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Oops.  We goofed but it is all fixed!

Sorry we’re late.  We just got back from traveling — time traveling.  Oh, and apologies for the sound in our cooking segment.  We were too excited baking to speak into our microphones.  Also, thank you to Sue Macinnes and La Belle Vie for her outstanding hospitality and holding our hands through the piragi process.

Onto our Star-Spangled Spectacular.  We decided to piggyback on the recent 4th of July hype.  We know the 250th birthday of the United States is a fairly decent milestone. We applaud it. We’ve done a lot — you know, the Revolutionary War, the transatlantic railroad, moon landings, microwave popcorn, blah, blah, blah.  It’s all pretty impressive.

But hey, listen, you can’t just sneer at a podcast about Christmas in foreign countries.  I mean, it’s no beacon of democracy or the birth of a nation, I get that, but we have lasted three years at a time when the failure rate for podcasts is 90%. And we talk about foreign movies. Let us say that again and slower, “Foreign Movies”.  You know, the subtitled ones.

I mean, not to diminish the revolutionary hullabaloo, but the Founding Fathers had a moral purpose, young patriots, and an entire continent to work with. The Festive Fans?  We’ve got Jake and a couple of microphones.  If anything, the odds seem to be more stacked against us.  I know the young Americans had to battle the British, but, c’mon, we have to overcome public disinterest and apathy. Is that a fair fight?

In 1776, some colonists boldly declared they wanted to be independent. Well, in 2023, two Christmas and movie enthusiasts showed that same streak of rebellion when they looked at each other and declared, “I bet people want to listen to us discuss festive movies from places like Bosnia, Panama, Iceland, Rwanda … all year long.”  And today, we celebrate that fierce spirit to free ourselves from the shackles of authority and convention.  Let freedom ring and let Christmas be celebrated in different ways and different places.  Hurrah!

Both of these events required an extraordinary leap of faith and at least one person saying, “this sounds like a terrible idea … but I’m in. (Thanks Mark).  America may be an imperfect union. It has endured wars, depressions, Cop Rock, and social media, and God bless it. Well, the The Festive Foreign Film Fans has been a similar experience. We have tolerated lengthy films that should never have been made and the names of places that are unpronounceable, but we did not back down.

So yes, the United States turned 250.  It’s a big deal and unquestionably historic. However, somewhere in a basement studio filled with Christmas decorations right now in the middle of a hot summer, there is another party taking place.  It’s a toast to three years of festive adventures. It’s a salute to three years of exploring how the world celebrates Christmas. It’s a celebration of three years of honest friendship, laughter, and holiday cheer.

So let’s raise a glass to the U.S. and 4F, two young upstarts who dreamed of making it big out on their own.  Sometimes they really do it.  Cheers!

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