What kind of Christmas season will it be? This culture expert says it'll be a cozy holiday

SAM DINGMAN: Well, Mark, I think it’s fair to say that it’s officially the holiday season.

MARK BRODIE: That’s right! We had a segment on The Show yesterday about why the Valley is obsessed with Christmas lights, so I’d say we’re there.

DINGMAN: So, what kind of Christmas season will it be? The Show’s favorite digital culture expert Amanda Kehrberg has some thoughts.

AMANDA KEHRBERG: This season is really about staying and having a really cozy time with friends and family doing crafts. It's not about that kind of really like excessive consumption or going out partying. Big concerts that we've seen in recent years. This is sort of getting back to basics.

BRODIE: So Sam sounds like maybe a cozy, cozy Christmas on tap.

DINGMAN: It would seem so. As Amanda told our co-host Lauren Gilger, that's the vibe.

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Full conversation

KEHRBERG: Think like candle light. Think, you know, soft music, homemade food, maybe sitting around doing some coloring or, you know, doing a little crafty Christmas ornament kind of thing.

I was just talking with some friends the other day about TikTok videos of people making garlands out of velvet ribbons and paper. And so it's like that vibe.

LAUREN GILGER: Lovely, yeah. 

KEHRBERG: It's like, let's have a deep conversation. Let's do some crafts. Let's maybe bring out the ornaments from, you know, our parents' attic. It's kind of nostalgia. It's plaids, it's “Little Women,” it's Ralph Lauren. It's very like classic.

GILGER: Yeah. I love all of those buzz words you just hit on. This is my vibe. OK. Can we, Amanda, pull off a cozy hygge holiday season here in the desert when it's not that cold? 

 KEHRBERG: I do. I do love the idea of a hot hygge, because the whole idea of hygge right that we get from Danish culture is, is the idea that this is what's going to get us through this season when we cannot go outside.

So it's like, OK, it's basically the treat yourself season. It's the let's look at the terrifying cold weather through the window and let's have some sweet treats and some candles and snuggle under blankets.

Now that's different for us, right? Because in winter it's beautiful outside.

GILGER: When we actually want to go outside. 

KEHRBERG: Yeah, yeah. So you know what I say, pivot a little, bring in some LED candles. You don't need to add the heat. Or maybe like, just punch that AC down a little bit and then you can put on a cardigan. And so I honestly, I do hygge anytime I go to the movies. It's freezing there.

GILGER: So true. 

KEHRBERG: So yeah, honestly there are so many different ways to incorporate the feeling of hygge, even if you can actually go outside. I say even just, you know, open the sliding door, bring in the beautiful outside weather.

But also take time to sit down with friends, ask each other maybe deeper questions than you would on an average day. Play some cards like do that. It's a very analog kind of thing, right? It's getting off the screens, putting the phones to the side and really connecting with people.

GILGER: Yeah, that sounds great. What's leading to this kind of vibe you're seeing in culture right now? Like, you know, these are tough times, right? 

KEHRBERG: Yeah, yeah, there's a lot of economic uncertainty. So when we see, like, earthy tones and these kinds of class like Christmas of, like greens and, and browns and maroons like these, these things we associate with nature, that kind of color scheme and cozy feeling tends to go with that economic uncertainty.

So like, people are being super frugal this holiday season, how do we cut back on our spending? How do we find ways to really enjoy this holiday without maybe as many presents under the tree? How do we create new decorations?

Or again, bring in the old ones in a way that still feels like a really, really beautiful celebration but isn't like, OK, oh, we're doing Pink Christmas this year? Let me go buy every single new pink thing I need to.

GILGER: I mean, so there's a lot of like social stress I feel like people are under. But when you're talking about something like an analog holiday that feels cozy and sort of non-digital, that maybe is an antidote to some of that stress, right? Are we hiding from it a little bit?

KEHRBERG: I think so, even though we can go outside, it's a sort of metaphorical, ‘Let's stay, let's get inside. Let's get real cozy and not think about the political, social, economic stress that is kind of pervading our lives right now.

GILGER: Yeah, and there feels like no escape from maybe this is our escape from it. 

KEHRBERG: Yes, yes. In a time of extreme information overload. Yes, I think sitting down to play some cards with a little LED candlelight is a perfect idea.

GILGER: Sounds great. What are we watching? This cozy holiday season? 

KEHRBERG: Oh, that's. You know, what I'm really anticipating is, the new “Knives Out" movie is coming out.

GILGER: Yeah, not a holiday film, but I get the vibe.

KEHRBERG: I know. See to me solving a murder is always a holiday tradition. But yeah. So we're going to get our new Benoit Blanc look, from actor Daniel Craig. Who? Honestly, you know what great inspiration for how you decorate your holiday table. He's very like Ralph Lauren. Like classic, three pieces. Tweeds. You know, it's a good look. Other than that. Gosh, it's hard to pick specific things because there's so much.

GILGER: Where do you stand on, like the traditional Christmas movies? You watch them every year. 

KEHRBERG: Oh, you know, I am a “Muppet Christmas Carol” purist.

GILGER: So good. 

KEHRBERG: Yes, and so I have to watch that for sure every year. If I don't get my “no cheeses for us meeces" it's not Christmas.

GILGER: Marley and Marley. 

KEHRBERG: Yes.

GILGER: Okay. So this is an interesting take I think you have on this and it's totally happening, this cozy kind of cutting back, frugal feeling holiday season.

But the other big trend that seems to be happening in pop culture right now, at least among like the celebrity, the upper echelon that we're seeing on TV, right, is like this 1980s excess, like very conspicuous consumption, like the very wealthy are doing very well right now.

And we're watching that play out in real time in like celebrity gossip, Jeff Bezos massive wedding. We've got the Trump ballroom being built at the White House.

 I mean, how do these two things coalesce? Is this like the cozy Christmas, a reaction to that excess? 

KEHRBERG: I think that's one way to look at it. Yeah, I mean, definitely throughout history we see that dichotomy a lot, right.

That's when a lot of us are kind of struggling and cutting corners and pinching pennies, I mean, you know, shout out to the penny. We loved you. There is kind of an excess on the other side of the spectrum, too. And I think that, I think there is a way to see it as a little bit of a reaction to that, of just, "oh, that might look a little gross to me."

And maybe I'm kind of, you know, hate watching is such a big thing now in the way that we consume both media and cultures. So I think there is an element of kind of hate watching that level of extreme, like billionaire consumption and pulling away from it and saying, well, no, that's not really what I want to embody this holiday season.

GILGER:  Or can.

KEHRBERG: Yes. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, look at just the reaction to, was it Bill Ackman's, pickup line that's going viral now where he said, “May I meet you?” Is this recommendation like, there's just, we are kind of bonding by looking at the billionaires and going, no, not me.

GILGER: No, but not me. OK, so lastly, then Amanda tell us, you know, what are you looking forward to most  this holiday season? What's the moment? You can't wait for it. 

KEHRBERG: Oh my gosh, that's such a good question. I think there's something about the way that the world stands still for a moment, even if it's just that sort of magical, you know, week that we all consider the central moment between Christmas and New Year's, when it seems like everything is quieter.

GILGER: Yeah.

KEHRBERG: And, I think that kind of quiet moment is so hard to find these days. And, you know, we're all trying to find these little chances to kind of disconnect and reconnect. And there is something that feels like almost like a liminal space.

 GILGER: I love that.

KEHRBERG: It's just, it's quiet and you can maybe you're smelling a Christmas tree, or maybe you've got candles or whatever is happening. You just have a moment that feels like it's just yours and time isn't even moving around you. And maybe you don't even need to know what's going on that day.