allegiance to do it. And it was indicative of my young kind of Gen Z attitude, like, well, you didn't know her. And my uncle was saying, but you honor your own. She was one of us. It was sort of like the other day I was interviewing Leonid on Timeless. Those of you who haven't seen it, please watch it. It is such a good episode. Leonid is a rabbi who was born in the Soviet Union and he tells these riveting. He may be the most riveting storyteller I've ever met.

He's an absolute gem and a testament to the kind of people that Dennis attracts.

Absolutely. Well said. But he tells these stories of, of going to Israel and realizing that he was living in a propaganda totalitarian regime.

Yes.

Like discovering that not all, uh, inventions were created by Russians.

Right.

Or anyway, watch episode. But he was talking in the episode, I thought it was one of the most important parts about how he as a Jew was persecuted in the Soviet Union for being a Jew. But also in the West, Jews who were living in freedom really looked out for him and spread the message of his hunger strike because he was a Jew. And he was talking about that's a great thing about Judaism. It's so particular that a Jew in one part of the world is cared about and embraced by Jews all around the world. I mean, I read the Jewish Journal by David Suissa, who we had on the show, and it really gives you a sense of the international community of Judaism. And there was something I thought that was so nice and so forgotten generally about viewing people as your own. We need to view everyone as equal, and we all need a kind of filial tie to one another as human beings. But I think also those more particular ties, religion, your hometown, the school you went to, those are important too. And that's what my uncle was saying. She was one of us. She was in Worcester, Massachusetts. She lived around the corner from me. We need to honor someone as one of our own.

Yeah. And the, uh, an aspect of the point that, that Leon was making, uh, was that Christianity doesn't have that.

Right.

You don't have that in the Baptist church or in the Catholic church. It's unique to Judaism because, you know, no matter what part of the world you're in, you have that shared experience. So shared experience, I think, is what we're talking about. It used to be— you probably don't know this— when things were on TV, television, before streaming, everyone had to watch the same things, and they would discuss these things at the office or with their family, and you had to gather around because Some people had VCRs, but there wasn't really recording. You, it was, you had to be there to watch the moment. So when these, uh, classic Christmas movies would play, they'd all play at one time and everyone would watch them. And now you can stream whatever you want, whenever you want. You want to watch The Grinch Who Stole Christmas 15 times in a row, you can on probably 17 different platforms. It has broken up that, that shared experience.

Yes, that, uh, I even remember that. Believe it or not, you do. Really, really young. Yes, Buddy the Elf was on whatever news channel playing at 8 PM on Christmas Eve.

Okay.

And my grandparents were visiting and we all piled on the couch and watched it.

Right.

And then, you know, I talked to my friends, oh, I watched that Buddy the Elf. So yes, you're, you're right.

Yeah.

But I really want to make it a part of my life, not just in Christmas time, but just in general.

Once I get settled, once I figure out where I, I'm living, and you will, once I get married, no kids, and you worry about it, but I, I think it's in your future.

Plant my flag down somewhere. I really want to be a community builder and, and, and do those kinds of things.

It dawned on me when you were talking about the New York Times writing about people who don't teach their kids about Santa Claus, that, uh, that's a Jewish thing. Oh, by the way, they have Hanukkah.

Well, my Jewish friends, so many of them have Christmas trees and, and they grew up believing in—

that's what I was wondering, are there Jews for Santa?

Like, there are Jews for Santa. I know a lot of Jews for Santa.

Okay, because I would, I would imagine growing up a Jewish kid— it's always been my experience that Jewish kids are fantastic. They grow up, uh, more educated more quickly than secular or Christian kids.

Why?

I think I used to think it was because their parents didn't lie to them about Santa.

Really? Are you kidding?

I don't know. Maybe, maybe Jews put more value on education. I don't know. But that was my experience growing up. The Jewish kids were, were far more advanced at our age group than Christian or secular kids. But I would be curious to hear from a Jewish family who teaches their kids about Santa, because I always wondered growing up if Jewish kids missed that Santa experience. That's such like a great thing when you're a kid to have Christmas and the presents.

I remember there was this Jewish kid at my elementary school who was so rude and was like, you know, Santa doesn't exist.

Right.

And I said, well, who's your Santa? And he goes, Hanukkah Harry. And I go, oh, Hanukkah Harry exists, but Santa doesn't exist. Got it. Hanukkah Harry, come on, dude. Who the hell is Hanukkah Harry?

I don't know, but it's got to be. And that has to be tough for Jewish parents, right? The kids want to have the Christmas experience, I'd imagine.

Yes.

Well, and then so what do you have? You have 8 crazy nights and now you have to get a gift every night. I don't know how exactly it works.

Well, we're missing our—

I don't even know how to spell Hanukkah. There's like 8 different ways to spell it.

By the way, can I tell you something funny? When I was in elementary school, my principal would get up around the holidays— sorry— and say kind of the same speech about the holidays, and she would always throw in Kwanzaa as her way to show that we were a diverse school. She's like, whether you're celebrating Christmas or Hanukkah or Kwanzaa, I just thought, like, who knows what— I mean, forgive me, do you know what Kwanzaa is?

I do not. I don't, I don't, I don't, I think Kwanzaa's pretty new. Hasn't it recently been added to things?

Anyway, anyway, I just thought that was funny. The diversity.

So you're talking about people not teaching their kids about Santa, but it seems to me like the, the— I've ever told you my theory about, uh, you can break the year into flavors?

No.

There's— we just got out of pumpkin season flavor where they put pumpkin flavoring and everything. And now we're in peppermint season, and soon we will be in green shamrock season. You can break the year into flavors like latte flavors. Sure, everything. There's probably a peppermint-flavored hamburger. I don't know. They try to squeeze these flavors and everything and push it upon you. So we are in peppermint season. It seems to me peppermint season is now longer than it used to be when I was a kid, much like elections are longer than they used to be. I remember right after Halloween I saw the first commercial for Christmas, and it was an Old Navy commercial, and I wanted to vomit because it was literally Halloween had ended and we were into Christmas advertising. And another thing I've noticed, if I may—

well, now's the forum to do it—

Christmas decorations people are insane with their house lights. And it's like, oh, I love it. There's like a bat signal going into the sky. And I just imagine living next to this person where it's—

I love it.

It's like nuclear winter coming through your window because they, they're wasting electricity while they vote for Kamala Harris. I'm just guessing that the Christmas lights are out of control. I'm seeing people who have wrapped their entire car in Christmas lights, and I'm wondering, is this even legal?

Yeah, well, that's scary. So, question for you—

I'm not done. It's not just that we dress the house up for Christmas, we dress the house up for Halloween.

And what's so bad about that, Sean?

The problem I have is that some people are lazy and they don't take down their Halloween decorations, and they just put a Santa hat on the werewolf or on the skeleton. And I'm just like, you've gone too far. And if you don't believe me, I will bring you pictures of things I've seen in my neighborhood. Well, there's literally a werewolf dressed in Santa clothing, and it's like, what? Come on now.

I think you're being—

and down the street there's a skeleton with a Santa hat, and I'm like, we're just dressing up our house?

Okay, I think all year long, a little harsh.

I don't think I am. Okay, I think there's people out there with me.

All right, can the camera zoom in on this? This is a house around the corner. It's on my nightly walk. Can we zoom in?

And we are zooming.

Like, just keep zooming.

We are zooming.

It is the most amazingly decorated Christmas house.

That's insane.

I know, but this is what's so fun. Like, it can be really fun. I don't— I— come on, do you want to live in a communist society where there's— it's all drab and uniform? You gotta get— I don't even care if the werewolf has a hat on.

I don't think it's black or white. I don't think it's a— it's a— it's either or. I think there's shades of gray here where you don't have to light up the night sky and be seen by NORAD. With your Christmas lights.

I hope NORAD isn't paying attention. By the way, I had a dream last night. I don't know why. Maybe it's the NORAD reference that we landed on a runway. Like we had an emergency landing on a runway. Oh, no, sorry. On a highway. We were flying over Texas and rain hit and we had to land on a highway. And then we all got out and the news interviewed me. Anyway, that's 10 seconds of your life you can never get back. By the way, apparently I fell asleep on the phone with Sean last night. I don't remember that.

It's completely true. Yeah, I knew you were using me to tell you stories so you could fall asleep, and I was okay with it. I was okay with it because I knew if I could just tell the right story, I could get off the phone.

Did you— did you What? We were— here's what I remember. I remember calling you to talk about the news.

Yes.

And what, what I should cover on top of this.

What we were going to talk about. Yes.

I don't remember. I remember I took my sleeping pill around the time that I called you and then I don't really remember much.

Speaking of the news, are you going to do the story about the bear and the hunter?

Okay. No, I'm not.

I find it completely—

I don't—

there was a story yesterday in Virginia.

Here we go.

It's against the law to shoot a bear that's in a tree. And apparently this dastardly hunter did exactly that. Dastardly.

I don't believe I know that word.

Well, mark today down in your calendars. I taught Julie a word, dastardly. It's probably not a word.

Dastardly is a humorous and dated term. It means wicked and cruel.

So this dastardly hunter—

that is a great term—

shot a bear wall in a tree, which is illegal in Virginia. The bear falls out of the tree, lands on the hunter, and kills the hunter.

Tell me how this is timeless material.

It's instant karma. And it's just a fun story. It may not be.

Instant karma.

It may not be timeless, but I'm glad I shared it here. If you don't believe me, look it up. Hunter shoots bear in tree. Bear falls out of tree on hunter. Hunter dead.

Yeah. See, that's one of those stories where you introduce it and then you literally have nothing to say. MyPillow is excited to announce that their Christmas extravaganza is finally here. Get this season's flannel sheets for as low as $59.98. They won't last long, so get them while you can. Get their famous MySlippers. I wear them. These haven't been on sale for over a year, and they are regularly priced at $119.98, but for a limited time— wow— now they are only $59. 98 cents. And their 6-piece towel sets are back in stock with extremely limited quantities. I also use them. You can use them for only $29.98. With hundreds of MyPillow products, there's something for everyone on your Christmas list, from bathrobes, duvets, quilts, down comforters, and so much more. Go to mypillow.com or call 1-800-566-6745, and be sure to use the promo code Hartman, H-A-R-T-M-A-N, to save on all MyPillow products. That's the promo code Hartman for flannel sheets for as low as $59.98 or the 6-piece towel sets for just $29.98. But again, that's not all. They're extending their 60-day money-back guarantee until March 1st, 2025. Plus, all orders over $75 or more ship absolutely free.

I just think it's funny. It's interesting. I guarantee you there's at least 3 people out there that enjoy that.

And you can see why I fell asleep on the phone.

That was the whole point. I realized at some point you were not responding and I just said, Julie, I love you. See you tomorrow. Sweet dreams.

I have no recollection. I did fall asleep on the couch. I woke up.

I felt like Mission accomplished.

I woke up in the morning and I'm like, why am I on the couch anyway? Yeah. Okay, so question for you on the, on the subject of holidays. New Year's is coming up. What are your New Year's resolutions?

I'm glad you brought that up. Because we can talk about the 500-pound elephant in the room. Uh, it's not lost on me that I am morbidly obese. Here I am. And that's part of the reason I didn't want to be on camera and do this, because no matter what I say, no matter what I do, I believe the world is fixated on my obesity, which you have told me is not true. And I hope that's not true, but it is something that has plagued me throughout my life. So long story short, my New Year's resolution is to lose weight and I feel inspired. And you know, it's a long story. I've lost weight, tremendous amounts of weight and ended up in the hospital thanks to Ozempic and then gained the weight back and now I have to lose the weight again. And it's a long story, but I don't know if inspired is the right word, but I feel as though while Dennis is in the hospital, The least I can do is try to rectify my weight situation and lose weight. And now I'm saying it out there publicly. So now there's pressure so that if I don't do this, I get to feel awful. But I've already started. Oh no, I've got an early jump on my New Year's resolution.

Well, I'm so proud of you and I'm really happy that you brought this up because it's a vulnerable thing to do and it's a difficult thing to do. But now you can see on Dennis and Julie, when we share things about ourselves, It's for a large— first of all, it's hard, but it's also for a larger kind of lesson or conversation. A lot of people in the United States are morbidly obese. And you have said to me from the time that I've known you that you have insecurity about this. How could you not?

It's my single greatest fear.

How could you not?

This is my personal nightmare right now. Please continue.

Okay. It's a— hey, you know what? We can next bring up something that's deeply uncomfortable for me, though.

No, it's fine. I, I, I'm happy to face this and, and to deal with it because I can't go on like this.

Well, let me just say something to you, and I'm not— I can, I can only think of a Sean way to say this. I'm not blowing smoke up right now. I really, really am saying this to you truthfully. I don't look at you and see your weight.

Right.

I really don't.

I know you say that, but no.

Okay, but it's, it's really true. I look at you, you're such a dear friend to me. You're such a great person. We have so much fun together. We have such a great professional relationship. Like, I just look at you and I see Sean. I know, I know it sounds trite, but I don't look at you and see your weight.

Okay.

And when I think of Sean, when somebody says Sean to me, I think of all I think of the laughs. I think of the wisdom. I think of the fact that I could call you and fall asleep on the phone. You know, I don't think of that.

Uh, that might be true, but it's in my head.

I know it is.

And it's, it's in my body and I feel it and I feel it. And it's a, it's a really tough thing to deal with, uh, for two reasons. I think it's different than any other addiction or affliction that people may have. One, you have to eat.

Yes.

So you can't just put it away in a box and forget about it. Like alcohol or drugs. Like alcohol or gambling or drugs or smoking or what— you can put that away. Not that it's easy, very difficult to deal with, not taking it away from anybody. But dealing with losing weight is— you have to eat.

Yeah.

You can't put it in a box and forget about it. So you have to navigate that. Uh, and, and number 2, I lost track of what I was saying.

Oh, bingo!

Being overweight, everyone sees your affliction.

Yeah. Yep.

You can't hide it like other people can hide their afflictions. And so you're out in the open. And it seems to me that it's still one of those areas in life where you can still shame and make fun of people and it's okay. Maybe not cool, but it's okay. And I don't necessarily have a problem with that. I kind of agree. Look, with RFK and the new regime in the White House, there's going to be a push to be healthy and an argument can be made that cheeseburgers are freedom and you don't want anyone telling you what to eat and when.

But you're not going to outlaw cheeseburgers.

You can also make the argument that people who are obese are a drain on the health care system. Now I've been working since I was 18. I've been paying into that system, but people who are overweight are not living as long. They may end up with chronic diseases that cost the taxpayer more money. So all these cases can be made. All of that aside, for me, I made a promise to God that I would not take this weight to the grave. I put this on me when I was very young. For stupid reasons. And I've carried that with me. And like I told you, I've had success. I, I was on Ozempic before it was all the rage and I lost 175 pounds and I'm never going to be a thin man, but I can be comfortable in my skin. And I was very close to that. But the problem was with Ozempic, it was doing the work for me. I wasn't learning in my brain, retraining myself how to eat and exercise properly. And on top of that, it was causing stomach paralysis, which ended up, ended up putting me in the ICU. Oh, I'm so sorry. More than once. And so the solution was to get me off of that and put me on insulin, which is a horrible drug. And what they don't tell you about insulin is that you're basically, you're gaining weight. So without realizing it, without having fully changed my habits because Ozempic was doing the work, I gained that weight back and I'm at my heaviest right now and it's embarrassing and this is a nightmare. But welcome to Dennis and Julie. I'm not afraid of that. And I know I have a lot of work to do and a lot of it has to do—

I—

you would be shocked at what I actually eat because I don't eat that much.

No, no, I wouldn't be shocked.

I ate more when I was on Ozempic and I was losing weight than I do now while I'm on insulin. And I feel like I never lose weight. I just gain weight even though I'm eating a restricted diet. So for me, the, the biggest and most important thing I, I can do in the next year is exercise more and properly and get off of insulin.

Well, if I may, I learned a huge lesson from you through our discussions about this where you told me— and you're not comfortable with my sharing this, we can Right now, edited out of the podcast, but you told me that there was someone in your life, or perhaps multiple people in your life, who when you were young were always nagging you about weight. And you got to a point where you said, you know what, if you want fat, I'll give you fat. And you, in an act of defiance, gained a lot of weight to stick it to those people. And when you told me that, oh, well, let me back up. And, and you, you said that to me and then you said, and you know what, Julie, the only person who that harmed was me. And I thought that was so wise. And I have applied that to my own life. And I wish I've told other people without using your name though. I guess now here we are. I've told other people that story because it's such a universal human thing. We all have that, whether it's with weight or with literally any other thing. If you have someone in your life who's nagging you to do something, or to, you know, they could be right, but just the fact they keep nagging you about it, you just want to stick it to them and do the exact opposite to show them, you know? Like, yeah, you know, if your parent really wants a certain hairstyle, you want to like shave off your head so that you can stick it to them. But I love that you had the maturity and the strength of character to say, I that only harmed me. And I've looked at things in my life and I've gone, okay, maybe mom and dad are right about that. Even if I, you know, am upset that they're nagging me about this, maybe I should listen to them or still do this for me, even if I want to defy them.

There's a, there's a lot there. Were you done?

Ooh.

Wow. No, I didn't want to cut you off.

Oh, I thought you were saying, were you done?

It sounded like you were gonna say one more thing.

No, I just, just that it's universal. Everybody has that.

Yes. So anger and suppressed anger is a terrible affliction and disease that causes you to do terrible things. And being angry at someone else usually only ends up hurting you. There's some Eastern philosophy about being angry is like drinking poison and hoping the other person dies. And the other important point you said is that even if the person means well and they are right, there can be a point to which it drives you to defiance. Now, at my young age, I do not believe that it was a conscious decision to do that. And it was also coupled with a divorce.

Yeah.

And a lot of other stuff going on there. So, but yes, basically true, everything you just said. And I have always been one who thinks I'm not going to harm somebody else. I'm not going to walk into a school and shoot 15 people because I'm unhappy. I hurt me. And if I hurt me, it's okay. I'm not hurting others. Uh, but in my age, I have learned that in hurting you, you are hurting others.

Yeah.

Because there are certain things in my life that are now missing that have cost me certain experiences, that have cost my other family members those experiences that would've been had, had I not hurt myself so dearly and become isolated the way I did. So I didn't think we were going to get into all of this.

You brought it up, just saying.

I would much rather talk about jolly old Saint Nick. But here we are.

Well, thank you.

So I'm kind of glad that we're here and it's out there. And I am now beholden to this pledge prior to New Year's.

You know, when I did that, this will be the toughest thing I do.

And I've done a lot of tough things. Like quitting smoking. Very hard to do.

Proud of you for that.

Yeah, but, uh, this will be the hardest thing I do without a doubt.

And I'm here for you.

If anybody out there wants to join me, I'm not big on support groups, but maybe this will just be my national support group.

I'm sure there are. Uh, this is, this is a problem that afflicts many people.

Sure. And it's something we can fix. And I could get into the whole rigmarole about how we want to regulate the tobacco companies for the cancer they've caused in this country. But we don't go after fast food companies.

Well, we are now.

And I think we probably should. If tobacco companies should be paying for health care, then fast food companies should be paying for health care.

I was watching an RFK Jr. video. Yeah. And he was talking about how there are these ingredients in cheese puffs, which we both love. At most cheese puffs, hopefully not our Trader Joe's cheese puffs. And literally, it is residue from coal.

Wow.

And it helps the coloring. It helps keep the coloring of, of orange snacks. Wow. And he, you know, identified this this flavor or this, uh, dye. Yes, this ingredient. And then I've gone to the store and looked at these things. What?

Well, this goes—

it's sick.

This goes way back.

It's so sick.

This goes back to corn production in this country and having excess of corn and Kellogg's and turning it into a breakfast cereal and, and telling everyone that breakfast cereal is a part of a balanced breakfast and and milk, you know, the milk bars too. We have all this abundance of corn and corn syrup, and rather than do what's right for people, we pushed those products into everything, telling them that this— and this has gone on, and we are now awakening to this, but I was already a child who, you know, wanted breakfast cereal or, uh, corn syrup in everything. There is sugar in everything. I've learned this over the years through regulating my blood sugar and bringing it down there is sugar in everything.

When I was in London a few months ago, I went to a pub, a pub, and I went up to a pub, and I don't like beer, sorry, or Guinness. I actually changed that recently, but that's neither here nor there. I walked up to the front of the pub and I said, hello. I guess now I'm in an Irish accent. Hello, could I kindly get a skinny margarita? And they looked at me and they went, a skinny margarita? Like, what are you talking about, a skinny margarita?

You serve pints.

Well, that, yeah, but they understood margarita, they just didn't understand skinny. And, and I was with someone and he went, we don't, we don't have that here. And I said, okay, fine, I'll just get a regular margarita. And I thought, I'll just deal with the sugar. And I got it and it was a skinny margarita. Like, it, like, their margarita is a regular is what we would call a skinny margarita because our stuff is so jacked up with syrup and agave and all this crap.

Oh, did you see the AI pictures that they asked AI what, what people in other countries think of people from different states in America and the pictures that came up with?

Oh, we should do that on Timeless.

These pictures are hilarious.

I wouldn't have fallen asleep last night.

Most of the people are tremendously obese. And I think it's the view of the rest of the world that we are, and I am an example of that.

But I'm here to support you.

As an aside, when I was in Ireland, the home of Guinness, which I think is the greatest beer there is, if I could even call it a beer. It is a nectar of the gods. Guinness. Going through the Guinness factory, walking through the pubs, and realizing that all the local Irishmen drink Coors Light.

Really?

I was like, you've got Guinness on tap and you drink Coors Light? But in their defense, I don't know whether it's true or not. The Coors Light on tap over there tasted better than Coors Light does over here. And I just thought it was funny because like, if I had Guinness on tap, oh my gosh, I'd be drinking Guinness all the time. But everyone there was drinking Coors Light. I was like, why would you?

What? Okay, a few things I want to tell you because you're Irish and Scottish. I know. I just realized that I always say that you're Irish.

I'm both.

Okay, good, good. Have you ever had a baby Guinness?

A baby Guinness?

Oh gosh, it's a— it's like Bailey's and it's Guinness and it's, it's a shot. A baby Guinness. I love— I had a lot of baby Guinnesses when I was in a shot of Bailey's in a Guinness. No, with, uh, with— oh, it's a shot glass of mostly Bailey's and then Guinness.

I would just drink a point. I'd be fine with a point.

Anyway, you know, when I was in Ireland this summer, there were two instances experiences that I wanted to tell you about.

Uh-huh.

And the first one was I was talking to all these Irish people and I was saying, what is the problem with us? We are so mentally ill because I have all these relatives, extended family, and everybody's got something. I went to a family reunion a few years ago and I got up and I said, raise your hand if you have the following: depression, manic depression, personality disorder, multiple personality disorder. And everybody was raising their hands. Anyway, I said to them, what is up with the Irish mental illness? And they said, oh, you know, there are 3 characteristics of Irish mental illness: mania, delusions of grandeur, and personality swings. And I was like, check, check, check with so many of my relatives. And then they went, and you know, we don't diagnose it here in Ireland. It's just a part of your personality. It just makes you a character. We have old Joe over there who's suffering from schizophrenia, but he's just, you know, part of the community. And that, I don't know about you, but that explains so much to me because there is this culture among Irish Catholics of like, oh yes, that person is totally off the reservation. They're just, they're just Uncle Liam, you know, like they're—

I thoroughly enjoyed my trip to Scotland and Ireland. I loved the people. It is a fantastic place.

And then the second story was I was sitting out on the curb after the pub one night. It was like 1 o'clock in the morning. I was sitting with my friend Rafaela and then my other friend Jan, and we were smoking cigarillos. You remember I went through that phase?

Yes.

And sorry, Mom. And all of a sudden these two Irish men just come up and they just start shooting the shit with us and talking to us and laughing with us. And, you know, did you hear about him? Like, they they were so funny and they were so jovial. And I was turning to my friend Rafaela, who's Irish, and I'm like, are these homeless people? Like, are these crazy people? And she's like, no. And I said, well, what are they doing? And she's just like, oh, they're just having, having fun on a Friday night, right? And I thought, if we were in America and we were sitting on a street corner and two guys just started coming up and shooting with us, I would run. I mean, when they were coming up, I was thinking, I'm gonna kick them in the nuts and run. Like, that's— I was going through the motions of how I escape. But in Ireland, it's so— it's part of the character for you to just have fun with one another. There's no creepiness to it at all. You just enjoy one another.

Yeah, I, I've got to go back. It's fantastic. I've considered retiring there. I think I would much rather live.

We should get a camera crew and do Julie and Sean go to Ireland. Oh my, and I know the best people there.

And to try and square the circle or somehow bring our conversation back around There is a sense in Ireland, at least I felt it in Scotland and Ireland, exactly what you're talking about, of shared experience.

Yes.

People gathering in the pub and, and singing songs, just singing songs.

Yeah.

Everybody knows everybody. And, uh, it's something we have lost to a certain extent in the United States.

Oh, Sean, I actually want to go book tickets right now to to go to Ireland.

Can we go? Can we just take 2 weeks and go?

But you know what? Can I say something? F Ryanair.

Okay.

I don't like Ryanair.

Okay.

That is a bad airline.

Okay. On that note, how can they reach us? Sorry.

Final thing. Interesting thing about the Irish. You know, we're a people of contradictions. On the one hand, we're very joyful and jovial, and on the other hand, we're so damn sad all the time. Like I said earlier, there was something in the Worcester, Massachusetts Irish Catholic community of like, why would you be happy when you could be sad? Like, we love sad stories. Anyway, you're looking at me like—

I don't know what the Instagram is. You're going to have to say it.

Oh, we're still on that. Okay. You can reach me at Julie R. Hartman. You can reach Do you have an Instagram?

No, I don't want to hear from you. I love you all, but I don't, I don't need it.

Wow. Okay. Well, you can email me at julie@julie-hartman.com with any of your messages for me or for Sean, and especially, especially for Dennis. And we wish you an early Merry Christmas.

Merry Christmas.

Your beloved dog and a stranger are both drowning. You can only save one.

Who do you save?

Every time Dennis Prager asks that question, his audience splits three ways. One-third chooses the dog, one-third chooses the stranger, and one-third aren't sure. Why? Because we live in an age where increasingly feelings define right and wrong. But if morality is based on emotion, then murder, rape, and theft are just opinions. And if people feel justified, why is rioting or destruction wrong at all? In his new book, If There Is No God, Dennis Prager explains why civilizations cannot survive without objective morality and why Judeo-Christian values shape the moral foundations of the free world.

If you claim that certain things are good, certain things are evil, independent of how you feel about it, you are in effect affirming God.

If There Is No God by Dennis Prager, available now at PragerStore.com. That's PragerStore.com.