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The speaker discusses various topics, including upcoming guests, Pearl Harbor, work Christmas parties, and an elf update. They highlight the importance of Pearl Harbor and its impact on the local economy. They express concern about the lack of attention given to current events in China and the need to remain vigilant. The speaker shares personal connections to Pearl Harbor through family members. They emphasize the importance of remembering history and the role of the military. The speaker also provides advice on handling work Christmas parties and cautions against inappropriate behavior. They share their enjoyment of their elf's antics and mention Santa sending texts to their child. They encourage listeners to enjoy the holiday season and mention their own Christmas party. The speaker concludes by expressing gratitude and wishing everyone a good day and week. What's going on? It's December 7th, 2022. Pearl Harbor Day. With that being said, let's talk about what we've got on today's agenda. We're going to cover some upcoming guests, Pearl Harbor, work Christmas parties and proper etiquette around that, going to have a little elf update, and I'm going to let you know about some texts that we've been getting from Santa and how you too can do that. Our upcoming guests include the Mayor of Texarkana, Bob Brueggemann, Alex White, who is the Program Manager for Talent Acquisition at Christus St. Michael's here in Texarkana. We'll have Pastor John Miller from Church on the Rock, Texarkana. We'll have Brandy Davenport, the Special Program Supervisor at the Digital Academy of Texas. We'll have James Keaton, a school board member from Liberty Isleau. And we're also going to have other preachers and bankers, real estate professionals, local city leaders, business owners and entrepreneurs on just to tell us what's going on and what's happening in their world and how that affects our world. So let's talk Pearl Harbor and just what that still means to us here as a nation. You know, in 1941, December 7th, we were attacked by the Japanese. By surprise, there were 2,403 sailors killed and 1,178 wounded. And it still rings large in our life. It still affects us every day, even though we don't see it. And I believe this is part of the start of the military-industrial complex, of which is huge here in Texarkana. Without the military-industrial complex, there's no Red River Army Depot. There's no, well, anything that supports those. You know, the base, what's it have, 6,000 to 10,000 jobs that depend on that? Plus all the rail traffic and those jobs. Plus the trucking that comes in and those jobs, which then support our restaurants and our hotels and, you know, gas stations. That's all part of the military-industrial complex. And this is all from World War II. And I know that, yeah, we were creating some weapons and selling them to Europe before. But with the attack from Japan, this really kicked off our country going into a, you know, war as a way of business. And whether you believe in that or not, that's what our local economy has been built on since then and is huge in this area. I find this fascinating because in today's world, we are once again not paying attention to what's happening in the east. And there are people in China now currently being put into concentration camps for various reasons. And you can look up videos of them being doors kicked down and put into their house. And at the same time, the Chinese army is harassing our military and harassing our planes and our ships. And you don't even hear it talked about over here. There's nothing even said about that. And I just fear that we've gotten so lackadaisical, being the world's greatest superpower, that we don't see another attack coming just like we did in December of 1941. All this is just on my mind today as my grandmother's husband, Forney Holt, fought in the Pacific. And, you know, I had the opportunity of knowing him. And, you know, just some of the stories that came over there just were horror stories. And it just today symbolizes the beginning of that. As well as my daughter's grandfather was actually on the U.S. Arizona the night before the attack. And the only reason he got off the ship was because they ran out of bunk beds because the next day was Sunday and they had the day off. He was on there playing cards with his brother and other sailors. And, unfortunately, his brother never had the opportunity to get off the USS Arizona because it's still at the bottom of the bay there in Pearl Harbor. All of this amazes me in the fact that it's less than 100 years and we have seemingly forgotten. We've forgotten what happened there, who we were as a country, and what made us great. And, like I said earlier, the number one superpower in the world. You know, everybody talks about wanting peace. Well, I, too, want peace. And I want the lion to lay with the lamb. But in that event, I want to be the lion. And that used to be the American way is we were going to be the lion. And I just think that's lost somehow. And I'm not real sure how we get that back. I put up this segment by saying thank you to all of our military veterans and active military for all that you do and all that your families have had to deal with. I mean, it's just a huge deal. And people just don't understand us. They've been there. I've never been there. And I'm thankful for others that are willing to go so that I didn't have to. Moving forward, let's talk work Christmas parties, whether it's a big corporation or, you know, just a smaller business you work for. You know, what's appropriate? Are you doing an ugly sweater? Are you doing a gift exchange? What's going on with that? And, you know, there are a lot of feelings around that. And it's easy to get that confused with maybe an intimate group of friends you have so much as these are people that only know work you. And we all know there's different versions of you, whether you want there to be or not. So how do you handle that going into the party? And, you know, what do you do? And I have some thoughts on that. So I'm going to give them to you. What I always think is funny is, and now if you know me, you know I'm down to have a good time and I'm down to be who I am and you be who you are. But when you see people go to these Christmas parties where either it's a big company and it's way too big or, you know, or it's just a group of people that really don't know them, and the next thing you know they've had a little too much eggnog and really got into the Christmas cheer there and have said some things and done some things that do not only represent them but really don't represent their company. And, man, that's something to think about as you go forward because those people still have to work with you and you still have to answer for what you said. And, you know, you've got to think about it. Even though it's a party and it's all fun and whatever, your job is on the line and who you represent is on the line. And, you know, I just think we should be cognizant of that going forward. And it's hard to do to separate, you know, like I said, friends from work. And these are the people you spend most of your life with so why wouldn't you be able to trust them? On the same note, we've all worked in places where you can't trust anybody so you need to keep that in mind. Because just because they're being friendly now doesn't mean all of a sudden you can trust them at Christmas. So to close out the Christmas party thought process and conversation here, let's talk about if it's okay to kiss Santa Claus. And even though Santa Claus would probably like it, I'm not sure Miss Claus would if you're not Miss Claus. So just a word to the wise, if you didn't ride in Santa's sleigh to get to the party, I would not plan on riding in Santa's sleigh to leave the party. Because Mrs. Claus is definitely not going to be happy. Alright, our weekly elf update. Grace has been going crazy. Found her yesterday morning, I think, or yeah, maybe yesterday morning, eating a bowl of Captain Crunch only berries. Made a mess. Nori thought that was a trip and didn't understand why Grace couldn't pick up after herself. Used that as a good teaching lesson. So we're having fun with the elf. Grace is busy going back and forth between mom and dad's house. And that's interesting, too, to make sure that Grace knows the way. And so we're just having a good time with the elf. And I just enjoy seeing her face every morning, wondering where this elf's going to be and what happened the night before. My final thoughts on Christmas for this week are, you know, once again, enjoy it. Be ready to enjoy your family. Don't stress out about it. And there's a cool thing you can sign up for that we certainly have. And Santa has been sending Nori a text every day, just kind of updating her on one of the reindeer had a birthday. And he was able to give her a card from her. And, you know, just updating us on the reindeer and the Christmas Eve preparations. And it's been really cool to get the text from Santa. And she certainly enjoyed it. So you can go out on the web and look for that and find a way to have Santa text your kid or your phone for you to read to your kid. And me and Nori is really enjoying that. Thanks for listening again this week. I appreciate anybody that is. This thing will come more and more together. Like I said, we've got some good guests coming. So just everybody have a good day and a good week until I update you again next week. I actually have my own Christmas party to go to this evening for work. And I certainly will not try to kiss Santa Claus. And I'm going to ride in my own sleigh. So that's always good. Anyway, God bless each and every one of you. And I hope you have a great day and a great week.