Monique’s Cozy Christmas Hangout with the LJCSC Dream Team

Announcer (00:00):
You're listening to The La Jolla Cosmetic Podcast with Monique Ramsey.

Monique Ramsey (00:06):
Well Merry everything to you all out there in podcast subscriber land. This is Monique Ramsey with La Jolla Cosmetic Podcast, and we are doing our annual holiday podcast where we talk about fun holiday things from our staff, holiday traditions, maybe some recipes just getting to know some of our La Jolla Cosmetic Surgery Center dream team. Our first guest is Amber. She's our photographer and social media extraordinaire helper, an elf, I guess. Well, she's our elf.

Amber (00:46):
An elf today.

Monique Ramsey (00:48):
She's an elf today and she looks so cute. So welcome back, Amber.

Amber (00:53):
Hi. Thank you. I'm so excited to be here in our holiday podcast.

Monique Ramsey (00:58):
Yeah, it's really fun. And we've got all kinds of little holiday happenings around the surgery center, and we've got an elf on the shelf and we have our favorite holiday tunes, Spotify playlist. So we'll put that into the show notes and everybody's contributed some songs to that. And hey, anybody out there listening, if you have a song you want to add to the playlist, just DM us and we'll throw it in there. So let's get started. What one song, if you could listen to one song throughout the holiday season, what would it be?

Amber (01:33):
Oh, ooh. Okay. So I'm a Justin Bieber fan, so I guess Mistletoe. It's a good one for me.

Monique Ramsey (01:42):
I love that song.

Amber (01:43):
Very Gen Z.

Monique Ramsey (01:44):
I think you actually put it on the playlist. And so I was listening to the playlist this morning while I was getting ready and I love it. It's just such a mellow, festive, and he has such a pretty voice.

Amber (01:59):
Exactly. And it's very Christmasy vibes.

Monique Ramsey (02:02):
Yeah, yeah. Now, did you ever have an elf on the shelf at your house?

Amber (02:09):
No, that was new to me. So Kayla was explaining to me yesterday how it works. I'm like, oh, that's fun. Let's start.

Monique Ramsey (02:16):
Yeah. It kind of came into being after my kids were already maybe too old for it, so we kind of missed the whole elf on the shelf bubble. My sister, one of my sister's kids, they were totally into it. I think it's just, it sounds like so much fun, and if you were a little kid to help you get through the holidays where there's something special every day versus having to wait all the way to Christmas. I think that makes it really fun.

Amber (02:44):
Yeah. Imagine waking up and there's a elf doing something fun. So yeah, I can see that. I can see that.

Monique Ramsey (02:52):
Now when you decorate, do you like colored lights maybe on a tree? Or do you like white lights? What is your preference.

Amber (02:59):
So in my house it's pink. It's white and pink.

Monique Ramsey (03:06):
Oh, I love that.

Amber (03:07):
In my mom's house. It's white lights, red, everything red and the green tree.

Monique Ramsey (03:15):
Oh, that's pretty. Yeah, I think I grew up with, there was always colored lights on the tree, and I love colored lights on the tree. Okay. Holiday music. Do you start listening to that in December? Do you start after Halloween? Some people are like, okay, November 1st, I'm listening. When do you kind of get into the Spirit?

Amber (03:36):
No, I start in December. I do Spotify holiday Christmas list. I'm like, that's hit it.

Monique Ramsey (03:44):
There's so many good playlists on there. I found on there, there's a holiday peaceful guitar.

Amber (03:52):
Oh, playlist

Monique Ramsey (03:53):
With holiday songs. It's so nice. I even had added Fel Naida in the guitar thing into our playlist because I Oh, that obviously it's really pretty, but it's very calming and it's nice if you're working.

Amber (04:10):
Just to have it in the background. Yeah, that's nice.

Monique Ramsey (04:14):
All right, my last question. Let's see. There's so many funny ones. Snowman, frosty, or Olaf.

Amber (04:24):
Oh, Frosty. It's like the basic Christmas one.

Monique Ramsey (04:30):
Yeah. Yeah. I grew up with, I was born in the end of 1967, so all those Frosty the Snowman and all those old timey cartoons or holiday specials, that was the thing. And we waited and waited to watch it. And so that's my, I've never seen the movie Frozen. I'm like one of the last people on the planet maybe who's never seen it.

Amber (04:57):
Yeah, I think I've seen it just once. So

Monique Ramsey (05:01):
Yeah, so I don't resonate with that, but I should watch it at some point, I'm sure. Okay. Well maybe. Thank you, Amber. Now you're going to have to, what your assignment, should you choose to accept it, is to go tag somebody else. And I'm going to pause the recording and then let you bring in our next guest. Thank you for participating.

Amber (05:22):
Thank you. This was fun.

Monique Ramsey (05:28):
Okay, so my next guest is Jocelyn. She works in our clinic. So Jocelyn, tell everybody a little bit about what you do.

Jocelyn (05:37):
I am the nurse for Dr. Salazar as well as Dr. Brahme, but we all help each other, so I don't exclusively just work with them, but primarily. A lot of people will meet me in their pre-op appointment. So we get to go through the ins and outs of the procedures and prep them for kind of what to expect before and after surgery.

Monique Ramsey (05:58):
Perfect.

Jocelyn (05:58):
And then I get to see 'em again after surgery and follow up with them. They hear a lot from me. So we get really close.

Monique Ramsey (06:05):
Yeah. Well that's nice to have kind of a buddy throughout the process. Exactly. Okay, so today we're just going to have fun with holiday things. So I'm going to give you a couple rapid fire questions. There's no right answer. Eggnog or hot chocolate.

Jocelyn (06:21):
Hot chocolate.

Monique Ramsey (06:22):
Do you spike your hot chocolate or is it just clean?

Jocelyn (06:26):
How did my kids act that day?

Monique Ramsey (06:30):
There you go. How old are your kids?

Jocelyn (06:33):
Six and eight.

Monique Ramsey (06:34):
Oh, so this is an exciting time of year for them then? It is.

Jocelyn (06:38):
It's still magical because my 8-year-old still believes in everything and I love it.

Monique Ramsey (06:42):
I love that. Oh, that's wonderful. That makes me so happy. Okay. Lights, white or multicolor lights?

Jocelyn (06:50):
White.

Monique Ramsey (06:51):
White lights. Okay. Do you go for kind of a snowy vibe?

Jocelyn (06:54):
Not really, but it has to. I have a theme and I don't like to have, I feel like the colored lights, at least for me, are a little chaotic.

Monique Ramsey (07:06):
Yeah. It's like the eclectic versus a theme. So is your tree a theme every year?

Jocelyn (07:14):
Well, it's the same. It's a shabby chic, so it's kind of rustic with a little bit of sparkle.

Monique Ramsey (07:18):
Oh, fun. I like that. So is there any pink in there?

Jocelyn (07:23):
It's like a rose gold.

Monique Ramsey (07:25):
Yeah, I think shabby chic. I somehow go into pink in my brain. Okay. Christmas movies. Do you like the classic or do you go for cheesy hallmark movies?

Jocelyn (07:38):
All of the above.

Monique Ramsey (07:39):
Yeah. My family, we'll find the worst of them and we'll play. If it has lower stars, the better. And then we watch and we just rag the movie up.

Jocelyn (07:52):
Yes,

Monique Ramsey (07:54):
It's terrible, but they're hilarious and they are so formulaic what's going to happen, but you love it anyway. Okay, fruitcake, do you like it? Or is it going to be a door stop?

Jocelyn (08:07):
It can be a door stop.

Monique Ramsey (08:10):
Yeah. I feel like, are people still giving fruitcakes these days?

Jocelyn (08:15):
I don't know. I mean, the only fruitcakes I've really had were really dry, so maybe I just haven't had a good fruitcake yet.

Monique Ramsey (08:24):
My grandmother made a fruitcake, so I ate it as a kid. It was so good. I can still remember and I loved it. And if I had the same kind, I would love it again. But yeah, it's like you don't really see them out there. There's so many other things now, I guess.

Jocelyn (08:41):
And so it could be just, I haven't had a good one. Yeah, who knows.

Monique Ramsey (08:44):
Yeah, exactly. Alright. Do you have a holiday specialty that you cook that everybody looks forward to?

Jocelyn (08:53):
Honestly, not really. I mean, we do cookies every year. My daughter, my mom and my aunt and I, we all cook. We bake cookies every year.

Monique Ramsey (09:01):
Oh, fun.

Jocelyn (09:02):
Yes.

Monique Ramsey (09:03):
So do you do

Jocelyn (09:03):
Love baking them? Don't like decorating.

Monique Ramsey (09:07):
Do you do sugar cookies or gingerbread or other?

Jocelyn (09:09):
We do sugar cookies. We do a lot of different kind of Italian cookies. We do thumbprints with the jelly in the middle. Oh,

Monique Ramsey (09:18):
Okay.

Jocelyn (09:19):
All sorts of them.

Monique Ramsey (09:20):
Of all of those. What are your favorites?

Jocelyn (09:22):
The thumbprints with the jelly in the middle, but my second, close second, they're candy cane cookies that my mom, I don't know where she got the recipe, but it's like you have to divide the dough, put red food coloring in one with peppermint and then vanilla in the white one and you twist it together. They're a pain to make, but they're so good and tasty.

Monique Ramsey (09:43):
And I love when they look really pretty, but when they taste the too, yeah, it's like all the, going to all the trouble of making them if they're not good. But yeah, having that, it's all worth it when they taste really good. Do you have a Christmas Eve tradition and a Christmas morning tradition? What are those?

Jocelyn (10:06):
So we have, I come from a large Italian Sicilian family, so Christmas Eve is a big deal in our family. I'm Sicilian and my husband's Sicilian, so both sides do a big thing. So we alternate every year, but it's the Feast of the Seven Fishes. So we have seven different fishes and I amazing.

Monique Ramsey (10:26):
I've seen this. I've seen this on tv.

Jocelyn (10:27):
And my husband's an amazing cook, so he usually does the cooking of the fish because I'm not the best cook of fish, but that's okay. He usually does it, but he is going to be gone this year, so we're going to have to go somewhere probably to my aunt and uncle's, maybe.

Monique Ramsey (10:46):
There's seven different dishes with fish?

Jocelyn (10:47):
Yes.

Monique Ramsey (10:49):
Wow. Sounds amazing though. It sounds like a lot of work. Do you kind of divvy it up so-and-so brings one thing and somebody else brings another or

Jocelyn (11:00):
No, not really. Whoever's hosting it, they like to have the control of it to make sure it's good.

Monique Ramsey (11:07):
Yeah, don't mess with the Sicilians and their process. Right,

Jocelyn (11:10):
A hundred percent. And then Christmas morning is usually pretty quiet. It's, we kind of wake up and it's just my husband and my kids, and sometimes my mom will come over, sometimes my aunt, but that's like my favorite where I can just have my coffee and watch the kids go crazy and open up their gifts.

Monique Ramsey (11:30):
That's so fun. Yeah, I miss those days because it's so stressful to, you're doing something on Christmas Eve, whatever it is, and then trying to get the kids to bed and prepping for the next morning, but then getting Christmas all set up for the next morning and it's so fun. And Christmas cookies for Santa, does Santa get some of the thumbprint cookies?

Jocelyn (11:56):
If there's any left? If not, he kind of gets whatever's left over

Monique Ramsey (12:01):
We, I'll have to find the book. I think it's called The Autobiography of Santa Claus. It's a great book and it's divided into chapters, like 24 chapters. So you have 24 nights each night you read a different thing that's really cute. And it's a man who a journalist goes and interview Santa on the sly and asks him about his life and his history and when he was a monk and way back in the day and all the way to present and it's so good. And one of the things that I think was in that book is he loves goat cheese, goat milk, cheese and carrots. And he's like, I like carrots for my reindeer and I love the sweets, but that's what he likes, the goat milk cheese. So we would put out little crackers with cheese on them. So that was a fun tradition in our house, and it all came from that book. I'll find the book because it's a really good book kind of for adults and kids. Okay. Christmas music, holiday music. Do you start in November? Do you wait until December comes around? What's your playlist?

Jocelyn (13:16):
I love Christmas music. I can listen to it almost all year long, but I really get into it mostly after Thanksgiving. Even the night of Thanksgiving, once I'm done cooking everything, it's like let's Christmas mode, everything, all the Thanksgiving goes away, Christmas goes up, but if I'm not hosting Christmas, we'll go up sooner.

Monique Ramsey (13:39):
Yeah. When people decorate, I think is super interesting. Some people waiting towards the end and I'm like, but then you don't have very much time to enjoy it. So it's nice if you can enjoy it longer, I think, but okay. Peppermint or gingerbread?

Jocelyn (13:58):
Peppermint.

Monique Ramsey (13:58):
Wrapping paper or gift bags?

Jocelyn (14:05):
Wrapping paper. I think it just looks so beautiful under the tree when you have the wrapping paper that kind of goes with the same of your tree and everything looks nice and pretty underneath the tree. It's just, I don't know, it's a magic thing for me. I love it.

Monique Ramsey (14:19):
My cats always ate anything. So they would eat bows, they would eat string, they would eat all the things. And so I had to have wrapped presents but with no frills. And I love making them all pretty, but it comes back to the cats again, getting in the way, in way of how I celebrate. But yeah, they'll eat everything. So I have to be plain Jane a little bit until, and I have sticky notes underneath the bags of like, whose is this? Because there's nothing to tie a tag on. I guess I could put a sticker, but So which coworker would you trust to decorate your entire house and who would you trust? Who would you not trust to decorate your house?

Jocelyn (15:14):
I would probably say Kayla to decorate.

Monique Ramsey (15:19):
Kinda knew you were going to say that.

Jocelyn (15:23):
Yes. I love her style. Plus she has a daughter around the same age as my kids, so she understands the fun aspect of it as far as not trusting. I'm going to plead the fifth on that one.

Monique Ramsey (15:35):
Okay. Well I don't blame you. You have to work with everybody. So we'll just leave that one off to the side. But I think it comes down to is that person's style, your style. And Kayla, I could see Kayla really getting into it. Yes. Yeah. Alright, last question. Real tree or a fake tree?

Jocelyn (16:01):
I'm so torn with that because I do have a fake tree, but I love real trees. The only reason I have a fake tree is because when the dog's tail hits it, all the real needle. When you have a real tree, the needles all fall on the ground. And my kids are finally at an age where they don't touch my tree. I mean, archery, they don't touch it, they don't move the ornaments, so it still looks pretty. So I might be able to switch back to a real one, and the dog's a little bit older, so I might be able to, but the fact that the fake tree lasts a lot longer is also good too. So I really have mixed feelings about that one.

Monique Ramsey (16:44):
One year got, because I had to kind go to the fake trees after a while with the cats and the watering, it was really hard. And so I thought, okay, I've got a supplement with something that smells Christmasy. So you can go get kind of the garland at the nursery and have that over the fireplace, or just something in the house that smells good, or even they have some really good essential oils that you can use to kind of augment the fake tree.

Jocelyn (17:14):
Yes, because they always have those little sticks, those scented sticks, but they never last very long.

Monique Ramsey (17:19):
Yeah. Well thank you Jocelyn for coming in.

Jocelyn (17:22):
Thanks for having me and sharing your Christmas traditions with us. Both of those cookies sound really good.

(17:28):
I'll make some and bring them in.

Monique Ramsey (17:29):
Oh good. Alright.

Jocelyn (17:30):
I'll let you know when that happens.

Monique Ramsey (17:31):
I was going to say since I work from home, I miss all the good things, but that's okay. That's probably good for my waistline. So anyway. Well thank you again.

Jocelyn (17:40):
Thanks for having me.

Monique Ramsey (17:40):
Go tag a team member and bring them in. Okay. So now have the honor of having Juliana in our seat. She works in the clinic. Tell everybody what you do.

Juliana (17:55):
I am a medical assistant down at the surgery center and I assist Dr. Broy and Dr. Salazar.

Monique Ramsey (18:02):
Okay. So we're going to have a couple little rapid fire questions such as Alpha on the shelf. Is it cute or creepy?

Juliana (18:10):
Cute.

Monique Ramsey (18:11):
Cute. All right. Yes. Peppermint or gingerbread?

Juliana (18:14):
Gingerbread for sure.

Monique Ramsey (18:16):
Real tree or fake tree?

Juliana (18:19):
Fake tree.

Monique Ramsey (18:20):
Fake tree. All right. Cozy PJs or ugly Christmas sweater.

Juliana (18:25):
Cozy PJ's.

Monique Ramsey (18:27):
Okay. Now if we go ugly Christmas sweater or dress to impress for holiday parties.

Juliana (18:34):
Dress to impress.

Monique Ramsey (18:35):
Okay. Do you have certain holiday outfits that you kind of keep?

Juliana (18:40):
I think that for holidays I always do some sort of a skirt with a cute shimmery type shirt and some kitten heels.

Monique Ramsey (18:48):
Yeah, those are the best plaid. I have some plaid heels, which I super cute. I had gotten a pair years ago and they lasted for so long they were $9. Wow. That's at Burlington. At Burlington Coat Factory. And granted, this is a long time ago, but they were even $9 then was really, they were so cute. And I wore them to death for those, for 20 Christmases probably They finally died. I was like, okay. And I have not found a good pair to replace them yet.

Juliana (19:20):
Oh no.

Monique Ramsey (19:20):
They were perfect. There's other ones out there. But they were so perfect. And I loved having Christmas shoes.

Juliana (19:26):
Yes. Having shoes you can wear for special occasions, always the best.

Monique Ramsey (19:30):
Yes. All right. So tell me about what food is absolutely required at your holiday dinner and what could disappear forever?

Juliana (19:39):
Okay. Well, I'm Hispanic, so we do tamales for Christmas, so that's definitely a must. And we all get together and make them and then eat them afterwards. So we always do that every year. Another one, I would say maybe like ham and mac and cheese.

Monique Ramsey (19:56):
Ooh, yum. I love ham because I feel like you can eat it and then you can put it in an omelet and then you can make a sandwich.

Juliana (20:03):
Exactly. All the things, the leftover leftovers for days.

Monique Ramsey (20:07):
Exactly, exactly. Who do you think is the most festive of our dream team, and who is the Grinch?

Juliana (20:14):
Okay. The most festive, I would say is Amber. She's been sending us Christmas stuff since November, and I don't think anybody's at the Grinch here at La Jolla Cosmetic. We all are Merry and Bright here. No, Grinches is here.

Monique Ramsey (20:31):
That's really true. Honestly, nobody is kind of a curmudgeon about it. And we have fun. So we do for everybody in the audience, we do a holiday spirit week, so it's, I think the week of the 19th or something, whatever that is. And so every day is different themes. When you come into the office, you'll see everybody dressed up in a different theme outfit, and sometimes we have a hot cocoa to go with it. It's really, really fun. So if you could happen to stop by, you might end up with a treat and see and see all of the staff. So what one song do you love, like holiday song, and what one could you just say could be banned forever?

Juliana (21:14):
I love Jingle Bell Rock because it's just fun and festive and upbeat. One can disappear, I dunno. I feel like I like them all. They're all different at different times. If you want a slow, cozy song, you do White Christmas. If you want more upbeat while you're decorating, you do jingle Bell Rock. So I don't know which one I can say that could disappear forever. I dunno. That's a good question.

Monique Ramsey (21:41):
Well, if you have a favorite song, please add it to our holiday playlist because the playlist is getting bigger by the day and it's so good. It's so good. Let's see. Frosty The Snowman or Olaf?

Juliana (21:57):
Olaf.

Monique Ramsey (21:58):
Olaf. Okay. So is that a movie that you really liked Frozen?

Juliana (22:03):
Yes. I have nieces that were right around the age where Frozen came out and they were obsessed and would sing the songs every day. So I think it really grew onto me.

Monique Ramsey (22:14):
That's cool. Do you make a Christmas baked item every year special?

Juliana (22:20):
I could not bake to save my life. I will burn pre-made cookies, so no,

Monique Ramsey (22:27):
No, no. Is there something that somebody in your family makes that you love?

Juliana (22:31):
My cousin makes banana pudding, and that's really good.

Monique Ramsey (22:37):
Oh, somebody brought that at our holiday.

Juliana (22:40):
I did.

Monique Ramsey (22:40):
You did?

Juliana (22:41):
I brought the banana pudding, but I didn't mess it up.

Monique Ramsey (22:45):
My gosh is so good. It was so good.

Juliana (22:46):
No oven needed it, so no risk of me messing it up.

Monique Ramsey (22:51):
That was, I've never had that before. It was delicious. Yeah, I was,

Juliana (22:54):
Thank you. I was so stressed. I was like, why did I sign myself up for things like, oh my, I like to cook.

Monique Ramsey (23:00):
No, I think it's really nice.

Juliana (23:03):
I like to cook, but I just think cooking for a crowd makes me nervous when I can cook at home for my fiance and I, he'll eat whatever I put in front of him, so no pressure. So it makes it more enjoyable. But when I have to cook for people or a crowd, it makes me nervous, but I'm glad it came out good.

Monique Ramsey (23:19):
Oh, it was so good. Everybody was talking about it. They're like, no, but you have to have that. I'm like, are you sure? I don't know what that is. And oh, I was really glad I had some.

Juliana (23:27):
Kayla said, I have to make it for her birthday every year now. And I'm like, that was the first time I made it. So if I make it again and it's not as good, I'm sorry.

Monique Ramsey (23:35):
Oh, it'll be great. I'm sure. Okay. So candy canes, do you eat them or are they a decoration?

Juliana (23:43):
I would say they're a decoration. I'm not the biggest peppermint fan, so I'll eat them. Or sometimes when they put 'em in hot chocolate, just like sitting there, I'll have it then, but I'm not going to just reach for some candy canes and eat them.

Monique Ramsey (23:59):
Well, it's like you see 'em on trees and stuff and it's like, are you tempted to pull it off?

Juliana (24:03):
Unless it's the sweet tart ones or the smarties ones, the ones that they made different now. Not just a traditional.

Monique Ramsey (24:11):
I didn't even know that was a thing. I have to get out there. You explore the holiday candy world again. It's like you get used to certain things and then you don't really realize that there's new things out there. Okay, well thanks for joining us. This was really for fun. Fun to talk to you. And if you'll go tap somebody on the shoulder and make them come in and sit with me for a minute, I would love that.

Juliana (24:36):
Yeah, of course.

Monique Ramsey (24:37):
Thank you.

Juliana (24:38):
Thank you.

Monique Ramsey (24:38):
Bye. Okay, so our next guest in the, I don't know the hot seat, but I feel like it should be a holiday, something. I don't know, in the sled is Cynthia. Cynthia, you're kind of everywhere. I feel like you're in the back office. You're sometimes in the clinic. You kind of help everywhere, right?

Cynthia (25:00):
Yes.

Monique Ramsey (25:01):
Yes, she does. And you probably talk to her on the phone when you call in. So Cynthia, we have a couple of questions for you. We're going to go with a little rapid fire. How about lights, white or multicolor?

Cynthia (25:14):
Multicolor.

Monique Ramsey (25:15):
Multicolor. Okay. Peppermint or gingerbread?

Cynthia (25:19):
Ooh, gingerbread.

Monique Ramsey (25:20):
Eggnog or hot cocoa.

Cynthia (25:22):
Hot cocoa.

Monique Ramsey (25:25):
What food is absolutely required at your holiday dinner and what food could you say I never need to see it again?

Cynthia (25:34):
I'm going to say tamales. And I'm okay without posole.

Monique Ramsey (25:40):
And posole. What is that exactly?

Cynthia (25:43):
It's like a stew, but I'm not much of a meat eater, so that's kind of pushes me away from that. I'm like, I can't do it. And it's spicy sometimes.

Monique Ramsey (25:51):
Oh, okay. Which coworker would you trust to decorate your house?

Cynthia (25:57):
Oh, I'm going to go with Brittany.

Monique Ramsey (25:59):
Brittany? Yes. Okay. Which coworker would you maybe not ask?

Cynthia (26:05):
Maybe Miriam, because she's just like, no, that's not my thing.

Monique Ramsey (26:10):
And it's funny because Miriam's like one of the most festive people ever, but maybe she's just not a decorator.

Cynthia (26:15):
Yeah, I would have her pick my outfit.

Monique Ramsey (26:17):
Oh, pick your outfit. Yes. She's a fashion maven. Yes, totally. Okay. Real tree or fake tree?

Cynthia (26:24):
Real tree.

Monique Ramsey (26:25):
Real tree. Every time I think of a real tree, I think of Christmas vacation. Christmas vacation. And the dog drinks all the water in the tree and the tree burns up. Okay. Wrapping paper or gift bags?

Cynthia (26:40):
Oh, wrapping paper.

Monique Ramsey (26:41):
Wrapping paper. Okay. And let's see, is there any controversial opinion you have about a Christmas thing? For example, pineapple on a Christmas ham or not? Or is Diehard a Christmas movie or not? Do you have any opinions about certain Christmas things?

Cynthia (27:01):
I just think it's a must that everybody watches The Grinch who stole Christmas. It's just like a staple. If you haven't watched it. I'm like, come on

Monique Ramsey (27:08):
And which Grinch do you like the best? Because there's several, right?

Cynthia (27:14):
I can't remember his name. Jimmy something.

Monique Ramsey (27:17):
Oh, Jim Carey.

Cynthia (27:18):
Yes.

Monique Ramsey (27:18):
That Movie.

Cynthia (27:18):
That's my favorite. Yeah.

Monique Ramsey (27:20):
Yeah. See, I grew up with a Grinch cartoon from the sixties. Okay. So that to me is that, that's the Christmas movie. But the Grinch movie that they did with Jim Carrey is amazing. It's really fabulous. He did a really good job with that. So I haven't watched that in a while. I think I'm going to have to put that on my holiday rotation.

Cynthia (27:41):
Yeah, put that on the bucket list.

Monique Ramsey (27:42):
Yeah. Yeah. Well, thank you, Cynthia, for joining us. It was really fun to talk to you and get some holiday opinions. And for everybody in the audience, stay tuned. We've got one more person in our podcast. Thanks, Cynthia.

Cynthia (27:57):
Thank you. Bye.

Monique Ramsey (28:03):
Okay, and our last guest today is Producer Hannah. Welcome back. Hannah.

Hannah (28:09):
Hey.

Monique Ramsey (28:09):
This is so fun to see you. And you're in your adorable Christmas outfit, so you've got your candy cane sweater. Very cute in

Hannah (28:20):
Her hat. My favorite TJ Max find ever. Literally like, hello.

Monique Ramsey (28:25):
It's so cute. I love it. Okay, so we've got some different fun questions for you. So I'm going to give you, how about real tree or fake tree?

Hannah (28:35):
Fake tree only because my mom has a horror story from when my brother was a baby where she got a real tree and it had spider eggs in it. They were about to hatch the spider nest or whatever. It had a bunch of them in it. And all these spider babies were coming out of it and they were going to get on Joey and he was a baby. And it scarred my mom and she never got a real tree again. So I love the idea of going and picking out a real tree at a farm that sounds so festive and fun, but I can't ever since my mom told me that story.

Monique Ramsey (29:10):
Have you ever seen that happened? The eggs hatch

Hannah (29:16):
Have you?

Monique Ramsey (29:19):
We had moved into a house that had been vacant for five or six months, and we went over and we needed a couple people's help to put in our TV was big and it had a base that it sat on and the base was ridiculously heavy. So we had a friend help us and we all moved this base into the house. And so we're sitting there and we're just sitting on the couch and we're looking up and all this furniture wasn't there and we hadn't really moved in yet. And I look up and I was like, well, what's happening? And I didn't know what was happening. I'd never seen it before. All of a sudden, these little specs, and they're so tiny, are just fanning out everywhere. And I was like, oh my God. And you're trying to process in your brain if you don't know if you've never seen it before, or dunno how they hatch, you don't know what you're looking at. And then finally I realized, I'm like, oh my God, it's horrifying. So I can see why your mom would be like, I'm done, I'm done. Just give me a fake tree. Yeah. Call it a day.

Hannah (30:21):
She started getting, the one she had most of my childhood was a rotating tree because she has so many ornaments that are just so special and she wants them all to be seen. She doesn't have that one anymore. But growing up, she had that. And it has our baby ornament, baby's First Christmas and all of those. She's very sentimental about her tree. So when she saw spider eggs on it, she was like, yeah, no, this is not it.

Monique Ramsey (30:49):
That's pretty horrifying. Okay. That would leave you definitely traumatized for a while when you pull out that tree. So tell me what food is absolutely required for your holiday dinner and what would you just say? If I never had it again, I'm good.

Hannah (31:07):
My mom's ham, she makes a really mean honey ham, and she makes it with pineapple, honey glaze and brown sugar and just puts it in a crock pot all day. And I tried it for the first time for my Friendsgiving recently, and I was like, yes, I did it. It tasted like hers and I was so proud of myself. What else does she make? She makes a really good baked mac and cheese too.

(31:33):
And my mom and I, not trying to brag, but we're really good at making cookies and one of our best cookie is the No bake. We're really good at no bake cookies. The ones that are just rolled up, it's oats. You mix 'em in a pot, oats cocoa, peanut butter, vanilla. You just mix all this stuff together in a pot and just trust me, if you put everything in at the right time in the pot, it turns out perfect and you just let them set. Oh, and then we make other cookies too. We love making snicker, snickerdoodle and chocolate chip cookie bars. Not the cookies but the bar version. Those are way better than the cookies we think. And sometimes we experiment with stuff. I think last year we had macadamia nuts in them and some of our cookies and we just do something different every year. But mom's ham and mom and I's Cookies. I can't, it's not Christmas without that, but I guess I can't think of anything that's like a Christmas food that I don't like.

Monique Ramsey (32:43):
You don't have a family member who would bring something where you're like, oh God,

Hannah (32:50):
Wait. I can't remember what it was. It's like a cabbage thing. I don't really cabbage that much.

Monique Ramsey (32:58):
Would you do a cabbage roll where there's meat inside or something? Yeah,

Hannah (33:04):
Yeah. I'm not a fan of cabbage. It's no offense to their cooking. I just don't like cabbage. It's weird. I really like Brussels sprouts and they're like basically little baby cabbages. I dunno. Yeah,

Monique Ramsey (33:15):
They're good. Big little roasting and some bacon.

Hannah (33:18):
One of my uncle makes a really good Brussels sprouts. He made them last year and delish. But yeah, I don't know. Cabbage is just not it for me.

Monique Ramsey (33:29):
I think we need to get rid.

Hannah (33:30):
I think it's the smell.

Monique Ramsey (33:31):
Well, the smell is pretty potent. Yeah. Pungent maybe. That's a good word. So I think we need your recipe though, for that ham. That sounds really good. Easy too. And if it's easy in a crock pot thing, easy. I mean, what's not to like there?

Hannah (33:45):
Yeah, I'll put it in the show notes.

Monique Ramsey (33:47):
Thank you. I appreciate that. Because I love getting new recipes. Okay. Lights white or multicolor?

Hannah (33:54):
White all the way white multicolored. I'm sorry, but ugh. It's kind of like, I don't want to be mean to the, it can be trashy if not done right. If you're having different types of multicolored. If you are doing multicolor, make sure they're all matching multicolor and not a bunch of different ones. If it is, it does not look good, in my opinion. My mom made me this way. I'm so sorry.

Monique Ramsey (34:24):
Okay, well I know what you're saying about, so I'm a colored light person. However, the LED, it was like the old fashioned ones were warmer and then they came out with all the LED and then the cooler. They're weird. So yes, I know what you're saying. Because yeah, those that can end up looking really bad to me. If it's multicolor, they have to be warmer tones. And some of the old,

Hannah (34:52):
I like those ones.

Monique Ramsey (34:53):
The old fashioned ones had, there was some magenta in there and there were some different colors that were really unique and pretty. And one of our guests had said, yeah, no colors, it's too chaotic. And I thought, I've never thought of that.

Hannah (35:07):
That's another way. That's another word to use. I said trashy. I prefer chaotic. Let's pick chaotic.

Monique Ramsey (35:14):
Well, and I think it depends too. Now, for your tree, if you're making a tree, do you have a theme for the tree or is it kind of just a bunch of different things that your mom's, she's sentimental. Is it the sentimental things?

Hannah (35:27):
Yeah. I can't do the theme because my mom, I keep blaming her, but it's just like tradition. She raised me to decorate the tree with all of the sentimental ornaments. She even sent some to me from home so that I can put them on my tree here. So my old Barbie ornaments and hello kitty ornaments from when I was little are on my tree here. I made my boyfriend start doing it with me. And we have an ornament every year that we put on the tree. And we put J and H and so sentimental ornaments all the way. But I will put a few of the cute target filler ones in there just so it doesn't have bare.

Monique Ramsey (36:07):
You have to have some fillers. But you know the filler ones. It's funny because when I had my very, very, very first tree on my own after college, I did a little tiny one and I had gone to Cost plus World Market and got a bunch. Especially if you go the day after, right after, after Christmas, they have the best stuff.

Hannah (36:25):
So cute.

Monique Ramsey (36:25):
And they mark it way down when it's really close to Christmas or right after. And the selection isn't great. But those things last forever. And the things that I was getting where I was like, I had no money and I was just buying a couple little this and that. They've lasted and they're so cute. So in my mind at the time, they were filler until I got fancy things. But I love 'em. I love 'em. And they've lasted, I don't know,

Hannah (36:50):
Aw and when you look back you think of that time.

Monique Ramsey (36:52):
I don't want to say how long it's been since I got out of college, but it's 35 years. But some of those things, it's nice to bring them back out. So okay. When Santa brings your toys, would he leave them wrapped or would Santa set them up and leave them out ?

Hannah (37:14):
Wrapped. I don't think they were ever not wrapped. Yeah. No. I think the only time they weren't wrapped is when I got the Barbie Dream House. It was all set up for me, but everything else was always wrapped because it was so special to be able to open it up. And there were so many videos of me and my brother and pictures, and I hope we find the video sometime

Monique Ramsey (37:40):
That would be nice.

Hannah (37:40):
Because they were on the tapes and we need to find something to play it on. But I'm pretty sure there are some on there.

Monique Ramsey (37:48):
Well, and I think you can get those older kinds of tapes. There's people out there

Hannah (37:52):
Digitized. Yeah.

Monique Ramsey (37:54):
You can send them off and they'll digitize them for you to, because that that's such some special memories. Okay. Candy canes, do you like to eat them or just see them as a decoration?

Hannah (38:07):
I like to eat them.

Monique Ramsey (38:08):
She likes to wear thems to wear them and eat them .

Hannah (38:12):
And use them as decoration. My mom actually had the cutest candy cane ornaments growing up. They were just a little candy cane that hang on the tree. But yeah, I love them in every way.

Monique Ramsey (38:23):
Those are great filler things too. If you have a candy cane, like a little plastic candy cane or the fuzzy ones, you just kind hang them. You put all your ornaments out and then just throw those.

Hannah (38:35):
That's what we did. Yeah.

Monique Ramsey (38:37):
Yeah. And you know where else you can go on eBay people, I found some really pretty crystal drop ornaments. There was like 35 or 40 of 'em and they weren't very expensive and somebody was reselling them. And then just at the end we kind of throw those around the tree and they sparkle. And eBay is a good place for stuff like that.

Hannah (38:59):
Oh my gosh. My mom was an eBay warrior growing up.

Monique Ramsey (39:02):
Oh really?

Hannah (39:02):
She got a lot of stuff on there. That's where she got all my Hello Kitty stuff growing up.

Monique Ramsey (39:07):
Oh, that's a good idea. I never would've thought of that. I just, one year was looking for my middle name's Noel, your middle name is Noel. We're both born in December. And so I collect things that say Noel. And so I was looking for, my aunt had started these pretty baccarat Crystal Noel ornaments and every year they do a different one and they have the year on them. And so I was missing a few years. I think my aunt forgot that she started the tradition. So she stopped doing it and then it was like, oh, okay, we're not doing that anymore. And then she'd pick it back up again. So it was like trying to fill some empty years and eBay was the place for that for sure.

Hannah (39:50):
There are so many niche things on there. You never know what you're going to find.

Monique Ramsey (39:56):
True. You go down a rabbit hole for sure. But I found some really pretty Christmas broaches or pins that people sell that are all glitzy and fun for the holidays. So that's another thing.

Hannah (40:09):
Oh, I want a Noel pin. The need.

Monique Ramsey (40:12):
I dunno. I haven't seen one in a long time.

Hannah (40:13):
It's funny. I don't know of anyone else that I've ever met that also has a middle name Noel that collects Noel things. It's so funny that I ended up working with you. And you do it too.

Monique Ramsey (40:23):
I know, I know. And we're the December babies.

Hannah (40:25):
It probably frustrates you that it's always spelled my way and not with the

Monique Ramsey (40:31):
With the umlaut over the E. Yeah, I'm the French Way. And now my cat's Noel too, because that's what the rescue named her. And she made a guest appearance in the podcast a couple of weeks ago, which was so cute.

Hannah (40:42):
Yes. And I made a blooper reel from it because it was so cute.

Monique Ramsey (40:46):
You did. Please put it in the show notes. It's so cute. She's so fluffy and adorable. All right, well thanks for joining me and everybody. Thank you for listening to our third annual holiday podcast. Fourth annual, I don't know.

Hannah (41:02):
Oh my gosh. It's probably the fourth.

Monique Ramsey (41:05):
The very first one. We made it like a bonus episode that we took it away after a certain amount of time you had to listen. So that might not be around anymore, but I know this is at least the third. So it's a fun tradition. I'm loving it. Alright everybody. Well, thanks for listening. Have a very merry Christmas. Happy Hanukkah. Happy Kwanza, Christmika, whatever you celebrate. We're happy to have you listening and we wish you the merriest season ever. Okay, bye.

Hannah (41:33):
Bye.

Announcer (41:39):
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