XaiJu
Binchtopia
Binchtopia

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Santa's Surveillance State

The girlies bring you a seasonal episode to discuss some terrifying Christmas lore — the Germanic tale of Krampus and the panopticon horror of the Elf on the Shelf. Digressions include our thoughts on the United Healthcare CEO shooter, why we should be shaming people more, and a quick digest of our recent nightmares.

SOURCES

Who is Krampus, and what does he have to do with Christmas? The Devil’s in the Details: The Krampus Conundrum 

When is Krampusnacht? Origins of the dark German tradition and how it’s celebrated 

Austria's Krampus Parades, Where Santa's 'Evil Twin' Will Beat You With a Broom 

The Krampus in Austria: A Case of Booming Identity Politics 

‘Parade of Spirits’ exhibits the shadows of holiday season 

Austria struggles with marauding Krampus demons gone rogue

Krampus 

Krampus: Origins of the Yuletide Monster  

'Elf on the Shelf' and the normalization of surveillance

Panopti-claus: Foucaultian social control for the kiddies 

The Strange And Sweet History Of The Elf On The Shelf 

Easy Guide to The Elf on the Shelf® Tradition

Santa's Surveillance State Santa's Surveillance State

Comments

You all have to watch the new Red One movie with the Rock. It has Krampus in it like you all described

Haylee Keller

My daughter’s daycare teachers are doing the Elf, but we didn’t realize it until a couple of days ago. She would come home and talk about someone named “Bobby” and we were concerned because there isn’t a Bobby in her class. She’d say things like “the kids are touching Bobby and it’s not allowed”, which is a SCARY thing for a toddler to say out of nowhere! We figured it out when she started talking about him losing magic, but I’m not pleased with the elf being part of the classroom management strategy. My husband and I elected not to tell her about Santa but let her pick up bits and pieces from the culture ether, mainly because we stick to a religious observance of Christmas. I’m realizing how ingrained it is, but she’s not old enough to learn that Santa isn’t real and keep that to herself.

Allie

German binchstressss Here, (unfortunately for this Episode) i grew Up in Berlin by non-terrorist parents, so i dont have much Personal experience with Krampus (the 6. Dec is also Nikolaus which is the nice Version where you Just find little chocolates in your shoe), but i will say i have Met them once and also know loadsssss of Storys of my Friends and Family, that grew Up in small Towns/villages in the south where this Happens. And it is so so so terrifiing... I am usually Like a big Halloween/scary stuff Fan, but Krampus to me is Just Not funny. I Feel Like IT IS Just an excuse for Drunk men to Harras people/women/children and there are a lot of Traditions surrounding it where (indeed, Kind of Like the purge) you are given Kind of Like a free pass to Just act Like violent assholes. There are sometimessss some Rules being Made by German politics, trying to tame the ruthless Energy a Bit (also because its Not necessary to "educate" your children Like this in 2024), but as you can Imagine, any Tradition surrounding a mob of Drunk men having "fun" is socially hard to fight... Also my Mom is austrian, and one of the reasons she moved to Germany is, and i quote "i Just needed to escape all of the idiots"👍 I Hope to read some more German pov's <33

Rosali Karré

i want to hear the beep outs soooooo bad lmao

Erinn

i do

annie

felttttt julia so hard bc i was 17 with a herniated disc, sciatica and then had a laminectomy ❤️‍🩹

bella

Julia do NOT go to HSS for hip surgery they’re a disaster

Alex Nathan

As a child I believed in Santa and loved the magic of the story and character. It added to the wonder of the season and made Christmas time even more of an exciting once a year event. It didn’t give me any anxiety (because Santa is inherently good and is kind to children) even though I turned out to be an anxious adult lol. It’s lovely for children to believe in something fun that only lasts about a month out of the year, and only for about 8 or so years of their childhood. Let the kids believe in Santa!! They have the rest of their lives to question/be critical of traditions, stories, origins, etc.

Lanny G

https://soundiiz.com/ can transfer all your songs and playlists to tidal!:)

Melanie Ellingson

https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTYX9jNRJ/

Liv Tambrini

But I need to stress that I was VERY confused when the parents told me I didn’t need to worry during bathtime because ‘the elf is there’. I’d never heard of elf on the shelf before. I didn’t know why the elf would help me but I just went ahead with bathtime and accepted that I may be aided in some way.

Beth Downing

I’m a nanny for children who have the elf (this is how I discovered the elf). They would set up elf in the bathroom specifically because they knew I’d be bathing the kids (3 kids under 5yo), and the elf’s surveillance might help them not get out of the bath and run away while I was caring for them .. I wasn’t familiar with the elf at the time so I was very confused. I’m in Australia where there was maybe not much elvish presence til recently. They now still have the elf two years later but it seems to be a fun thing … they have named the elf sparkle, and every day sparkle is in a new fun position but the kids don’t seem to view it as a surveillance object ??? But I am confused by it

Beth Downing

and you can fullyyyyy hear the sound diff on tidal.

eileen

i switched to tidal years ago! i like it but the playlists certainly do not go off like on spotify

eileen

Love you guys but no one needs ongoing updates on your aches and pains 💀

Lindzz

horny!!

tansy

queens song shift will take spotify playlists and upload to apple

riley p

don’t let them get you, girl!

Erika Conrad

challengers reboot except it’s just you and luigi

Erika Conrad

HII 🐣 see u in nyc for new years?

Ray Maxwell

me/my family were deeply opposed when elf on the shelf first came out because why are you literally letting a possessed doll into your home

Avery Nicholson

Girls… I am so late to this episode, but I work in medmal law do specials summaries and even with insurance, the bills are horrifying… you’re billed for the visit itself and also “professional charges” litchrally you’re looking at $10-20k for a ED visit, not including the ambulance services

Madeline Tome

Also! I have had Apple Music for YEARS bc I just was able to swap from ITunes easier and was clowned on for YEARS but i feel the tables are finally turning bc the sound quality is literally so much better and I’ve been saying this and i THINK they still have real employees and haven’t swapped to AI only… yet

Chance Al-Hajji

I didn’t grow up w the elf but I DID learn about evil racist haunted santa from my Dutch step siblings. they explained to me that they regularly do blackface for Christmas in the Netherlands?? Like even now. And their guy is called Cinterclaus and he either brings gifts OR kidnaps children and takes them to Spain. (???) and the blackface of it all is his “helpers” who have “soot on their faces” but truly it is racist minstrel vibes fr. SO wild that they claim to be so progressive and are so defensive of that but whatever literally was that friend who is too woke for them bc I was arguing 😭

Chance Al-Hajji

I ruined the magic of christmas or whatever 💔💔

Holly Acker

the “no touching” elf on the shelf rule hits a chord for me bc I was a little too old to have grown up with one, so upon my first time seeing one at a family friends house I picked it up to look at it more closely. As one would. Big mistake!

Holly Acker

Uva reunion in the binchtopia patreon comments

Holly Acker

I was 5 when I figured out the deal with Santa but kept up the act for my older brother who still believed. I never bought the fact that one man kept up with a billion children worldwide to see if they were good or not

Fox

Waldorf mentioned!!

Talia Rowan

eliza they would have to bleep me out too

Michelle

Naur but wouldn’t that be crazy if we went to the same school? Weird to me there’s more than one German immersion lol

Adelaide Rava

Was this Waldorf haha

Maija Petterson

https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZP8NHuNNU/

Michelle Kenyon

Binchies I’ve seen so many TikTok’s of girls thirsting over Krampi? Krampuses? Very concerning I fear lol

Michelle Kenyon

Would also argue that you want Binchies in government BECAUSE WE’RE TRYING TO HELP. Moral grandstanding when you have no idea how change is made in a massive institution does feel great when you get to think about it for 15 minutes. Some people dedicate their lives to trying to create a positive change.

Abby

I need to remind everyone of this video 😂 https://vm.tiktok.com/ZGdr9SLv5/

Erin

Uglifies you 🤣🤣🤣

Erin

PSA Tidal does in fact let you transfer music & playlists over from other platforms

Abigail Oakley

also apparently a lot of black face which is disappointing but not surprising

quinn

i live in bavaria in alpine region, i have never been to krampus but my american and german coworkers have and interestingly most of the german women i work with are kind of against it because of the violence, one says she was traumatized as a child there and another is against it because of the lack of self control the “krampus” actors/paraders have when they literally whip bystanders with sticks (all krampus are men from what is seems). at a recent parade my friends went to in austria, they had to have security to keep the krampus from getting too violent and my friends saw a woman grabbed by one of the krampus who wouldn’t let go until 3 of her friends were literally all attacking him. also huge fire hazard because everyone is hammered carrying torches and there are also baby krampus lmao

quinn

i wasn’t afraid of naughty/nice, i was terrified of an old man sneaking into my room at night! i refused to have my stocking in my room + made my mum put it downstairs instead. on christmas eve i’d stay up, terrified that i’d hear him come. i’d watch youtube videos that supposedly ‘caught santa’ + the sound of footsteps on the roof made my heart race. safe to say i was sort of relieved to learn he wasn’t real!

skybright

Fellow Indiana binchies know we have krampusknacht here too!! Thanks German immigrants ❤️

Maddy

Agreed! Even for active duty military personnel and veterans, the decision to enlist is motivated by so many factors that have nothing to do with a desire to contribute to the military-industrial complex or American imperialism. Whether we like it or not, the military provides job security, healthcare, access to education and training, a way to support a family and survive, etc... Shaming people who participate in the system at levels where they cannot affect change is not going to make them stop. Shaming people who participate at these levels is not going to shift our tax dollars away from the Department of Defense and toward education and social services. Shame is a powerful tool, and I don’t think using it the way Eliza described invites people in to actually make change happen.

em

hollering at the krampus mention. i’m a manager at a department store and we use a PA system to flag down managers and stuff but my boss makes us pick page names for christmas and mine has been krampus for the last 5 years so honored to be mentioned on the pod

Sarah Brion

My coworker worked at a hospital that did heart transplants and had a patient who died because insurance denied the heart transplant and afterwards the family found out it was one of the AI bots who denied it because it was so expensive it fell into the automatic denial category 🫶🏻

Shannon Burne

grinchtopia

Grace

hard agree with the downfall of Spotify discover weekly

tansy

luigi mangioni has been occupying so much space in my dreams speaking of health insurance dreams. we were playing tennis the other night.

tansy

this is crazy that she didn’t just…tell you it wasn’t real

eva

They basically told us Santa was a sham at school I’m realizing lol

Adelaide Rava

I went to a German immersion school in the US growing up, we did not learn about Krampus but we did do plays every year about St Nick the real guy and we did beautiful night time walks with a horse and paper lanterns we made that would light up

Adelaide Rava

The also goes for people with hypermobility and EDS! Hypermobility isn't just ligament and tendons by being stretchy, but extends down to a cellular level, hence why EVERYTHING seems to be fucked up in our bodies 🫠

The Immaculate Witch Kaitlin Reckord

I'm pretty sure I know the gist of what was said, but I want the wordssss!

The Immaculate Witch Kaitlin Reckord

Ah Charlottesville mentioned. My home ❤️‍🔥

Ray Maxwell

Yesss I was going to comment this!!!

Chloe

It's hard to confuse your job with your identity. And loss of one feels like loss of the other

Chloe Bryan

This is Seattle coded

Chloe Bryan

People in DOD do have shame that's why they're killing themselves at unprecedented rates. Seriously though bitches hate nuance. DOD contractors aren't the same as active duty military or veterans. A lot of us were promised things and signed away our lives at a young age in order to GET HEALTHCARE BITCH ❤️ my prefrontala cortex just developed and I'm still years away from being able to get out. The choke hold they have over your life is unreal. Eliza girl, c'mon, I hate those men too but if only you knew what it was likeeee you're just in such a different reality than so many of us

Chloe Bryan

When I was little I was so afraid of the thought of a strange man coming to my house in the middle of the night, so I made my mom call the North Pole in front of me and get Mrs. Claus to bring my presents instead of Santa. And I was right for that!

Emma

The bleeping is sending me

Sarah C Dillard

Wonderful to know! Thank you darling! 😘💖

The Immaculate Witch Kaitlin Reckord

the death of this ceo is something so delightful and special to me as a pharm tech binchie. witnessing on a daily basis the way united scams everyone and their mother has taken a huge toll on my mental health. it’s utterly sickening being that middleman who has to break the news to patients that their insurance won’t cover their life saving medication that costs thousands of dollars. i know him dying won’t change the entire system but i LOVE seeing all these insurers shitting their pants and accepting every claim. we need more of this in every industry. voting obviously doesn’t work so it’s about time we took it into our own hands

liz

elf on the shelf wasn’t a thing when i was little but my mom used to write us personalised “santa letters” that we would get on christmas morning and would mention things we did that year (all positive obviously) but as a child with an anxiety disorder the weeks leading up to christmas felt like pre judgement day to me because i was always terrified that “santa” would somehow know all of the mess ups i made throughout the year😭

Erin

Unrelated but for the end of year wrap pls include the New York Hasidic Jews and their secret underground tunnel😭

Sumaya Mohamed

As a German binchie... I am experiencing inter-generational shame...

Tara Koeninger

i'm going to send videos and pics to the binchies. it was a great time tho tbh. just still waiting for the whip marks to fade.

Jillian Lanzone

This is wild are you okay

Liv Tambrini

I have been learning German for 7 years and Krampus is literally terrifying the parades are real and insane

Liv Tambrini

i grew up in germany, i think krampus is a southern german and austrian thing, i remember him but it was mostly symbolic, all kids usually got chocolates, nobody actually got beaten or got coal lol have never heard of a krampus parade

Francesca Schneider

This is really hard bc i get that he is a full, complex person beyond what he does for money but in late stage capitalism a lot of how we are coded ultimately comes down to our fiscal value (how we make our money, how we spend our money, etc.) which is why boycotts are powerful and why it also does ultimately matter how you get the money you spend. If he genuinely does hate his job maybe its worth having a conversation about why he's putting off leaving? Is it bc he feels the job market is bad? Or doesn't want to go through the extra effort of applying to new roles after work? And then that's an opportunity for you to be honest about how much it bothers you and hopefully that will inspire him to get over the hump that's holding him back. If it ultimately comes down to the fact that he makes a lot of money and enjoys that.... i'm afraid there's a chance he'll never quit or just be recruited to another evil job from there... best of luck!

mb

Loooveee we are exposing elf on the shelf bc that shit is so fucked like my little cousins were legitimately afraid of their elf and that was the point ??

mb

No literally i got a job at citi bank and felt soooo bad that i quit in six months even though i am now poor lol so anytime someone works for an evil company im like NO EXCUSE quit or feel shame bc that shit is evil

mb

Omg…. A godly wife…… Yes it should be totally safe as long as you don’t push into your end ranges of motion!

ZooHarvoo

Important context about the cade of anasthetiologists in connecticut (for once the insurance companies werent actually the bad guys): Private health insurance companies were trying to stop anesthesiologists from scamming—and were relying on Medicare and Medicaid policies. Anesthesiologists could say a surgery went longer than average and apply for further reimbursement, but it involved a little more paperwork. No, screamed the anesthesiologists! No. And our silly, sweet leftists know health insurance companies bad, so they began to parrot propaganda from anesthesiologists, a group of very rich private doctors.

Filip Åsberg Montgomery

i got the shit beat out of me at the Krampus parade in prague 3 weeks ago. I still have marks from the whips. I did not realize it was an interactive event when i made all of my friends attend with me. We also thought there was one rule: the Krampi had to stay within the barricades. 5 minutes in we realized that was not the case and soon Krampi were within the crowd and whips were EVERYWHERE.

Jillian Lanzone

I had an elf on the shelf and it was the reason I found out Santa wasn’t real. I would touch it went my mom wasn’t home (which was supposed to make it not fly or whatever) but it would still magically move and I became skeptical. Then the nail in the coffin was when I found the elf in a drawer in my parents room in the middle of May and I cried.

kendall oesterling

As a hypermobility chronic pain binchie is facia flossing/nerve flossing safe for me??

The Immaculate Witch Kaitlin Reckord

Self on a shelf

Orly Lipset

As a physical therapist I can confirm that a radiating pain can be something that is SO personal. If u haven’t yet, pls google how to do nerve flossing bc there is a chance it can help!

ZooHarvoo

Girliessss download song shift you can transfer your playlists!!! I use this to send playlists to my friends that don’t use Apple Music

Erica Burwell

HOOVES UP for Krampus 😮‍💨😮‍💨

Lindsey Narkchareon

Julia, I’m also a torn labrum warrior and have too much bone in my hip. I highly recommend seeing Dr. siefferman at manhattan pain medicine. He’s a really smart pain management dr and there are a lot of options to try before surgery. I’ve had debilitating hip pain this year and I was able to avoid surgery

Chrislin Hearn

Me and my sister as anxious children praying to Santa for his forgiveness every year on Christmas Eve 😭

Annie MacKillican

Yall I opened facebook and saw a post by “Nordic sisterhood” with a caption, “Everyone should experience a Krampus festival at least once in their lifetime 😈” https://www.facebook.com/share/r/2BNygXnQBoSZGTBS/?mibextid=N9fs7i <— link here if u want to be spooked like I was 🫨

Alana Germroth

julia do u have hip impingement bc i also had this happen to me

sarah werner

also if you’re into horrible movies, Red One has very sexy krampus representation

trish

thank god eliza mentioned talking talk tuah I’ve been OBSESSED with it and thought I was alone

trish

It’s actually so crazy racist it’s unbelievable

Jessie Hardie

Hey girls if you think Krampus is crazy please look at the Netherlands Zwarte Piet

Jessie Hardie

to your point: I wonder if young white men need a cultural space to be violent (maybe to each other) to leave everyone else tf alone!!!!

Sydney Blume

Tidal is 100% worth switching to from Spotify. And yes, you can transfer your playlists over!

Joshua Lehto

Thank you soooo much

Chloe Ireland

The notion that Luigi magiano killed one person directly while the ceo of United healthcare has killed millions through bureaucracy is really such a bar

maria

A fellow pink Pilates princess strut warrior 💕 Eliza was my top artist this year hehehe love you girl

Michelle Kenyon

Julia, try mouth tape for sleeping deeper. It helps me!

Marisa

One day when I was little my sister told on me for watching “Kissing prank” YouTube videos on my iPad mini and when my mom asked me about it I started crying and asked her “are you going to tell Elferina?” (elferina was the name of our elf on the shelf - this was around Christmas time). I remember really liking the elf at the time, and I looked back on this experience as funny and embarassing. But after listening to this ep I do find it quite weird how strongly I believed in the elf and saw it as a third authority figure, other to my parents. It’s really weird that I would be thinking about the Elf on the shelf, a literal doll, in a moment like that. I definitely had a different, less companionable relationship with it than my other toys. Anyways, thanks for another great episode and I don’t think I will be purchasing any Elves for my future children.

Sophia Ricciardelli

as a fellow cptsd warrior with vivid nightmares, i see u and i hear u Eliza. all the mental health treatments make things better in the day but do Not stop the horrible nightmares. love!!

k

re: shame we need to bring back tarring and feathering in the town square!

Lily Ana Verna

the school nightmares are unmatched 😭 I still have nightmares about my freshman year English teacher 9 years later she would give us a 0 on essays if we showed up the day it was due even a minute late 😃

Lily Ana Verna

the austrian man that I’m dating told me that there were news stories recently about incidents of people grabbing the krampuses by their horns which is apparently VERY dangerous because it can break their necks 💔💔💔 #justiceforkrampus

Miranda Mertes

My boyfriend works at Boeing and it’s really hard to grapple with that. He’s gone to protests with me and hates his job but he just got nominated for an award for being “proactive”. I know that he needs the money and he wants to quit soon but keeps putting it off it just makes me kind of sick. If anybody has any advice on how to deal with that I would love it, cause it feels really awful to shame my boyfriend, but it also feels awful to let him pay for dates and pretend it’s all fine.

mozillafirerox

I’m a German binchie and have literally never heard of Krampus, but that’s probably because I’m from the north. However, there is a guy called Knecht Ruprecht that is kind of like an assistant to St. Nikolaus. On the night of the 5th of December you clean you shoes and put them in front of the front door. On the morning of the sixth you check your shoes and either Nikolaus put candy/gifts in them or Knecht Ruprecht put a stick for you parents to beat you with. (obv Nikolaus comes to nice children, Knecht Ruprecht to naughty ones) I have never heard of anyone who has actually received a stick from Knecht Ruprecht though

Marie

?

KE

as a Dutchie I beg you to research Sunneklaas

Rikkeline Simonsen

just outside and down the street

kenni

Alayna Helgason

My daughter is still very young but I think when she can conceptually understand we will introduce Santa as a figure and tell the story of Christmas but not act like he’s a real man that will break into our house via chimney. I think we’ll do the milk and cookies as a symbol bc it’s cute and fun. Well also probably do elf on the shelf but in more of a like Christmas visitor that you can tell your secrets and Christmas wishes to. Holidays are so much more fun as a parent so I think participating in those things is fun and makes the holidays special especially when they’re little

Narcisa

apple music is better I fear!!!!!

Sabrina Benchaabane

this isn’t relevant but Dwight actually dressed up as Belsnickel (different character than Krampus)

Sarah Spitzmiller

Used to have annual panic attacks the night of Dec. 24th at the idea that an old man was gonna break into my home and watch me sleep, Mom used to have to assure me that he wouldn’t go beyond the hallway, but I knew better. I would run out the morning of and SWEAR I saw him come into my room. silver lining - taught me how to pull an all nighter

Eliana Jacobsen

Omg wait did you ever find out who the krampus was?? Also where did he take you!!!!

Kelly Gilbert

But its a Tradition to leave clean shoes outside as a kid so that st.nicolaus can leave a present for you

Svea

As a german living in the north Krampus was Never a thing for me… but thats a Common feeling for me because a lot of „german traditions“ are just south german and austrian traditions 👀 Like Dirndl and Oktoberfest its just Not an tradition in the north of german

Svea

in our family the little gifts inside the stockings are from father christmas and the big ones under the tree are from family

mimi kiki

as a bavarian (southern) german binchie, i can say that i’ve never been allowed/ encouraged to go to a krampus run. that being said, people do enjoy getting wildly drunk and messing around (and the beating is often consensual). so it is crazy but people do really enjoy it. that being said, on the 5th of december st nikolaus and krampus would visit our house, and i have been put into krampus’ bag once (but i was naturally thrilled).

kenni

Justice for the censorship of Eliza McLamb. God forbid a woman be allowed to joke freely ✊

Amanda Schlitt

PLEASE my danish grandparents mastered the art of fictional characters to manipulate behaviour. They had a little drill hole in the ceiling of their living room and that's where Santa watched us from to make sure we were good because yes Santa DID live in the ceiling all year. They also had "foxy loxy" a fox that lived in the bushland around the house and would eat naughty children. My parents (Aussie though - I fear this one cannot be blamed on Scandinavia) did gift my brother a single potato one Christmas because he made the naughty list

Jamison Davies

SPOTIFY TO TIDAL TRANSFER EXISTS. It’s free just search it up and click first link. Very easy

M0tamouth

wait not my birthday (december 6) being the krampus day of revelation omg 😭

holly

song shift!!!!

Cora

must share the INSANE experience of working at a bookstore that sold elf on the shelf dolls (in canada, 2021-2022) where we had i’m not joking DOZENS of people return the elves they ordered online that were the darker skin tone because they “needed the white one” or their children would be upset… like, why does your child care what your elf’s skin tone is, it’s an elf, they are not real, it does not matter

Grace

Julia I want to say THANK YOU for inspiring me to make an appointment with an orthopedic doctor about the excruciating sporadic hip pain I’ve had for years. This is the first time I’ve ever heard of hip labral tears, I didn’t know it was something I could do anything about 😭 not to be dramatic but I think you saved my life lol

KC

Lmao my german teacher in middle school did a mini krampus run in the classroom every year!!! Shout out to frau fey! I didnt realize its antisemitic overtones at the time! Es tut mir leid (im sorry)!!

Kelly Gilbert

the one time my family did elf on the shelf my mom 1) made it write redrum on the mirror with my lipstick and 2) made it h*ng itself from the bannister. love that diva. it was not allowed in my room

Delaney MT

krampusnacht sounds like the night before you get ur period

avvsies

petition to change the cold water to boiling water

Victoria Chung

Guys there’s a Krampus movie on max!!

Mai

I dressed up as Krampus for my friend’s “Christmas Ops” party

Skye Tarshis

“they are very speedy. we still don’t understand their technology” i’m crying

Abbey W

this is just my experience but I’m usually a frequent smoker and get dreams still but they wouldn’t be as vivid or memorable. I haven’t smoked in a couple months bc money is tight lmao and i will say it took a couple weeks but my dreams are VERY vivid again and I have like, a lot of different dreams per night. so i don’t think they “disappear” per se but I do think there’s some truth to thc affecting dreams in some way.

Abbey W

this elf on the shelf discussion reminds me of my 3 year old nephew who randomly said “where’s the camera that santa watches us on?” 🧍🏼‍♀️even toddlers are aware of the panopticon

Marlee

I was absolutely terrified of Santa as a kid that when I was 5 years old I was pushed to the point of mental breakdown. I was so terrified of some random man coming into our house at night to which my mom looked at me and said “who do you think Santa really is?” I was like “is it you”. And yes I did develop an anxiety disorder as an adult.

Mackenzie

completely unrelated but I just watched the youtube documentary(?) on lily phillips and I NEED you guys to do an episode on onlyfans

anni

Eliza McLamb is constantly on my discover weekly so AI is doing something right w that

jordan zajonc

no, I just jumped out of the shower to comment this… My boyfriend just had to get labrum repair surgery in July because he tore 80% of his labrum playing wiffleball… BECAUSE he had previously already torn it and already gotten surgery, but then he dislocated it twice after that, and then the wiffle ball of it all, and so he had to get a super intensive surgery and he’s in the strength training phase now, but it’s a 12 month recovery and apparently extremely worth it if you wanna be able to get dishes off of a high shelf over the age of 50, idk, that’s what his physical trainer said.

Skyrim

My mom grew up in a small very Czech town in Minnesota as well as grew up with a Czech mother. They had something similar to krampus, but it was Mikuláš (Saint Nicholas), the Angel (Anděl), and the Devil (Čert). If you were good and said your prayers the st Nicholas would give you a gift, if you were naughty the devil would give you coal. My mom was so scared of the devil she would hide under her bed when neighbors dressed as them coming door to door 😂 We as a family celebrate Saint Nicholas day, where we leave our shoes outside our door and wake up to little gifts in them! It came from something with Saint Nicholas putting money in prostitutes shoes to help them or something lmao

Courtney Wilson

german binchie here, i unfortunately don't have any krampus stories bc i'm a northern baddie and we don't do that here butttt you will never understand the horror of being 6 years old and finding a "rute" in my boot in the morning like damn my parents gagged me with that

julie

well, ceo shooter was in fact given the title of “best at pick up lines” for his senior superlative…

Skyrim

Eliza, I too cannot publicly speak my truth on the ceo shooter situation out of fear of legal repercussions lmfao. Been having some wild opinions these past few days.

Kacie F

Joe Rogan has been topped on Spotify and Apple Podcasts! By none other than Kylie Kelce

Anne Margaret

want to second this as a redhead, thought i was gonna be high and silly after getting my wisdom teeth out but when i woke up i was just sobbing because it hurt so bad 😭

Amelia Packard

as someone who had an elf on the shelf, it did torment my anxiety disordered mind! and yes your sexuality develops in a really weird way!

Kat Cupp

i work as a librarian at an elementary school and today one of the teachers told the kids to be quiet or their classroom elf on the shelf wouldn’t visit tomorrow 😭

gracie

eliza u were my no1 artist and Before was my no1 song 🙏🙏

emily burchfield

The Krampus beating reminds me of EASTER whipping in parts of central/eastern Europe where young men ALSO get to drunkenly terrorize WOMEN specifically by WHIPPING them with willow branches! But the girlies do get by fight back by splashing them with COLD WATER :) source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easter_whip

Anne Margaret

it's been nearly 6 years since i had surgery to repair my hip labrum tear.. amazing decision.

Haven Patrick

i use the app song shift to move playlists over and it’s pretty painless!

myra

OPE also I’ve been having crazy dreams too!

Courtney Wilson

Queens why bleep if it’s behind a paywall

Courtney Wilson

The shame is so real

Sarah Montesclaros

Last night we let the krampus talk 😔🙏🏼

Cierra H

there absolutely are apps to switch your playlists between platforms

emily

noooooooooo my husband always says “krampus is coming” right before I’m about to start my period 😭😭😭😭

Natania

the SongShift app will transfer your playlists. you might have to pay like $10 subscription for it but then you can cancel it after you shift your songs. xoxo

Amanda Nunn

redhead anesthesia tolerance is true, I woke up partway through wisdom teeth surgery with drills in my mouth 😃

Maria

did you HEAR about the MONOPOLY MONEY in the BACKPACK—he ate

alex

elf on the shelf watching you jork it is crazy😭😭

Kate Avadhanam

ELIZA TIDAL IS GOATED THEIR CUSTOM MIXES ARE ACTUALLY GOOD U SHOULD SWITCH

frankie + lizzie!

While I don’t think your voices are the same, but I only recently matched face to voice. I had it mixed around

Ashley

No need for bleeping Eliza’s truth - this is a safe space

Sofi Schles

Nooooo elf on the shelf was magical and not creepy 😭mine was a sweet like stuffed elf I named her Rachel and my parents would just move her at night, both of them probs exhausted from work, would make these crazy scenarios like one time she was hanging from the ceiling fan that she had TPd. And my poor parents bc every time I’d write her a good night note and ask her to please fly to cvs and get me M&Ms so they did that legit every night

Sofi Schles

The besties and I MOURNED the fall of grooveshark :,(

Liv Levert

Beginning aged poorly 😭😭 hope we get an update now that we’ve confirmed he’s hot- also need to hear Julia say Luigi 🤌

Emily

another german binchie here! i think these traditions are soooo scattered all over germany! like, we celebrate nicolaus day dec 6th where i'm from and we have mountain versions of christmas characters in form of an angel and a mines worker. my parents still scared me into cleaning my room with omnipresent santa claus peeping through my bedroom window. still, i just love how i constantly learn about our creepy traditions from international news reports i guess 💖

Lauren Powers

wait, what if we all switched to TIDAL ??? this article explains the process of switching to tidal from spotify https://medium.com/@edwardgillett/switching-from-spotify-to-tidal-plex-728d70227578 i found this solution in the amazing substack article here: https://haweya.substack.com/p/spotify-and-art-consumption?r=18uvya&utm_medium=ios&triedRedirect=true i also got a bluesky account after Eliza's mom confirmed the cultural shift in a previous episode. may these steps accumulate to a bigger cultural shift on our way to #topjoerogan ✨🦋✨

Lauren Powers

shout out to my mom, who refused to buy an elf on the shelf because she didn’t want to move it around all the time, but also shout out to my best friend who is jewish and had a mensch on the bench growing up

Kelsey Lind

eliza and julia please do an episode on governments using fake vampire allegations to terrorise citizens bc i swear down it happened in sri lanka and the philipines and its just insane to think about 😭

Sumaiya Fazal

krampus beating videos is CRAZY 😭😭😭

Sumaiya Fazal

no — BCBS in a few states came out prior to the shooting of the CEO and said they would no longer be covered past an arbitrary time limit but after the shooting they immediately took it back

Emma West

I JUST started dating a German man and I think I need to investigate his Krampus experience

Maggie Rodgers

a lot of my students have multiple elfs on the shelf, like one for every sibling

lucia wilder

lowkey what is the relationship between kids in low income families, their understanding of santa’s meritocracy and the self fulfilling prophecy of seeing themselves as naughty…

lucia wilder

Not even Krampus specifically but my grandma used to tell me that if I didn’t behave I’d be kidnapped in the night by a witch and beaten

Hannah

Germans LOVE to scare children into good behavior and I have a theory that it has to do with the split between Catholicism and Lutheranism. My ancestors immigrated to America like 200 years ago and that cultural practice is still going strong in parts of the Midwest where Germans immigrated

Hannah

Eliza my sister in arms (or feet)!! I too suffer with extra bone

Lucy Holloway

There is an snl skit about elf on the shelf and a young boy entering puberty

maddie stananrd

I used to live in Austria and my host parents banned me from going to the Krampuslauf in Salzburg bc they told me drunk boys from the country side would come to the city and beat people with sticks 😂 When I moved to Germany on a scholarship I was told that there is a similar entity named Knecht Ruprecht lmao

Anastasia K

German binchie heeeere I think nowadays Krampus is just supposed to scare children (kind of like Santa’s naughty list I guess?) but we also celebrate on Dec 5th because that is the night when St. Nikolaus comes (who is in fact different to Santa) but the Krampusnacht tradition is on a whole different level and can in fact be very scary there’s also a similar tradition on the German island Borkum called Klaasohm which sparked a lot of controversy recently since it has a tradition of women getting hit by men with cow’s horns (??) 😭 happy to report though that this year’s celebrations “passed peacefully” aka “without any reports of assault” 🙃

Elna

I don’t know what this myth of smoking weed prevents dreaming is? I smoke it before bed and then have intense vivid dreams unfortunately.

Sashi

you can use the app songshift to move playlists from spotify to apple music!

phoebe jean

QUEENS! There’s an AI that will argue your health insurance claims for you! thank god for the trans woman that built it. it’s called fight health insurance

Ben LaVigne

Eliza McLamb, the Comedian, uses the pseudonym Eliza McLovin.

Josh F

To be fair the redacted moments they probably don’t want to be reflected on their platform.

Florence

you can use the app SongShift to transfer playlists to Apple Music !!

Erin O’Leary

grooveshark users rise up!! turns out the website was free because it was illegal, so it got taken down in maybe like 2014 or sum 😍

car

I HAVE A HIP LABRUM TEAR TOO

Isabel

unredacted version for the patreonites PLZ

Édith de Faoite

On the topic of mirrors and lighting, the other day my bf looked into my makeup mirror (that has fluorescent lights around it) and goes “damn if I had a mirror like this I’d wear makeup too” 😭

Caitlin

perfect time for me to listen to this instead of studying for finals

dani

oh I'm ✨️sat✨️

Jenni ✨️

incredible tysm besties

Andy Laramee


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