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Welcome to Merry and Bright - your jolly yuletide podcast!
In season 1, we created this exclusive podcast for our close family and friends. Now, in season 2, we are unleashed and publishing to the world!
This is our opportunity to share some Christmas cheer and to develop our podcasting skills and techniques.
We would love to receive your feedback and voice notes to potentially include in future episodes. Creating and submitting your recording couldn't be easier, just follow this link https://www.speakpipe.com/Merry_and_Bright
To help, here are some specific areas we'd love for you to get involved with:
What's the best or worst secret santa you've received?
Does Christmas inspire charity in you? If so, which causes do you support and how?
What’s your unique or weird Christmas tradition?
Specifically for our Christmas day special, what's been your favourite moment of Merry and Bright? or, do you have a Christmas message for us?
Helpful pointers:
Your recording will be limited to 90seconds, so consider what you'd like to say.
Each question is for a different episode so please only answer one in each recording.
You're welcome to submit more than one recording.
Please record in a quiet space so we can hear you clearly.
Enjoy!
Hello, and welcome to merry and bright, your jollypodmas. I'm Ollie, and I'm here with my am I on the right one? No. I was thinking this is I think this isn't edited very well at all.
Daniel:I mean, the names are wrong for a sec.
Ollie:I mean, the name was wrong in that one as well. I had to correct that on the hoof.
Daniel:Oh, no.
Ollie:Now now far funnier far funnier than that joke. I meant to now say, according to my notes, that I hope your joke is better, Chris. But my notes actually say that I hope your jock is better. So, there we go. We're back.
Ollie:Indeed, we are. This is merry and bright, your jolly Yuletide podcast, and we're back for season 2. I'm Ollie.
Daniel:And I'm Daniel. Last year, we created a festive podcast exclusively for our nearest and dearest. We all hope for a Merry Christmas, but we know that it's not always easy at this time of the year. So the whole idea was and remains to be to connect people through the sharing of memories, family traditions, and stories of Christmases gone awry. It was a mammoth undertaking.
Daniel:25 episodes in 25 days with a whole range of topics. This year, we're being slightly kinder to ourselves and bringing you a weekly injection of joy, and we're going to make it available to everyone. Cue the jingle.
Ollie:Oh, I love our jingle. It's so festively fabulous, and it's safe to say that music underpins A Merry and Bright Christmas, both here on the podcast and in life. Last year, we added a new song every day to our playlist, But now that we are broadcasting to the world can you believe that, Daniel?
Daniel:To the entire world.
Ollie:The entire world. We have had to make a slight tweak to our format owing to the potential for some copyright infringement. So we won't be playing our tracks each day, but we have solved that dilemma for you and added them to a Spotify playlist, merry and bright pod. So now you can revel in last year's tunes, which have all been added, and we will share some new additions with you this year. We are also still gonna be pulling a cracker in each episode, sharing the joke and the treat with you all.
Daniel:And not forgetting that we'll be joined by some guests, some of whom will potentially be repeat visitors from last year.
Ollie:Indeed, it's not all change. But before we move on to our first cracker of the season, how have these last 11 months been for you? It does feel like time has flown by.
Daniel:Yes. Time has moved rather strangely the last 2 years. I think this year, I'm reenergized, excited. Last year, I've I'll be honest, was not easy. It was a bit of a rubbish year.
Daniel:But this year is all on the up. Lots of change. New job, new car have gone green.
Ollie:Yep. And you, you even have a new festive beard.
Daniel:I do have a festive beard. I normally, I wet shave every day, but this year, a little bit through laziness initially, these last couple of weeks, I now have a bit of facial hair.
Ollie:Yeah. And with that, hue of silver, you look like the big man himself.
Daniel:Well, I'm not sure it was gonna last up until Christmas, but we'll see how it goes. At the moment, it's amazing how much time it takes out of my morning routine. Great. And you've got a new car?
Ollie:I have a new car. Yes.
Daniel:You've gone green also?
Ollie:I well, yes. I mean, you followed in my footsteps. I have
Daniel:I think you acted on my advice.
Ollie:Green car, not green the color, I hence to add. Hence to add. He sent to that. Hey ho. This is, episode 1 of this season.
Ollie:But moving on, it is blue. It is electric. And it's parked
Daniel:on your drive of your new home.
Ollie:Yes. It is. You no longer live with me. I don't, and I can tell you're bitterly disappointed by that.
Daniel:Very saddened.
Ollie:I do.
Daniel:I have a new lodger.
Ollie:You do?
Daniel:Never seen him. Is it is it I wonder whether he is Santa because he just vanishes.
Ollie:Wow. I
Daniel:think he just hibernates.
Ollie:Maybe an elf.
Daniel:An elf. Maybe an elf.
Ollie:Yeah. But, yes, I do now have my own abode. Thankfully, not too far away.
Daniel:No. Just around the corner.
Ollie:Just around the corner. And, yeah, it is soon becoming a place of festive wonder.
Daniel:So lots of progress over the last year. Lots of change, all for the good.
Ollie:All for the good. But we are the same, if not slightly refined, merry and bright.
Daniel:Merry and bright.
Ollie:Well, after last year's disasters with those eco crackers, which only had a recyclable game in, I have upped the ante a little bit and been to our beloved M and S.
Daniel:And we can feel less guilty over them now that we've just shared with the nation that we're both driving EVs.
Ollie:Yes. I mean, I felt no guilt anyway, but there's no tatty toys. However, these do retain an eco theme. I won't
Daniel:tell you
Ollie:what it is just yet.
Daniel:Okay. So Greta's not gonna hunt us down. No cancellations.
Ollie:No. But, you know, life isn't all about Greta. But here we go. Grab hold.
Daniel:K. Ready? Hold.
Ollie:It's our 1st
Daniel:My second. Season. Well, I don't know about that.
Ollie:321.
Daniel:Oh, I get cheating. Oh.
Ollie:Oh, straight straight under my nose.
Daniel:I lost.
Ollie:You lost. I won. And that aroma Oh, here he goes. Getting his fix. Brilliant.
Ollie:Okeydoke. Well, do we have a toy or the joke?
Daniel:No. Hit us with a joke. Okay.
Ollie:Why did the man take his clock to the vet?
Daniel:I don't know. Why did the man take his clock to the vet?
Ollie:It had ticks. Oh, dear.
Daniel:I love how he's he's sat here, if you could see him, signaling to the sound desk because he wants me to play his little, his little tune, little, rim shot.
Ollie:Well done. Well done. You can see that we're still a little rusty. This is slick.
Daniel:This is slick.
Ollie:And here is the first treat.
Daniel:Is that a wooden tree decoration?
Ollie:It is. And I'm going to gift that
Daniel:to you. Thank you. That's quite nice.
Ollie:A little You could use
Daniel:it as a gift label, actually, can you, if you could write on that?
Ollie:You could. It's a very little wooden star. Very nice. So, yes, no plastic, waste in these crackers, a little wooden tree decoration.
Daniel:Well, here we are, 3 weeks away from the big day. How are preparations coming along, Ollie?
Ollie:Well, I was saying to somebody just earlier, actually, how, I've done lots of Christmas prep, shopping, and whatnot, but only for me and for the house. I haven't really given it a second thought as far as other people. Although that sounds really selfish, and I don't mean it like that, but in terms of what I need to do for other people, it's kind of crept up on me as much as I've also been building up to it for a long time.
Daniel:Well, I've kind of I'm in reverse this year. I've got ahead of myself on the chop in front. So I've got for Corey, my younger brother, some for my parents, for some friends, for you. So I know you're having for Christmas because it's upstairs, but I haven't done any decorations yet. Normally, I would kind of trim up about now, but shopping for me is usually a mid December thing.
Daniel:Mhmm. So I'm ahead of myself.
Ollie:Yeah. Well, what I have done and you have done, at least, is we have got our trees.
Daniel:We do. Real trees. Genuine, real, organic trees.
Ollie:Yes. We went off to, B&Q.
Daniel:You can do it.
Ollie:And we bought some of their finest specimens.
Daniel:Although, it did they did feel slightly like Greggs, but I think we got the 2 good finds.
Ollie:We did. And what we do now know for next year is we should head to Costco. We should head to
Daniel:yeah. We're not in association with any providers.
Ollie:No. And there were some glorious trees there.
Daniel:There were, but they were also huge.
Ollie:Yeah. So next week,
Daniel:you might we might get as far as actually getting yours to your house because they're currently both in my garage. We did have to purchase a new saw to cut the ends off.
Ollie:Yes. I made my annual trip to Toolstation and felt ever so butch.
Daniel:Yes. Did they ask you whether you were in the right place?
Ollie:No. Because I have an account.
Daniel:I love how just the pride in your face then.
Ollie:I almost feel like I need a supersized tool belt when I go in there for my purchases. Yeah. So had a new saw, so we can lock the bottoms off.
Daniel:Yeah. Done. Mission accomplished.
Ollie:I have, I have also actually decorated some of the exterior of my house.
Daniel:Yes. I have a twinkling tree. It is particularly camp this year.
Ollie:It is following my theme of joy.
Daniel:Of joy. That's Yeah. Okay. That's the theme. The theme is joy.
Ollie:So it is bright, twinkly, and Very much
Daniel:very multicolored. It's very bright.
Ollie:It is. Very multicolored indeed.
Daniel:We had a whole debate on whether Ollie had a wreath or not.
Ollie:It is described as a star shaped wreath.
Daniel:But it's not a wreath, is it? It's a door decoration that is a very multicolored star.
Ollie:I don't wholly disagree with you based on its shape, but who has ever heard of a door decoration?
Daniel:Well, that's what it is.
Ollie:What else have you done?
Daniel:Well, we've done our annual trip to Fortnum's. Yes. We have. Which last year featured as a whole episode as a road trip.
Ollie:Yes. But given that they haven't picked up on the clues either from my, TikToks for them or from our feature episode, and there is no paid partnership seemingly forthcoming, we will not be dedicating that time to them this year.
Daniel:I mean, given the fact that last year was behind the password, I don't think anyone for I don't think there was any risk of anyone from Fortnum's finding out that we were ever even discussing them on a podcast.
Ollie:Where there's a will, there's a way. Did you share it with Fortnum's? I don't know, if I'm honest. But, yeah, we did, and we had a lovely time
Daniel:We did.
Ollie:As far as the afternoon tea was concerned. Far too busy around the shop, but I achieved what I wanted to get out of it.
Daniel:Yesterday's lunch felt a little bit festive, actually. I roasted a ham, and we had it with some chili lily from Fortnum's We did. Which felt a bit festive Yes. Rather indulgent at lunchtime in our, podcast preparations.
Ollie:Yes. I mean, we could play it down as a ham sandwich. No no excess indulgence there. We could. That would, however, downplay your culinary delight that you offered.
Daniel:Thank you. And on that, I have started to fill the Christmas draw.
Ollie:Draw, shall we elaborate? You don't have a draw, do you, for Christmas?
Daniel:Well, it is on runners. It's a draw.
Ollie:I could fit in your Christmas draw with help.
Daniel:Help from that sore. Well, yes. It's it's expansive, but so that that's no fault, but it's been I I mean, I I don't know about other people, and I know lots of people have rules about their Christmas drawers or Christmas stash or Christmas box or whatever it is that you store your Christmas goods in, your treats, when you can start to access it. But mine tends to be simultaneously filled and utilized. Have you got rules about this?
Ollie:I haven't because I don't tend to do a Christmas cupboard or drawer.
Daniel:The is it no transition of the types of things you have in stock? In stock?
Ollie:No. Because unlike you, we don't all run a distribution center.
Daniel:Well, that's the garage. That's an entirely different beast.
Ollie:Yes. No. But I think that's because I I tend not to stock up too much
Daniel:at home. Let's face it. It's the 1st year
Ollie:I've done this all by myself.
Daniel:That's true.
Ollie:And I shall just look to come and enjoy your
Daniel:Christmas draw. Most other people do. So why not? Yeah. I mean, last year, we had lots of conversation about kind of different things that people get, treats for this type of this season, rules around what could be used, consumed when.
Ollie:And we must consider food waste because we were still finding some of the supposedly Christmas contents of your cupboard at Easter.
Daniel:That that is true. That is true. In fact, I've got Easter eggs in my one pullout at the moment still. The thing is I like I like having those things around, but I don't actually cons necessarily consume them all myself. I'm not a big chocolate eater, but I always end up with lots of chocolates that make it to the bowl to the lounge, and then people take whatever they want.
Daniel:The drags are left, and they remain there for ages.
Ollie:Yeah. That's one way of looking at it. I think there's probably something around supply and demand as well, though.
Daniel:Well, maybe. But I well, yeah. Maybe. Mhmm.
Ollie:The other thing is I went a bit mad on mince pies last year, which while that hasn't put me off eating them, I am aware I purchased far too many.
Daniel:Yeah. Way too I mean, again, we had an episode that was kinda sampling blind sampling of mince pies, but you did go way overboard. I did. I have had my first mince pie of the season, which was almond topped.
Ollie:Oh, I had a traditional one at a christening, actually. I was at the other day.
Daniel:Very nice. Chris oh, what a lovely time you were for christening. Was it a good spread?
Ollie:Oh, it was amazing spread.
Daniel:The thing that will make christenings, bar mitzvahs, and funerals, the spread.
Ollie:I mean, this was a grazing table, which well, I had not seen anything like it. It was phenomenal.
Daniel:That's something else new this year. I have a coffee table, but in reality, it is probably more of a grazing table because it's usually covered more in food than it is in coffee.
Ollie:That's true. Yes. New table. So much change. So much change.
Ollie:And I believe you might have visited a Christmas market.
Daniel:I did visit the Christmas market. I got there just after 6 o'clock, and it closed at 6. So thus far of this season, I have not actually managed to get around the Christmas market that's open, but that is on my agenda for next week.
Ollie:Right. I do see a theme with your planning maybe at times.
Daniel:Well, I am very busy. Mhmm. So sometimes I just have to go with the moment. Yeah. It's probably also just talks to the ADHD.
Daniel:I don't always want a plan. Just do. Just do.
Ollie:Just do and be disappointed.
Daniel:Well, not always. It was a little adventure. Had a lovely dinner instead.
Ollie:Very nice.
Daniel:Which was a festive pie.
Ollie:Oh, do you know I made a festive pie last week?
Daniel:Did you well
Ollie:I should almost do, like, a recipe corner.
Daniel:I did not know this.
Ollie:I did chicken thigh, obviously, if it was actually Christmas. That would have to be turkey. Chicken is no substitute. Bacon lardons, a white wine and cream sauce with cranberry sauce in, and lots of leek.
Daniel:This is now took turned into the Good Food Channel.
Ollie:It has. But, you know, wrapped up in filo, that was a festive delight, I have to say.
Daniel:Now when you say pie, was this pastry top?
Ollie:It was all in filo.
Daniel:Oh, so not not pot pie. An actual pie.
Ollie:No. I'm not a pot pie fan. Oh. My pies have to be fully encapsulated. Yep.
Ollie:Filo wrap around in a traditional enamel pie dish.
Daniel:And was it good? It was. Well, I wouldn't know. I did I wasn't offered any.
Ollie:We will leave that there.
Daniel:Okay. Maybe I was. I I think we've kinda covered some of the highlights for this time of year. We're 3 weeks out. I I like that build up to Christmas.
Daniel:It's it's not a for me, it's not an on off button, kind of season can start and they forget everything. I like that kind of build up.
Ollie:I do. 1st October, let it start to trickle in, interrupted rudely by awful Halloween, and then from the 1st November.
Daniel:October? Did you that didn't quite register with me. Did you just say the 1st October it can start?
Ollie:I think so. You need to start What
Daniel:what starts in October that's festive?
Ollie:The thinking.
Daniel:The thinking. The mountain
Ollie:Christmas thinking I've done, researching baubles and preparing shopping lists and, you know, the number of items that are sold out by November. You need to think about these things in advance.
Daniel:Oh, see. Now for me, end of November, you kinda start to some of that excitement and the build up. Beginning of December, that's when it's acceptable. Decorations can go up. Festive music can begin to be played.
Daniel:That's perfectly acceptable.
Ollie:Well, 2 things I was going to purchase were both out of stock before the end of November, and that was my wreath, which was going to be a circular wreath Oh. And, M and S Percy Pigs tree decorations. So you have to act fast.
Daniel:You do. Beginning of December, Christmas markets, although I have failed. I I only need to do 1 or, you know, I might do a couple, but generally they're all the same. Let's let's be honest. But I do love a Christmas market, some mulled wine.
Daniel:I did have a mulled wine. I managed to get a mulled wine when I went to the market. It was disappointing. It was lukewarm and was not nearly as chemically as market purchased mulled wine should be.
Ollie:Oh, did you did you have brandy there this year?
Daniel:I did not have brandy this year.
Ollie:I haven't had mulled wine yet, actually. That must be remedied.
Daniel:Oh, I I've had 2. So I had 1 at the market and then or maybe more than 2, actually. And then Ross and I shared a bottle while putting his tree up in the flat.
Ollie:Very good. Very good.
Daniel:Which was which was lovely. Anything else? Kind of things this year? What did people share with us last year? They we had we have lots of people talking about kind of start of our arts and crafts.
Daniel:Those were art Artie of Access. They have to start that fairly early because lots of preparation. We had a couple of guests, who sold their goods. Yeah. So they had to prepare well in advance.
Ollie:Yeah. Because, actually, let's face it. We started a lot earlier as well last year. We'd recorded some episodes in October.
Daniel:We had. We had. But I think the the weekly injection means that we can keep it within the festive pew.
Ollie:And it's very timely. What have we done this week? What will we what do we hope to do by next week? Have you got anything you hope to have done by next week?
Daniel:The tree needs to make it in from the garage, be decorated. I wanna progress a bit more with my shopping. Mhmm.
Ollie:That
Daniel:will be good. I've got an afternoon tea in Bath, so that should tick off the Christmas market. Yes. That's the last of my birthday, presents for this year.
Ollie:Bear in mind your birthday is January 4th.
Daniel:It is January 4th. Yeah, but just let it last the whole year. And now in what? What are we? Just just over a month.
Daniel:Well, a month today, it will be my birthday again, so I get to reset.
Ollie:Yes. Another year older.
Daniel:Another year wiser.
Ollie:We won't worry about what I plan to do in the next week then.
Daniel:How about you? What do you plan to do in the next week?
Ollie:Nothing. Nothing.
Daniel:No progress? No not getting any Christmas tree out of my garage? Make it to your house?
Ollie:Sorry. I I was joking. I thought you could ask again. Oh.
Daniel:Well, I'm not asking again. This can make it to the edit. Wow.
Ollie:So we mentioned our playlist, which you can follow on Spotify, and we remain on Instagram at merryandbrightpod, where you can give us your song suggestions. Have you got any top picks for today, Daniel?
Daniel:Nothing new, but coming back with the Christmas trees, I did enjoy, Ed and Elton's Merry Christmas.
Ollie:Yes. That was our Christmas day entry from last year.
Daniel:It was.
Ollie:Definitely one of my favorites of recent times. I have a suggestion to add to our playlist.
Daniel:New or existing? New. A new addition to the playlist?
Ollie:A new addition from the wonder that is Cher's Christmas album, as I shared with everybody last year, and it's Put A Little Holiday in Your Heart by Cher and Cyndi Lauper. Well worth a listen.
Daniel:Well, I'll put it on as soon as we finish here. That is it for this episode, but it wouldn't be a merry and bright episode without your reminder that the true magic of Christmas lies in the love we share, the memories we create, and the kindness we show to one another.