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Episode 30: Ho Ho Ho...Heart Attack? Why Timing Matters
12 Plays2 months ago
This week we're getting into the holiday spirit with a look at holiday traditions, and of course traditions in estate planning! While we love the warm feelings that come with the holiday season, there's a serious side to consider. Did you know that health emergencies, like heart attacks, often increase during the winter holidays? That’s why it’s a smart move to sort out your estate plan now, before the holidays take over.
We'll cover a mix of estate planning and holiday traditions so you're set to enjoy the festive season knowing everything is in place for your peace of mind. Don’t miss this episode—this is one holiday preparation you can’t afford to ignore!
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Transcript
Introduction to Wills and Estate Planning
00:00:03
Speaker
Welcome to another episode of One of Us Knows What They're Talking About. Another one is you. I'm Lori Burch, your host. Join us as we discuss and unpack wills, trust, estate planning, and probate law in a way that's actually informative, interesting, and well, hopefully entertaining. Because if you don't have a will, the state of Texas has one for you. Let's dive in.
Lori's Legal Journey
00:00:40
Speaker
Every episode, I'm less and less prepared. And yet, I've been doing this for so long. Doing what? This. This, talking about things. I thought you meant just existing. I was like, oh, you have. I have. I used to do this thing where when I'd be in networking groups and people would say, I have this in this business. and I've been doing that since 19 blah, blah, blah. And so I got up and say, I'm Lori Burch and I've been doing that since 1976 because it sounded better than I've been an estate planning attorney for nine months.
00:01:24
Speaker
ah but
00:01:30
Speaker
But I'm past that. You know, I'll tell you, it was interesting um starting my own practice at the age of 27 because an argument could be made that I had no idea what I was doing. And why would I think that I could just do this. And yet I did. And so my one of my bigger concerns starting a legal practice at the age of 27 is that I thought a lot of people may not want to come to me because I was so young. So they would perceive that as being inexperienced. I was wrong because I would get people who would say, no, no, no, we wanted to come to you because you are younger. And so there's a good chance that you'll still be around when I die and you'll be there to be able to help my family.
00:02:17
Speaker
And I thought, aha, this is a marketing ploy. um I feel like right now I'm at the nexus of the two camps, of where I'm young enough to still use that, of being around, but have enough experience to also be able to play the experience and knowledge card.
00:02:41
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. anyway Just a thought for the day.
Holiday Traditions Discussion
00:02:49
Speaker
So the holidays are upon us, right? And not only when we're recording this, but even more so when this escapes.
00:03:01
Speaker
I mentioned that expression last time. Did I not? So, okay, that's an Elvis reference. Because, you know, when he first started, he was very controversial. So one time on Ed Sullivan, he was talking about how his newest song was about to be released. That's what they would say. But he would say that it would escape rather than be released. It's about to escape because there was so much blowback from his music. So anyway, there you go. The more you know. Anyway, ah so yes, so when this escapes or is released or when it drops, homies, it'll be even closer to the holiday season, even though it seems like every year
00:03:57
Speaker
stores and corporations move the bar on when to start. So we're going to talk more about like holiday traditions and we're going to talk about significantly things um that are important when it comes to the world of the estate planning and timing and urgency and traditions that that surround those sorts of things, both good and bad. But
00:04:24
Speaker
Let's do a segue here where, how early do you think it's appropriate to start Christmas decorations, Christmas music, trees up, all of that? November 1st. But I also don't know if it'll be Thanksgiving, so.
00:04:45
Speaker
Sam, you're telling me that in New Zealand, you did not celebrate America's Thanksgiving. know this thanksgiving and it was crazy, right? So do you not celebrate it now? No. Because it's the best food. No. Okay. Yeah. All right. So that's even more interesting. So Sam, since you decided to steal the spotlight, when do your people start, start celebrating Christmas, putting up decorations and all that jazz. Well, my parents don't usually do it until maybe like a month before Christmas, if that. um But I personally so in November, yeah. Okay, I think I think it's also just more, they don't want to go outside and have to pull the lights out because it's a lot of because they do themselves. So
00:05:45
Speaker
Wow, there are companies that do it. I will tell you this year, this year, we got are you familiar with jellyfish lighting, not a sponsor. There's other companies, it's permanent lighting. And you can do you can do any colors, any color combination or anything like that. So right now we've got a Halloween theme going on. That's cute. Nice. Yeah, so we had a Fourth of July thing going, you know, all of that. So no more.
00:06:14
Speaker
no more having to pay someone to put them up and take them down. Okay, so about a month
Health Risks During Holidays
00:06:19
Speaker
before, okay. ah Sarah, what what do you think what what have you experienced and what do you think is right? Because those might not be the two, those two may not be the same. I feel like I've seen people, at least corporations, start Christmas as early as like September. So is that my question? Not August. No, it's not your question. but Was that my question?
00:06:45
Speaker
Well, I'm getting into it. Like not seen it. If you were on the stand, opposing counsel would say objection nonresponsive and it would be sustained. They don't know what any of that means. I'm leading into it. That's not how it works, but OK. Well, we just have a great time leading into my answer. We're just killing time. We don't need to kill four o'clock, Sarah.
00:07:15
Speaker
Anyways, what I think is acceptable is November 1st, the soonest, the earliest. Okay. Okay. All right. I'm not going to ask follow up questions because I don't know what's yeah gotten into you today. Uh, Cynthia. I don't know. Um, when I do it is whenever my husband allows me to take down the Halloween decorations because his favorite holiday is Halloween. I can see that. Okay.
00:07:42
Speaker
And so I usually win the fight around December 1st. Got it. Dang. So what we do, and this is a very personal reason, my birthday is November 26th. And so that's always on or about Thanksgiving. And so Thanksgiving is an important holiday to me. Some people, I was just talking to somebody the other day about how they have a birthday that's around Thanksgiving or they have a son who has a birthday around Thanksgiving and they don't like it ah because they're not like in school and so they're not making a big deal about it in school. And I could not have possibly any
00:08:20
Speaker
point in my life giving a shit about that. I liked having the time off and I liked my family being forced to be together and acknowledge it. And I feel like Christmas season does not start until after my birthday.
00:08:40
Speaker
That's fair. That's fair. Which to make another Elvis reference, the next question I'm going to ask is when do the Christmas lights and decorations come down? And I'll tell you, they still put up the original Christmas lights at Graceland and they don't come down until January 8th, his birthday, which was per his tradition when he was alive. When do they need to come down? Sam.
00:09:08
Speaker
like middle of January at the latest. Okay. I like having the twinkly lights and everything. I don't know. I say like, like beginning of the new year.
00:09:22
Speaker
Cynthia. Uh, usually we do like new years, the closest weekend after new years. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. About the same, about the same. You can leave the,
00:09:37
Speaker
What is it? What's the line Christmas lights up? Yeah. yeah wow Anyway. All right. Well, I'm glad that we actually did that first before we go back to that, because it leads into kind of the heart of the matter. And that is ho, ho, ho, heart attack.
00:09:57
Speaker
So it's something that we stumbled upon because it was an idea I had. you know the biggest I think the biggest issue that we fight against when it comes to doing wills, trust, powers of
Importance of Estate Planning
00:10:11
Speaker
attorney, probate, estate planning is getting people to just get around to doing it. um All the other things seem to be more excuses that people will put in the way of just getting around and having it done.
00:10:27
Speaker
And so our jobs to be able to make sure that we're helping people, helping people get this service that we and many other qualified firms provide is to help them understand urgency. So one day I'm driving my five-year-old to school as I do every morning, um every morning that she has school, because that would be weird to take her to school one day. Every morning. She doesn't, yeah.
00:10:52
Speaker
And I was thinking, you know, I wonder if more people die during the holidays. So I go to the Google, and Sarah, what did I find? Tell us. it That is correct. That's what you found. um Heart attacks actually spike during the holidays. so what is What is the day of the year when most heart attacks happen? Christmas Eve. Christmas Eve.
00:11:23
Speaker
That's crazy. And it's not just heart attacks. It's um other hospitalizations, other its car accidents actually increase, which that one may be somewhat more intuitive because of the increased traveling, the increased driving, the increased traffic. um But also, you know, holiday stress, this, that and the other. So yes. And so one reason why it's good for us to be releasing, escaping, dropping this episode prior to the time that it sounds like any of us like to acknowledge the holidays and you know being in a multi-faith family such as I
00:12:02
Speaker
um any of the holidays that come up that you choose to celebrate or made to celebrate. ah This is the same thing for that, but we want to start preparing people because um unlike the way this online legal planning crap presents it where in 15 minutes you can have a will, no, in 15 minutes you can fill out a form that is a piece of shit and you probably won't get signed correctly.
00:12:33
Speaker
But it still has to be signed. So the process that we employ in the process that quality law firms employ is being able to meet with you, talk about what you're looking for, helping advise you on on how to accomplish those things, putting the drafts together, having you review them, work through any questions, corrections or changes, and then Signing them and speaking of ceremonies and traditions and everything. We're going to talk more about how Critical that is and it's probably something that I it's so if you put a list of things that I am most obsessive about
00:13:10
Speaker
getting documents signed correctly in that process is probably high up there. And I think I have, I've converted everybody in the office, but I think Sam and I may be the only ones who take it so deeply personally. Yeah, I'm just getting, getting it, you know? It's like, come on. Are you explaining me? Cause like I no longer do it or cause it's just like, it, like we were personally offended. Like we'll wake up in the middle of the night and be like, why did they miss that signature?
00:13:40
Speaker
and less personality things. I have less faith in the world. How could they do that to me? You like to be more mystic.
00:13:50
Speaker
ah since There's too much crosstalk. I don't really have any idea what anybody's saying. So the point is so that, um, yes. So there is a process and there's a timeline and while these things can be done very quickly and we try to accommodate those things. I mean, we've, we've done some rather ridiculous turnaround times. Uh, we've even done wills while you wait.
00:14:10
Speaker
which is probably my least favorite approach. But you know sometimes when it comes to the full title of the document, Last Will and Testament, it's literal. That really will be your last will and testament. That um now is a good time to start, to have everything wrapped up before you are more likely to have a heart attack.
00:14:32
Speaker
And so we've had some fun, I think, with this campaign because our brand is to be a little tongue in cheek, to be a little fun to try and drive home the point. But anytime that we are a little avant garde, we get some interesting pushback. And so that just means it's working. And I do think some people may have found our ho, ho, ho art attack.
00:15:03
Speaker
Ad campaign, award-winning ad campaign. I don't know what is more than any awards. I mean, it will. It will. That's all we need to say. Sounds threatening.
00:15:19
Speaker
You know, it really, it really is to help drive home the point. And we do take this all very, very seriously. We do, but whatever we can do to try and get eyes on it, get attention and make sure that people understand the importance of getting things done, we're going to try to do that. And the fact of the matter is the reality is that it's always a good time now.
00:15:41
Speaker
whenever you're listening to this, now is always the right time to get a plan in place. But if it incentivizes anybody out there, the fact of the matter is that the holiday season does bring about the necessity of having powers of attorney wills, trusts, and so forth um to a much greater extent.
00:16:06
Speaker
And while people are busy during the holidays, it's also a time that we find that there is more free time in the sense of making appointments, reviewing things and all of that, which is one reason why birch law doesn't close a whole bunch during any sort of holidays is because we know that's a time when people can make those appointments can can do that. So just know that, um,
00:16:36
Speaker
Like Santa Claus, you don't have to believe in him, but he believes in you. You don't have to believe that your time is coming, but mortality does believe in you. Sarah, you're leaning in to your microphone and always that's always like an indication that you have something to say. No, that's that was just habit. So you have nothing to say? I have absolutely nothing to say. Okay, fantastic.
00:17:07
Speaker
So, Cintia also came up with some thoughts about um traditions, procedures, and things like that. So let's talk
Courtroom Traditions Explained
00:17:17
Speaker
about that. Let's let's have Cintia kind of kick that off in the legal world, some other types of ah traditions, as it were, that we face. Whatcha got?
00:17:27
Speaker
Well, mostly something people don't think about is actually probating something. So once somebody passes away, you have to go through some sort of process and you do have to go to a hearing a few times, like depending on the type of planning that you did, some do result in having to go to court.
00:17:50
Speaker
some result in very lengthy processes where you have to do it multiple times. If there's issues, if something wasn't done right, if somebody somebody contests something, like that is something where you have to go to court a lot. If it's done correctly, you may be able to avoid probate hearings altogether.
00:18:09
Speaker
One of the things that people don't think about is how those are all steeped in just old traditions that we accepted a really long time ago and still now just take as rules. So we call it the court. Well, it used to be like the royal courts. And that's what all of that's called. Like there's different um parts of the courtroom if Our attorneys don't really go in person very often. Shruti mainly does virtual hearings, but whenever you go to the court room, like there's a part that's like you, the bar, you have to pass the bar to enter into the well, the bench where the judge sits. Like these, these are all things that are steeped in a lot of like tradition and ancient and archaic at times. You know, in England, they still wear, they have to wear the wigs.
00:19:03
Speaker
and court powdered wigs. Oh, no way. You not know this area? Yeah, for real. Yeah. No. I know. See, we don't have to do that because we tasted freedom. Damn.
00:19:22
Speaker
But yeah, I feel like there's just a lot of things that people haven't had the opportunity to learn about. And that's one of the things that I think is a really interesting tradition.
00:19:33
Speaker
ah I feel like your mind is completely blown. They also call attorneys barristers over there. yeah You could see her googling because I just see her mouth wigs really slowly. issues I just see like, Sarah, are you, do you want to talk about this about the wigs?
00:19:52
Speaker
I guess, ah yeah, I'm just perplexed why they still wear that. What's the purpose? Because of tradition. Because of, yeah you know how here, our judges, they wear the the black robes,
00:20:10
Speaker
have a gavel and all of those things. That it's like, This is, I feel like this is like going into a lot of things but showing a respect for the the institution, for the entities, for the process that you're doing, showing um just It's a lot of procedural things that we date back to olden times. Some things don't. Days of yore. Yeah, like that's yesteryear. It's fascinating. Like all the different traditions that have morphed throughout the years or all the different things that were rules then. But now it's like it doesn't really make sense, but we still do it because it's yeah and for so long. That makes sense.
00:20:58
Speaker
Man, yeah I mean, I think that's something i think that's something that you know hangs up a lot of people and where we're having to navigate a lot of problems, particularly when they don't do any planning or try to do it themselves, is there's just things from English common law that 49 states in the union apply.
State Autonomy in Legal Documents
00:21:22
Speaker
ah Louisiana is the holdout. They apply the Napoleonic code, French law.
00:21:28
Speaker
But Sarah, you're learning a lot this episode. Yeah, that's crazy. Yeah. So even like the common law issues and what their common law ah both and community property is what I was trying to get at. You know, what I try to tell clients all the time is like, I didn't write these laws.
00:21:49
Speaker
You know, and you might think some of them are a little outlandish and counterintuitive and all of that. And yet here we are. And particularly with the way that our country was founded, that there is a certain amount of autonomy that each state has. And this is one of the areas where there is the most autonomy for um for states when it comes to how wills are drafted, powers of attorney, um how they're signed, the requirements around that. And we just had someone say, I think, didn't we, that we sent them a copy of the trust and they decided to get it docu-signed.
00:22:31
Speaker
Yeah. And it's okay. It's okay. Like I get it. I get you. No. Yeah. Except, except the law does not, the Texas texas law does not allow for a trust or a will to be docu-signed. It has to have what's called a wet signature. They also live in France and because of the, the like the,
00:23:00
Speaker
company that they use, the notary was in Florida. Well, and there are so a couple things there. And again, this has to do with people not knowing the yeah traditions, conventions or requirements is that a trust, unlike other estate planning documents, does not have to be notarized. The other thing is that embassies and consulates have the ability to do the equivalent of a notarization.
00:23:32
Speaker
if we so choose. And so those are all things that we've had to guide people on, but when people don't consult with us, then that's where things kind of fall apart. But um the signing is, i I know it seems so silly, but I just cannot wrap my head around why so many people do not get documents signed andret or get signed correctly. And you know, it is called like the signing ceremony and there are witnesses and notaries and all of that are required. And no, family members cannot be a witness. I don't, maybe I've been in it too long to not understand how anybody could think that that's okay. Like that's a, that's a problem.
00:24:27
Speaker
I think when you're when you've done it for too long or and or being a lawyer because you've spent all this time going to law school where they um basically deprogram you to think like a human and Make you think a different way that it's hard to relate to other people But it does catch us off guard sometimes like I really these are you know intelligent and or educated people and And I don't know how they can read the instructions for getting those sweetness and then getting getting witness signatures. And then a witness, they don't get the witnesses and they just write in a, like, I still can't get over that one, but I think my favorite part of that will where there were no witnesses, but just the client putting are not the clients. They weren't our client.
00:25:16
Speaker
obviously, um but we're the test stator, the person creating the will, but in slash A, I think my favorite part is they initialed it. Yeah. What do they think that meant? They did it, Lori, it was their choice. And it's their document. So I think that's another piece. It's like there's there's um things are in place for a reason.
00:25:42
Speaker
Things are in place to make sure that a lot of lines aren't blurred. Like you're sitting here thinking, oh yeah, well, these are the most trusted people, my family. They're going to witness this. Well, you want to know what else? They're also the most likely to gain benefit from it. And what if they, what if you're coerced? What if you're not in your best state of mind?
00:26:03
Speaker
These are things that just people think about. Yeah, one thing that I feel like in the span of the time that I've been doing this that we've seen a huge uptick in the last couple years is family members and or friends trying to get this done on behalf of somebody. Yeah.
00:26:24
Speaker
And it just, it doesn't work that way. Or the other thing we see is someone no longer has the capacity. They're on hospice or they have dementia or they have Alzheimer's and they're like, yeah, I need to get a power of attorney for my dad. He has full blown severe dementia. And the power of attorney is something that he would have to sign knowingly and intentionally.
00:26:51
Speaker
And so, you know, for talking about the urgency of getting paperwork in place now is like, where were you two years ago when this diagnosis first came about? And there is a lower standard when it comes to some estate planning documents as far as someone's cognitive abilities, but there still is a standard.
00:27:16
Speaker
So, and particularly if you've got a situation where you think that family members might um have some objections or issues, and even when you don't think they will, sometimes they will, but particularly when you think that they will, then this just becomes a huge mess. Or for people who are estranged from their family and they're wanting to intentionally make sure that ah friends or um other people are the ones who are going to be be able to act for them.
00:27:45
Speaker
And so it's just its just sad situations to not have this in place and do it in a timely manner, right? So what you're trying to start to get this done and have it wrapped up before the end of the year.
00:28:04
Speaker
You know, throughout the many years now that I've been doing this, one of the questions I get asked is, should I wait until? And my answer is no. Like, I don't even need to hear your until. I have no idea what is going to happen to you today or tomorrow or the next day.
00:28:22
Speaker
I don't care if you get your will in place today and a month from now your job transfers you to another state. What if something happened to you between now and a month from now? And that's why I think The example of like homeowners insurance or car insurance is a great way to think about this, except it's a lot more expensive. You don't have to pay for it every year. And unlike car insurance, where you may never get in an accident, unless you're Sam, or homeowners insurance, where you may never have a claim, I hate to break it to you folks. But at some point, your time is going to be up. Your clock is ticking.
00:29:06
Speaker
And so, so what if maybe you had to do like, Oh, wouldn't that be awesome? Like you're going to update your will every single year. Why not? The fact of the matter is though, that you don't have to, especially when you go to a quality law firm, that's going to help you building contingencies. I mean, the fact of the matter is 70 plus percent of people never do it. And that's a disaster.
00:29:27
Speaker
um And then I would say statistically that people who do get a plan done, that they may be updated two to three times in their life. So we're talking about taking the time and bearing the expense. The idea is, this is this a valuable thing to do to do it right? And maybe you'll have to update it, but don't worry about all the contingencies and this and that and how things will be changed.
00:29:54
Speaker
Get a plan in place now. You can always update it later. Anything is better than the nothing you have now. Am I right? Yeah. Yeah. All right. So why not get this done before the end of the year? Because heart attacks, accidents, all of that increase. Sorry to tell you, but it is true. My hunch was true.
00:30:17
Speaker
ah quality law firms like ours are standing by to help you. um But I also thought that this was a fun opportunity for us to talk about other potential holiday traditions as we go
Family Christmas Traditions
00:30:29
Speaker
in. And we started with that, then we did the bumming you out, and now we're back to talking about holiday traditions and Funny enough, um nobody that experienced this conversation with Sam is in this podcast. We probably should have had Jordan chimed in. But one of my favorite birch law slash holiday tradition stories is I believe there was a conversation about whether you grew up where Santa gifts were unwrapped or wrapped.
00:31:09
Speaker
And I will tell you that my family tradition is that Santa gifts were unwrapped so that on Christmas morning when you woke up and you went to the tree, the unwrapped gifts were from Santa, the wrapped gifts were from family. And I really should let Sam probably tell us, but she would mess it up even though she's the only one on this podcast that was there. So they're talking about this and they asked, apparently Sam said,
00:31:41
Speaker
No, there would just be a banana at the end of our bed. And so someone who used to work for the firm immediately started Googling um if that was a New Zealand tradition or if this was a Sam tradition. So Sam, I'm going to allow you the opportunity to chime in here now.
00:32:02
Speaker
Yeah, um so it it's it's a family tradition. It's not a New Zealand tradition. I didn't know until I like I had to ask my mother. um And essentially, ah Santa, quote unquote, um would sneak in before we woke up and put um like a box of chocolates it's like a specific non-american brand um a banana and then i think it was like a liter of coke i don't know why they would do so much soda um but it was essentially a way of um shutting us up so we're not asking every three seconds when lunch was going to be ready
00:32:41
Speaker
or when president prisons were gonna start, stuff like that. um I like to point out we would not consume everything at that point, but the fruit, I think, was just a balance. The chocolates and the fruit was a balance. Yeah. like So one of my questions is that i I think there's very few things that are as disgusting as warm soda, so. Yeah. Was it just like a, like really like a,
00:33:10
Speaker
light thing of like soda I think we would like put it in the fridge afterwards or like if we had some I don't think we'd have soda at 9am in the morning or earlier. um So I don't know why they would do that. um But I think we would just get like a glass with some ice and like cool it down that way.
00:33:27
Speaker
All right. bit All right. Yeah. So, Sam, I have a question. Yeah. you You may or may not have children. I don't even care what your opinion is at this age because I can tell you right now, you don't know. I'm just going to tell you that. What I'm asking is if you were to have children,
00:33:49
Speaker
Is this a tradition that you would carry on with them, where they would have a banana at the foot of their bed? Yeah, I think it's just like looking like now it's just such a funny thing to do. ah I think I would. you like juicer Yeah, yeah, I would I don't think I'd do so or if I did, it would be like a bottle like a small one. I want to do like a to leader Because that's ridiculous. I think you said leader, and then it got changed to two leader. And that's how it kept going. Yeah, it's like every times yeah i don't rule whatever I don't even remember it out. Like what is is it? a two liter or one leader You can get leaders. Yeah. And like us which mostly it's like two leaders. But yeah, countries you can they sell them in leaders. Yeah, it's not the skinny one. It's the bigger one. Oh, I think it was two. Yeah. Yeah.
00:34:38
Speaker
I couldn't so agree remembering this all wrong. Call your mom. We'll call her later in another country at this point. So we'll call her when she comes back. Yeah. In a week. Oh, she's there. So, you know, yeah. Mr. Text message. um hopefully We just renewed our green cards. I would hope they would. I don't know. These are, these are two years long, like the three days after they lift, I need them to come back because apparently they have all my good luck. So.
00:35:08
Speaker
Okay, very good. All right, so I appreciate you ah indulging indulging that. Cynthia, I don't know if you have any other like holiday tradition traditions or anything that you want to share before we completely devolve into the Sam and Sarah show. Um, kind of just some of the stuff that I remember before moving to the US.
00:35:29
Speaker
Um, how it seems like it was more commonplace for Christmas Eve at midnight is whenever you would do family Christmas, like with your parents and your sibling, that's whenever you would open the gifts and such. And then Christmas day, if like there was anything that Santa brought, that's when you would open it in the morning. So whenever people would say, or Santa gifts wrapped or unwrapped, and I'm like,
00:35:58
Speaker
Well, they're always wrapped like, cause you do the family ones before that. That was kind of a thing in my brain. And now I know it's like, Oh, okay. No, that's just what we did. And then Christmas day, we would do family stuff with extended family. Cause my mom was one of like eight, I believe my dad is one of five. So on Christmas day is whenever you would do all that fun stuff with the cousins, the bajillion people,
00:36:26
Speaker
And then we we kept that up whenever we moved to the US. And then that's when I started learning about other people's traditions. It's like, no, you open all the gifts the morning of Christmas. And my husband, his family, I didn't know if this was like everybody doing it or just his family. So this is what I do now on Christmas Eve. That night I still do things with my mom.
00:36:52
Speaker
And then we'll go to dinner at his grandmother's house. Sometimes we'll go to like a candlelit service. Sometimes we don't, just depends on on the year. More and more recently we haven't, just because it's a lot of people to coordinate. And then we'll do um a gift from Granny at her house. And then everybody gets pajamas.
00:37:14
Speaker
So everybody gets pajamas the night before. And that's what like, we stay up and we watch A Muppet's Christmas Carol every year. And yes, we are all the youngest is like 25. And the oldest is 37.
00:37:32
Speaker
but every year we will watch up as Christmas Carol. And then Christmas morning is, you know, get up, open the gifts. There's kids now, little ones, there's a five and seven year old, and they will wake us up as early as they can convince Lolly, which is grandma, to let them. So what they'll do is she'll bring them upstairs and she'll let them bang on your door and just let themselves in.
00:38:01
Speaker
oh and something And they'll be like, it's Christmas time. It's time to open in the presents. So you have to very quickly wake up and like go downstairs. um Typically, Luke or his sister Natalie will make um orange cinnamon rolls from like the packaging. And then all the adults are just coffee, give us coffee. And then we'll open presents for a few hours.
00:38:26
Speaker
So Cynthia, I need to know like how you and I have such similar lives, but such different backgrounds because a couple of my favorite traditions is that for us, there is one Christmasy gift that everybody gets in growing up. I remember my mom would always put a tag on it. We always use tags, present tags. So to Lori from Eve is how she would do it. And they were always pajamas.
00:38:54
Speaker
so that we would sleep in those pajamas that night and then the next day that's what we would wear and all the pictures wouldn't be in. And then another thing is we always had those orange cinnamon rolls. And even to this day, like I always have those.
00:39:07
Speaker
I always thought it was ready to go. Kimberly knows. Or instead of mid-rolls, Christmas morning. another Another tradition we have, and this might be a total genetics thing, but we always have Santa Mouse gifts. So there's this book about Santa Mouse and I won't tell the story, but it's really adorable. But basically there's a Santa Mouse and he leaves a gift in your tree with a yellow ribbon.
00:39:33
Speaker
And it's always like I've had to tell Kimberly because my Jewish wife likes to like make sure that she does all these Christmas traditions. Um, and before we had the little kids, and she like insisted on having a tree. I'm like, you know, we could just not do a tree this year, but now we can't get away with any of that because we have little ones, but, um, I had to tell her like, no, no, no, Santa mouse gifts are like little gifts. Like me growing up, it was like a $10 gift card to best buy. and So they're not,
00:40:03
Speaker
like big gifts, they're like little gifts, but they you have to look in the tree and find something that has a yellow ribbon in it, and it'll say from Santa Mouse. Cute. And now's the time where we completely fall off the rails. So Sam and Sarah, ah you all go ahead, tell us, you you take you take the lead now, tell us about some other traditions besides having heart attacks.
00:40:32
Speaker
that people have during the holidays. yes I think ours is a mix of um some traditions around the world and then ones that we do personally. Take it away, Sarah. Thank you. um So we always do things. We don't do things on Christmas. We do things Christmas Eve. And we always do a white elephant, which isn't that, you know,
00:41:00
Speaker
um crazy or whatever. But like, that's just what we've always done. We never do like like a banana. to put a red Yeah, it's not that crazy. But you know, instead of like, gift gifts, we'll do white elephant. And that's what we do for Christmas Eve. My, my first one was about the banana. um So I'm going to tag on that. And we I mean, for when we do our Christmas dinner, each year for birch law, we do white elephant. So that's a ah yeah This year, Gabby said we should do stockings. We can hang them up in the office and that way we don't do that. and Did she mean like a Secret Santa stocking? So each one of us, like we get. Like everybody does, he puts up a st stocking and then you put like little things in there. I like the idea of doing a Secret Santa stocking. That'd be kind of cute. A Secret Santa would be cool.
00:41:54
Speaker
Maybe we'll do that this year. yeah Sam, as someone who's on the Events Committee, take that back to your people. Yeah. yeah Which is none of us, by the way. Yeah, no, no, no. I'm just the one who pays for it all.
00:42:12
Speaker
Wait, does that mean it's my turn again? Yeah, because my banana one was done earlier. I couldn't wait. The banana at the foot of your bed is something that I don't think I will ever like on my deathbed. I'm going to be telling the story. And then Kimberly will interrupt it.
00:42:30
Speaker
that right Indeed, indeed. um We don't do this anymore. But growing up, we would sometimes do Festivus and we would air our grievances as a family. We do that. Yes, in general, I think it's healthy. So it's like one big row session to each other? ethically Or like, that's crazy. It's from Seinfeld. Yeah. Oh, is it? Oh, I know. Yeah. it's best of us fair and i I feel like my mom celebrates Festivus at least once a week.
00:43:00
Speaker
two Yeah. So real. The next one is, ah we mentioned this earlier as well, but doing wrapped or unwrapped gifts. That was like a whole conversation. I feel like for like a week in the office. Mine's wrapped. Mine were wrapped. Yeah, this next one is Sarah. Yeah, we already talked about Sam's. um
00:43:26
Speaker
I don't know how weird this is. I've always heard it's like kind of strange, but it doesn't matter if you're divorced and remarried, but everybody comes together for the holidays and um it's just one big party. No, that's never been my experience. So wait, yeah I need you to to elaborate on the, including those that are divorced and remarried. So let's say that your parents are divorced and they've married other people.
00:43:56
Speaker
but technically, like, somebody divorced out of the family. They still show up with their new spouse? Yeah. Huh. That's progressive of y'all. Yeah. That is not something that would happen. I mean, honestly, my family is divorced and remarried. So. So many times, though. Well. Well. I don't know. But either way. I don't know that there was enough room at the table for my dad's five wives.
00:44:27
Speaker
It's only fine. So far. So far. This next one, fine. Sam, go ahead. It's not really technically a tradition, because I think we've only done it like one turn twice. We only did it one time. But I'm going to put it on here. It didn't touch. One that maybe could be a British law tradition is us. We go to Lori's house, and there's a little pit there, and we burn things.
00:44:55
Speaker
Okay, let me let me for the realre on ti skills since he is going to give context to this, please how you set this up there is tradition in many cultures that Whenever there's like energy or something that you want to get rid of you have a ceremonial burning of something So this is what this is. We've only done it one time and And we, if I remember correctly, somebody acquired a tiny pinata. um buts And we stuffed it full of different scenes that seems ah represented other things. And we it was in Lori's house in the girl. It was um but should do it kind of weird. um I could see us doing it again.
00:45:43
Speaker
Yeah, we'll probably do it again. It might be time. It might be time. It feels like it needs to be a year thing. It's very ceremonial. Or bi-yearly. Just to get rid of the... Just go to Burning Man, Sam. Go to Burning Man. They do the same thing. I would never go to Burning Man in my life. What about walking across hot coals? No. No. As a team?
00:46:04
Speaker
Like, as a team event? That's what I'm saying. Whatever. Like, would you know? it No. I've heard that it's not that hot. If you keep moving, it's like, well, hold on. It's like whenever you- My feet are very sensitive. I have very delicate feet. Cross the sand without shoes on or whenever you're walking to the pool, whenever it's hot out, you're walking across like the ah concrete. You can fire an egg on some of those. Yeah. I love eggs. Next.
00:46:40
Speaker
um Elf on the shelf. I personally find this one very creepy. I don't like it. I did they do it for you as a child. No. Oh, okay. All right. Look, as the as the only one who has a parent thus far here, I am everybody can do what they want to do.
00:46:59
Speaker
I am not on board without Photoshop. I didn't grow up with this. There is a time period for the now 14 year old where we had to do it. It's a lot of stress. So thus far, I have adamantly protected my five and two year old from this. And I hope that they never ever want this. Yeah. alright Did they do it at school now? Now this year, Adley may want axolotl on a shelf because she wants axolotl everything. But there's not we also have a mensch on a bench because we're you know a multi-faith family. But there's not as much pressure because there's just a lot more forgiveness there. Yeah. Yeah.
00:47:50
Speaker
And now we get into ah traditions around the world. So the first one is Krampus, and this is in Germany, Austria, and Hungary.
European Christmas Traditions
00:48:01
Speaker
ay And it's known as Santa's worst half is a very difficult like creature called Krampus Legend has it that while Santa brings toys to the nice children Krampus's job is to punish kids on the naughty list ah Mostly he just frightens the kids with his BC looks but it said that he throws particularly bad children into a sack or change the chains them up into his basket it and carts them off to hell and um People in Austria and learning we were hurting neighboring oh my god neighboring countries often dress up as Krampus in early December and wander the streets to scare I think there's also a movie called Krampus. I hope that we were we are evolved enough as a society where this is not acceptable.
00:48:55
Speaker
I'm just going to put that out there. I asked, you know, not to post this stuff so that I could respond to it in in real time. You did not do that. So what the hell is this next thing? What is this? The pooping log. It's a tradition in like the Spanish region of Catalonia.
00:49:24
Speaker
um It's called the Tio de Nidal, which roughly translates to Christmas log. And the so the log is hollowed out and given a face with legs and a little red hat specifically. um And then starting on December 8th, families quote, feed the log every night by filling it with presents and candy.
00:49:50
Speaker
And then they also put a blanket over the log to keep it warm. And then on Christmas Eve, the log is placed into an unlit fireplace and members of the family take turns bashing it with a stick, commanding it to I'm sorry, commanding it to defecate out on the presents.
00:50:10
Speaker
or defecate out the presents and candy while singing traditional songs. After the beating, family members reach below the logs blanket to retrieve the gifts. That is what this website says. Yeah. Okay.
00:50:31
Speaker
Last one. It's like a pinata, I guess. Yeah. Yeah, um the last one is titled KFC for Christmas. um This is in Japan. So in Japan, it's all about KFC for chicken, ah for chicken for Christmas. um It's estimated about 3.5 million Japanese families eat fried chicken on Christmas Eve. um And it's thanks to a marketing stunt that KFC did in the 1970s, called Kentucky for Christmas.
00:51:03
Speaker
um so i see some other words there i'm not i i tried earlier i could not say it and no one needs to hear me But Christians make up a very small percentage of the Japanese population. um So this was KFC's way of ah making up for the lack of Christmas holiday traditions in Japan. um And be in the KFC Christmas meal is so popular, a lot of families pre-order their dinners, ah which include fried chicken cake and champagne, and they pre-order it months in advance. That's how popular it is. What is a fried chicken cake?
00:51:41
Speaker
I think it's just a cake. OK. Like fried chicken, comma, a comma. Oh, oh. Yeah, there's. Yeah. OK. Well, you know where the Jewish people go for. Christmas done. One thing, though, it says fried chicken, comma, cake and champagne. There is no common between the king and the champagne. So no Oxford comedy used on this website. This is what you all found. Yeah, I would eat it. go dot com yeah I would eat a champagne cake. I would too. percent Do you know you know where a common place for Jewish people to eat on Christmas day is? Yes. No. Chinese food. ah't say beatton I I only said that because for Thanksgiving that's usually the only place open and that's where me and my family go.
00:52:35
Speaker
yeah You and your family go to a Vietnamese restaurant for Thanksgiving Day? Yeah, usually. So that's a tradition, huh? Well, it's not like every year. It's like if we don't have any food in the house. Everything's closed. Are you going home for Thanksgiving? Maybe. I haven't decided.
00:52:57
Speaker
Have you ever gone to a Thanksgiving dinner like a traditional American Thanksgiving dinner? Yeah, the our neighbors before we bought their house, or my parents bought their house, um and invited us over like a couple of years in a row. And that's the first time I had fried turkey, I think. Oh, we make a good fried turkey. Nice. That's the only time I've ever liked turkey. It's really good.
00:53:23
Speaker
Sam, I think you should stay in town and I think you should come to my sister's house. If you want to experience at least one time in your life, the most ultimate traditional Thanksgiving. I'm down. I just have to see what my parents are doing. Okay. Well, let me know. i then My, my sister will invite anybody and everybody, but she's very intense about a headcount.
00:53:44
Speaker
Yes, as you should be. If you're in a RSVP, you better be there. If you get invited and you're not playing on Showing Up, but you better say it and I won't be there. Very true. Jamie's come sometimes. Oh, that's cute. Anyway, I think you should. Okay, very good.
00:54:07
Speaker
Thanks for listening. And just to cover all our bases about what you just heard, I'm sorry and you're welcome. Make sure you subscribe so you never miss an episode and tell your friends about us. We do webinars and live events. The best way to stay up to date is to follow us on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube.
00:54:28
Speaker
Links are in the show notes. If there's a topic you'd like us to cover, maybe you have a question you'd like us to answer, or maybe you just want to say hi, hit the link in the show notes or go to birch-law.com forward slash podcast and fill out the contact form.
00:54:52
Speaker
Much better. Yeah, I thought that had a lot of energy.