Show Notes
In this short episode of “Enthusiastic Encouragement and Dubious Advice,” hosts Patricia and Nicole celebrate various winter holidays, discuss the absurdity of the “12 Days of Christmas” song, and offer ways for listeners to support the podcast through Patreon or by sharing it with others. They touch on the mixed feelings people may have about the holiday season and emphasize being gentle with oneself. The episode concludes with plans for the next show, which will focus on goal setting for 2025.
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Sound editing by Jen Zink
Transcript
Music: [Intro music]
Patricia: Hey there, Hot Toddies, welcome to Enthusiastic Encouragement and Dubious Advice, the podcast for folks who would rather curl into the fetal position than lean in. I’m your host, Patricia Elzie-Tuttle.
Nicole: And I hope you’re all safe from the Yule Cat. I’m Nicole Elzie-Tuttle. We are recording this show on December 16th, 2024.
Patricia: It is going to be a short episode today, but before we get into it, if you are still looking for gifts or something to give, you can subscribe to our Patreon and give a gift to us and yourself, or you can also gift a Patreon subscription. If you go to patreon.com/eedapod/gift, you can then gift anywhere from 1 to 12 months to someone.
Also, you can shop in our bookshop, and I will put that link in the show notes, but it is also on our website at eedapod.com. There’s a bookshop link right at the top of the webpage.
Nicole: And if you’d like to give us a gift that is not one that comes with paying us directly, you can share our show with someone who you think would really enjoy it.
Or, leave us a review on Apple Podcasts, or Spotify, or YouTube, or wherever else you’re listening to us that allows for ratings.
Music: [Transition Music]
Patricia: So, today’s show drops on December 25th. Yule slash Winter Solstice was a few days ago. If you’re listening to this show when it drops, today is Christmas Day, Hanukkah starts tonight, and also today is the first day of Christmas in the 12 Days of Christmas song, poem, whatever. So shove those partridges into a pear tree and hand it over.
Nicole: There was a lot of birds in that song, and I feel like if over the course of 12 days, like Christmas and then into the new year, you gifted me 184 birds? One, why are you also giving me 35 gold rings? I don’t have that many fingers and toes. But that’s really not gonna make up for the fact that now I have to care for 184 birds?
Patricia: So I heard, and I haven’t confirmed, but there’s speculation that the gold rings also refer to birds. So there might even be more birds.
Nicole: Yeah, I’ve heard some stuff like that, too. Like, the lord’s a leaping and stuff, we’re also birds.
Patricia: This can’t be legal.
Nicole: I, I, yeah. There’s a, there’s an internet conspiracy theory or something that all the gifts are birds.
Patricia: All the gifts.
Nicole: Just, it’s all birds, all the way down. Who needs that many birds?
Patricia: I don’t know.
Nicole: Are we starting a bird zoo?
Patricia: Are they pets or are they for eating?
I don’t know.
Nicole: I don’t know.
Patricia: I don’t know.
Nicole: Maybe they’re for eating, but that’s a lot of birds.
Patricia: That’s a lot of birds.
[Laughing]
Welcome to Birdapod.
Both: [Laughing]
Patricia: Anyway, we know that the holidays are a mixed bag. Some folks really love the winter holidays. And some folks don’t for various reasons, whether that reason is capitalism, or grief, or family estrangement, and the list goes on.
Nicole: If part of that is family estrangement, just know that we are your aunties, and we will totally be celebrating with you in whatever way you want.
And also, we want to recognize that a lot of that holiday magic
Patricia: Ooh
Nicole: is really just the result of even more unpaid or unrecognized labor by women.
Patricia: So if you are the one out there making the holiday magic for your family, we see you. We hope that you are also making some magic for yourself.
I personally have gone through different stages of loving Christmas and hating Christmas.
My mother always loved it, even when we were super broke. And my switch back into liking the season came a few years ago when I realized that I was spending so many spell slots on hating Christmas, like actively trying to avoid Christmas carols and being really bah humbug. I was really making the season more miserable than it had to be.
Nicole: You were kind of visited by one of those, like, Jacob Marley ghosts or something?
Patricia: Mmm, I don’t know about that.
Nicole: Okay.
I don’t… For me, like, I’ve always enjoyed the warmth of, like, the winter holiday season. In particular, like, the family time and the food. But what I always kind of was meh about was all the kind of work that went into the decorating and all of the like, additional stuff.
In particular, like growing up, I was not super fond of the tree decorating. The just boxes and boxes of ornaments to unpack and like, find every little gap in the tree and fill it kind of situation. I will say that since we’ve gotten a tree, And spent, like, last year decorating and stuff. Like, I like, I don’t know.
I really like doing it with you, so that’s made it a little better.
Patricia: Aw, thanks.
And last year was the first year we got a tree, too.
Nicole: Yes.
If we get ours up this year, we’ll have to share it with the people.
Patricia: Absolutely.
I finally realized that there are so many things I like about the holiday season, and as an adult I get to make it whatever I want to be.
And I want to remind all of you too, like, we get to make things what we want them to be. We’re the adults. And I do love Christmas lights and fairy lights. I love giving gifts. I love making treats. I love hot cocoa. And honestly, I can enjoy these things all winter, and it doesn’t have to be tied to the holiday.
Nicole: So, whatever you’re doing through the end of the year, we hope you are finding joy in it, and being gentle with yourself.
Patricia: I partake in a lot of New Year’s traditions and superstitions, and Kwanzaa starts tomorrow, so we’re using today to celebrate and then hitting the ground running once again.
Nicole: Why are we running?
It’s winter.
Patricia: Not actually running. No, I’m, if you ever see me running, it’s because something is chasing me.
Nicole: So if I ever see you running, I need to be running too.
Patricia: Absolutely.
Nicole: Okay, well.
Our next show after the new year, we’ll be talking about goal setting in 2025 and sneak peek how we’ll be integrating it into Patreon for paid members.
Patricia: Yes, I have some ideas.
Nicole: That’s good, because I don’t know what they are.
Patricia: Well, that’s our show for today. We’d like to thank our awesome audio editor, Jen Zink. You can find her at loopdilou.com. We’ll leave a link to that in our show notes.
Nicole: You can find the full show notes and transcript at eedapod.com. That’s E E D A P O D dot com. There, you can also find a link to our Patreon, our Bookshop link, and a link to the ongoing Enthusiastic Encouragement and Dubious Advice newsletter. You can also find us on Instagram and BlueSky at eedapod and email us at eedapod@gmail.com.
Patricia: We are nothing if not consistent.
Nicole: We would also appreciate it so much if you would give us a lovely gift and rate us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts that allow ratings. It goes really far in helping other people find us.
Patricia: We would also appreciate anyone who can subscribe to us on Patreon. Support there is going to help us keep this show going, especially without ads. You can find us at patreon.com/eedapod.
In the meantime, we hope you find ways to be kind to yourself. Drink some water and read a book. We’ll be talking to you soon.
Nicole: Do you think we’ll ever get that hippopotamus for Christmas?
Patricia: Well, whoop dee doo,
Both: and dickory dock.
Nicole: And don’t forget to hang up your socks.
Patricia: I guess.
Nicole: I don’t know, Jen, we are delirious.
Patricia: Happy New Year, Jen.
Nicole: Happy New Year, everybody.