← The Isabel Brown Show
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- [00:01]
Isabel
Marshall's buyers are hustling hard to get amazing new gifts into stores right up to the last minute. Like a designer perfume for that friend who never RSVP'd wishlist topping toys for.
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Ali Beth Stuckey
Her kids who came too.
- [00:13]
Isabel
Belgian chocolates for the neighbor, a cozy scarf for your boss, and a wool jacket for your husband that you definitely did not almost forget. Marshalls. We get the deals, you get the good stuff.
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Ali Beth Stuckey
Even at the last minute. The find a Marshall's near you.
- [00:30]
Isabel
Limu Emu and Doug Here we have the Limu Emu in its natural habitat, helping people customize their car insurance and save hundreds with Liberty Mutual. Fascinating. It's accompanied by his natural ally, Doug.
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Ali Beth Stuckey
Uh, Limu is that guy with the binoculars watching us.
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Isabel
Cut the camera. They see us. Only pay for what you need@libertymutual.com Liberty Liberty Liberty Liberty Savings Ferry Unwritten by.
- [00:58]
Ali Beth Stuckey
Liberty Mutual Insurance Insurance Company Affiliates excludes Massachusetts hey gang. Happy Monday. We are back From Turning Point USA's America Fest where we spent last weekend in Phoenix, Arizona with now 31,000 of our closest friends patriots from all over the world. I believe there were more than 25 countries represented, more than 50 states and getting a chance to meet so many of you in person. Thank you to those who stopped by our Daily Wire booth went to my meet and greetings last weekend. It was so phenomenal. Getting a chance to give you guys hugs and tell you Merry Christmas and just thank you, thank you, thank you for your endless support of me, my content and our show here with Daily Wire America Fest is a special event for me in particular because I was there at the very first America Fest in 2021 and have seen this event just evolve over the years in really powerful and profound ways, but have been attending Turning Point USA conferences since the summer of 2017. So especially comparing what happened last weekend with 30 plus thousand people, 80% of whom were there for their very first TP USA event ever, 55% of whom were women. We were reasonably told. Which is amazing news and totally brand new. Comparing that to like the first conference that I went to in June of 2017 when there was like 500 to 1,000 young women sitting in a hotel ballroom at the hotel attached to the airport in Dallas Fort Worth with like a sad little paper backdrop for the stage. There was no major production, no nothing. It is amazing to know how many minds are being changed in real time thanks to activism from students on college campuses across the country. Just like I was many years ago from speakers who are dedicating their time especially around the holidays, to influence our culture in all of the most powerful ways possible. And from organizations like Turning Point USA and their new leadership, the beautiful, courageous, fearless and wise Erica Kirk, who is just beyond strong to a level that I can't even begin to wrap my head around, but said something really poignant to Andrew Colvette, the producer of the Charlie Kirk show, who we'll have an episode with next week, which I know you guys will be excited about, said something to him at the end of the conference that he tweeted out this morning saying, look what even from the darkest, most horrifying part of our lives, God is bringing from the ashes. If this doesn't make you believe in God, I don't know what could. So America Fest was amazing. Got to have a one night stopover in Colorado and see my family before the Christmas holiday this week. And now we are back in D.C. snuggled up for an amazing family Christmas this week as well. But before we break for the holidays, we wanted to do an episode today on a topic and that many of you guys have been requesting over the past few weeks, largely because our guest for today has talked about this for the last few years and caught quite a bit of heat and flack for it from her own community, either really, really strongly agreeing with her or vehemently disagreeing with her. We'll be joined in an interview that we filmed at amfest today on the show by our friend Ali Beth Stuckey, which I'm so, so excited for you guys to see, but she just did an episode of her podcast this week on whether or not Christian families should do Santa, do Santa. Da da da da da. It's very intense. I know we have a lot of strong feelings about all of these things and everyone is totally entitled to their own opinion. You're not forced to do any tradition in your own home, especially around very important religious holidays like Christmas, which is our second most important religious holiday behind Easter as Christians. But before we jump into all of the pros and cons and particularly what our family is thinking about as we approach our first Christmas ever as parents, which has been amazing, I wanted to share with you guys something that I learned the other day that may or may not influence your family's decision to honor Santa Claus. I never really considered the history of Santa ever in my personal thoughts of loving Santa when I was growing up and wanting to share that with my daughter and but the church history aspect of this is fascinating. I told you guys last week that one of my all time favorite Christmas movies is the 1994 Miracle on 34th street that was so perfectly well done with Mara Wilson. Could not recommend it enough. If you haven't watched it, you must watch it this week. It is on your homework, as are all the other movies that we talked about last week on the show. But in this movie they talk about all of the different names for Santa Claus during the trial. What's your name? And he says, well, I have many names. I am Santa Claus. I'm KRIS KRINGLE, I'm St. Nicholas. All of these things and I didn't ever really stop to think about until this year. All of those names are vehemently different. There's obviously different cultural traditions of Santa. Depending on what language you speak, you may call him something different. But in particular, zooming in on the St. Nicholas vs. Kris Kringle side of things, I started to think to myself, where did that come from? So I busted out my phone this week and went to our trusty friends at Truthly, literally my favorite AI chatbot that I have loved breaking down different theological questions over the past couple of months. Could not recommend enough. It's basically chatgpt, but for Catholics and it's amazing. So if you haven't played with it yet, you absolutely should for Christmas. And I just asked, hey, when did we like start calling Santa Santa instead of Kris Kringle or St Nicholas? What is the difference between St Nicholas and Kris Kringle? And I discovered something that I've never ever, ever even remotely heard of. Even in all my years of church history class at Catholic school, even with my family's weird, ridiculous obsession with Christmas and loving Santa Claus when we grew up, no movie has ever talked about this. No Christmas book has ever talked about this. I never learned this from any of my priests growing up. Listen to this. This is fascinating. Before the reformation in the 16th century, all Cath, or all Christians in Europe in particular were Catholic, right? There was no concept of being a Protestant Christian before the reformation in the 16th century. So before the 16th century, no one, no Christian, ever gave gifts on Christmas Eve. I had no idea. This had never occurred to me before. The whole tradition of giving people presents on Christmas Eve is post Christmas Reformation Christianity in terms of tradition. Before that, Christian's concept of gift giving always happened on the feast day of St. Nicholas, who is essentially the person that we're honoring when we talk about the modern day Santa Claus, who we Nod to. But St. Nicholas was a real person, right? He was also super based and is also not very well known. But should Be more well known for the fact that he punched Arius in the face to condemn Arianism, allegedly. So we love a based Santa Claus, but St. Nicholas was very well venerated by Christians throughout history until the 16th century with St. Nicholas's feast day on December 6th. And that's where we still have some cultural traditions where people will, like, leave their little shoes out and you'll see oranges and candies and little toys in the shoes to honor St. Nicholas. But we started giving gifts to one another and doing the shoe thing and exchanging gifts around the holidays to honor the generosity of an incredible man, St. Nicholas, who I wish we had time to get into all of his history about today. He's an amazing individual and someone we should all strive to emulate in our lives, which is why we venerate him in the church. But slowly, during the time of the Reformation, it was Martin Luther who was incredibly intent on decreasing the veneration of the saints in Christianity. He found saint veneration very problematic. And some of you might as well. I'm not here to have that particular theological discussion today, although we should do an episode about that going into 2026. But Martin Luther was incredibly intent on decreasing veneration of saints during and after the Reformation. So he started thinking it's really problematic that Christians are giving each other gifts to honor St. Nicholas on Dec. 6 instead of what he perceived to be honoring Jesus Christ, and we should be giving gifts on December 24th. So during the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century, Martin Luther, in shifting that focus, was his intent from St Nicholas to Christ himself to give gifts on Jesus's birthday rather than St. Nicholas's feast day. He promoted the idea of kind of like a mythological creature in an essence, but intent on trying to bring the focus back to the infant Jesus Christ, he invented this idea of the Christkind, or the Christ child. And the Christkind in German eventually transitioned into what we now know as Kris Kringle. But as originally intended, Martin Luther created the idea of the Christkind as the bringer of gifts to children that symbolized Jesus as the true gift of Christmas. This is from our friends at. Truthly, the Christkind was intended to emphasize the theological focus on Christ's birth rather than the veneration of saints, which was a common practice and still is a common practice in Catholic tradition. Over time, in many regions influenced by Protestant Reformation ideas, the Christ kind of kind became a central figure in Christmas celebrations. Particularly in the Lutheran areas of Germany, the tradition of St. Nicholas still persisted independently and evolved variously in different or evolved differently in various cultures. In some parts of the world, St. Nicholas Day remains a separate celebration on December 6, while Christmas rituals tend to emphasize the Christkind on December 25. So Kris Kringle evolved from the Christ kind of. And ironically, even though the intention from Martin Luther, again had no idea this was ever a part of church history, was to try to bring focus around the Advent season away from St Nicholas and towards Jesus Christ. He perceived that to be a problem during the 16th century in European Christianity. In many ways, he achieved the opposite of what he intended, because the evolution from the Christian into Kris Kringle into what we now perceive as Santa Claus created a more secular pathway that many people are interpreting today as why we shouldn't do Santa because it is secular and not honoring Jesus Christ in many of the ways that America or various Western nations are quote, unquote doing Santa. And I find that wildly fascinating. Back to the great Santa conversation of 2025 in a moment. But first, one of the most common questions that I'm getting from parents right now is how we can work together to help keep teens safe on social media as they navigate all of the important content that's out there. The truth is, protecting teenagers online as they navigate social media is something that we can stay ahead of together. And as a new mom myself, I feel that responsibility so deeply now as my daughter Isla grows up, I want to feel empowered to make sure that she's being safe and responsible online. Last year, Instagram became one of the first platforms to truly take this seriously by launching teen accounts. These accounts automatically limit who can contact our teenagers and what type of content they are exposed to. They designed this reimagined experience with parents hearts in mind to support you and bring more peace of mind to all of us. Nearly 95% of parents say that these default protections have helped to keep their teens safe online. And that means everything. Setting thoughtful digital boundaries is not about fear. It's about showing your teens that their safety and their innocence matter deeply to you. When parents like you and I safeguard the spaces that they explore, we're building a foundation of trust and teaching them that they deserve to grow up feeling secure, feeling loved and protected. That's exactly why I'm so grateful Instagram is taking these important, proactive steps in online safety. You can learn more about this incredibly important work ahead@instagram.com teen accounts. Again, I'm not here to tell you whether you should do Santa or not, and I'm going to tell you what we're kind of navigating and thinking about as a family and how we present the idea of Santa to our daughter. She's too young to understand the concept now, but as she continues to grow up on the other end of this interview. But how fascinating is that, right? I had no idea. Also, St. Nicholas is based and we love him and we absolutely should be venerating him in this household and all over the Christian world. That said, Ali Beth Stuckey has gone pretty viral in the last few years, talking about why her family doesn't do Santa because they're presenting the idea as like a fictional character of Christmas, but trying to hone in entirely on the Jesus story for Christmas seasons every single year as she's raising her beautiful three daughters with her amazing family. We had a chance to sit down with her at amfest last week and talk to her about a whole host of things, including her hot take on Santa Claus. So let's check it out. I am so excited to be joined by my beautiful friend and someone who's been a wonderful mentor to me over the past few years, Allie Beth's Stuckey, host of the Relatable podcast with the Blaze. And we have a big, big group of people here to watch you, Alibeth. It is so fun. We are here at AM Fest 2025 and we could talk about a whole lot of things with you, Ali Beth. So I want to get into some of it, but most importantly, I want to talk to you about being a mom, because that's the most fun thing in the entire world. First things first though, there is a new poll that came out from the Manhattan Institute just a few days ago saying among Gen Zers, the two people who best represent them and their values are Charlie Kirk and you. What does that mean to you after all these years in media?
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Isabel
You know what, that is really sweet. And I don't know, I was asked earlier, do I have a strategy for reaching Gen Z? I don't really. I mean, you could tell me and tell us what does Gen Z want to hear? How should we communicate to them? But one thing I know about your generation is that they're about talking. Tired of the ambiguity. They're tired of people dancing around the truth. They just want to know what is actually true. Can you give me some clarity? And I try my best to do that, especially when it comes to, okay, what does the Bible have to say about things like immigration or abortion or the definition of marriage? And I try to bring that with as much force as I possibly can. So if that's appreciated by any of the younger generation, then I'm glad.
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Ali Beth Stuckey
Is it appreciated by all of you guys? What do you think about Alec? It was sweet. Thank you. I am one of those people. I. I don't actually know if I've ever told you this, but when I was in college, I used to listen to your podcast religiously. Back when you were still branding yourself a little bit as the conservative millennial.
- [15:29]
Isabel
Way back in those days, you were on my show. Maybe not when you were in college.
- [15:32]
Ali Beth Stuckey
But like, early on, very early on. So fun to see how everything has changed and evolved for you. You were doing amazing things with the growth.
- [15:40]
Isabel
Well, you too.
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Ali Beth Stuckey
The show. You have your huge event every year with Share the arrows, which. Which just happened a few weeks ago and was so beautiful to watch on social media. You also got a little bit of backlash from that. And in particular, the idea that women shouldn't necessarily have such a loud microphone. I get a little bit of that myself these days. And the residual splash. You had some great responses, though, so I'm curious to pick your brain on it.
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Isabel
Yeah, you know, I am extremely conservative and traditional when it comes to gender roles. I don't like to, you know, wiggle on that at all. I don't believe that women should be pastors. I don't believe that their place is in a pulpit on Sunday morning. But I do believe that women have the role and responsibility to teach and mentor younger women, to disciple them, to try to give them courage. And that's what I try to do. Not that the relay to Bros can't listen to my podcast, but that Christian women's event is for women of all stages and ages, but especially the mom who is just looking for community, for clarity, for strength, who may never have a microphone, she may never have a platform, she may never be an influencer, but she has influence. She has influence over her children in her home, their schools, their community, in her church. And she wants to know, okay, what is true? How do I say what is true? And how do I live what is true in all of these spheres? And I do feel that that is one area that God has placed me. How do I encourage and equip those women? So I'll continue to do that. There will always be naysayers. You know what? Jesus's haters weren't nice to him either. So if they were nice to him, then I can't expect different treatment myself.
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Ali Beth Stuckey
That word influence, I think, is really poignant and powerful to zoom in on for a second, because frankly, I hate the word influencer. As it pertains to what we do every day. I know I always try to call myself a creator more than an influencer, for sure. But you're right, women do have this unique biblical influence over men in our lives, over husbands. We're supposed to shepherd a lot of the discernment process of that. We have an interesting take on body language and reading people's emotions the way that men don't always think that way. They're much more logically oriented. Whereas we come from a position of hopefully actual empathy and not toxic empathy. What role should a woman play in influencing the people in her life, whether she has has a huge platform or not?
- [17:57]
Isabel
You know, women are natural nurturers. We don't all look the same. We don't all have the same personality. Some women are more girly girl, and some women are not. They like sports, whatever it is. Outside of stereotypes and kind of those superficial personality traits. At our core, we like to beautify, we like to cultivate, we like to grow. That is a reason why, when we're young, we typically play with dolls. I'm a girl mom myself. I've got three girls. Every single grouping of objects turns into a family. It could be forks, it could be blades of grass. It's mommy and daddy blade of grass. Whereas I have tons of nephews. I've got 12 nieces and nephews. And for my nephews, everything turns into a weapon. Everything is a gun. It's three of the blades of grass turn into a gun. And my daughter's like, this is my mommy and daddy blade of grass. What are you talking about? So it's just different. Like, men are made to fight in that way. They're made to defend, they're made to take those kind of risks. And women are made to beautify and to cultivate. That comes with a level of fighting and courage. Absolutely. But it looks different. And so for us, a lot of times that means communication and that means messaging, and that means trying to encourage and edify and equip in our professional realm. But it looks different for whatever. For whatever sphere that you occupy, you're called to beautify and cultivate and to grow.
- [19:21]
Ali Beth Stuckey
Back to today's Christmas episode shortly. But first, this Christmas season, you guys have the power to help change a life. Actually two lives. Picture a young woman who just found out that she's pregnant and she wasn't expecting it. She's scared, maybe she doesn't have a lot of support and she isn't sure what her options are. That's exactly who our sponsor today, Preborn Ministries, is there for they offer free ultrasounds and counseling to women facing these tough decisions. Sometimes just seeing your baby on an ultrasound and talking to someone who cares makes all the difference in the world to save that baby's life. If you're looking for meaningful ways to give back this year, this might be worth considering for you. Steve Jobs, Celine Dion, Steph Curry, all unplanned pregnancies. Maybe you were too, or someone you love was. Life has a way of working out way differently than we ever could expect. When a young woman is facing that difficult decision, preborn is there to help. When a woman sees her baby's ultrasound at preborn, everything can change. That moment often gives her the courage to choose life. I know for my own circumstances. When I met my daughter through an ultrasound screen for the first time, she was about 11 weeks old. And just seeing her little hand wave at me on the screen, seeing her body move around counting all of the bones in her fingers and toes and it's so cemented to me, even as someone who was ardently pro life before, that this is not an abstract idea or a clump of cells. This is my beautiful daughter who is the same as she is now, eight months out of the womb as she was then at 11 weeks inside of me. This Christmas, for just $28, you can sponsor an ultrasound just like that to a mom in need. And right now your gift is doubled through a matching grant. To donate, pick up your phone and dial £250. Then say the keyword baby or visit preborn.com Isabel that's £250 keyword baby on the phone or the website preborn.com Isabel that's really beautifully said. All right, switching gears a bit. Amfest has had its fireworks a little bit this year, so I thought it would be fun to ask you about one of your more controversial opinions on the Internet that resurfaces this time of year.
- [21:21]
Isabel
Okay, I have no idea what she's going to say.
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Ali Beth Stuckey
Could be so many things. Santa Claus we are a few days out from Christmas. It's my first Christmas as a mom. Have I gone way overboard in the number of gifts I'm getting my 8 year old daughter? Yeah, it's way too much.
- [21:34]
Isabel
8 month old daughter.
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Ali Beth Stuckey
8 month old daughter. 8month old daughter didn't sleep last night because my 8th month old still doesn't sleep at night. Wish me luck on the sleep regression that is never ending. And everybody's making the funniest videos right now on Tik Tok about before you buy your kid all these gifts. They'll hold up a fork and then a really expensive toy. They always choose the fork or they'll hold up the cardboard box that comes in versus the toy. So true. They always pick the box. I'm having so much fun navigating this first holiday season though, as a mom and the magic and the whimsy and just reconnecting with some of the childhood aspects of Christmas has been really, really special. You have been pretty outspoken the last couple of years that as a Christian mom, you guys are not doing Santa in your house. Can you give us an overview as to why that is?
- [22:13]
Isabel
Yes. So I always say this is a Christian liberty thing. It's not that I think someone who loves Santa and does Santa with their kids that you're a bad Christian or bad mom or anything like that. And I agree, like the whimsy and the fantasy and the magic of Christmas is really fun. And in general, like, I think fiction and imagination is really important for our minds, especially the mind of a child. That's why with my 6 year old, I've already read to her the lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe multiple times. Because it's really good for your brain.
- [22:43]
Ali Beth Stuckey
Are you guys going to watch the Greta Gerwig lion, the Witch and the.
- [22:46]
Isabel
I'm going to probably hate watch it. I'm going to hate watch it. Not with her. I'm not going to ruin that for her.
- [22:52]
Ali Beth Stuckey
But anyway.
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Isabel
However, when it comes to Santa Claus, when it comes to Christmas and what Christmas is, obviously the real story of Christmas is that the word was made flesh and dwelt among us. That God became man and that he lived a perfect life, that he died a sacrificial death on the cross rose again three days later so that by grace, through faith, we could be saved and reconciled to God and live with him forever. That's the story of Christmas. And within that there's a lot of mystery, like there is a lot of beauty within that, there's a lot of excitement and anticipation within that. And that is the really good gift from the really good gift giver. And so then you have Santa Claus who sees you when you're sleeping, who knows when you're awake, who is apparently making a list of all the good and bad kids in the world depending upon your behavior and the few weeks leading up to Christmas, and allocates gifts based on those things. That is a legalistic version of the gospel in God, who doesn't give us those gifts based on what we do or don't do, but gives us those gifts because he's good and gracious. So we use Santa as like a fictional character, or we might talk about St. Nicholas and the real story of his generous life, but we don't tell our kids Santa is real and these gifts come from him. I just don't want to cause confusion, especially about a holiday that has to do with the greatest story ever.
- [24:20]
Ali Beth Stuckey
That's really beautifully said. I don't know if I will adopt the same philosophy necessarily, but I think it's really interesting perspective for young parents to take as we navigate all of these things, but most importantly, how we raise our children. Knowing Christ and knowing that that has to be the central part of your life. Do you think that there is a way for parents to like, do Santa, so to speak, that is responsibly following the gospel?
- [24:42]
Isabel
Yeah, I mean, for me, like, I think it's okay to say that Santa and Rudolph and Frosty, that those are all like fun characters. We don't demonize them because I think that can create a whole other problem. But I have such a hard time. And again, maybe there's a different way to look at it that I haven't thought about, like telling my kids persistently something that's not true. I was six when I found out that Santa wasn't real because I had a 16 year old brother who told me it was dumb for believing in the tooth fairy. And so I, my deductive reasoning kicked in and I was like, hang on a second. That means Santa is not real either. And I was like, truly disappointed and devastated. I just, I just can't do it. I just can't do it. My, my kids are so inquisitive. They ask these amazing theological questions. I just don't want to lie.
- [25:28]
Ali Beth Stuckey
I'm so excited for that stage of parenthood because those questions I've been told are so exciting and they really make you dig in on so many different things. I actually didn't know this. I looked this up the other day because I was curious. You're a Protestant, I'm Catholic. Generally, I think we've lost a lot of the connection to what some originally was, which was honoring St. Nicholas and the fact that everyone would leave their shoes out and you would get fringes and little gifts that way, and the actual generosity of his life and what gift giving meant that way. So I looked this up from a historical perspective because I had never asked this question before, and certainly before the Reformation, St. Nicholas was widely venerated as a saint throughout Europe. He was famous for gift giving, et cetera, et cetera. When the Reformation came along, Martin Luther was very much trying to dissuade the church from the practice of saint veneration. So he basically invented this new concept of moving gift giving away from December 6th, which is the feast day of St. Nicholas, to Christmas Eve. I didn't know that the church never gave that or didn't ever give gifts on Christmas Eve. Always gave them on December 6th before then. And his purpose was a noble one. I think it was re centering the idea of Christmas on Jesus Christ. And he created this, like, half in character called the Christkind, which was like.
- [26:37]
Isabel
I have not heard.
- [26:38]
Ali Beth Stuckey
No idea that this is.
- [26:39]
Isabel
I knew the other stuff, but I have not heard this.
- [26:40]
Ali Beth Stuckey
I'm so shocked by all of it because it's such an interesting component that is so interesting. So the point was to zoom back in on, like, the cherub child infancy of Jewish that then became Kris Kringle over the years as different cultures adopted it.
- [26:54]
Isabel
Okay, that makes sense. It was so German. Yep.
- [26:56]
Ali Beth Stuckey
Indeed.
- [26:56]
Isabel
And obviously Martin Luther was German. Interesting.
- [26:58]
Ali Beth Stuckey
I know. I'm really excited to explore the St Nicholas aspect of this in particular, because he was a real person. And it's cool to honor the legacy of somebody just for honesty. Honoring the legacy of Charlie here at TPUSA at amfest this year. But I know that you've gotten a lot of heat from young moms over the past few years about your take on Santa. And certainly people are taking things to a really heightened level. I'm seeing pastors on their podcast say that, like, you're going to hell if you do Santa Claus.
- [27:23]
Isabel
I haven't seen that. They're not inspired by me. No, but it is. You know, people kind of take. I like to say this. It's just a rule of thumb on social media. If it's not about you, then it's not about you. So if someone is saying something that you're like, well, that doesn't describe my family. We're not idolizing Santa.
- [27:40]
Ali Beth Stuckey
Great. Yeah, absolutely. When it comes to parenting, and I know there's so many young people today here at amfest who are not yet parents, they're high school students or they're college students. What would you say as a word of encouragement on why it's worth it, why this journey, whether it's teaching your kids about Santa or God or just the normal experience day to day of motherhood, which is not always glamorous. Okay. I was feeding my kid backstage just a minute ago, and it's complicated when we're out having jobs like this. Why is this the most important part of your life? And what do you wish for with other young women?
- [28:09]
Isabel
Yes. Motherhood will bring you simultaneously the least glamorous moments in your life, like giving birth and like the most beautiful moments in your life. And it's that it's in actually those like that dichotomy that you lose yourself in the best way. And when people say motherhood stretches you or it strengthens you, or like, as Christians, we would say sanctifies you, it makes you holier, it is because it demands a denial of self that you would think it's like, oh, gosh, that's so depleting. You lose yourself. That's what the world tells us. You lose yourself. But actually, Jesus says that he who wants to find his life must lose it. And motherhood isn't the same thing as following Jesus, but it is a beautiful mirror of the self denial that's required in taking up our cross and following Christ. And, like, what a beautiful lesson that we get to learn in loving these children and them loving us to be more like Christ. So it is worth every bit of sleepless night that I know is really, really hard. It's really hard. One day, it's as soon as they start sleeping through the night that you're ready for number two. So just. So Jaz, it'll be okay. She'll start sleeping. She lost her battle to sleep just now.
- [29:22]
Ali Beth Stuckey
She's over there with dad, hopefully taking a nap, which will be good. But I totally agree with that. It's been in the moments where I feel the most empty, the most frustrated, the most, oh, my gosh, this is so unbelievably hard that all of a sudden I feel this conversion in my heart of, this is why you're doing this, right?
- [29:37]
Isabel
Yeah.
- [29:38]
Ali Beth Stuckey
The giving of yourself is so demonized in our postmodern secular culture right now, as if that is sinful, whereas extreme narcissism and making everything about you is supposedly sanctifying and the opposite is actually true. I'm sure it's always been that way through the lens of secular culture versus our faith. But I love seeing moms really lead the charge for this here at amfest. Erica Kirk obviously is really setting the tone for that at tpusa. Our dear friends Brett Cooper and Riley Gaines are walking through new motherhood. And it's just been such a privilege experiencing that alongside other women.
- [30:10]
Isabel
Totally well said. Yep, you're absolutely right. And it is the most rewarding Pursuit. But I do just want to say for those who aren't moms, and maybe you want to be moms, and you're in that stage where you want to be married, you haven't found the right person or you want to have a child, and that just hasn't happened yet. That the fullness of joy in Christ is available to. To you right now. Don't believe the lie, which I think can also be a lie of the devil, that your happiness is tied or your joy or satisfaction is necessarily tied to marriage and motherhood. Those are beautiful, beautiful things. But God has called you to the season that he's called you in right now, and he can give you the fullness of joy and satisfaction in Him. You're not waiting for your life to start. Do what he's called you to do right now.
- [30:53]
Ali Beth Stuckey
Last question for you, Ali, as our millennial in the studio today.
- [30:57]
Isabel
Not to throw the millennials under the.
- [30:59]
Ali Beth Stuckey
Millennials too much, but is superior. Am I right? Yes, obviously. That's so vindicated. Being the resident Gen Zer for the last few years and everyone hating on us. And now here we have. I have no pride.
- [31:11]
Isabel
I have no pride in millennials. It's fine.
- [31:13]
Ali Beth Stuckey
What is your message to Gen Z? How can we keep embracing courage? How can we keep speaking the truth, even when it's scary and there are consequences to that? And how can we save America?
- [31:22]
Isabel
Yeah. You know, a few years ago when I started speaking to college students or several years ago, I had a different approach where I would say, say, you know what? Just get the good grade, finish college. Then you can take the risks. And I say, we're past time for that. We need people to take risks for the truth right now. Stand up in a respectful way. But to your professor, to your friends, to your sorority president, wherever you need to speak the truth in love, do it now. You are not guaranteed a life of comfort and convenience or a life free of consequences. There will be those. But I'm telling you, the truth is worth it. And courage is contagious. When you stand up, you give people the power to do the same thing. And that is how we change things.
- [32:05]
Ali Beth Stuckey
Raise a respectful ruckus.
- [32:06]
Isabel
Amen.
- [32:07]
Ali Beth Stuckey
Ali Beth Stucky says thank you so much. Thank you for joining us here at Fascinating Stuff. Honestly, let me just say this first. I love Ali Beth. I've been listening to her for a very long time, well before I ever got started in content creation or podcasting myself. She is truly a genuine person and always says it as she truly believes it. That Level of authenticity and transparency is often very missing in the podcasting and social media world. So if you're looking at people like Ali Beth and you're wondering, are you a real one? She is the realest of the real ones. We absolutely adore her and it is a pleasure and an honor to call her a friend. I was really interested to ask her about her take on Santa and to congratulate her on all of her success separately from that, but in particular after I had learned this thing about Martin Luther, because it's really not sat well with me that while his intention may have been, as you might perceive it, noble to try to recenter the Advent season on Jesus Christ, I find that it accomplished the exact opposite. That we tried to create this new figure called the Christkind in the intention of focusing things back on Jesus. But that evolved into the modern secular understanding of Kris Kringle turned Santa Claus in the United States of America today. And honestly, I totally respect and understand why a lot of Christian families don't want to do Santa for all of the various reasons out there that you don't want to lie to your kids. Even though I don't necessarily think it's a lie. Preserving a tradition and magic is not necessarily a lie. But I understand people don't want to lie to their children. They don't want to set up the idea that if I tell you this thing is real and then later on you're questioning if it is real and I have to be honest with you, then maybe you'll ask if other things are real, like Jesus or God. I totally understand that concept. But I also think that we have lost a massive component of Christmas wonder and magic and teaching kids in an easy, accessible, fun way how to believe in something that is bigger than themselves and that they literally cannot see with their own two eyes. The whole believing is seeing, seeing is not believing concept that we often see in the movies when we erase the concept of Santa Claus from history. So my husband and I have really wrestled with this over the past couple of months and had a lot of very interesting conversations. He has powerful, beautiful stories of believing in Santa and the magic of Santa when he was growing up. So does my family. My sisters and I loved the idea of Santa. We loved the magic of the eating cookies and the drink milk. We would put vegetables out for the reindeer on the front lawn, which never made any sense, but we always loved that. And it was so magical when they were eaten and scattered all over the lawn when we were waking up on Christmas morning. I mean, we truly loved the magic of Santa and we want to share that with our daughter as we continue these traditions into the next generation of our family. And so I think we will be doing Santa. I think it's an important component of our Christian heritage and Christian traditions around the holidays. But. But where I think an important caveat exists now is when she's old enough to start asking about Santa, we don't have to lie to her that we do. The tradition of Santa in veneration of the original gift giver around Advent season. St. Nicholas, he was a real person once upon a time. That's why we honor this particular saint and why we continue this tradition moving forward. Just like we have a million other traditions from an amazing number of saints throughout church history and that do incredible things and have amazing contributions to the faith, to the community of believers around the world, and to our living body of Christ. Honoring the saints is in no way a detraction of our true worship of Jesus Christ of God alone. But just like listening to someone's music or really appreciating their movies or collecting someone's art, honoring the saints is an incredible way for us to try to model our lives after powerful men and women of Christ who have dedicated everything to their faith and often laid their life down for it. They are the perfect role models. And honoring some of their quirky traditions and silly things that they did throughout their life, like giving people gifts, as in the case of St. Nicholas, is a beautiful way that we can continue their tradition of honoring Christ with our children and their children and everyone who comes after them. Be right back to the episode. But first, I want to talk about something that's hit me so hard. After becoming a mom, I have realized that every decision I make about my health is isn't just about me anymore. It's about showing up for my daughter Isla, being present for all of her milestones and having the energy to keep up with her for decades to come. That is a totally different type of motivation. But here's the problem. Our healthcare system is built to be reactive. You wait until something is wrong and then you try to fix it. So when you want to take a proactive approach, it can be really hard to know where to even start. That's why I have been partnering with our friends at Jevy. They make proactive health easier than ever. Jevoty offers different membership tiers so that you can choose what's right for you and what fits your needs. You get comprehensive at home blood draws that test over 100 different health markers way, way beyond what your standard checkup ever covers. Then they work with you to provide personalized health plans that have custom supplement protocols, access to functional longevity specialists for ongoing guidance, and discounts on supplements and specialty testing. Moving forward when they first came to draw all of my blood for Jevity, I will never forget my husband said, that's a lot of blood. But I'm so grateful for the opportunity to know exactly what's going on in my body, to know what I need to thrive, to be healthy, to be my absolute best self, and to be modeling for my daughter exactly what it means to be proactive about our health rather than waiting for something to be wrong. And that's something that you all should be doing too. Jevoty is now available in 47 states across the country. So if you are ready to be there for the people that you love, not just today, but for decades to come, you can use Code Isabel at the link in today's show notes for 20% off because investing in your health now means so much more time with the people who matter the most. So our plan, at least as of now, is to answer and ask the question, who is Santa Claus with our kids by saying, once upon a time, Santa was a real person and his name was Saint Nicholas. And he gave people gifts in his abundant, beautiful generosity, trying to honor the generosity of God. So that's why we continue that tradition. That's our family's answer for that as of now. But I'm curious to know what you guys are thinking about doing Santa in your own home as Christians. Christians, Let us know in the comments because this is something we're still wrestling with as a new family and we're dying to know what you guys do too. But I'll tell you one tradition we are not going to be doing in the Belcher family household related to Santa and that is changing the entire nature of who Santa is. I know, I know. This might be a hot take, but Santa is not black. Okay? Black Santa is not really a thing. I'm sorry. I just have to be honest. St. Nicholas was a real person once upon a time. We don't race swap real people from once upon a time, but HarperCollins publishers apparently seems to disagree. I literally had to order this book off of the HarperCollins Publishing website because it is sold out. It is completely sold out on Amazon, on Barnes and Noble, all of the book retailers. I could not get this to share with you on the show today unless I went to the publisher directly. A big five publisher mind You. Apparently the best selling Christmas book of the year for 2020 is called Santa's Husband. Let me say that again for you one more time. Santa's husband and Santa is black, while his gay husband wears a nice little Nordic Fair Isle sweater as they look lovingly into each other's eyes on the front cover. So I obtained this piece of garbage with the intent on reading it to you today because these people are genuinely that insane. It's not enough to say, okay, theologically, should we do Santa in our home? Does that honor Christ in an important way? Does that keep the Advent season focused on Jesus? Those are not the questions that the media and publishing and culture overlords are asking. That might be what we're asking as real people, but what the people trying to shove woke indoctrination down your throat are trying to say is, yeah, we should do Santa, but let's make sure he's black with a gay husband. And this is the story they want to tell you this Christmas. This is Santa's Husband by Daniel Kibblesmith. God, I just want to burn this book right now. I don't even want to read it. I got to get it out of my house after this. But who knows where I can donate it where I don't feel bad for passing along heresy to the next family. This Santa Claus. This is Santa Claus's husband, Mr. Claus. They are married. In case that's not abundantly obvious. Santa and his husband live together at the North Pole, at the very top of the world. Justice for Mrs. Claus in this book. They love keeping each other cozy in the cold, but each year it seems to get a little warmer. That's supposed to be like a dig on global warming or something. That's ridiculous. Okay. Santa's husband helps Santa with all of the hard work that makes Christmas happen, from making a list and checking it twice to feeding Santa's eight tiny reindeer. Plus Rudolph, who has special dietary restrictions to keep his nose shiny and bright. What in the DEI is this? What? Okay. To helping Santa negotiate labor disputes with the elves in his workshop. Are the elves on union now? They have a spectacular dental plan. Things that you should be asking about as children for Christmas. I'm literally reading this for the first time, by the way. This is beyond insane. Santa is so busy during Christmas time that Sometimes his husband, Mr. Claus, even helps him out by sitting in for him at the mall and asking all the good children what they'd like for Christmas this year. Some folks get confused and say that this is Santa Claus himself, but those People are mistaken. It's Santa's husband, you idiots. Oh, yes. Here's black Santa and his gay husband at the beach playing Bad Mitten together. He's got some chest hair. That's really nice. Black Santa and his husband dancing together in their living room. Black Santa and his husband gardening. Black Santa looking lovingly at his gay husband asleep on his lap. Santa and his husband have been married in their hearts for a long time, but it wasn't yet official. So it was big when they finally tied the knot. Here's their wedding with the yeti. A jack o' Lantern headman, a pilgrim. Who else do we have? The Tooth fairy? It appears Rudolph's in attendance. A leprechaun, a snowman. Just a random black lady for DEI representation. All at Santa and his husband's gay wedding. Nice. Everyone was there, from Rudolph and Frosty to Parson Brown. Even a few celebrities showed up. Oh, oh, oh, it gets better. The Pope is in attendance at Santa and his husband's gay wedding. What other celebrities do we have here? It's hard for me to tell. I'm assuming the random black lady may be Michelle Obama. Big Mike in attendance in the audience there. This is remarkable. Fascinating. Like any married couple, they have their disagreements. Gay Santa's husband, who we don't know his name, is angry that black Santa has brought ash through the chimney into their living room because it must be clean in the gay Santa's household. But they always manage to kiss and make up, usually over a plate of milk and cookies as they kiss some angry people on tv. It's probably me they're talking about. Me will tell you that this isn't what Santa Claus looks like, or that Santa Claus doesn't even have a husband. But people have imagined Santa Claus hundreds of different ways over the years. Who is anyone to say what the real Santa looks like? I don't know. Maybe the fact that St. Nicholas was a real person. He was a real person. This is like saying that Rosa Parks was Asian. Okay, like, seriously, we're just. We're just doing it now. Cool, cool, cool. So cool. Maybe Santa Clauses can come in all shapes and colors and sizes. This is like the biggest DEI piece of propaganda I've ever seen. We've got redhead Santa, disco Santa, elephant Santa. We got some Republican representation there. At least. That's nice. What is that? An owl Santa, alien Santa, penguin Santa, robot Santa. No clankers in the Santa story here. I'm just saying that up front before we even question that. Just like the families that Santa Claus visits. All over the world. Santa is visiting a Jewish family here lighting their menorah. It's interesting. I prefer the new girl jokes about how the Jewish kids weren't allowed to ruin Santa for the Christian kids, it was bad for the Jewish brand. That's. That's more my sense of humor. But I don't know. To each their own. I suppose. I may just disagree with Daniel Kibblesmith, best selling children's author, but he says as long as children believe in the magic of Christmas, there will always be a Santa Claus. And as long as there is a Santa Claus, he will have a man waiting at home who loves him. Also, Santa's husband's name is David. Cool. I guess they answered that for us. That's the end. That's the end. Santa's husband, renowned literature for our time. Well, that just ruined my day. I think that's a good note to end on for content for the rest of the week. Since it is Christmas and we celebrate the real Santa, not this abomination of garbage town, we are gonna be taking a couple of days off from the show so that I can kindle all of the beautiful Christmas magic here in my house for my daughter as she celebrates her first Christmas ever. And as my husband and I get to play Santa for the first time ever, which we're so excited about. Please keep my family in your prayers this Christmas season. Just like we are praying for all of you. And most most importantly, regardless of where you fall on the theological spectrum with your particular denomination, regardless of what you guys think about Santa, just so you know, this is wrong, but whatever your personal interpretations of Santa and its appropriateness around the Advent season are, please let us all remember and have the courage to remind the world that Advent and Christmas is all entirely about the coming of Jesus Christ. That the God of the universe, who made you in his image, loved us enough to make himself one of us and not just in any way. Right? I've been thinking a lot about this lately. God could have just showed up as a fully grown adult man. He could have been raised in the temple. He could have been raised by priests. But he wasn't. God loves us enough that he wanted to experience the fullness of humanity from our very conception in a womb, through childbirth, through infancy and dependency on your mom, all the way through every stage of life until his death. As an adult, God wanted real love so much that he chose for himself to experience a mother's love. And as a new mom myself, I just find it really, really powerful. This year, more than Any year in history. For any moms that might be watching this out there, it is so easy for all of us to get wildly overstimulated around the holidays. Trust me, I was on a three hour flight last night where my daughter who's growing five teeth at the exact same time, would not stop screaming. And everybody was being so supportive around us. But it's exhausting and it's hard. We're wrapping all the presents, we're preserving all the traditions, we're cooking Christmas dinner, we're arranging holiday travel plans and getting everybody's passports in order and all of the different things. It's so easy to feel like you are taken for granted during this season, especially when you might have a smaller number of presents under the tree or the one thing you asked for didn't come wrapped in a beautiful box, but they gave you a robe or something. I know that's frustrating sometimes. Know this that your current season of life being a mom, especially to little children, to babies and is such a powerful gift that the God of the Universe chose it for himself at the very first Christmas ever. That's how powerful the love of a mother for her children really is. I hope you guys have the most beautiful Christmas this year in 2025. We've got a huge year ahead of us in 2026, but we'll have a couple of episodes to close out the year next Monday and Tuesday before we say goodbye to this bumpy roller coaster of a year. That was 2025 and I cannot wait to see you all then. Until then, go touc or hopefully some snow. I'm praying for a white Christmas for literally everyone who has the capacity to have one of those. Go watch some amazing Christmas movies, cuddle up with your families and head to church this week as we honor and celebrate our Savior incarnate, Jesus Christ. Merry Christmas.