Podcast Summary: The Wayback with Ryan Sickler #104 – "A Wayback Sickler Family Christmas"

Release Date: December 25, 2025
Host: Ryan Sickler
Guest/Co-Host: Kirsten

Overview

In this special Christmas edition, Ryan Sickler and Kirsten take a heartfelt, hilarious journey down memory lane, revisiting family Christmases, childhood traditions, and quirky holiday memories. With old family footage, tales of festive mishaps, and reflections on how holiday experiences shape us, the episode blends nostalgia, comedy, and a touch of bittersweet reflection. The conversation serves up holiday warmth while maintaining Ryan's signature raw, irreverent humor.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Warm Holiday Wishes and Setting the Scene

• [05:00] Ryan opens by wishing everyone a "very merry Christmas" and jokes about his "Sandy Claws" persona.
• Expresses gratitude to Kirsten, who celebrates her birthday the same day they’re recording.

“Welcome back to the Way Back everybody. Ryan Sickler here, aka Sandy Claws...wishing you and all of your family, loved ones...a very merry Christmas.” – Ryan ([05:00])

2. Childhood Christmas Traditions and Memories

Kirsten's Nostalgia

• [05:45] Kirsten recalls the excitement of her older sisters staying over for Christmas, which she valued more than Santa's visit.
• She reminisces about the year she received Heelys, fulfilling a month-long wish.

“Them coming and staying the night almost felt like more exciting than Santa coming over.” – Kirsten ([05:47])

The Strange and Memorable Gifts

• Ryan and Kirsten debate the pleasure and perils of memorable and weird holiday gifts, joking about regifts and underwhelming presents.
• Kirsten confesses to a recurring re-gift from a certain relative each year. ([06:20])

3. The Sickler Family Christmas Archive [06:30–13:36]

• Ryan shares and narrates footage from his family’s old Christmases, dating from the early 1970s in West Baltimore.
• Discovery: Ryan recounts only recently realizing the "Santa" on top of the neighborhood fire truck was actually his father.
• Raw, humorous commentary on the grainy footage, their modest gifts (blocks, fly swatters), and his father’s attempts to keep the Christmas magic alive despite personal struggles.

“I recently, just in the last few years, where my daughter’s been pressing, [I] found out that the Santa Claus on top of this fire truck was actually my dad. I had no idea.” – Ryan ([06:36])

• Reflection on Loss: He notes that their first Christmas as infants came just a month after his own grandfather's death, adding a poignant undercurrent to his family’s traditions.

4. Nostalgic Toys and 1970s-80s Holiday Life

• Delights in the analog-era gifts (Star Wars toys, Pinocchio record, laser rifle, Big Wheels, Colts helmets, and "matching pajamas").
• Laments absence of gift-wrapped magic for today’s kids, pokes fun at 1970s style and technology: “Look at that TV... Isn’t it a shame you don’t get to remember your good times?” – Ryan ([07:07], [08:53])

5. The “Elf Debacle” and TV Land Memories [15:08–23:47]

• Ryan recounts a hilarious, disastrous work story: being forced to replace Gary Coleman as an elf on a Fox Family 25 Days of Christmas promotion, complete with ill-fitting Gap Kids wardrobe and a green smock hiding "everything."
• Emphasizes the absurdities of low-budget TV, union politics, and unfulfilled promises ("Gary Coleman still got paid... I didn’t get my paycheck.").
• Killer one-liners about the existential discomforts of playing a public elf in rural Pennsylvania.

“...If I put those kids pants on, you could see everything. My dick, ball...So we go to Gap Kids, then to the adult side, and the only thing they have is that little scarf...That’s the only reason we got that, to cover my... stuff.” – Ryan ([17:36])

6. Reflections on Family Changes & Traditions

• Shares bittersweet tales of Christmases post-divorce, his mother’s emotional distance, receiving a ventriloquist doll he never wanted, and the ritual destruction of "Willie Talk."
• Notes his strong memory for addresses and details—except the Christmases during the hardest years:

“I remember almost everything. The one thing I don’t remember are Christmases. That everyone died right then. And I’m just like, fuck that holiday.” – Ryan ([21:58])

• Uplifting memory of planting real Christmas trees from a farm, which became “monster fucking pine trees.” ([24:00])

7. Kirsten’s Family’s Colorful Christmas (Des Moines Traditions)

• Kirsten’s stepdad is locally famous for extravagant holiday lighting displays—including her grandma’s tree with a single red bulb for “Rudolph’s nose.”
• Both her mom and stepdad get into the spirit by selling mini donuts from a gingerbread shack, with stepdad in full elf costume. The local charm is both celebrated and the cause of some neighborly negotiation about their late-night light show.

“From October to December, my stepdad’s constantly in an elf costume, walking around as an elf. My mom and him sell donuts out of a little mini gingerbread shack. They love it.” – Kirsten ([27:40])

• Family deeply invested in “Eltastic Lighting,” their local Christmas business. ([27:54])

8. Neighborhood and Family Festivities

• Candy Cane Lane in El Segundo—a neighborhood where buying a home comes with a requirement to go all-in on Christmas decorations.
• Family meals: “Our meals were traditional... But again, the stuffed shells, the baked ziti, the lasagna.”
• Ryan recognizes a formative “origin story”—playing Santa Claus in first grade, making his grandmothers howl with laughter in the audience.

“I look at these two ladies. They are pissing themselves... And I just remember how good that felt. I started laughing. And I think the whole Santa Claus might be my whole origin story...” – Ryan ([31:35])

9. New Traditions and Cozy Comforts

• Kirsten shares a recent family tradition: drawing names at Thanksgiving and buying thrift store outfits for each other to wear in Christmas photos—complete with goofy, mismatched styles.
• Ryan’s favorite: lighting up the house with just Christmas lights, watching movies surrounded by warm glows, replicating “Yule Log on TV” for those without fireplaces.

“One of my favorite traditions is to light the place up inside, turn all the regular lights off and just leave the Christmas lights up and watch movies.” – Ryan ([34:43])

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

Ryan on family secrets:

“I recently, just in the last few years...found out that the Santa Claus on top of this fire truck was actually my dad. I had no idea.” ([06:36])

Ryan, summing up difficult childhood memories:

“I remember almost everything. The one thing I don’t remember are Christmases. That everyone died right then. And I’m just like, fuck that holiday.” ([21:58])

Kirsten, on the delight of thrift store traditions:

“We’d only see each other like Thanksgiving, Christmas...So Thanksgiving we would all put our names into a hat...you had to go find them a full outfit from Goodwill...that’s what we would take our family photos in.” ([33:51])

Ryan’s origin story in comedy:

“And I just remember how good that felt. I started laughing. And I think the whole Santa Claus might be my whole origin story.” ([31:40])

Timestamps of Major Segments

• [05:00] Opening holiday wishes & Kirsten's birthday
• [05:45] Kirsten’s childhood Christmas memories
• [06:36] Ryan’s dad as neighborhood Santa; family home movies
• [09:54] Discovering Tooth Fairy secrets
• [13:37] Early Christmas toys and TV moments
• [15:08] "Elf debacle" and Gary Coleman
• [21:58] Reflections on family trauma and lost Christmases
• [24:00] Planting Christmas trees, natural traditions
• [27:01] Kirsten’s family lighting business, neighborhood tales
• [31:35] Ryan’s “origin story” as Santa Claus in a school play
• [33:51] Thrift store family photo tradition
• [34:43] Ryan’s favorite Christmas light and movie ritual
• [35:12] “Yule Log” on TV & cozying up for Christmas

Overall Tone

The episode is funny, blunt, and heartfelt: Ryan’s Baltimore honesty meets classic holiday sentimentality, balanced by Kirsten’s wholesome family anecdotes. Together, they remind us that, whether harmonious or chaotic, these memories—and the ways we create new ones—are what shape the meaning of Christmas.