🗣️ The Season of Too Much?

 THE CULTURE CODE

🎄 Holiday Overdrive

The tree’s up. Mariah Carey has defrosted, and my daughters are circling their Advent calendars, licking their lips like apex predators.
Christmas season has officially landed—and it's only November.

Growing up in the UK, Christmas was magic.
I still remember waking up at stupid-o’clock, tearing into presents while my parents nursed hangovers from their annual Christmas Eve party. (The real miracle of the season was them surviving it.)
Pure nostalgia fuel.

Fast-forward a few decades, and wow — Christmas has scaled.

In Japan, December 25th is a normal workday (boo!) — yet the shops go full North Pole the minute Halloween wraps. Lights everywhere (amazing), Mariah on loop (less amazing), and enough tinsel to bankrupt Santa. Japan may not “celebrate” Christmas, but it absolutely wants you to buy it.

Globally, the cues are universal:

• 🇺🇸 Coca-Cola’s Christmas trucks rolling in.

• 🇬🇧 John Lewis dropping a mini movie and making half the country cry.

• 🌍 Kids writing lists. Trees going up. Pets in Santa hats.

And let’s not forget Black Friday — the “totally coincidental” shopping holiday that conveniently lands four weeks before Christmas. True festive spirit is wrestling someone to the ground for a discounted air fryer…

But is it too much? A trillion-dollar cultural supernova built from pagan bonfires, Roman feasts, Christian traditions, and centuries of family rituals — now all wrapped up in fairy lights and piped through speakers into every shop.

And when advent calendars start costing $$$ and looking like this…

…maybe we need to ask:

TALK TOOLBOX

🛡️ Dodging Holiday Drama

You've survived the shopping. Now survive the talking.

Holiday gatherings mean reuniting with relatives and “old friends” you see once a year — which sounds lovely… until Uncle Bob starts his monologue about that topic (let’s be honest: probably Trump).

Here’s your seasonal survival kit — equal parts tact, strategy, and escape artistry.

• The Graceful Exit

  Physical excuses are your friend. "I need to check on the kids/grab another drink/help in the kitchen." Simple. Effective. Requires zero explanation.
  💡 Pro tip: Always have a visible task. Holding an empty plate? You're 'going to get more food.' Works like a charm.

• The Topic Pivot

  When conversations veer into ‘danger’ territory: "Speaking of [tenuous connection], did you see [safe topic]?
  Redirect swiftly and shamelessly. Food, travel, pets, and TV are neutral ground. Like conversational Switzerland.

• The Gray Rock Method

  Give boring, minimal responses until they lose interest.
  "Hmm, interesting." "I hadn't thought about it." "Maybe."
  You’re a human beige wall.

• The Honesty Play

  "I'm trying to keep things light tonight—can we talk about something else?"
  Most will respect it.
  The ones who don’t?
  ➡️ See Tactic #1.

💬 YOUR TURN: Have an 'Uncle Bob'? What's their topic?

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 NEWS YOU CAN USE

Turn headlines into talking points.

🐻 Beware Robo-Bear

Parents already juggle enough — screen time, school concerts, and whatever the hell a Labubu is.

Now add AI toys to the threat matrix.

Consumer watchdogs recently tested several AI-powered toys and found some of them chatting with kids about… let’s call it adult content — including fetishes and bondage.

Yes. Bondage.
From a teddy bear.
Somewhere, Pixar just screamed (in horror, not because of any bondage...)

One AI cuddly even explained how to light a match and where to find sharp objects at home — turning playtime into an outtake from Toy Story 5: Sid’s Revenge.

OpenAI quickly cut ties with the manufacturer, FoloToy, and child-safety groups are urging parents to avoid AI toys this holiday season. Between privacy risks, creepy conversations, and the general “possessed bear” vibe, it’s not looking good

Back in the ’80s, parents fought over Cabbage Patch Kids.
This year? No one’s brawling over a toy that might give a TED Talk on kink (although they might watch it.)

The AI toy era is coming — just… maybe keep the receipt

💡 PRO TIP: Toy nostalgia is conversational gold. Everyone has a story about their favourite childhood toy (Rubik’s Cube? Atari? That just aged me, I know…)

💬 FOLLOW-UP: "Would you buy an AI toy for your kids?"

🚫 DON'T SAY: "Psst…can you send me the link to that TED Talk?" (Not a good look.)

FAMOUS WORDS

“What I like about Christmas is that you can make people forget the past with a present.”
(Don Marquis, American author, 1878-1937)

🎬 Can you name the film?

🛍️ Arnie, a doll, Christmas shopping gone mad.

Answer at the end of the issue.

BECAUSE THE ROBOTS ARE COMING

🤖 Robot Reality Check

People ask why I keep banging on about robots.
This is why:

Musk's Tesla-bot vision isn't sci-fi—it's his trillion-dollar payday (beats a Christmas bonus). While everyone obsesses over ChatGPT, Big Tech is quietly mass-producing humanoid workers.

My question: Why isn't this the headline? 🤔

ANSWER

🎬 Name the Film: Jingle All The Way (1996)

Arnold Schwarzenegger battles holiday chaos — and other parents — to secure the season’s hottest toy for his son, Turbo Man.

🌍 Cultural Impact: Arnie getting drunk with a reindeer, fighting an army of Santas and doing everything to get that toy. Big, silly, fun – and critics hated it. 

🧠 Deep Dive: The boy went on to play Anakin Skywalker in Star Wars Episode 1 – A Phantom Menace and critics hated that too (poor lad.)

💬 YOUR TURN: What’s your favourite Christmas film?

LAST WEEK

💤 POLL: How many hours do you actually sleep per night?

A) 😴 7–9 hours — Living the dream (literally) — 31%
B) 😅 5–6 hours — Functional but fragile — 50%
C) 🫠 Under 5 hours — Running on fumes — 19%
D) 🛌 9+ hours — I’m either a teenager or a cat — 0%

💬 Your Two Cents

B.A: “7+ straight hours would be ideal. No problems getting to sleep, it's staying asleep that's the problem!”
T.A: “Wish it were longer. But I stay up too late, and kids at 6 am…thank god for coffee. ”
P.C: "I find it interesting that until the nineteenth century there was no notion of sleeping right through the night… there was first sleep and second sleep. I have very productive times between the two.”

Thanks! Hope you like this one too.

THIS IS THE END

That's it for #46.

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