This week, GamerDude visits the Christmas Room once again, to talk about how every family seems to have its own "Christmas stories" about things that have happened in the past.  He then re-tells two of his favorite family Christmas stories.  The first involves hearing sleigh bells one clear, dark Christmas Eve. The second involves Uncle John and the Christmas Puzzle.

GamerDude also talks about giving thanks, and sharing friendship and love during the holidays, and passes on his thanks, and his gratitude, for all the support, and kindness, and friendship he receives throughout the year.

Christmas time has always included traditions, like fruitcakes and Advent calendars, and hanging garland on the tree and going caroling. This week, GamerDude talks about all of these traditions, as well as several others that used to be just as familiar, but have disappeared over the years.  He talks about the Feast of the Donkey and the Lord of Misrule, and how those were regular things hundreds of years ago. He talks about the Advent calendar, and where it came from, as well as why there's a song about the Twelve Days of Christmas. He also talks about how ghost stories and dressing in costumes used to be a part of Christmas celebrations, and also talks about some of the Christmas drinks people shared during those celebrations, like wassail, smoking bishops and eggnog. 

GamerDude also talks about some of the traditions he grew up with, like grandma's Christmas pudding, and going caroling with friends. He also talks about hanging garland on the tree, how he made garland from construction paper in school, and how he and his family strung popcorn garland when he was a kid.  And he gives you George Washington's recipe for eggnog (yes, that George Washington!), from the late 1700s.  If you like alcoholic eggnog, President Washington's recipe will certainly satisfy your tastes!

This week, GamerDude talks about his love for Christmas music. He talks about playing traditional Christmas carols during the holiday band concerts (which were called Christmas concerts when he was in school), and he talks about singing Christmas carols in music class. He also remembers singing Christmas carols around the piano at home, and how much the prospect of having to sing "O Come All You Faithful" as a solo for his family caused him to break down in tears.

GamerDude also gives a list of 10 of his favorite "non-traditional" Christmas songs. He talks about how a lot of these songs were viewed as "rebellious" and "not really Christmas music" when he was growing up, because they weren't "traditional Christmas carols." No spoilers! You'll have to listen to the full episode to get the list, but it does include music from Jimmy Buffett, The Beach Boys, and The Pretenders.

*Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use. No copyright infringement intended. ALL RIGHTS BELONG TO THEIR RESPECTIVE OWNERS*

GamerDude has re-mastered some of his favorite Christmas stories from Season 1 for this "Best of" episode.  He has put together some stories about Christmas shopping, and how important it is to give gifts that actually have meaning. He talks about some of the Christmas decorations he grew up with, from a two-foot tall stuffed Santa, to a green flood light, to his dad's prohibition against "fake" Christmas trees.  And, he also includes his explanation about why Die Hard is not a Christmas movie.

Even in 2020: The Year of the Pandemic, GamerDude talks about the importance of being grateful for the things we do have. He talks about how, even in tough time, even in angry times, there are still things that we can be grateful for, and we should remember that, this year and every year.

GamerDude also talks about how everything we thought we knew about Thanksgiving is probably wrong. He talks about the "history" of Thanksgiving, and how it may have its origins in a harvest festival in 1621, it wasn't an official national holiday in the United States until 1863. He talks about who the "Pilgrims" really were and what they came to North America for. He talks about Squanto's actual back-story (not the one you read about in your grade school text book). He also talks about what was (probably) actually served at that first festival in 1621 - and it probably wasn't turkey!

GamerDude also gives you his recipe for Sweet Potato Casserole.  It's a super-easy side dish to bring to Grandma's house for Thanksgiving (or any holiday), and is complete with butter, sugar and marshmallows. If nothing else, it will help satisfy all the people with a sweet tooth in the family.

Regular listeners know that GamerDude loves his TV shows.  This week, he talks about some of the sillier shows that he grew up with, like I Dream of Jeannie and Bewitched. He also talks about some of the fairly ridiculous plot points he found in some of the shows he loved as a kid, like Starsky's "girlfriend of the week" who always seems to wind up dying.

GamerDude also shares some more of his favorite theme songs, this time from some of the lesser known shows from the 60s, 70s and 80s. He includes some iconic themes that are easily recognizable, and some that might be familiar but you can't quite place them.  No spoilers! You'll have to listen to the episode to find out which themes are in the episode!

*Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use. No copyright infringement intended. ALL RIGHTS BELONG TO THEIR RESPECTIVE OWNERS*

This week, GamerDude is celebrating President-Elect Biden's win! He talks about the relief he felt after the election was called, and how he didn't realize how much stress he'd been carrying around for the past four years until the results finally came in on Saturday, November 7, 2020.  He talks about his happiness and spends some time chair-dancing!

GamerDude also talks about how he has always voted, and what politics and "the system" have meant to him.  He talks about how the political parties have evolved and changed over the past few decades, and how the Republican party has changed from a party about fiscal conservativism and free trade to a party about selfishness, unbridled spending, anti-immigration policies and suppression of peoples' rights.  He also asks the unswerable question: how do we heal such a divided country, when there is so much tribalism, so much selfishness, so much of a comic-book villain mentality, where there must be a winner and there must be a loser, and the other side must not only be defeated but destroyed.  He talks about holding grudges, and extending olive branches, and recognizing that if an olive branch is rejected, it's okay to shrug and move on.  And GamerDude also confirms: punching Nazis is always acceptable.

*Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use. No copyright infringement intended. ALL RIGHTS BELONG TO THEIR RESPECTIVE OWNERS*

GamerDude has shared a LOT of stories over the three seasons of Storytime and sometimes, a story may not make it into the final episode. In this week's Storytime, GamerDude has compiled six stories from a variety of different episodes over the yeears that didn't make the final cut of their episode, whether due to time constraints, or focus, or topic, or whatever.  GamerDude has stories about grilling, and about how to use your barbecue grill to slow cook your meat. He also has another cooking story about using a griddle, and keeping things warm when cooking for multiple people.

From his episodes about forgotten things, and things we don't remember anymore, GamerDude has stories about "flour sack clothes" and where they came from, what becoming a "blood brother" meant when he was a kid, and how cool his old Schwinn Chopper bicycle was when he was growing up. Finally, he has a story about the fact that there's no "a-ha!" moment when you realize that you're finally "an adult."

For Halloween, GamerDude talks about scary stories and authors he's read over the years, from Stephen King to Peter Straub to Edgar Allan Poe. He talks about why he finds scary books and stories even more terrifying than movies - because your imagination can make things so much worse than a movie can depict.

GamerDude then takes us back to "the Halloween Room" to read Poe's classic tale, The Tell-Tale Heart, where it gets "the Halloween Room treatment." He also talks about how Poe's stories are much darker and more disturbing than people may realize, and how they reflect how people have been fascinated with the macabre and the terrifying for far longer than many realize.

With Halloween just around the corner, it's the perfect time to talk about horror movies. This week, GamerDude talks about the various genres of horror movies, from the disturbing gore-fests and psycho killers, to the paranormal and psychological thrillers, to the ever-popular monster movies.  He explains why he doesn't watch the gore-fests like Saw and Hostel, why home-invasion movies bother him, and why he doesn't like psycho killers.  He also talks about how he doesn't mind haunted house and other paranormal movies, like The Amityville Horror and Carrie, and how he grew up with the classic monster movies, like Frankenstain, Dracula, and The Night of the Living Dead.

He also talks about the overused horror movie tropes that are the backbone of so many scary movies. He explains how, far too often, a horror movie is an "idiot plot" movie - if everyone in the movie wasn't an idiot, there'd be no plot. He talks about people going to the "abandoned place" even though they should know better.  He talks about the "know-it-all" in every group, and how every group of survivors is inevitably split up. He discusses the jump scares that you always encounter in the kitchen and the bathroom. GamerDude also walks through the final sequence of far too many horror movies, from the shy girl being the last one alive, to the lost car keys, to the car that won't start, to the killer that won't die, to that final jump scare at the end.