PCPS LIGHT - A Look Back at Our Past Holiday Episodes!

Speaker 1 0:00

Until now, you had to choose between good taste and low calories. Until now,

Speaker 2 0:16

welcome, welcome listeners to another cool, refreshing PCPs light episode. Can you believe we're in between seasons already? You guys, it goes so

Carolyn Cochrane 0:29

fast for 18. Season

Speaker 2 0:31

18, I know we blinked and 17 was over. I honestly feel like we just started 17, but like we did a few months ago, while we are busy planning and recording season 18 for you all, and of course, taking time off to enjoy the holidays with our families. For the next six weeks, we'll still be bringing you conversations full of Gen X.

Kristin Nilsen 0:51

I'm just giving us some wiggle Oh, yeah. What's gonna happen?

Speaker 2 0:55

Might be a case. Don't hold us to anything. Handle a handle case, yeah, but we'll still be bringing you conversations full of the Gen X pop culture memories and nuggets and all the things you love about the podcast. That's why we're so nice. It'll just be unscripted and with a timer set for like, 30 minutes, yeah, yeah. And also, I'm hearing myself and my headphones, if you if I sound a little stuffy and like Rudolph, which is very fitting for this week, it's because, yeah, I came back from London and Scotland with a big cold. I was gonna say I went to London and Scotland and all I got was this stupid cold. But that would be a lie, because I definitely got a lot more. But you

Kristin Nilsen 1:39

didn't mean to go to Scotland. That was an accident. I know, I know.

Speaker 2 1:43

It was a fun accident. It was a fun adventure. We just took advantage of it.

Carolyn Cochrane 1:46

Yeah, I loved it. I told Andy, it's kind of a life lesson. You know, you had planned your other trip and all of that, and then, as you said, at one point, this might be the most fun we've had on our whole trip. And it was the unplanned. Just fly by the seat of your pants. No luggage. Yeah, no later. You know, just had

Speaker 2 2:03

so much fun. We did, and I will say, we talked about this quite a bit that, and we were very cognizant of the fact that it comes from place of privilege, for sure, to be able to just say, let's stay here for two days. Let's extend, you know, let's because obviously the you know, United has to pay for one night of our hotel, and you know, we're going to try to get him to

Kristin Nilsen 2:25

pay for our coach, so that people know what happens. Your plane broke.

Speaker 2 2:28

Yeah, it was very scary. Yes, it was very scary. We were on our way home from London, and about an hour and a half into the flight, and we all started smelling a really bad electrical burning smell, which is very unsettling when you know you're over the ocean. And anyway, there's a lot of details that go into that, but it never got to the point where we were all panicking. They were very they. I just hate the word the pilot used, though she said we've identified and contained the and I was like, contained. Does that mean something's actually on fire? Like in my mind? I think, you know, this forest fire has been contained, right? It was some sort of fan. But in abundance of great caution, we're going to turn the plane around and we're going to go back to either London or Dublin and so. And even at Dublin, Brian and I were like, oh, Dublin, we might get to spend the night in Dublin. That's so fun. And turns out it was Edinburgh, and we have never been. Our daughter has been recently, and loved it. And so, yeah, we were like, once we got on the ground, and I knew that we were okay five hours on the plane, slash and in the airport while they're waiting to figure out what they're going to do with us, we just looked at each other and we're like, this is an opera. We can't just go home in the morning with everyone else and think we were there. Like, you know what it in my mind, it was like a free trip to Scotland. And I know that's girl math, but wait a minute. Anyway, it was beautiful, wonderful, amazing. I, you know, I have not done a lot of traveling, European travel, and so being in a place and walking through buildings that were erected somehow in like, the 1300s and whatever I was, I mean, y'all, I was in Mary Queen of Scots bedchamber where they murdered her, her advisor, who her husband thought was her lover, and I walked up the stairs that all the men ran up with their swords to kill him, and they say there's still blood. You can still see blood on the floor. I didn't but I was didn't but I was in Mary Queen of Scots bedchambers at that was at the Palace of Holyrood, which is still a royal family, you know, palace. It's our official palace. So they still go there to do lots of official things. Actually, the Queen laid there in her casket for three days. You know, she died at their family castle in Balmoral in Scotland. But then they brought her casket to Holyrood to lay for three days before they could then move it to London for her funeral. So I was in that room. I don't know it was just it was crazy. It was crazy. I just kept touching, like, where I could there was this Abbey that was crumbling, but it had been built in like the 1300s ebb. The Palace. I mean, I can't even imagine all the royal weddings in there. I just kept walking around and touching the stone to just try to connect to it somehow, like you're touching 1300 Yes, yeah. It made me feel kind of like the size of a germ. Also, when you realize all of that, and I know a lot of you listening, have done lots of European travel and and I will tell you that it kind of lit a little fire under us to be like we got to see some more places like this. The downside to all of it was the incredible crowds, like, I went to London to see the Christmas lights. I've been to London a few times, but, and I love it, but I went to see the Christmas lights and the sparkles and the decorations, and it was amazing, but I was losing my mind by about day two. With the crowds of people there, it was like Times Square, Times Square. Anyway, okay, so that being said, can you believe everyone we are a week and a half out? No, but yeah, that we are at season 18, but also we're a week and a half out from Christmas, and Hanukkah started last night, when this airs, Hanukkah will have started last night. Yeah. Okay, yeah. Isn't that crazy?

Carolyn Cochrane 6:10

By in a flash, it really has. And we

Kristin Nilsen 6:12

got winter overnight, like it was Thanksgiving, and then it was winter. Oh no, really, it was so sudden and severe. Usually, winter comes in fits and starts, and it will snow, and then it will melt, and then it will snow a little bit more, and then it will melt. And you may or may not have a white Christmas. We had a white Christmas on Thanksgiving, the day before it was October, and then it was December. I'm just saying, like what it looked like outside. And they're saying that there's enough snow out there that this is it. It's, it's winter now until April, and you're supposed to get hammered again. Yeah, right now I'm looking out the window right now. I love inclement weather, though,

Carolyn Cochrane 6:50

yeah, it just gives you a reprieve from everything, like everything. Oh, I maybe don't have to show up for that. And exactly, hurricanes in Houston, but, yeah, no soccer practice today, we don't have to go to soccer practice. I love it.

Speaker 2 7:04

I was kind of sad I missed when I was in London. We missed the first big snow here in Denver, and it was about four inches. And I was seeing pictures of my dog from our dog sitter, and you know, she had her big coat on, and it looked so cute. My dog, not the dog sitter, although she was cute. But anyway, by the time we came back, the snow just is so typical Denver. The snow is melted. It's 60 degrees. And for the next 10 days, until the forecast from today, when we're recording, to December, 23 the temperature is 58 to 65 all 10 days. That's so Denver, though, and then we could get we because when it snowed, when we were gone, the high was like 20, you know, 22 so that's just so typical of us. So I kind of would like a little snow, to be honest with you. I need a little, yeah, well,

Carolyn Cochrane 7:52

anyway, Christmas, I know.

Speaker 2 7:57

Okay, go ahead, all right. So listen, we just haven't seen each other in a hot second. So we had, I hope you, you know we're thankful for being patient while we caught up with each other, but we thought today it would be fun to revisit some of our old holiday episodes. In case you've missed some of them, or you're new to the podcast and you need some fun things to listen to while you prep for the holidays. A fun fact, our second and third episodes ever were Christmas episodes because we started our podcast at the end of November, and the conversations we had back then in December of 2020 were so fun. But oh my god, if you all go back and listen to them, please excuse the sound quality. Oh yeah, I just listened to one yesterday. I sound like I'm recording from a bunker. I was like, Michelle, are you okay? Past Michelle, tap your microphone twice. I was in my office, and those first ones, I just think it was a lot we we just didn't have the knowledge. We had

Kristin Nilsen 8:52

to experiment so much with sound quality until we really did.

Carolyn Cochrane 8:55

And I don't even know if, back then, we had like, three tracks and all the things. I mean, it was, it was a different time, so please excuse that. But at the same time, like Michelle said, These conversations are priceless. There's some foreshadowing. There's so much I'm going to talk about this in a little bit, because those were my two absolute favorite.

Speaker 2 9:16

Yeah, they are really cute. So um, before you guys jump in, I want to share a list of all our holiday episodes, and then I want you guys to tell me which of these were your personal favorites, and maybe tell the good listeners. Why? Okay, in December 2020, again, our second and third episodes ever, we had, oh, come all you Christmas specials, which I've kind of thought that was a good title for just starting fresh out of the gate, right? And that's where we chatted about the specials, like oh, the Brady Bunch episode, where Carol loses her voice, and the house without a Christmas tree, the littlest Angel. And there's more. And then we had a second one called a scooter for Jimmy, a dolly for Michelle, where we chatted about the gifts we remember getting and how. I basically got everything you guys wanted.

Kristin Nilsen 10:02

We learned an important thing that day, and that was that Michelle got all the gifts. She got all the toys. If you wanted it, Michelle had it,

Speaker 2 10:10

I did. And then in December of 2021 we had our Barry Christmas concert wrap up from Palm Springs and an episode called Christmas rewind, where we reminisced about some of the great holiday variety shows, like the carpenters and the Osmonds. Just remember Donnie and Debbie singing, you just can and they have like a snowball fight in 2022 we had the most 70s of the 70s Christmas albums. That was fun. Yeah, my favorite one. Think Brady Bunch kids attempting to sing carols like your ears are your ears are burning. And we had one called the pink bunny conundrum, and that was where we shared many of our listeners gifts gone wrong, which some of them were really wrong. And that was pretty funny. In 2023 we did a TV Guide holiday special Roundup, where we literally went through a stack of holiday TV guides and shared the shows and specials we'd have been watching that year. That was fun. That was

Carolyn Cochrane 11:10

the descriptions of those, the way those TV Guide descriptions were written, and the shows, the

Kristin Nilsen 11:15

shows were so bonkers, so weird.

Speaker 2 11:20

And then last year, we had two great ones. One was counting down the best TV specials, including all those favorite rank and bass specials, of course. And we had an episode devoted to the misfit holiday specials, which I'm not going to say any more about, because I'm betting one of you is going to am I right?

Kristin Nilsen 11:39

And the title, the title of that one just cracks me up. Because just imagine you're a person who's never listened to our podcast before, and you see a title that says Mr. T Denny Terrio and the Island of Misfit Toys. I'm listening to that. I don't know, listening to that.

Carolyn Cochrane 11:55

That was such a great episode, and I want to be careful in giving too much away, because I want people to go back and really enjoy it as it was performed, or whatever we did as we did it. Because, oh my gosh, that Dance Fever one, I can't even, let's just say Nellie Olson as a Playboy bunny. Need, need I say more.

Kristin Nilsen 12:14

And then we had to. So the next one was the Dance Fever Christmas special. And we had to do that because Carolyn was so so so wrapped up in the absurdity of the Dance Fever Christmas special that we were like Carolyn. Carolyn Carolyn, we'll do it. We'll we'll devote a whole episode to it. Carolyn Carolyn, and she really needed it. She waited a

Speaker 2 12:35

whole year for us to do it because our our listeners, we have a entire episode devoted to Just Dance Fever. And that had happened an entire year before. And when Carolyn was doing research, she discovered she happened upon this Dance Fever, dance

Kristin Nilsen 12:53

Christmas Special. Christmas Special, first annual.

Speaker 2 12:55

It was like we have to talk about, we said, Okay, we promise next year. And then, boom, we blinked, and it was the next year, and well worth the wait, yes,

Kristin Nilsen 13:03

because Carolyn was literally that the listening experience of that Dance Fever Christmas special is so fun because Carolyn is almost falling out of her chair like I'm not even sure what you said, Carolyn, because you were laughing so hard

Carolyn Cochrane 13:18

that David Copperfield little sketch where you know this, the song is going, and he's listen to it. People just yeah, you have to listen and listen. And I was falling out of my seat because it's so ridiculous. But yet, I don't think I was falling out of my seat when I was watching it real time.

Kristin Nilsen 13:36

It's so funny. We all agreed that the people from Minnesota, the contestants from Minnesota, were super lame, and that it looks like they probably stopped at the Walgreens on their way to the studio to pick up some garland, and then they, like, stapled the garland to their unitard. Or, like, come on, people, this is TV. Yeah, make an effort.

Speaker 2 13:55

Well, you guys, I I know again, I'm gonna sound like a cliche, but I feel like that was last week we were recording that episode when you said they stopped by the Walgreens. Yeah, it was like, that really fit tinsel garland, and they just kind of wrapped it around like one leg, yeah, and then around like a waist. But I do feel like, has it really been a year since we had that conversation?

Kristin Nilsen 14:17

Yes, and the Mr. T special, that whole thing. Don't forget Emmanuel Lewis. Basically, Emmanuel Lewis has lost the spirit of Christmas, and Mr. T has is going to help him get it back, you know, because that's, that's what the people in Hollywood came up with for a Christmas special. Good, gracious sense, right?

Speaker 2 14:36

But he also, remember, we talked about this. He was, it's called the Mr. T Christmas special. But in the special, he's not Mr. T, no, he's someone else. He's someone else.

Kristin Nilsen 14:46

He's Santa. He's he was unhoused Santa. Oh, that's right, I think

Speaker 2 14:49

he wasn't. Oh, please, everyone just, you know what? I haven't, I haven't listened that one in a year. I'm gonna go back and listen to that one this week too. I love it. So what were other ones that, some of the ones that I. Listed that that you guys now, thinking back, are like, I loved that one.

Kristin Nilsen 15:04

Well, there is more. There's so much uproarious laughter in all of these because I think the holiday season lends itself to absurdity. For some reason, in the world of TV, in your homes, it seems very serious and godly. On TV, it's absurd. And I loved the 70s, of 70s Christmas albums that I think is my favorite one, because that includes the Star Wars Christmas album, which is like a lot of spoken word by c3 po he's like Jingle bells, jingle

Speaker 2 15:34

but my favorite is, in that episode, you do that, but you also give us a good representation of Chewbacca in it.

Kristin Nilsen 15:42

Oh, because there's a hit song on that album, literally, a song that charted called, what do you get? A Wookie, and he already has a phone that's a hit song, people, that's a hit song. And I'm not going to say who, but just a little teaser, we reveal in that episode that there is one very famous person whose first professional recording is on that Star Wars Christmas album.

Speaker 2 16:04

I don't remember who it is. I can't go to go back and listen, telling.

Kristin Nilsen 16:08

Okay, not telling. But that's also a one where we're, like, falling off of our chairs. We're laughing so hard, especially when we talk about, I'm not gonna say anything more. We're talking about Colonel Sanders. I'm not gonna say anything more about it,

Speaker 2 16:20

because nothing says Christmas. I love Frank Sinatra, Johnny Mathis, Colonel Sanders, Colonel Sanders,

Kristin Nilsen 16:30

and I do want to ask you, Carolyn, this is a little update to the episode, because last year, you found a Christmas album that you had never heard of before, and you fell so in love with it that you vowed that this was going to be an annual thing for you. This was going to be your new number one Christmas album, and that was the Waltons

Carolyn Cochrane 16:48

Christmas album. Yes, I purchased it on eBay, and I love it, and it just gives me all, well, it's like a double doozy, because they have the theme going. That's one of the songs. But then there's like, sleigh bells underneath Bobby Walton's theme. So you're like, Christmas and Waltons and Christmas and whiplash, it's so good. And then nobody really from the Waltons performs, except there is a spoken word part that will gear does that's pretty, pretty dramatic. Yeah, yeah. So anyway, I do love it. I have to say it's probably packed away. We're having a very minimal Christmas here in Pennsylvania, yeah. I mean, we're

Speaker 2 17:28

having a Waltons Christmas, basically, I guess. So very minimal things you guys should just give each other, like a 10 grams and a candy stick.

Carolyn Cochrane 17:37

Yeah, yeah. Well, I'm gonna throw it back to the very beginning, you guys, because when I listened to both episodes two and three, oh my gosh, so much. And I want all of you to go back one, if you haven't already listened, if you're a newer listener and you just have kind of started with us from the beginning or from our most recent episodes, because a lot of stuff gets unveiled in these like this is, you know, when we find out a lot about each other. This was when I dropped the Jimmy McNickle bomb. This is when you find out things about Michelle and things about Kristen. Because this is episode two and three. I want to start with three, because three kind of haunts me. This is a score for Jimmy and a dolly for Michelle, otherwise known as Carolyn, is a real bitch because

Carolyn Cochrane 18:31

I listened to that on my walk the other day. My hard, yeah, it was, I don't know that I realized how bad I sounded on there it was. I mean, I don't think I could have sounded more of like a spoiled brat. I'll let you all listen, because I know you would never think of me as a bitch, listeners. But just go back to episode three, and you'll hear how I complained about every gift that I was ever given. It seems like, based on the way I was complaining, and you know, they were returns from Sears. It'll All Make Sense if you listen. But the truth is, and I just really want to come a little full circle here, I did have some really, really cool gifts that I got, like my and I don't even know how to pronounce pronounce this, so I'm hoping Kristen can help me when I got my How do I say my on yay shoes. You know that little shoes with the A, or there were purses the e, t, i e n, n, oh,

Unknown Speaker 19:25

yeah, yeah, yeah. Know what I'm talking about.

Carolyn Cochrane 19:31

Christine, I do. I don't picture flexed. Look, okay, I'll send you yes picture, if

Kristin Nilsen 19:37

it's spelled like that, if it's a T, T, i e n, and it

Unknown Speaker 19:41

starts with an E, starts with an E, oh, Etienne.

Kristin Nilsen 19:44

Oh, I do know that, but I can't picture it, but it is Etienne, yes.

Carolyn Cochrane 19:47

Okay, so the Etienne on, yay. And they had leather goods, so it was purses and shoes. And I got the shoes, the real shoes, not like ones with a B on them. They had the A, the A Logo. So they were so great. And I just remember thinking, this is you got it, you got it, Mom, yeah, you really did get it, mom. So let me take you back. We talked about Sears a lot in the Sears catalog. And one gift that I got that I really loved, and it was kind of the gift that kept on giving, was my jewelry making rock kit. It was a kit that came with a bunch of different colored stones and then accessories to turn them into necklaces or bracelets. It was just a whole magical world, and I could become like a Tiffany and Company. I was going to be a jewelry designer, and design I did, you guys, I made my dad a pair of cufflinks and a tie clip, and they were just felt so very sophisticated, like, this was a grown up gift, and I felt so important when I gave it to him. So there was that time in Christmas too, when, like, you couldn't wait for your parents to open the gifts that you gave them, because in a lot of times, we had made them remember back then. And here is what was so amazing a few years ago, when my mom was moving, we were going through a bunch of stuff, my dad's keepsakes in this chest. And let me tell you, when I saw the cufflinks and the tie clip in his keepsakes, I lost it, you guys. I thought he kept this forever. I remember when he wore them in in the beginning, he'd wear them to church. We're not the coolest things. If I can, if I can find them in all my boxes, I'll see if I can, and I'll snap a picture and I'll send it to you guys. But it really, I don't know, it really touched me. Nothing will hit you in the heart quite like finding something that your parents have held on to just because you gave it to them. And it was this tiny, beautiful reminder of how much it meant to my dad when I gave it to him, much like the soap on a rope. You remember my story, you guys, I had made my dad one Christmas soap on a rope, and I didn't really understand the whole concept of soap on a rope. And you'll have to listen to that so funny to find out in that chest of keepsakes was the soap on the rope. My dad had kept it, you guys. And I just started sobbing. I took a picture of it and immediately sent it to Kristin and Michelle, and I said, you guys, my dad kept the soap on a rope. It's this misshapen ball on this, like, really thick, you know, twill rope. But I when I saw it, I thought, oh my gosh, he kept it. He didn't

Speaker 2 22:27

use it. Probably tried to use it once, and it like burned the first top two layers of skin off.

Carolyn Cochrane 22:32

But I took it home with me, and now it hangs on our Christmas tree every year. It's just this little misshapen ball of soap that's swinging from that rope, but and it's nestled next to this, these glass ornaments and sparkly snowflakes. And it just makes me smile every year, just that absurd sentimentality or that sentimental absurdity. But I love it, and I love that he kept it. And I just wanted to share those two things, those two memories pop up as I was listening to that episode three, and I wanted to share some gifts that really did hit the mark.

Kristin Nilsen 23:06

That's good. You're redeeming yourself. Redemption here. Yeah, you're being public so that. And Lillian, I hope you're listening, because Carolyn loved all of her gifts. And I think we do a good job, though, in that episode of or maybe this is in the pink bunny conundrum, because we rehash this a little bit in the pink, pink bunny, pink bunny costume conundrum, pink something. Yeah. Anyway, sure, we do a good job of talking about how, of course, we're grateful, and we and we got some really amazing gifts. But nobody is perfect, and we don't all understand our children, and so we do miss the mark. And so we tried to redeem you.

Carolyn Cochrane 23:45

Yeah, it was bad. I just, I am sorry.

Speaker 2 23:48

I just listened to it yesterday. And you know what? I didn't think it you're making because it's coming from you. Yeah, I don't think you sound nearly as bad as you're saying. You do. I want to say something, though, because what you just said about when you were listening to it again and you heard you, you heard yourself talking about those gifts for you know, when you're remembering that connection with your dad. I love that, because I love that we get so many people tell us that listening to our episodes brings them such joy because they feel a connection, or they remember something in whatever part of our conversation. But I love that you did it like I love that five years later, you were able to go back and listen to it and think I didn't. I don't know that I remember feeling this way when we had the conversation. That's just a little plug for the podcast, but I do think that that's really important. And I think that even these episodes where we're sharing gifts we got or we made, or stories from our own Christmases memories we have, it, doesn't it, what sometimes we forget is that other people listening are going to hear that and then it's going to trigger a memory for them or as. Special gift they made for their dad or for their mom or for their grandparents or something that they haven't thought about in decades. And I love that. I mean, that's the whole, that's the whole reason for this. And so that makes me really happy, Carolyn, that it brought you a lot of joy listening to it. And the truth is,

Kristin Nilsen 25:16

you don't, you can put away some of that guilt, because I think you're I don't think it sounds like Michelle said. It doesn't sound as bad as you think. It did. It was, it was really funny, and it was very true to how I felt about a lot of things, too. And I think a lot of people identify with it, but you are scarred because your mom was hurt, yeah? And so that left a mark, yeah?

Carolyn Cochrane 25:37

It definitely did. So I definitely was listening to it with a different set of perspectives on. I mean, it gave me a whole different perspective listening to it again, but I really dissed her job at Sears and the return.

Speaker 2 25:51

Wait, did you just say with perspectacles

Carolyn Cochrane 25:54

on? Oh yeah, love

Kristin Nilsen 25:56

that good, isn't it? That's really good.

Carolyn Cochrane 25:59

Can I tell it's not me. It's clown oil. So anyway, yes, I read that, but it's true. It's just a different way of looking at the same thing. And it's, yeah,

Kristin Nilsen 26:09

no, that's true. And I think Lillian's okay. Now Lillian,

Carolyn Cochrane 26:13

she is totally okay. Yeah, one

Speaker 2 26:16

of the ones I wanted to mention you guys hit the ones that I love too, but I do really love the other one from five years ago, because it's really the only time we talk about one of my very favorite TV specials and books, which is the house without a Christmas tree. And we do a really good job of talking about it and all our memories of it, but because the sound quality is like I'm proposing to you all that in the next maybe next year, we do another one, and maybe we devote a whole episode to the book in the movie or something, because we do have a lot of listeners who love that. And by then we can be like, we talked about it six years ago, but because I, ah, gosh, I love that. So if you're listening and this has just who screwed you where you're like, Oh, the house without a Christmas tree, like, I got the book from the book, you know, the Gail rock book and the and I little, I think, little known fact that I share in the episode, that I think I only learned from my research for that episode five years ago, is that it was the movie before the book, yeah, which is interesting. Usually it's the other way around. But I still have my copy. I don't know if it's my copy. I have a very old copy of it that I got from my mom, so I'm assuming it was mine, but I'm definitely going to reread that next week. It's been a long time since I've reread it. So if you're freaking out right now, like I haven't thought about that, Addie, you know, with the braids and the glasses and the grumpy dad, and go back and listen to that one from 2020, the

Kristin Nilsen 27:43

other one I want to bring up too is the holly jolly countdown. That's not it's Holly Jolly something. But what we're doing in there is a countdown of everybody's favorite not just Rankin best, but all of the holiday specials. We really put them in order according to how our listeners responded. It literally is a mathematical countdown of the most popular. And of course, I'm not going to reveal any of those. It's surprising, super surprising. But there's one segment in there that is so good you guys. I almost proposed pulling it out of the episode and making it a PCPs light, and that is a great historical snapshot of a Charlie Brown Christmas. We could, we could just take that one piece of Charlie Brown and issue it out into the world. Because there's a lot to be known about the making of Charlie Brown that we don't know we had no and I just again, just like you said, I learned it just from the research that show was influential. It was influential on Christmas programming from the moment that it aired. It was really the very first Christmas Special, besides like variety specials like Andrew Williams and stuff like that. It was the first animated annual Christmas Special for children. And it changed the world. And it it changed the world in terms of how people see jazz, like, yeah, one of the biggest takeaways is that our children know what jazz is. Is jazz? It sounds like it should be plural, but it's not. Jazz is the music from Charlie Brown, everyone is going to agree, has imprinted on us, and the world was introduced to a new kind of music, and they had to fight for that music. They everyone was like, why are you putting jazz in a children's special? This is nutty. And Charles Schultz was like, do it. And they caved, and we love it, and we're listening to it 60 years later, right?

Speaker 2 29:38

You wanna know something funny? London? Is there is peanuts stuff everywhere. This Christmas, they have a whole installation. You know how Minneapolis has the installation of the Lucy's or St Paul did, I don't know if they still do. If that was just a but because of Charles Schultz's. You know, he's from Minneapolis, but London has. An installation of Snoopy. So occasionally would see a Snoopy, but in some of the department stores, like liberty of London and some of these other ones, I was going bonkers looking at all the cute peanuts stuff. I wanted to buy a lot of it. I didn't, because I am like Michelle, you can probably find that in the United States for cheaper because, you know, I was having I kept saying things to Brian like, this is only seven pounds 99 and he'd be like, No, it's not that's like, 10 or $11 or whatever. I'd be like, this was pretty good. I got this for like, 50 pounds, and he's like, No, you didn't, but oh my gosh. And it was just so much of the basic peanuts stuff that I think we've talked about it before, but I know a lot of you listening will remember those little books that are little hardcover books, but they're, like, maybe a little bit bigger than a big index card. It would be like, happiness is a warm puppy. Or, you know, it's just all those cute little books. Like they have those, but then they have a lot of the art from that on mugs and just, you know, like little coin trays, little trinket trays that you so much peanut stuff and stuff, snoopies and, oh, like, tote bags. And I couldn't figure out, like, what I was sort of looking around, and I sort of wanted to be like, Excuse me, like

Carolyn Cochrane 31:17

I was feeling a little

Unknown Speaker 31:18

bit like peanuts cheating on us

Carolyn Cochrane 31:23

with the world. Well, I want to just go back to episode two that you referred to a few minutes ago, Michelle, because I I found some foreshadowing as I listened to this episode. So I wanted to just share a couple of moments that you will notice when you guys listen and you that's what's fun about going back, because, of course, there's going to be stuff that maybe was on our bucket list, or, you know, things that we thought would be a really big deal. And then, you know, do they happen? Do they not? So, one of these moments was, we're talking about the Christmas special the littlest Angel, which starred Johnny Whitaker, aka Jody from family affair, and I'm sharing this like star studded cast. I'm not going to tell you who was in it, because you need to listen. Let me just say it was, it was bonkers, but super fun. So I'm listening to stars, and you know, I'm telling you guys about Johnny Whitaker, and when I'm talking about him, I say something like, well, maybe one day we could have him as a guest on the podcast to talk all about his role in the littlest Angel. And the way I was saying it, it was like, if we're lucky, maybe, just maybe, he'd agree to come on and talk with us, kind of like, this would be the hugest get That's right. And I just had to chuckle a little bit because, you know, our we didn't set our sights super high in the very beginning.

Kristin Nilsen 32:45

Obviously, if we called him right now, he'd be like, what time?

Carolyn Cochrane 32:49

Oh my gosh. And then you guys, this is the episode where listeners and Michelle and Kristen, where you guys learn my huge crush was. This is where I share a picture that was taken of me on Christmas Eve, where I'm asleep in my Sears canopy bed, and Michelle notices that above my headboard on the wall was the crucifix surrounded by Tiger Beat posters of James Vincent McNichol. Okay, and you guys come to think of it, this was probably the Christmas that I got that chart topping Jimmy and Christy McNichol record album. If you guys remember, he's a

Speaker 2 33:22

digital picture, it does. I believe there was also, like, a certificate of achievement of some

Unknown Speaker 33:27

sort, my National

Carolyn Cochrane 33:28

Honor Society certificate. Thank you very much. And in this episode, I'm kind of explaining about my crush on Jimmy McNichol. I'm gushing about him because I say something like, you know, I thought that since he wasn't a Donnie or a Shawn, maybe I had a real chance of meeting him, and maybe he could become my boyfriend. And you guys, this is a little foreshadowing, isn't it? Yes, because we may never have become my boyfriend, and I think I kind of dodged a bullet there, but I would go on to meet him, and I, as we all know, because I tell everybody, I now have his phone number and email in my phone.

Kristin Nilsen 34:06

He could, he could be your boyfriend, Carolyn, because if you texted him right now and you went,

Speaker 2 34:17

you up, but I did just say recently, Brian and I were talking about some places in Colorado we've never been and, you know, at the time when we had that teen idol dinner, and we all met Jimmy and Christy McNichol, I didn't live in Denver then I was, we were thinking we might, but I didn't actually live there then. And, you know, he lives in Durango, Colorado, and actually that that town came up like, oh, we should, you know, we've heard a lot, you know, we should go to Durango, Colorado. And I said, Well, if we ever do, I know someplace we can stay. I know how I can get his number, and I'll just be like, Hey, Jimmy, Listen, you guys got a guest room.

Kristin Nilsen 34:53

Bring your sleeping bag,

Speaker 3 34:55

exactly. Maybe he'd go ice skating with you.

Speaker 2 34:58

I. Oh, god, that's a little that's a little reference to another episode of ours where we rehash, or we dissect the entire movie that was Carolyn's very favorite TV movie. Champions a love story. All right. Well, this was super fun. We hope you all listening. Enjoyed this is well and mostly, we just hope you go back and pick 123456, of these to listen to while you're you know, nogging the egg or

Kristin Nilsen 35:31

wrapping the presents. Are we going to put links to all of them so they don't have to scroll through? Let's put links

Speaker 2 35:37

to all of them in these show notes. So exit out as you're listening right now. If you're already listening, then you can just go to the show notes, and yeah, they'll be, you know, you can always just type wherever you listen. You can just scroll back, and you can just everything has a date on it. So you can just go always to December of the past five years. That's what I did.

Kristin Nilsen 35:57

We'll go in our email newsletter too, and the Weekly Reader, sure, sure. The link, yep, sounds great. All right. I'm just looking out for people because I hate scrolling.

Speaker 2 36:05

Good. Looking out. Yeah, thank you. And yeah. So thanks for listening everyone. And you know what? Next week, we're coming back with a really fun PCPs light where we're going to be sharing, kind of like a day in the life or Christmas in the life of each of us and just some of the really special memories and traditions that we shared, and I'm excited for that one.

Kristin Nilsen 36:26

So do we toast in these I can't ever remember? Sure, let's toast. In the meantime, everybody, let's raise our glasses for a toast courtesy of the cast of Three's Company, two good times, two Happy

Speaker 3 36:39

Days, Two Little House on the Prairie stairs

Kristin Nilsen 36:44

with my eggnog, the information, opinions and comments expressed on the pop culture Preservation Society podcast belongs solely to Carolyn the crushologist and hello Newman, and are in no way representative of our employers or affiliates. And though we truly believe we are always right, there is always a first time the PCPs is written, produced and recorded in Minneapolis, Minnesota, home of the fictional wjm studios and our beloved Mary Richards Nanu. Nanu, keep on truckin and May the Force Be With You.