The 2024 SYSK Christmas Extravaganza!

0:01Welcome to Stuff You Should Know, a production of iHeartRadio.

0:21hey and welcome to the podcast i'm josh and there's chuck and jerry's trying to come but she's had car trouble i guess either way she's here in spirit the christmas spirit Right. And this is Stuff You Should Know. That's right. The holiday spectacular and a couple of traditions here is that this episode is brought to you ad-free. By no one. Exactly. By us. And then also, we have managed to work it out, I don't know about every year, but it seems like every year where this is the last episode that we record of our recording year. And it's so great and so fun to wind it down this way. It's such a special tradition.

1:02And Chuck, I'm really excited about this particular one because this is a good combination, a good assemblage of stuff, I guess you could say. But add some holly to that. Yeah. And I also realized when you sent your stuff over, I was like, hey, we kind of have a theme for one of yours and one of mine. Yeah. Which is, you know, like sugary confections from different parts of the world. Right. So those are kind of fun. Maybe we should do those back to back. Okay. Yeah, I think that's a good idea. And then also we have another theme, movies. Oh, yeah. Or Christmas specials. I don't know, however you want to put it.

1:39That's right. Where should we start this year? Do you want to start with the cocktail so you can get crocked while we do this? Sure. Okay. Why not? I think you should announce what's going on to everybody. Yeah, so what's happening is we usually try and source some sort of a holiday cocktail and tell you how to make it. Sometimes we make it and have it on our own. And this year we had someone send in a holiday cocktail. A few months ago we got an email from somebody named Holly Eitenmiller. I think you nailed it. And this is a drink that Holly invented called, hang on to your hats here, Grandma's Christmas Breath.

2:26That's so great. One thing I've noticed when you look around and read Christmas stuff and try to find Christmas stuff, grandma is almost invariably portrayed as a drunk. Oh, I didn't really I wasn't sure what the breath would be, but I guess boozy breath. That makes sense. Boozy breath. Yeah. Like I found a recipe for something or other. It's like grandma's version. It has like whiskey and rum in it. Yeah. Everybody's grandma gets drunk apparently on Christmas. Well, our dear departed Grandma Mary, Emily's grandmother, who was the senior general in the stuffy shooting army, who passed away at the ripe old age of 101.

3:01That's awesome. When she was in her 90s, like around Christmas, she would have a little Bailey's in her coffee. Oh, yeah. Just to touch every now and then. A little Christmas Irie. Yeah. So I guess Christmas time, I don't know, equals grandparents. Yeah. That's how I'm taking it. I mean, Holly Eitenmiller's, the name of her recipe just says it all, I think. Yeah. So I asked Holly if there was a story behind it, but I did not hear back by recording time. So she doesn't want to talk about it. Yeah. You know what I'll do? I'll, through the magic of editing, I'll pause and go get some ice. Oh, okay.

3:38And then I'll be right back. But to your ears, I'll be back in like one second. Okay. Hold on.

3:48Okay, I'm back, everybody. I have my shaker with ice. Josh, why don't you read out the ingredients, and I'll pour them up. Okay, you ready? Yeah. Prepare, Chuck, one shot of Captain Morgan gingerbread rum. Okay, so the story here is this stuff is really hard to find, and I had to get like a delivery service because I literally couldn't find it anywhere. Do you remember I tried to get liquor delivered to you as a condolence like a year ago, and it just did not work out? I tried like five different services, and none of it worked. I don't remember that, but you know what? I only gave up. That's the thought that counts.

4:27I kept texting you like, are you going to be home at 6 p.m.? Are you going to be home at 3 a.m. tomorrow? Are you going to be home at noon today? Oh, no. Yeah. All right, so the gingerbread rum just went in. I took a little sniff, and it smells cloyingly sweet. Oh, it sounds delicious, but I could see that. All right, what's next? I also, I just want to make a little note here. A shot is very ambiguous. You could make a quart-sized shot. You could make a little tiny shot. Like a shot is another way of putting one part. Yeah, I mean, I just use a standard bar jigger, so whatever the big side is.

5:05The big side is usually two ounces. Okay, all right. All right. This is going to be quite a Christmas episode. The second ingredient, Chuck, is one shot of Grand Marnier. Yeah, I think you just heard the cork pop, the infamous. Oh, I hear it. Oh, you hear that? Yeah, that's definitely two ounces. I'm not saying I'm going to drink all of this. All right, what's next? As much orange juice as you wish. I would strongly recommend fresh squeezed. Anytime you're using citrus in a cocktail, just do yourself a favor and squeeze it yourself. It's not that hard. All right. Well, can we pause so I can go to the grocery store?

5:43Yes. Now I'm going to open up the old Tropicana that I just bought. Yeah. And I bought it at a convenience store, or I would have gotten an orange. I'm just going to do one shot of that. Okay. Just go one, one, one. Okay. I think that's a great idea. And then do you have any ice on hand, or do we need to wait around for that too? That's what I got in the shaker. Okay. Chuck's doing the next thing, everybody. shaking grandma's Christmas breath together. Should I have this up or on the rocks? Probably on the rocks. I don't know. It sounds like you got enough ice in there, and this is boozy enough to go up.

6:18All right. I'll go up then. We'll see. And then we're going to all wait around here to see what Chuck thinks of this. And also, I want to say, I'm not drinking booze right now, but I'm putting away most of a quart of eggnog as we speak. Yeah. I mean, the only reason I'm doing this is because I just felt like somebody should try this out on the air. And so here we go, everybody. Post-production drumroll.

6:47Ta-ding. Okay. Oh, poor Holly. Her Christmas dreams have just been dashed. No, it's not bad. I mean, it's orangey because the Grand Marnier and the orange juice, obviously. Right. And it's not bad, you know. I mean, it's definitely like a festive holiday drink. I would not recommend more than one of them. Oh, is it pretty boozy? I mean, it's pretty just sort of sweet. I got you. It depends on your tolerance for sweet drinks. Is that rum really coming through, or is it getting missed in the orange? It could probably come through a little bit more. So I could probably add a little less orange juice if there were to be a next time.

7:32Or you could add more rum. Well, let's not get carried away here. Okay. Well, I say we move on. Speaking of carried away, let's carry ourselves away to the next segment. Yeah. And as per Christmas tradition, holiday show tradition, Jerry's going to add some really nice Christmassy interstitial music. So take it away, Jerry.

8:12All right, Chuck. How are you feeling? Good. And big thanks to Holly again for this drink. Yeah. So we're going to teach everybody how to play Dirty Santa next. We're doing that with an assist from Nella Bailey McGough. I'm pretty sure that's how you'd say her last name. from Southern Living, who wrote a pretty top-notch article on how to play this, why to play it. And they even turned up the origin of the name, because it's got a bunch of different names. White Elephant, apparently in the South were the ones who typically call it Dirty Santa. Never heard of that. You've never heard of Dirty Santa?

8:50That's all I've ever heard of. Well, aside from White Elephant. I've only heard White Elephant. Interesting. What about Yankee Swap? That one's new to me. No, never heard that one. I've only heard White Elephant when it comes to this kind of game. Okay. Well, I've heard Dirty Santa and White Elephant. But regardless, the White Elephant name seems to be the traditional name for this, which is it's kind of like it's a party game you would play at like your holiday party. And in the spirit, basically, of Secret Santa, where everybody gives somebody else a gift anonymously, and then the person tries to guess who gave it to them.

9:23It's very nice and sweet. This is not, well, it's not supposed to be mean or anything like that, but there's a lot, there's some twists to it that make it dirty. That's right, because it involves the trading of gifts, which we'll get to the rules in a second. It can, well, I'll mention that when we get to the trading part, but yeah, the origins is interesting because I never knew this as far as the white elephant name. Supposedly, it came from what is now Thailand, what was Siam back in the day. And the king of Siam was, if he was annoyed, he might give someone an albino elephant if he didn't like them very much, right?

10:02Yes, but the key here was to the courtier who received this gift. I mean, this is a lavish gift. Yeah. But it was a lavish gift that cost a lot and took a lot of effort to keep healthy and happy. Right. So although it seemed like you would really gain the king's favor, the king was giving you a real problem to deal with for the rest of the elephant's life. So it's a pretty sharp little idea that Yul Brynner came up with. And that's where the name came from, White Elephant, right? Yeah. Okay. So getting on to the modern incarnation of it, I did not see who invented this. I guess the king of Siam did.

10:40But the modern incarnation, I don't know where that came from. But there are basically wherever you look up rules for the White Elephant game, there's some that are just tried and true. They're just you're going to find them in any set of rules. One of the big ones is set a dollar limit. You don't want some person just showing off their Christmas bonus by, you know, they show up with a bunch of Bang & Olufsen speakers or something like that, you know. By setting a limit at like 20 bucks, you're making the people get kind of creative. Yeah, and the whole idea here is to have fun. So, yeah,$20 I feel like is, I mean, you can set it according to whatever, you know, financial pool you're swimming in.

11:23But I feel like$20 is a pretty good round number. Great. But, yes, the cheaper, the lower the price limit, the more creative the people have to be to come up with something. Yeah, exactly. They give some tips here in this article, which is kind of fun, which is to try and fool the unwrapper by wrapping it, wrapping perhaps a small thing in some big elaborate package. Or by, if you get really creative, if you can even reshape something as far as the wrapping goes to where it looks like something else, like maybe a bottle of wine, when it in fact is just like a folded up whoopee cushion. Yes. Oh, that's a good one.

12:03Yeah. That's a great, great white elephant gift. Yeah, those are probably only like$5. Right. So you, well, not in 2024, pal. Yeah. So you want to, in your invitation, specify, yes, wrap it, get creative with your wrapping, but do not put it to or from thing. This is all anonymous. And then everybody comes on the day of the party and they bring their gift wrapped and they put it in a pile, the pool, as some people call it. And Nella Bailey McGough specifies, do not put this area near your own family's real presence because you don't want to mix up like that. And then once everybody's assembled and you're usually sitting around in a circle or something so everybody can see everybody else, you draw numbers from a hat.

12:46And the numbers in the hat number from one to the number of people playing, and everybody draws a number. That's right. So once you've drawn your number and are thus ordered in opening order, person number one is going to grab a gift. They're going to open it. They're going to show everybody what it is. Oh, my God, it's for whoopee cushions because they're, well, probably three these days to hit that$20 mark. Right. And that's it. They got their gift. Everyone gets a good laugh. Next up is person number two, and this is when it gets interesting because person number two has a choice. They can pick a new gift from the pile or they can go ahead and just steal that first gift if that is something that they actually want.

13:29Yeah, there's also an alternate set of rules that say everyone picks a gift first and then the stealing starts. But most of the time you can steal on that second turn. This is where it gets a little hazy. So let's say that you're five people into this, right? So person number five, it's their turn. If they go and steal person number four's gift, now it's time for person number four to go steal somebody else's gift, say person number two. Now person number two has to steal a gift. And this can just keep going on ad infinitum. So usually it's the third time a gift is stolen, the last person has to just go take a new gift from the pile.

14:12They don't get to steal or else it just keep going on and on and on. And then there's some other restrictions on how many times a gift can be stolen or a person can be stolen from, too, right? Yeah, I mean, you can do house rules, of course, or regional rules. But generally, a gift can be stolen no more than three times. If a gift is pronounced dead, that means you can't steal it anymore. And that's after it's been stolen, right? Three times. Oh, right. After the three times, it can no longer be stolen. Yeah, and usually a person can only be stolen from three times as well. And then whatever gift they're holding on the last time, whatever gift they go steal from somebody else or pick, that's their gift to keep.

14:58So you can play strategically here. If there's actually a gift there that you want, like you really want that whoopee cushion, you can choose it as your last gift after you're dead, essentially. Yeah. Yeah. If your gift is stolen, you can't steal it right back. You have to steal another gift or choose from the pile. And are there any other variations? Yeah. Essentially, once all of this continues on, once this goes around and everybody, say, you have 15 people playing, after person 15's turn, you're back to person one because they had no choice. They had to choose a gift from the pile. Now it's their turn to decide to steal.

15:38And if they decide to keep their gift, then the game's over. If they steal, it keeps going on until you finally reach somebody who goes, I'm good. I really love my whoopee cushion. I'm keeping my gift. The party's essentially over at that point because the excitement has been so charged that there's nothing you could possibly do to top it after that. I don't know. You got those whoopee cushions. I say the party's just getting started. That's true. That's true. I mean, I was thinking you could drink, like, gallons of Grandma's Christmas breath, and it still wouldn't bring about the thrill that the White Elephant game can bring.

16:15Well, two quick things. One thing I wanted to mention earlier on is I have seen this game go badly. Like, if somebody really wants to keep something and it gets stolen, they get their feelings hurt. Boy, try and park that attitude at the door. Yeah. This is supposed to be fun. And if all of a sudden you're really getting mad because you didn't get that whoopee cushion, then, you know, do some self-reflection on what you're bringing to the table. Yeah, for sure. I mean, you can go buy a whoopee cushion if you really need it. That's right. And the second thing I wanted to say, since you said gallons of this drink, as I was drinking it, I think this would be really good as a punch.

16:57Like throw it in the punch bowl with some like cinnamon sticks and sliced oranges and some other. Like a bunch of ice? A bunch of ice and stuff like that, and I think it would make a pretty decent party punch, actually. Would you add soda water to it? I don't know. How does that hold up in a punch bowl? Well, very well. I mean, there's like a whole Sprite High C punch camp that is crazy for that stuff. Yeah. It's carbonated. All right. Then I say pour four liters of Topo Chico in there. Okay. All right. That sounds good. All right. Actually, that sounds terrible. That'd be mineral water mixed with it.

17:30You just want plain club soda. Yeah, and what's like a red tinting? High C. Oh, I guess so. But what's something that's not super sweet, like Campari? Would that change the taste a lot? Yes, it definitely would. I have no idea what that would taste like after that point. It would be a little more festive as a punch, I think, if it was red or green. Yes, for sure. I get what you're saying. I guess it's kind of brown right now. I mean, it's more orange. Oh, it is actually orange? Okay, good. Yeah, it looks like orange. juice. Okay, well, that's it for White Elephant. There is one quote I wanted to read from Nella Bailey McGough.

18:10Do you know the one? I'm pretty short. Go ahead. They say that the mixture of gag gifts and gifts people actually want combine to make the nitro that fuels this amazing game. And I guess that Nella Bailey McGough would be a really fun person to play White Elephant with. Totally. I love it. Hey, let's hit that interstitial Christmas music again as we mosey on over to the next segment.

18:47All right. I'd say we move on to – let's go ahead and knock out our two confections. Oh, okay. Which one do you want to do first? You know what? Let's start with Italy because this is also another thing that a listener sent in, which is really great. People are starting to help program the show because it gets really, really hard to find new short Christmas stuff after all these years. But Carl with a K Harden sent in a suggestion to do a short stuff on pizzelles. Pizzelle or pizzelle? Pizzelle, I thought. Pizzelle? Yeah. Yeah, you gotta say it like that. Yeah, it's an Italian cookie that is enjoyed, you know, at different times of the year, weddings and things, but really known as a Christmas or Easter cookie.

19:37Yeah, I know them as Christmas. I didn't realize they were Easter, but yeah, they're super Italian. And they're so Italian that it shares a root word with pizza. Yeah. Pizze, which means round and flat. Which is pretty impressive that they fit round and flat into just one word. Yeah, that's true. The L in pizzelle means small, and the A in pizza means personal pan. Right. Oh, man. Well done. That was pre-thought of. I know, but it was still great. Great delivery. Nothing wrong with writing a joke, my friend. All right. I feel like such a fraud. No, not at all. Traditionally, black licorice or anise is the traditional flavor, but that's sort of the old world stuff these days.

20:23You can flavor it with whatever you want. A lot of chocolate ones, vanilla. Lemon's a very popular flavor. I saw gingerbread. Oh, sure. I could dip it in this punch. Yeah, sounds good. I also saw a savory one, lemon dill. I'm not crazy about that, but that was the most exotic one I found. Yeah. I saw an elk one, but that feels a little gamey. For real, an elk one? No. Oh, okay. Because I was going to say, maybe it was a recipe from the elks. Oh, sure, sure. I get you. So it's also really simple to make, too. It's just like sugar, eggs, flour, maybe butter, maybe olive oil, if you really want to get Italian.

21:04And then, like you said, some of those flavorings. And then you make it essentially like an old-timey waffle where you have like two irons that usually have some sort of like – what is it? Boss relief emblem or symbol or shape or something like that that the dough cooks into so it transfers the shape to the dough as you're cooking. Yeah, like the old world way. And I imagine a lot of just sort of traditional Italian families still do it this way. I mean, they make machines like a waffle iron that you could do this in. But it's the old school two cast iron plates, like you said, that have those decorative designs.

21:45And a lot of times it's a snowflake for Christmas. Back in the old days, you could get like a family plate made with your whatever, like your family crest maybe or a special date in your family or anything that's meaningful to your family. Yeah, a picture of your grandma drunk at Christmas. Yeah. Sure. And then you can eat that drunk face. And then you cook those over an open flame, you know, like turning it over, you know, each side, each side. Let that thing cool off. And then you can do a lot of things with it. You can roll it up like a cone and put stuff in it. You can just sprinkle it with a little powdered sugar.

22:23I saw one where you can use it as a, like, ice cream sandwich layer. Yeah. I don't know where you got this, but there's a Nutella ice cream pizzelle sandwich. I don't even know if this is a recipe, but you just alternate layers of pizzelle, Nutella, and whatever flavor ice cream you want to. Stack it as high as you can get your mouth around, and there you go. It sounds delicious. Plus also, I mean, like a fresh pizzelle out of some hot iron sounds really, really good. I mean, even a stale pizzelle is still kind of good. I don't think I've ever had one. Oh, really? You should order some. They're everywhere.

22:59Yeah, I would figure this time of year, huh? Yeah, I would treat yourself and do an anise one, the traditional kind. Okay. It's actually surprisingly good. I'm not crazy about anise, but it's good in this context. Okay. And then get something else that you know you're going to like, like lemon or something. Yeah, I'm going to see if there's a good Italian bakery in Atlanta. I'm sure there is. But, I mean, even if there's not, I guarantee you can find these at, like, TJ Maxx if you want to. Like, they're everywhere. Right behind the blouse aisle. Yeah, sometimes mixed in with the blouses. All right, so that's the pitzel.

23:36Should we move on to your Le Buche de Noël? Yes, I did not expect you to say it like that, but nicely done. How would you say it? What's the correct way, in other words? I mean, you basically had it. I think it's bouche. The bouche? I think so, but I know that bouche also is mouth. No. Yeah. Yeah? Yeah. Yeah? I'm pretty sure. So I could be missaying it. It could be butchie. Okay. Le butchie de Nol. Right. And it's a Yule log, but it's an edible Yule log, and it's really closely identified with France. Yeah, it is. And it was not something you would eat in the old school tradition in France. What happened, it dates back to medieval times.

24:30and you would get a real log of wood, usually a fruit tree or many times a fruit tree. And you would do that to, let's say you wanted like a good apple harvest for the year to come. So you would use like an apple branch or log. You bring it home, you put that thing in the hearth and the hearth is sort of where the family hung out. So it's just sort of the centerpiece there. Yeah. And then there were, I think this actually is like a pagan rite even that they would light this. and it was supposed to last from Christmas through the new year. So at least three days. If it didn't burn for three days, you did it wrong, and your next year was going to suck.

25:10But if you could at least make it three days, yeah, you were probably going to choke to death on an apple the following year if it didn't make it three days. But if it makes it three days or longer, great. And so to kind of game the system, usually your yule log would be like damp, like very green and very large because that wouldn't be the only thing you're burning. Like you needed to cook, you needed to keep warm. So you had fires going this whole time. So to keep this log going for at least three days, it had to be of a certain type. Yeah. And I'm not sure if we mentioned you light it on Christmas Eve.