Part Kris’ Santa and Snowman collection with Jack Skellington playing the part of Elf on a Shelf
Happy Tuesday everyone! And MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! Today Kym and Kris talk about personal Christmas traditions, and also announce THE WINNER OF OUR CONTEST!
The winner is FERN ROUINTREE! Check out our photos from our last blog to see the contents, and here’s latest addition to the box:
We got the coffee and we get THE MUG! We like the mug! The gift box is almost complete! Just waiting on the TMT coaster.
Today we dive into our personal traditions at Christmas time. There’s the annual ornament purchase:
A glass Santa, the London callbox, the Ron and Harry ornaments and one of the peacock ornaments from last year.
Hayley’s 2018 ornament choice
As well as what to get as stocking stuffers (and when we open them), Christmas Eve pajamas, special feasts, the songs, the movies, and the activities, like making snowflakes to hang around the house, and collecting our favorite Christmas icons (Kris gets a new Santa every year, and Kym is partial to Tomtes).
It’s snowing in Kris’ household! There’s flakes (of glitter) EVERYWHERE!! Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!Kym’s FAVORITE! A classic Swedish gnome called Tomte.Part Kris’ Santa and Snowman collection, including her latest tin Santa drummer (bottom right corner).
But one of our favorite traditions both of our families celebrate is to look at Christmas lights in Orange County. There are neighborhoods all over Orange County that go absolutely over the top, but two in our area are Olwyn Dr. in Tustin, CA (Olwyn Dr. and Redhill Ave.), and the historic section of Orange, CA (the Old Towne Orange Holiday Decoration Contest held by the Old Town Orange Preservation Association).
In Orange, this year’s theme was the Stories and Songs of the Season. Awards are given for various categories, including Most Beautiful, Best Use of Lights, Most Whimsical, etc. And while it’s something residents throughout historic Orange participate in, it seems that one of the awards (Best Block) consistently goes to Pine St. (and deservedly so). Parking and walking (or driving very slowly) is something both our households look forward to participating in every year. If you’re interested in leaving the driving to someone else, you can ride on the trolley to see the lights in style.
Some of the families in both neighborhoods even offer up candy canes, hot cocoa, and bags of popcorn to go with the music, lights, and lots and lots of happy people oohing and aahing all over the place. If you’re in the area definitely check out these neighborhoods.
Some highlights from Pine Street:
One of the more fantastic homes (even without decorations) on Pine Street in historic Orange, CAITOMTE! Kym’s FAVORITE!!The theme on Pine Street in historic Orange, CA was Stories and Songs of the Season, and this family chose “Elf”One of the many award-winning home decorations on Pine Street in the historic area of Orange, CA. This family always decorates with bears, and they had Winnie the Pooh to tie in with the theme.
One of the many award-winning home decorations on Pine Street in the historic area of Orange, CA. This celebrates the song “Winter Wonderland”.One of the many award-winning home decorations on Pine Street in the historic area of Orange, CA. This family did a bang up job with their “Home Alone” theme.This place. Unbelievably cool. Amazingly so. Don’t know what their theme was. Doesn’t matter. Winner winner chicken dinner you get the trophy because SPECTACULAR.The lovely gentlemen still participated with decorations (he and his wife lovingly decorated with the rest of Pine Street in historic Orange, CA every year), even with a broken heart.
Check out our MERRY CHRISTMAS HAPPY TUESDAY episode on iTunes/Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Libsyn, Pocket Cast, Stitcher or anywhere you listen to podcasts. Then all you need to do is 1) subscribe 2) download and 3) listen! AND!!! 4) If you enjoy what you hear, please leave a rating and a review (pretty please?). The more subscribers and reviews we get, the more opportunities we get to grow this podcast and bring you richer content.
And don’t forget to follow us here at themuglytruth.com (click that blue WordPress Follow button on the right side of your screen) so you get notifications every time we post an episode blog! You can also follow The Mugly Truth on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.
OOOH thar’s some great shutff in that giveaway box!! It can be yours! Enter the contest today!
Happy Tuesday! Today Kris and Kym do a full 180-turn from last week’s episode and focus FULLY on all the things you can do to celebrate Christmas all around the world. Kym tackles how to say Merry Christmas and Santa in multiple languages and proves Kris is not the only one struggling to pronounce words. But when all’s said and done, Kym knocked it out of the park in about 15 (give or take) different languages. Well done Kym!
They go on to discuss the history behind some of the most iconic Christmas songs you are probably sick of hearing by now. Do you know the oldest known Christmas song? Can you guess who wrote “O Come All Ye Faithful”? Would you believe “Deck the Halls” has Pagan origins? And that “Jingle Bells” wasn’t even intended to be a Christmas song?
They tackle fun (and weird) traditions throughout the world, and you are NOT going to believe the level of odd some of the activities reach. Kris also has an epiphany that all these shenanigans might somehow have something to do with aliens. (Blinking. Staring.)
Kris and Kym also shout out a happy birthday to Hayley for her 14th birthday, to Nate and Kayla for their 2nd wedding anniversary, and brand new listener Katie (welcome to The Mugly Truth family!!)
Kris’ daughters, Hayley (left) and Sami (right) on Hayley’s 14th birthday (and the day we recorded this episode).Kayla and Nate on their wedding day. Happy 2nd Anniversary!
And, of course, there’s The Mugly Truth Christmas 2018 Gift Giveaway UNBOXING live on Instagram, but you can see the photos of what is in the gift box so far:
Just (((some))) of the stuff we’re sending to the lucky winner of our gift giveaway contest! There’s more to be added! UNBELIEVABLE!Really cool vintage winter dishtowelsReally cool vintage-style canvas winter toteClose up of some of the contents of the gift giveaway. YES that’s an 80’s trivia game! BOOM.Close up of some of the contents of the gift giveaway. Disclaimer: If the sea salt caramels are MISSING from the box, Kris did NOT EAT THEM. She has NO IDEA WHERE THEY ARE. Do NOT ask her.Some more close ups. We are so excited to give this to one of our listeners!
Check out our WORLDWIDE CHRISTMAS TRADITIONS episode on iTunes/Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Libsyn, Pocket Cast, Stitcher or anywhere you listen to podcasts. Then all you need to do is 1) subscribe 2) download and 3) listen! AND!!! 4) If you enjoy what you hear, please leave a rating and a review (pretty please?). The more subscribers and reviews we get, the more opportunities we get to grow this podcast and bring you richer content.
And don’t forget to follow us here at themuglytruth.com (click that blue WordPress Follow button on the right side of your screen) so you get notifications every time we post an episode blog! You can also follow The Mugly Truth on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.
This week’s episode talks about all the feastable events you can celebrate every single day in December PLUS we announce our gift giveaway CONTEST. How amazing is all of this stuff? Totally. Photo by Kimberly Sickel, @riverdeer at 500px
Happy Tuesday! Today is JAM PACKED with TONS of information, our new contest rules (see below), “stolen” internet pics (WITH credit, c’mon now.) and most importantly 31 DAYS OF WAYS TO EAT IN DECEMBER! Today’s episode covers all the things besides Christmas that you can celebrate during the last month of the year. You like socks? There’s a day for that. Have a penchant for rhubarb vodka? They put aside a day for your drunk ass my friend. Want a Pal? Pick a Pathologist! (You do you honey.)
Weary Willie as portrayed Emmett Kelly.
Even Weary Willie has his own day and it turns out to be NOTHING like what Kris and Kym thought it was. Our sincere apologies for any disrespect towards the venerable actor Emmett Kelly and his lovely sad-faced hobo character. We hang our heads (slightly) in shame. BUT! We do not regret having our minds in the gutter, because what fun would our podcast be if we didn’t slither in to the dirty side once in awhile. Ew, actually.
We pull out of that nosedive and continue to cover all sorts of fun from the 1st to the 31st, so YOU can go forth and make merry (sans-Christmas) over the little things in life. There’s National Dewey Decimal System Day (used in the LI-BRAR-Y, remember?), Pie Day (um, will the real pie day please stand up? We’re looking at you March 14.), Pearl Harbor Day, Rosa Parks Day, Wright Brothers day…you get Red Apple day, Cookie Day, Cotton Candy Day, Bathtub Party Day (they did not combine that with the Rhubarb Vodka Day, but you might be able to stretch that party out), Pawnbrokers Day….wait, hold up. Listen to the podcast man! We go over every inch of the dailies for you!
Plus we expound a bit on some events that piqued our interest. It’s a mashup of obscure and popular as we discuss celebrations including The Greater Feast of Aliester Crowley (see photo below, here is the link to the “Unexplained” podcast), Krampus (photo below), Our Lady of Guadalupe (photo of Juan Diego’s tilma below), Chanukah, St. Lucia’s Day (see photo of Paul Hollywood’s buns below), Kwanzaa, Boxing Day, Saturnalia, and so on. The real point is that every single day seems to involve feasting in some way. We are totally good with that agenda. Food totally rocks! So why not come up with Fritter Day or Cupcake Day to indulge some more? Oh wait. Yep, already a day.
And yes, we promise the contest rules are still below. Keep scrolling non-readers!
This lovely lad is Aleister Crowley, founder of the spiritual philosophy called Thelema. To hear more details, we highly recommend the podcast “Unexplained” by Richard Maclean Smith, Season 1, Episodes 10 and 10 Extra, in which Mr. Smith delves into the background of Mr. Crowley’s life, and how extremely bizarre (and scary) this cat really was. He has quite the reputation in Britain, and his home is Scotland was once purchased by Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin. Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.That’s Krampus carrying off an unhappy juvenile delinquent. So, timeouts are no longer a thing? Just asking for a friend. Photo courtesy of theatlantic.comSt. Lucia Buns. Kris’ favorite silver fox baker Paul Hollywood featured his buns on The Great British Baking Show. They were…ahem…lovely. Thank you Paul. Photo courtesy of The Great British Baking Show.This is the actual 500 year old tilma (cloak) of Saint Juan Diego with the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe embedded into the fabric. It is a science anomaly no one can explain. Photo courtesy beliefnet.comNostalgia time!! This is how we used to find things in libraries. We had to use our thinky stuff to get a book. Fun times. Yay Dewey Decimal System! Photo courtesy of SD Times and Tamr.
Truth be told, this is just one list out of SO MANY on the internet. If you want a more somber and international flavor, check the United Nation’s list of international days of observance, or if you want inspiration to make up your own damned day to celebrate, check out this Mike Kerr’s fun workplace list. Of course, you can check out the list we used here.
BUT WAIT THERE’S MORE! (CONTEST! CONTEST! WHOOOOOOOOP! )
Today’s episode ends the show talking about our contest Mugly Truth Christmas 2018 Gift Giveaway! YES! Our contest details are finally HERE and they are outlined below! So now you have even more to celebrate! Did we not just make December the most amazing, wonderful, gorgeous, fun-filled time of the year or what? NOW you have another reason to jump for joy! Go ahead, find out all the ways you can enter the contest (soooooo many danged ways! It’s crazy) and then go to town!
But before you dive in, can we just say we so very much want your worst gift stories. If you do nothing else at all, at least share your stories with us because we want to hear from you and read your stories on the podcast!Ok, now…ready…set…GO!
CONTEST DETAILS
The contest begins December 11, 2018 and ends December 21, 2018. It is a random drawing with no restrictions on who can participate. Completing a qualifying action equals one entry. There are multiple ways to enter the contest as described in “How To Enter” below. The winner’s name will be announced on our December 25th podcast episode and a video of the drawing will be posted on our Instagram account.
Once the winner is announced, the winner will have until January 1, 2019 (7 days), to contact us by email at sipsters@themuglytruth.com. The winner will need to provide their name, mailing address, email and phone number. This contact information is only for the purposes of the contest in delivering the prize to the winner. The information will remain private, will not be shared, and will not be retained for any purpose other than delivering the contest prize. Please note delivery may not be possible to a PO Box address.
If the winner fails to contact us by the end of January 1, 2019, a new winner will be drawn from the same pool of names, and announced on the next episode of the podcast. The new winner will have 7 days to contact us, in the same manner as described above.
HOW TO ENTER
We have given you SO MANY WAYS to enter! Check it out! Do one, some or all of these things to boost your chances of winning.
If you have already followed/liked/subscribed/ or reviewed our podcast prior to the contest, you are already entered!
So here is what you can do to enter:
Follow Us!
Follow us on our website at https://themuglytruth.com by clicking on the blue follow button on the right sidebar of any blog post
Subscribe and download our podcast episodes via the Apple Podcast app or through the iTunes store at The Mugly Truth Podcast. Take a screenshot or photo showing you’re subscribed and email it to sipsters@themuglytruth.com (that’s the only way we’ll know you’ve subscribed since iTunes doesn’t tell us who our subscribers are).
Rate and Review our podcast (we can only track reviews, so if you only rate us, we can’t count it).
Post a Worst Gift Story Using #MuglyTruthChristmas2018
PLEASE PLEASE post an original story about your worst gift ever (doesn’t have to be a Christmas gift). Use the hashtag #MuglyTruthChristmas2018 and tag us!
Post a story on Instagram, use the hashtag, tag us @themuglytruth
Tweet on Twitter, use the hashtag, tag us @MuglyThe
Post a story on your Facebook page, use the hashtag, tag us @themuglytruth
Go to our website, post your story in the comments section of our blog announcement.
We will try to read as many stories as possible in a future episode, so if, for some reason, you don’t want us to read your story, or use your name, please indicate that in your story. And, while pictures are not a requirement for entry, they will make the post a lot more fun! We’d love to see photos of your “worst gift” if you still have it. If not, a lovely picture of you sipping coffee from your favorite mug will be just as wonderful!
Repost/Retweet/Share Each New Contest Post (don’t forget to use #MuglyTruthChristmas2018)
Repost each new contest update we make on Instagram
Retweet each new contest update we Tweet on Twitter
Share each new contest update we post on Facebook
Like and Tag Each New Contest Post
For Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook, each time we post a new update, LIKE the post AND tag friends in the comments section. Please note tagging your friends does not enter them into the contest, they will need to enter as outlined in HOW TO ENTER
That’s it…that’s ALLL the ways you can enter. How can you NOT participate? We will be posting short shot episodes, blogs or updates as needed to bring more information about the gift itself and to address questions that might come up.
DISCLAIMER: This is all for fun and for free and we are having a great time with this. The contest prize giveaway is paid for by Kym and Kris. There are no strings attached for participants, no list to be used for marketing purposes, entrants’ usernames will not be shared or given out to any marketing companies. This is a simple random drawing with a gift lovingly created by Kris and Kym. There is no third party company running the contest or in charge of tracking entries or computing results and there are no sponsors providing any portion of the gift as a promotion. It’s just you and us, kid.
We reserve the right to refuse entry of any comments posted on our social media sites that contain derogatory, hateful, degrading, or threatening language. Basically, trolls need not apply.
Check out our 31 Days of Feastember episode on iTunes/Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Libsyn, Pocket Cast, Stitcher or anywhere you listen to podcasts. Then all you need to do is 1) subscribe 2) download and 3) listen! AND!!! 4) If you enjoy what you hear, please leave a rating and a review (pretty please?). The more subscribers and reviews we get, the more opportunities we get to grow this podcast and bring you richer content.
And don’t forget to follow us here at themuglytruth.com (click that blue WordPress Follow button on the right side of your screen) so you get notifications every time we post an episode blog! You can also follow The Mugly Truth on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.
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