 Chumps, the Yuletide version, and here it is. I have my Christmas pyjamas on. Isn't that nice? This is the first time anybody showed up on Channel 17 with the pyjamas on. My name is Bill Keele. I'm the host of this program. And my co-host is Joey Donovan. Joey? I just would like to say I hope this is the last time anybody shows up at Channel 17 in their pajamas. But after I saw Bill's, I took these off the Channel 17 Christmas tree so that I could match your festive mood. All right, we're even then. We're even. OK. Anyway, this is going to be a Yuletide version. Here it is, the 21st of December, the shortest day of the year, the first day of winter, welcome winter, not. And so anyway, so we're just going to talk about Christmas stories of family or incidents or whatever. So if you want to share a good Christmas story, call in 8-6-2-3-9-6-6. 8-6-2-3-9-6-6. And Joey, where do we go from here? Well, I think we have to, first of all, imagine that tomorrow the days will start to get longer. So that's the good news. Oh, more daylight, OK? More daylight. So but we really talked about Christmas memories, and you and I were filling each other with all sorts of stories about when we were kids. Can we tell them? I think for most part we can. OK, all right. I remember in our family on Thanksgiving night, an aunt and uncle of ours, who would be guests for Thanksgiving dinner, would pack up my brothers and sisters and me and take us downtown to City Hall Park, where the crash would have just been opened. And of course, I think you were probably maybe on the city council when we, because of respect for other cultures, decided that it wasn't really probably the best principle policy just to have a nativity scene on city property. So we no longer have that. But back when I was growing up, there was never any thought to those sensitivities that I think it's good that we respect. But I always remember that as a big kickoff to the Christmas season. And OK, so all you guys went down there and the mayor was there and? I don't think it was the mayor. It was just our family and other people that the lights had gone on in this beautiful life-sized manger scene that would be on display in City Hall Park. OK, now when you were kids, how about your disclosure of Santa Claus as a myth? Did you have any rules in your? Oh, I never heard of that. You never heard of Santa Claus? Well, what was Santa Claus in your family? Santa Claus was Santa Claus. Oh, but did he come down there chimney and all that kind of good stuff? I never knew, because we always felt that he had to use a door in our house. Oh, OK. But whatever, I always was very glad that whatever his method of entry, although there were sometimes some threats that perhaps he wasn't coming that year, he always did come. And it was always so very exciting. Well, why was it exciting? What was the excitement about it? I just think, don't you remember just building up all that time? Yeah, well, we had Santa Claus coming. This is the whole thing, and we put out cookies. Oh, yes. We put out cookies right near the fireplace in the South End. And we have cookies here. And I don't know if we put them. It wasn't a beer, but I had the beer. Santa Claus had the soda. We had milk. OK, it was milk. Yeah, that was good. And then in the morning, we ate the cookies or leave some crumbs around. And then we always left a note. Oh, yeah, OK. And the first thing in the morning, when I was younger, was to find, did he eat all the cookies? And did he leave any message? Did he write anything back? OK, all right. And oftentimes, he did. But I remember so many. I remember one Christmas, we always had the big tree decorating. And I'm not sure. Do you remember a thing that was called angel hair? Yeah. That you could put on the tree? Yeah. What it actually was, was fiberglass. And everyone who handled it broke out with this horrendous rash and itch and little cuts. I do remember that. And I think we only had angel hair that one Christmas. Oh, well, wasn't it flammable? It was probably flammable. It was probably poisonous. A little bad thing. And it certainly was irritating. But it was marketed as the next best thing for your Christmas tree. So we had to have it. Well, remember, we'd always just talk about the night before and assembling gifts. But the night before, we'd always have a, after the kids went to bed, we sort of chatted around and then probably stayed up too late. So the problem was keeping the kids in bed. Oh, early in the morning. Early. They didn't want to get up early. So we had to somehow put a barrier of some sort to so they wouldn't jump out and start, we'd lose control. Anyway, that worked out OK. And I would take pictures. And remember the big glaring lights in the old days of, whoa. Anyway, so but how about the night before, of assembling gifts? Tell me about your experience. I'm going back again when I was a very young child. In our family, I had two brothers, one of whom was an altar boy and the other a choir boy. So they always were committed to midnight mass, where my sisters and I were delegated to be made at home and go to bed early and be good children. So it was always sort of a problem, because I could hear my brothers going out to mass and coming back. And there'd be all sorts of happenings downstairs. But I was never privy to get up to see any of them. So why not? I mean, why did they go to mass and you didn't? Because they had to, because my mother and father, I never, I think they were too busy. They never went to midnight mass. But the two brothers were involved as altar servers and choir boy. No, in those days, you could have to not eat after midnight. If you're going to go to communion the next day, you had to fast after midnight. What's the story behind that? Well, that was such a problem, because when we would go to our stockings on Christmas morning, oftentimes Santa Claus would leave some really terrific treats that you did not see the likes of, except if you'd had a very good Halloween load. And you'd be looking at them and touching them, but you couldn't eat them, because you couldn't break your fast. You had to certainly wanted to go to communion on Christmas morning. And to do so, you had to fast. So that's another reason that I think I'll probably have a high place in heaven. All right. Now, how about getting a Christmas treat? Was that a big event, or was that just something that your family got a treat and came in and decorated it? I think my mother ordered it up. I don't remember. My husband and I, we would have those adventures with our children of getting a Christmas treat and choosing a treat. I remember one year, poor Tom got the treat on his own, brought it home, and there was a whole terrible mental breakdown. It was he probably hadn't brought his glasses to the tree store, but it was a very less than a Charlie Brown Christmas treat. And so we ultimately had to pass that on to another family and go out and buy the second one, because it was breaking hearts all over the house. Oh, wow. But I don't remember us. I just remember the Christmas treat coming, and whether my mom had just ordered it or my father did. Well, we went out and bought it for a couple of years. And then one year, much to the chagrin of my family, I got a silver tree. It was all a silver tree. It had a silver post that these things just stuck in the side. Man, that did not go over well. But we survived on it. If you have a story about your Christmas, give us a call, 8-6-2-3-9-6-6. We're just rambling here. And if you've got a story you want to share, let us hear it. Let us share it with others. 8-6-2-3-9-6-6. How did you, a traditionalist, as you are demonstrating yourself to be today in your Christmas pajamas, how could you ever have bought a fake silver tree? Well, I figured, well, you could use it for many years. I mean, there was a fake tree. Couldn't you get a fake green tree? I don't know. Maybe this was cheaper by $1.5. I like your honesty. It was cheaper by $1.5. It didn't last very long, but I still remember it as being in some of my family photographs. Another thing that we talked about, traditions of past years were Christmas cards. Oh, God. And it was, you know, you'd send many out, but it was such a pleasure to have the mailman come. And there would be piles of cards. And I remember the Christmas cards at my childhood home would be in a big basket. But when my father would come home from work, that would be the first thing he did. The cards that arrived that day would be held out of the basket for him to look at and read. And they meant so much to my parents. And, you know, many of them were from friends and neighbors. Oh, wow. But we kept on, you know, everybody sent Christmas cards. Well, they did. And a couple of nights before the mailing time, he's had to make sure they arrived the Christmas there before arriving after that is not so good. They would have a caller. Oh, great. Caller, you're on the air. What's your Yuletide story? My Yuletide remembrance is going to my parents' house with a bunch of different people, families, in-laws, and passing out caroling books. And we all sang, and it was great, except the two in-law children linked each other singing and said, do you realize we two, not blood relatives, are the only two singing on key? Are they still in the family? The whole rest of the family doesn't know where key is, but we all had just as much fun singing. Oh, that's wonderful. Are those in-laws still in the family? Are they still in the family? After criticizing your talent. My husband is still in the family. The wife of my brother is not. I got a question for you. I'm going to see if I can stump you. You had those traditional Christmas carol books. What was the name of the insurance company that sponsored those? Oh, God. Oh, Lord, you know, I don't think ours were free. I think they were some my mother bought. Oh, OK. Well, the answer is John Hancock. You can tell me the answer. I could have just gasped Hickok and Boardman, but we weren't from the Burlington area, so it wouldn't be Hickok and Boardman. Who wants to be? It was John Hancock. Were they the little blue ones? Yeah, little blue ones. Little blue ones, yeah. No, these were big, red, shiny, covered song books. Now, has your voice improved since then? Your singing voice improved since then? When we sing, I'm a dragon boat paddler in Burlington. I paddle with the Dragon Heart team. And when we sing a song, they give me a quarter to just mouth the words. OK, thank you for doing that, Dragon Heart. That's a great group. It's a wonderful group. Yeah, nice going. Thanks for calling in. We have another caller. You're ever so welcome. Bye-bye now. Merry Christmas. Thank you. You too. Caller, you're on the air. What's your story? Hi, my name is Joe Malia. I'm a cousin. Joe, can you sing? Not very well. But I have sung with Joey. OK, what's your story, Joe? Well, actually, your mother on Christmas Eve would always deliver a case of Coke to 21 Led Road, who's in one of those old cardboard boxes with six and a half ounce Coke bottles, which was a treasure to the Mealy family. And then we would spend the entire next day, Christmas, at the farmer's house. And that would include all the Mahoney's, double Mahoney's, Lettie's, Mealy's, lots and lots of cousins. And those are the memories that we all cherish a lot. And they were very, very beautiful, beautiful Christmas nights, weren't they, Joe? Do you hear Joey? Yes, they were. And all the girls were dressed in dresses made by Margaret Farmer. Right. That's Dr. Farmer's house, right? That's correct. Yeah, OK, good. Joe, anything funny happened to you? I mean, you guys had quite a clan there, Don Mealy's crowd and Mickey and all that crowd. Any farcical things go on in those days? At the Mealy house? At the Mealy house. Joe? Yeah, well, we were at Doc Farmer's house. And of course, we had eight Mahoney's and seven Mahoney's and nine Mahoney's, seven Mahoney's, eight Mealy's, six Lettie's. So you speak of farce. Yes, all singing and dancing to Mick McGilligan's ball was quite an adventure. Oh, good. It was a wonderful time. Well, thanks, Joe, for sharing that experience. Appreciate you calling in. Thank you. Have a good holiday. Thank you. How about that? So we're talking about Christmas trees when we're talking about how about shopping downtown. How did you tell us more about shopping downtown, Joey? I'm not a shopper, but. Well, back in the day, I think people did. Church Street was the main shopping place in the whole area. And there was no University Mall. There was no Williston. No Gaines, no. Oh, there was Gaines. There was Gaines, OK. Sid and Lou and the brothers, too, often had some good items. Yeah, Sid and Lou Mazel, yeah. But I think Christmas at Church Street, especially as I got older, and you might be in college or something, you'd go and you'd meet friends that you hadn't seen for a long time. You might get detoured into maybe a little pub for a drink or two to catch up with old times. But you couldn't really go a block or two without just having a good visit with somebody. And everybody was usually in good spirits. And just it felt like a real community. And I was down on Church Street last night with some of my grandchildren. And it was so beautiful. And yet, walking four blocks up to the big Christmas tree with the children, I don't think I said hello to anyone because I didn't know anybody. Of course, we were all bundled up because it was pretty cold. But it is, Burlington, we've really grown as a city and a town, which is good. But it's not quite the way it used to be, sort of a smaller community where you knew everyone. Before the show, we were talking about assembly. We were talking about assembling toys on Christmas Eve. To me, that was the nightmare. If you have a story of a nightmare of your house on Christmas Eve, call us 8-6-2-3-9-6-6. But the night before, you have to assemble some of those toys. And being impatient, like I was, I said, I'm not going to read those instructions. That's baloney. I'm not going to do this. And it was very frustrating. Did that same thing happen in your house? I think it was a problem. I was married to a man who always felt that he could probably erect the Eiffel Tower with his own knowledge and would often start without the three packages with the 48 nuts and bolts and all the other equipment. So we did have some times that tested our Christmas spirit. But overall, it turned out well. And sometimes by morning, whether it was a gift of Christmas itself, things were put together. We have a color. Color you're on the air with your Yuletide story. What is it? Yes, I have a story that I'd like to share. It's one of my childhood stories. I remember one time when I was young, maybe eight or nine, my dad put me in the car on Christmas Eve and said, come on, we're going to go get a gift. And I had no idea where we were going or what we were going to forget. And we ended up going to a store. It may have been a Gaines or something like that. But it was our first color television. Oh, wow. I remember I was so surprised to get our first color television and bring that back and set it up for Christmas Day. But it wasn't so much the gift that I was impressed with is the fact that my dad picked me to go out of five kids to go with him to get that television. That's a memory I'm always going to have till the day I die. And I just wanted to share that with a group. Tell Joey that I love her Christmas decorations. They look great. Thank you. And Merry Christmas to all. And Bill, I think you know who this is. Yes, I do. I'll see you on Christmas. Merry Christmas. Thanks for calling in. Yep. All right, bye-bye. Bye-bye. I was another thing as we were talking about Christmas Eve. I know in many French-Canadian families, they had the meat pies. Tortier. Tortier. That was so important to their culture. In our house, my father could never have Christmas Eve without oyster stew. And one night, when I was asking about it, they would have oysters when he was growing up in Underhill, Vermont, on Christmas Eve. And I always thought, how did they ever get oysters in Underhill on Christmas Eve? And then later, going to a Christmas holiday party at a big Irish farm family in Milton. And there, what did they serve? Oyster stew. So it may have been an Irish tradition, because I remember having this long conversation with these Irish folks in Milton, and they talk of they always had oysters on Christmas Eve. OK. The Kios did not? No, he did not. I have a story to share with it. Somehow, the family went to Morrisville or stole it to a maple syrup farm. That was the thing we'd go to just around Christmas time. Is that your kid? My kids, my kids. And somebody, one of my five kids, poured hot syrup in his sister's boot. Now, first of all, it's hot. OK, now we're out in Stowe or Morrisville, and it's cold. So when that sticky syrup gets in the boot. Was the sister's foot in the boot at the time? The boot at the time, along with the maple syrup. OK, so it's hot to begin with. And secondly, of course, she's crying and trying to come. What's wrong? I can't get your boot off. It's cold. And of course, by the time we get home, the maple syrup has cooled, and it's sticky. That was a little chaos for quite a ride home with that unhappy child with maple syrup in her boot. Now, those were. I do remember one green Christmas growing up, and I thought the world had come to an end. Why? We had no snow on this Christmas, and it seemed so strange. And I wish I could remember, and I don't know if any of our viewers could remember what year that was. I think it may have been in the late 50s or early 60s. OK. And now, we've had several Christmases, I think, that have been green. Thank God we're not going to have one this year. I know. But do you don't remember that Christmas? No, I don't. I don't think so, no. So on Christmas Day, what did you do for activities after you opened the, one other thing about gifts? There's one thing I did. You give all these gifts to these kids, and they're in the data with the stuff. I used to hide them. I put them away for, they were playing with three or four different gifts, and I put away five or six and give them to them later on. Oh, that's all something new. They forget about it. So we sort of give them a long life. Yes, or if you really thought you bought the perfect thing. And when I was trying to think like my pretty pony and the cabbage patch dolls, I used to have a connection of an old friend in New York who would call me and say, I'm on to a pretty pony. I think I can buy three next Thursday. And it would be, because you couldn't get a cab. There'd be lines to get a cabbage patch doll. Oh, sure. And I'd think, oh, my poor little girl's Christmas is just going to be horrible if I can't get this cabbage patch doll. And finally, I would score one or do something almost illegal to get one. And then the joy of the cabbage patch doll would last 15 minutes or so on Christmas morning. And you'd just go, oh, I can't believe what I did to get that thing. Not appreciated. Well, I think it was, but not quite as much. I'm not sure what would have happened if the cabbage patch doll had not been under the tree. Oh, OK. If you have a Christmas story or a Christmas related story, give us a call, 8-6-2-3-9-6-6. Now, what'd you do on Christmas day? Go sliding, go skating, or what'd you do on Christmas day when you get kicked out of the house after a while? No, as my cousin Joe said, we would do, we'd go to my father's aunt's house for Christmas dinner. Then we'd go to my father's sister's house. And then we would end up at my grandfather's home, which he lived with Dr. and Mrs. Farmer on North Avenue. And that's where we'd meet all our Mahoney cousins. And we would dance and sing and be downstairs playing ping-pong. And just would have a fabulous, fabulous Christmas night with all our relatives. Oh, wow. OK. And we had uncles who loved to sing and loved to harmonize. We always thought they were going to go on the Ed Sullivan show, but one uncle always had to have his head in so he could hear the harmony. We knew Ed Sullivan wouldn't like that. So he kept the group from going nationwide. But it was just a warm time, you know? And I think one thing we should talk about, though, is Bill tonight, is I think you and I and so many others have such wonderful memories of this time of year. But I think too many others don't. You know, I remember when my children were small, we adopted a single gentleman for Christmas and we stopped at his home, which was very humble, on Christmas Eve. And he was so happy that we had came and we had bought some little gifts and a fruit basket for him and everything. And he was warm and wonderful and told my children some stories. And we left that man that night. And I realized how little we remember some of those people who don't have families and who are struggling financially often times. And some of our older people who have health issues. And so I hope that we all will sort of remember those people, remember the food shelf, remember, I think they're still taking turkeys. I know that they like cheques and cash. And they can really spin that into more food than just if you bring cans, but they welcome anything. But I think it's a special time for us to remember those who are not as lucky as we are. That's a good point, Joy, thinking of bringing it up because nothing beats a personal visit. And on the other side of that coin, to be alone, a Christmas Eve or the Christmas day, just a five or 10 minute visit to somebody who has maybe no one or some related, that's the perfect gift for them. They may not remember it 20 minutes afterwards, but at least you were there and at least you felt good, you did something and they appreciated your visit. So that's so often that we do have to forget that. And it is a time where I feel as though we have the automatic wallet going 24 hours a day and thinking, oh my gosh, I have two more trips to the grocery store. You know, one of the things we were talking about, Christmas cards, I think it was high school or it was going to St. Michael or whatever, but we got these jobs at Christmas time, a little patronage jobs at the post office. Oh wow. Christmas cards were a big thing, so you had to put on additional mail and carriers, and that paid well. It did paid very well. And you had to have some political connection in those days while maybe even today. But I remember we used to deliver mail in the Burlington area and you couldn't come back before a certain time. And when you're talking about we, you're really only talking about your gender. That's true, that is exactly true. Thank you, I thought, I knew that it was. That's a good point, that's a good point. I knew that it was. But we boys, we delivered the mail and we would get back early, so we can't go to the post office and check out. So we'd go to Memorial Auditorium and watch the basketball team practice. So we'd kill time and we'd stay warned, but we hustled around that route. But there was also some jobs when I lived in Barrie for a while. We'd open doors for the customers in the hardware store. You ever hear those stories? No, I mean, but I don't know if those jobs don't exist today, but that's one way we try to earn Christmas money to do that kind of thing. We were talking earlier about all the different men's stores on Church Street. It was Hayes and Carney. And Shepherd and Amell, anything, John Riley, Miles and Riley, and others. Humphreys, a favorite store, a smart man. I remember Hayes and Carney's in particular because my father, you'd go in there and Peter Carney, God love him, would know exactly my father's size, shirt size, hat size, everything. And also I might pick up a tie and he'd say, I don't think he'd like that. That was helpful. It was extremely helpful. I defy that anybody could get that service today. Amazon doesn't do that. Amazon does not give that personal care. Perhaps Michael Kio Shop might do that. Michael still does a good job there at the corner of colleges on Church Street. Yes. So what else can we remember? Oh, how about sliding downhill? How about sliding areas when we had snow and winter? Like what were some of the places we used to slide? I went to Mount St. Mary's for elementary school and right outside the convent there was a wonderful sliding hill. And we'd go to the convent after and just get cardboard boxes and just would slide down that hill and just think it was just wonderful. I drive by that now if I'm ever up at Mount St. Mary's and I go, there's not much of a hill there at all. I lived across the street from there. And so we'd go there. But also I used to slide down Fletcher-Allen Hill. Yes. And the challenge there for me was slide down Fletcher-Allen Hill, go across Colchester Road and getting back of Ira Allen School Land. That was a whoa kind of a thing. While dodging cars going across Colchester Avenue. I told that to my mother once and she bawled me out. I did it again but I didn't tell her again. But you remember the controversy about when the hospital was building that parking lot? Oh yeah. Because they took away the sliding hill. And there were so many Burlington people that really didn't want that to happen. And I guess in the theme of progress you can't compare a parking garage to a hospital sliding hill. No, you can't. Joey, this has been a great 30 minutes. It has been fun. And I think we've got some callers who added. Some callers. Thank you for calling in and sharing your experiences with us and listening to us. We know you're out there. And Joey, have a good holiday. And I'd like your, I'd like your attire. I gotta say that. Thank you very much. Thank you. I love baubles. Thanks for tuning in to Channel 17 and Stump the Chumps. We'll see you on January 9th, our next session. Have a good holiday. Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas.