Dave and Carmen have gotten rid of most of their germs and returned to the show today. While they were under the weather, a man famous for dancing with an umbrella turned 100. 

Dave had a little trouble getting going this morning and stained his white sweatshirt. Bill got an idea from Carmen's office for a last minute Christmas gift for coffee lovers. 

Carmen shared the origin story, or 'germination of the ideas that led to'  the Christmas tree and decorations. 

Bill gave us the big ideas behind the selection of this year's words of the year. 

Bill has described himself as a "not-so great gift giver" and Dav shared some ideas with him on coming up with a thoughtful gift without consulting ChatGPT. When he balked at the idea, Carmen and Dave challenged him to ask ChatGPT to come up with ideas for them, and we got the results of those ideas. 

For Carmen, now that we are in the single digits as far as number of days till Christmas, Christmas is here for her. 

If you need some ideas on some devotionals for 2026, we've got a few ideas. 

00:32 Dave and Carmen are back 

03:38 Dick Van Dyke turns 100

05:38 Dave's coffee stain 

09:59 coffee bean holder 

13:01 Origin of Christmas Trees 

17:22 texts 

18:17 Words of the Year 

22:02 parasocial 

26:28 Skip ChatGPT for gift ideas 

35:06 Most ideas for Dave not good

35:49 Bill's results for Dave 

40:20 Bill's results for Carmen 

44:27 Christmas is here for Carmen 

48:53 texts/ devotionals/ Paul David Tripp quote 

50:09 Bill's BIG Word

With Dave and Carmen still out, Bill asked Candice to join him on the show to talk about all things Christmas. We discussed the arrival and mystery of advent, cleaning the house in anticipation of guests, Christmastime breakups, strange Christmas traditions, the condition of Jason Gray's son, a new animated David movie coming out Friday, some remodeling plans for the Home Alone house and Candice's plan for Christmas. 

00:32 Candice is here

03:11 Advent Mystery: Bonhoeffer 

07:18 Poop method of decluttering 

10:14 Notice It. Do It. Announce It. 

12:50 Christmastime breakups

17:07 Miracle On Your Street 

19:19 Strange Christmas Traditions 

23:25 Jason Gray's son 

25:21 David movie 

28:34 Jesus, David's Greater Son 

31:10 Home Alone House 

34:48 Candice's plan for Christmas 

37:21 Bill's BIG Word

Dave and Carmen were out today so Michelle came in to keep Bill company and we talked a lot about the awe of Advent as well as some awe-inspiring performances from Phillip Rivers, the Wonderland Circus and Remi, the winner of for King & Country's Little Drummer Boy Contest. 

00:32 Phillip Rivers 

03:19 Michelle in 

05:24 Second Advent coming 

09:04 Experiences as gifts 

14:04 Prophecies pointing to the coming of Jesus 

18:41 Bill @ Wonderland Circus 

23:00 Little Drummer Boy Contest Winner 

25:29 Quotes on the awe of Christmas

29:57 12 Days of Christmas Price Index 

32:35 Crowder coming to Clay County Fair 

34:44 Christmas Dinner 

38:51 Handel's Messiah 

42:38 Chewbacca Mom 

44:47 Bill's BIG Word 

With the holidays in full swing, Krispy Kreme is commemorating the holidays with a collab with the Peanuts cartoon and specially designed donuts. Carmen may be marking down January 1 as the day she goes back to being "sugar-free". 

An Advent devotional is a great way to mark the Christmas season and Louie Giglio's "Waiting Here For You" has been a great addition for us. 

Carmen recently had the chance to speak with a group and share her testimony, marking her faith journey. 

Jules loves to mark the holiday season with an annual picture with Santa, no matter how old they are. 

And we missed the mark with celebrating Jules for her birthday earlier this week. But her conversations lately are not how others would like to think about the time they have on this side of heaven. 

One man celebrated a milestone of his own earlier this week as he rode the Cars Radiator Springs ride at Disneyland for the 15,000th time! 

Gifts are a way we mark the time. And Gen Z would prefer their gifts to come in the form of cash. But other generations feel that is too impersonal. What are your thoughts? 

It is our tradition to mark the Christmas season by sharing our Christmas Story montage. 

00:32 Krispy Kreme x Peanuts Collab 

03:29 Carmen's sugar dilemma 

09:06 Waiting Here For You Advent Devotional 

11:10 Carmen's Speaking Engagement 

15:54 Jules - Santa Pics with daughters 

20:21 Jules - Birthday 

23:04 15,000th Theme Park Ride 

27:24 Gen Z wants money for Christmas 

31:28 Is Gen Z de-emphasizing gifts? 

34:07 Let's play the Christmas Story Montage 

35:43 Christmas Story Montage 

Advent is a chance to put our faith on full display. And Louie Giglio's Advent devotional, Waiting Here For You is a great way to start. If you are looking to deepen your faith in 2026, we've got a few yearlong devotionals to recommend. 

The ultimate showman, Nik Wallenda, stopped by this morning to tell us all about this year's Wonderland Circus, happening now in Sarasota through January 4th. 

The Indianapolis Colts are putting their faith in a formerly retired QB in the hopes that when he shows up for them, they will continue a successful run without their starter for the remainder of the year. 

In all of the busyness of the holiday season, it can be hard to keep up your Advent devotional time. Carmen shared that she got started with her Advent devotional last night. 

Bill is celebrating Advent with the help of some tea this year. And he spilled the tea on a quote about perfection. It had something to do with showing up and striving but not being perfect in it. 

If you've got a child on the way, you may consider combining the names of the mother and father like some have done. But be careful because it might show up in an unusual way. 

Our faithful listeners are so good to us when they help us figure out what we are actually trying to say, like the quote about perfection that Bill had. 

00:32 Waiting Here For You Advent Devotional 

02:31 Year-Long Devotionals 

05:14 Nik Wallenda and The Wonderland Circus 

06:51 This year's theme and designing the tent 

10:16 What Nik's up to now? 

15:54 Phillip Rivers story for Carmen 

19:39 Carmen getting caught up with Advent 

26:02 Bill's Tea Advent Calendar 

27:31 Name combinations 

29:02 Geminiids Meteor Shower peaking this weekend 

32:12 Perfection is the enemy of progress

34:11 Bill's BIG Word

Advent is a season of possibilities and there were a lot of possibilities on today's show. 

Dave had an issue with purchasing some gifts online and where to ship to and there are several possible answers as to why the gifts could only be delivered to certain locations. 

Bill played a "Wordle"-type game by giving us 2 of the 5 letters which opened it up to many possible answers. But there was only one correct answer and while many gave the right one, only one winner could be had. 

The Indianapolis Colts are in a bit of a pickle with their QB situation. And they are possibly going to have a QB that last played in the league 5 years ago and is now a high school coach and grandfather. 

Bill shared a clip from Sinclair Ferguson who Bill learned a lot from in his teachings. In this clip, Ferguson addressed the reality of Christmas of God addressing the injustice in the world. 

The possibilities are endless when it comes to online shopping but beware the possible scams as well! 

And if you were to win with Miracle On Your Street, there are so many possibilities that that money could go to! 

00:32 Waiting Here For You

02:24 Dave's gift shipping issue 

06:30 possible answers 

08:03 Carmen's Christmas Wordle game (created by Bill) 

10:04 possible answers/ Miracle On Your Street 

11:56 Winning answer

14:27 Phillip Rivers gets called back to Colts 

19:06 Sinclair Ferguson clip 

22:01 Harry Connick, Jr. 

23:02 A Christmas Carol 

28:40 Online Shopping Scams 

32:10 Miracle On Your Street 

32:44 BIll's BIG Word 

Sometimes in the busyness of the holiday season, you just need to take a pause. One way is to listen to Louie Giglio's Advent devotional, Waiting Here For You. 

Hearing Frank Sinatra croon 'Mistletoe and Holly" had Bill thinking about the old days when folks would wait to buy their Christmas tree until closer to December 25th. 

Carmen was listening to her devotional on the way in and heard a name that had her taking a pause to learn more about. 

If you could use a little help with your rent or mortgage in 2026, you may want to pause what you are doing and register today for "Miracle On Your Street". 

Hearing how old the Playstation gaming console is may be cause enough for you to pause and consider just how much it has been a part of your life. 

In the middle of that conversation, Carmen needed to pause and process how Bill referred to his daughter. 

Stress in inevitable at the holidays and Bill has some tips to help you manage it. 

Carmen needed to take a pause in the show to take a PPP (Personal Point of Privilege) to acknowledge her mother's birthday today. 

Seeing the price tag of the one item on his son's Christmas "wishlist" was a reason for Dave to pause and consider the purchase. 

Hearing that, we got a recommendation to check out the Giftful app. 

00:32 Waiting Here For You

02:16 Mistletoe and Holly song 

06:07 Melchizedek 

10:33 Miracle On Your Street 

11:54 Playstation turns 30 

17:38 Son-in-law's wife? 

19:52 Managing Holiday Stress 

24:28 Managing Holiday Stress (Part 2) 

27:39 Mohair's Birthday/ Jack's concert 

30:05 Daniel's Christmas "wishlist" 

34:39 Giftful app 

36:38 Bill's BIG Word

Bill and Carmen are wrapping up their yearlong devotionals for 2025 but they both wonder what direction they will go in for 2026. Dave wondered for a short time about getting Carmen a t-shirt, but quickly settled on not going with that purchase. 

Dave and Carmen are both wondering what happened to their teams this year with LSU and Alabama having some down times. 

Even the Buccaneers put one in the "L" column. But before that game kicked off, Bucky Irving experienced the wonder and awe that is baptism. 

Bill wondered if you, along with Carmen and Dave could get the answers to his word puzzle. 

If you've ever wondered about the autopen, Dave has all the details. 

People are wondering what went behind the decision for the 2026 Pantone Color of the Year. 

If you're wondering how you'll pay the bills in the first quarter of 2026 with all the holiday extras, we're here to help with Miracle On Your Street. 

Wonder why traffic commute times are as bad as they are and why, in particular, Thursdays seem to be the worst? Bill tells us what is causing all the issues. 

We wonder what DoorDash is ultimately up to now that they are taking reservations as well as food delivery. 

00:32 New Devotional Direction for 2026 

03:56 Bible Recap Finisher T-Shirt 

05:48 Waiting Here For You Advent Devotional 

07:46 Dave's LSU Woes 

10:35 Carmen's BAMA Woes 

13:41 Bucky Irving Gets Baptized 

18:11 Bill's "Christmas" Puzzle/ Test 

22:41 Puzzle/Test Answers 

24:24 Autopen 

27:45 Pantone Color of the Year 

30:26 Miracle On Your Street 

32:02 Traffic commute times 

35:44 DoorDash now taking reservations 

40:03 Bill's BIG Word

Jeremy Rosado joined us this morning for a little Christmas party on the show today. But before he got here, we talked about the top cities for singles and where they might be ready to mingle. 

00:32 Top Cities for Singles 

03:23 Singles and meeting places 

07:04 Louie Giglio Waiting Here For You 

09:10 Getting ready for Jeremy Rosado 

10:57 SEC Championship game tomorrow 

14:02 Dressed and ready for the party 

16:47 The Grinch arrives

19:43 Gifts for Dave, Bill and Carmen 

21:52 Finish The Lyric 

28:05 Jeremy's Christmas traditions 

31:19 White Elephant Gift Exchange 

38:29 Jeremy's Christmas Tour and Winter Jam 2026 

41:28 Favorite Christmas traditions 

48:58 Wrapping up the Christmas party and 2025

You'll definitely learn a thing or two in today's episode of The Morning Cruise Replay. 

First off, you've got a chance to have a "Miracle On Your Street" when we pay your rent or mortgage for the first quarter of 2026. 

If you're a fan of A Christmas Carol, we've got a podcast for you. 

Louie Giglio shared some Advent insight with his Waiting Here For You Devotional 

Bill told us about the kinds of people that buy presents for themselves at Christmas. 

The next time you go #2, you might want a new product from Kohler to help analyze your waste to check in on your health. 

Carmen wanted your help finding a corn casserole recipe and you came through with a bunch of suggestions. 

Today is national cookie day so go grab a chocolate chip cookie or two. 

There are parts of Christmas that have associations with paganism. Bill shared an infographic from Wesley Huff on those items. 

And Bill also shared a devotional thought from Dietrich Bonhoeffer. 

Dave told us what it took for one woman to climb El Capitan in the midst of a dayslong storm and set a record. 

Carmen loves her word games. And she also likes to bring the ones she doesn't know to the show so we can all learn what they mean. 

And Dave came home to a surprise smoke turkey so he is still enjoying Thanksgiving leftovers. 

00:32 Miracle On Your Street 

03:10 A Christmas Carol Podcast 

05:36 Waiting Here For You 

07:34 Buying presents for yourself 

11:03 Kohler Waste Analyzer

14:22 Corn Casserole recipes? 

17:52 Recipe suggestions 

20:25 National Cookie Day 

23:45 Christmas Not A Pagan Holiday 

29:04 Bonhoeffer Devotional 

32:11 Climber rides out storm, sets record on El Capitan 

37:34 Carmen's Bigger Word (Episode 2) 

40:09 Dave still enjoying Thanksgiving leftovers 

42:10 Bill's BIG Word