Sharing Holiday Traditions That Will Make Your Season BRIGHTER!

*This transcript was auto-generated*

Kim:

Hey, y'all. Kim Gravel here. It's Kim Gravel show. Zac is in this house.

Zac:

I'm here, everybody. Hello.

Kim:

You are literally in the house.

Zac:

I'm literally in the house. We never. Let me just. Hold on. Are you actually here?

Kim:

I'm here. We're here.

Zac:

Merry Christmas, everybody.

Kim:

Yeah. Today's Christmas. Today's Christmas. And the first day of Hanukkah.

Zac:

It is.

Kim:

The holidays have officially arrived.

Zac:

Yep.

Kim:

It's the. What is it the most wonderful time of the year?

Zac:

It's the most wonderful time of year for many reasons.

Kim:

For me, you know, it's the birth of Jesus.

Zac:

Yep.

Kim:

Okay. Oh, do you know that I'm writing a. A book about that for children's book for next year release about.

Zac:

A book about. Wait, how many books are you writing, Kim?

Kim:

2. But this one is so special.

Zac:

Are you writing it? You're writing a children's book?

Kim:

I am.

Zac:

About the birth of Jesus?

Kim:

Yes.

Zac:

Okay.

Kim:

From a woodlands animals perspective. Ooh, school.

Zac:

Who's going to illustrate it?

Kim:

Some. Some brilliant person.

Zac:

That's okay. Like, if you want stick figures, call me.

Kim:

I'm calling you. But I'm excited about it because I'm writing it now and we're in the season now.

Zac:

Yeah. Wait, I hijacked the whole thing. You were starting to talk about Merry Christmas.

Kim:

Merry Christmas.

Zac:

How was your Christmas, Kim?

Kim:

Well, it hasn't happened yet. It hasn't happened. It's happening now. It's happening now. I'm.

Zac:

I'm here. It's the beginning of December right now.

Kim:

I'm a person at Christmas that like, work, work, work, work, work, work, work. And so I. I over buy for people. Cause I forgot and then I get five gift cards. But the biggest thing about today is the birth of Jesus. Okay, we're celebrating that.

Zac:

Yes.

Kim:

But on top of that is we have what we call the family lotto game. Oh, have I ever told you about this?

Zac:

No. What's the family lotto game?

Kim:

So today as you're listening to this, who knows when you're listening, if you're listening today or Tom. Okay, we have. We have like, there's like 15, 16 of us.

Zac:

Okay.

Kim:

And we all get together and we eat really fast and we open gifts even faster. So we don't open gifts like one at a time. I mean, it's a free for all.

Zac:

We do it one at a time. It takes.

Kim:

It's takes forever. And it's.

Zac:

It is.

Kim:

You're not getting all these kids doing that. And it's a free for all frenzy. And it's like every man for himself.

Zac:

Okay.

Kim:

And it's. It looks like. Like roller derby, okay. Because everybody's banging and banging because we were in my mom's living room. And then after that, we do that fast because after that, we clear out and do the lotto game. Now, this is so Cheese ball. And so mom comes out, she brings out the happy birthday, Jesus cake, and then we throw out the lottery card. So we are giving thanks and gambling.

Kim:

Okay.

Zac:

Okay. All right.

Kim:

So we have this big pile of. We have this. Oh, God bless. So we have this big center pile of probably 100 lottery cards, little small gifts, trinket gifts, like heavy duty gift cards. I mean, you could get a $10 gift card to Subway, or it could be a $500 gift card to Walmart. I mean. Oh, so everybody brings stuff to the pile. Oh, this is.

Kim:

That.

Zac:

This is.

Kim:

This is Vegas.

Zac:

Like, you could. So, okay, this is nice.

Kim:

This is.

Zac:

Stakes are high.

Kim:

This is. This is Bethlehem. Vegas.

Zac:

Vegas. So who's involved? So pay me the picture.

Kim:

Everybody. Sister, her family, my mom, dad, me, the kids, Amy.

Zac:

So there's like 20 people.

Kim:

Yeah, there's like 16 people. Okay, so in. In. This is where it gets a little brutish.

Zac:

Okay?

Kim:

Okay. Because people are fighting for that pot.

Zac:

Okay.

Kim:

They're fighting for the lotto cards. They're fighting for the gift cards. Because you don't know that. You don't know. So you have to go around. So Amy writes a story every year about the family, okay? And so you have to go around, and you have to be able to answer the questions to get to pull from the pot. So by the end of it, you know, everybody's cheating. Helping.

Kim:

Helping their family. You know what I'm saying? Because Allison, whatever her little son gets, she gonna keep it. Of course. I mean, it's the funnest thing. It's the funnest memory. Like it is. We've done it so many times. People.

Kim:

I've said it on qvc, and people have asked me for the game.

Zac:

Wait, so how do you play? How do you actually play it?

Kim:

We write the game. We write it every year. So Amy and I sit and write the game.

Zac:

So you. Okay, so it changes every year.

Kim:

Every year. Like, one year, it was about. One year about Old Timey Christmas songs. Okay. But we always incorporate stories about our crazy family. Like, crazy things they've done that year or, you know, that's amazing.

Zac:

You should film it.

Kim:

Oh, we should. Oh, it gets aggressive.

Zac:

Yeah.

Kim:

But like, I would say to everybody, those are the kind of things. I'm never gonna remember what somebody got me for Christmas. I always remember when Alice and I almost duked it out over a $10 subway car that my dad gave her.

Zac:

Why? Why?

Kim:

He gives her everything. So, like, it's like. It's like Allison gets all the leftovers.

Zac:

Yeah, Allison, you know, it's like, if.

Kim:

You say, kim, you don't need that. Give that to Allison.

Zac:

Right.

Kim:

I wanted that $10 gift card.

Zac:

I feel like I. It's for the $10 gift card. I feel like that's a Travis move. It's like Travis, you know, Travis is.

Kim:

A fierce competitor in that game.

Zac:

Yeah. Wait, so I still don't understand how it works, though, so. So I get that you write it and change it every year, but, like, how do you actually win?

Kim:

You have to answer the questions.

Zac:

You answer questions. So it's like a trivia.

Kim:

Correct.

Zac:

Okay, got it.

Kim:

And just. You go one at a time, and we just go around till the pot's empty. And it's a bit.

Zac:

And every year, and you pick random stuff. You don't know what you're going to get. Is there a trading. Can you trade? Can you.

Kim:

You can trade.

Zac:

Okay.

Kim:

You can trade. And then everybody takes their lotto card.

Zac:

$20 to Best Buy. But I don't care about $50.

Kim:

You can't do it during the game. That's the negotia.

Zac:

Okay, Got it.

Kim:

But families tend to stick with each other, right? So mom and dad, they're like, look. And then in my family, we all stick together. And, like, what you get is like. It's like each. Each little individual family has a pot. My uncle, who is in heaven now, he started it, and it has just like 15 years ago. We do it every single year. That's all we care about.

Kim:

That's it. The food and then that. The gifts. Like, yay. It's the game. But I will tell you, at the end of the game, people scatter with their lotto cards. And my dad wins big every year on the scratch offs.

Zac:

Really?

Kim:

Every year? He's the luckiest.

Zac:

And these are just like scratchers for the lottery. The $1, 500.

Kim:

One year off of a scratch off. Yeah.

Zac:

I've never won a big scratch. I've never won more than.

Kim:

He's got it. It's just Travis is lucky like that, too. Travis is very lucky like that.

Zac:

Every so often, I will be in the gas station, and I'll be like, I'm feeling lucky.

Kim:

I'm doing it.

Zac:

I'm doing it, doing it. I'LL get a scrap. Never.

Kim:

Not even a ticket.

Zac:

Like, like two bucks maybe. And I'm like.

Kim:

But you know what I'm thinking? I'm thinking to myself, our kids will never forget this.

Zac:

Yeah.

Kim:

They'll never forget this game.

Zac:

Yeah.

Kim:

They'll never forget arm wrestling Nana for a, you know, $50 Walmart card.

Zac:

So there's also, like, challenges, like, they have to do. How do you end up arm wrestling?

Kim:

Well, they just. They just. They're like, nana, give it to me. They're always trying to talk her out of her stuff.

Zac:

Oh, got it. And she normally literally mean arm wrestling.

Kim:

Well, Allison and mom did get in a scuffle one year. It's. It's aggressive. Okay, I'm going to say it's aggressive. So. Merry Christmas. I'm just saying, like, I look forward to that every year.

Zac:

That's amazing.

Kim:

Is there a tradition you look forward to every year?

Zac:

Well, here's the thing. So I grew up Jewish, right? So we didn't do Christmas. So you did Hanukkah? We did Hanukkah.

Kim:

You get seven gifts, one a night.

Zac:

Eight.

Kim:

Eight.

Zac:

Eight.

Kim:

Dang.

Zac:

But it's not as exciting, okay? It just isn't. It just isn't.

Kim:

Well, it's what you make it, Zac. I mean, you're just what you make it.

Zac:

You're right. I mean, I think that, like, my parents were wonderful. They weren't like.

Kim:

But.

Zac:

But they.

Kim:

Hanukkah wasn't fun.

Zac:

Okay, it wasn't that Hanukkah wasn't fun, but, like, they're. They're just not the people who are going above and beyond to do.

Kim:

To blow it out.

Zac:

To blow it out. That's just not it.

Kim:

But they're old school.

Zac:

But Marie, my. My mother in law is amazing. Right? So she goes all out for the holidays.

Kim:

Does she really?

Zac:

Yeah. So ever since I started going to their house.

Kim:

The in laws.

Zac:

Yeah, the in laws for Christmas, which, you know, makes it really easy for us because there's no, like, oh, who we going to for Christmas this year? It's always them. It's just so much fun. They. They do well.

Kim:

And how's it going to be this year, though, Zac?

Zac:

It'll be a little sad.

Kim:

Sad? Because your father in law passed.

Zac:

Yeah. But you'll have to be there.

Kim:

It'll be a different dynamic, but you have to be there for her in a big way.

Zac:

Yeah.

Kim:

A lot of people think about that this holiday season. A lot of people have lost loved ones. And 2024 was. Was a challenging year for A lot of us, it was a time to.

Zac:

Be grateful, too, but, yeah, I'm really grateful for those memories. That was like. To me, when I think of Christmas, that's what I think of now.

Kim:

Do y'all put up a tree?

Zac Miller:

Yeah, we have a tree. We. You know, we did. We did a cool thing this year. We actually did something that. That is part of our tradition now, which is they're giving out purpose to California to cut down a tree from the forest. So we got the, like, forest service permit, and we went into the forest.

Kim:

Oh, my.

Zac:

And we drove, like, an hour into the mountains, and we went and we trekked around and found a tree, and then we cut it down and, yeah, it was really fun. So I just did that. Then we had to drive on the freeway for two hours with it back. So I was like, I hope I tie this tree down.

Kim:

You were National Lampooning. Yeah.

Zac:

Yeah. I was like, you know, we had the. We have the sunroof, like, and we can see the tree, and it, like, moves around a little bit, and I'm like, I hope it's on there. So then I literally. I put the tree up the day before I came here. Do this.

Kim:

I just. I just want to say to everybody, merry Christmas, happy Hanukkah, happy holidays. However you celebrate, just celebrate.

Zac:

Just celebrate.

Kim:

There's a lot to be celebrated.

Zac:

I got you a gift, Kim. I've just.

Kim:

You did?

Zac:

Yes, I did.

Kim:

Did you bring it?

Zac:

1. It was. I thought it. Okay. So I thought this gift was, like, this big. It turns out it's like this big, and I couldn't bring to mail it. It's a jokey Christmas thing. You're gonna love it.

Kim:

I love it.

Zac:

We'll make it. We'll put it on Social, add a.

Kim:

Picture into this and show everybody what it.

Zac:

I'll. I'll take a video of it. You'll see it right now.

Kim:

But that's the whole thing about Christmas and the holidays is that, you know, our next season is going to be about connection in the new studio and all of that. And it is a time to really connect. And if you are out there and you're alone or feel alone, know that you have us. We are here. Reach out to us. Hit us up on social media. Hit us up on our call in line. We are ready to really connect with you in a big way in 2025.

Zac:

Oh, yeah. And this is. I mean, this is part of the reason why we decided to do an episode that comes out on Christmas Day because, like, the holidays are tough for some folks. Yeah, a lot of people.

Kim:

They're tough on everybody. It's busy, but it's also a time to reflect on what it's all about, which is I said faith, family, and it's time to refocus. Merry Christmas, y'all. Happy holidays.

Zac:

Happy holidays, y'all.

Kim:

Love y'all.

Zac:

We do a outtakes at the end. Let's take that again. Let's take that again.

Kim:

Have you heard? We have here at the. Let me start over. Have you heard that? We have. Say it one more time. Guilt free trip for y'all. It is the perfect guilt, guilt treat. You said it again. Take two and us together.

Kim:

Okay, we'll get to it. Here we go.

Zac:

No way. Okay, edit.

Kim:

Hold on. Let me get this. This is Allison. Okay. Hey, girl. I'm taping a podcast.

Zac:

Red light is on.

Kim:

The Kim Gravel show is produced and edited by Zac at Uncommon Audio. Our associate producer is Kathleen Grant from the Brunette Exec. Production help from  Emily Bredin and Sara Noto. Our cover art is designed by Sanaz Huber at Memarian Creative. Our show is edited by Mike Kligerman. Our guest intros are performed by Roxy Reese. Our guest booking is done by Central Talent Booking. And I want to give a special thank you to the entire team at QVC and thanks to you for making this community so strong. Listen, tell somebody about the show and leave us a five star review. And make sure you're following The Kim Gravel Show on your podcast app so we can keep growing this love who you are message together. I can't do this without you. So thank you so much for listening. And y'all, I love you with everything I got.