Dec. 14, 2024

The Kringle Queen of Racine (5 Good News Christmas Stories)

Show Notes
Transcript

Join Johnny Mac as he shares five delightful Christmas stories that are sure to put you in a festive mood. From the return of 90s Christmas decor to a dry Christmas trend among Gen Z, there's something for everyone. Discover Mark's impressive collection and the festive fun at the 12 Bars of Christmas, followed by Leslie Gray's unique collection of nutcrackers modeled after black celebrities. Lastly, find out all about the traditional Racine Kringle pastry that has become a holiday favorite. Tune in for heartwarming tales and holiday cheer!

00:15 90s Christmas Decor Makes a Comeback
01:10 Dry Christmas Trend Among Gen Z
01:31 The 12 Bars of Christmas Event
03:40 Collecting Celebrity Nutcrackers
04:40 Exploring the Delicious Kringle Pastry

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Caloroga Shark Media. Hey there, I'm Jennie Mack with five

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good news Christmas stories. Hey gen Z. They're all divided

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about nineteen nineties Christmas decorations and they're saying it's too

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old school. What what are you talking about? Some people

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are talking about it's the season to be tacky. Miranda

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is a mom. Now, yeah, we're all getting older. She says,

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nineties nostalgia Christmas decorse coming back, and I'm here for it.

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She's got multicolor string lights over the top, ornaments, paper

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snowmen cutouts. This made its way to social media because

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everything does. One asks, bro, what have you done? It's

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so extra? Another said this is so extra. Another quipped

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she won't be inviting friends over. Another mom Mazie has

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said this year for our Christmas theme, we're going full

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colorful nineties TACKI you can't look at it and be sad.

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Erica posted her tree. She got one point eight million views.

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She said, my husband wanted a Christmas tree that reminded

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him of his childhood, so I decorated our tree with

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a nineties theme. She brought back tacky nineties lights. I

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love it. Seems a lot of people this year, are

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doing a dry Christmas? Now? We've heard of dry January.

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Apparently it's spindling backwards into December now not spilling, I guess.

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A poll of two thousand adults found that seventy eight

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percent of adults born after ninety six are planning a

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dry Christmas. Now. If you don't like that story, good

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news you'll like this story. Mark is the owner of

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the Lucky Twelve Tavern and the founder of the Twelve

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Bars of Christmas. Had at this start, he said, his

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mom gave my sister and I ten bucks and let

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us each pick out our own holiday decoration. If you

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walk into the Jingle Twelfth Tavern, the holiday pop up

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bar stage at his restaurant during the Twelve Bars of Christmas,

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it'd be hard to believe that in just six years,

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Mark's collection has grown to over two hundred vintage Christmas decorations.

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He said, I wanted to put on a show that

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would blow people's socks off, So in twenty twenty three,

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he started the Twelve Bars of Christmas, with twelve local

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bars and restaurants entering full Operation Christmas command Center mode,

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decking their halls with unique holiday to corps, changing their

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names for a little bit and designing special menus featuring

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ule side snacks and drinks. Each restaurant partners with a

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local nonprofit, selling a ten dollars passport to visitors who

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then visit each of the twelve Bars of Christmas to

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receive a stamp to complete their Christmas tour. This is

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a bar hop, guys, But okay, I need five Christmas

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stories for today. I'll roll with it. This is fun.

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When the passport is completed, they can exchange it for

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an exclusive twelve Bars of Christmas ornament. Then they're no

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drawing for grand prize. What are the twelve bars of Christmas? Okay, well,

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there's Jack Frost's Christmas Vacation Station, the North Pole Yacht Club,

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the Holly Jolly Christmas Deck, the Holes, the Jingle twelve Tavern,

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McAllister's Corner. They didn't work too hard on a name. There,

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Old Cedar Brown's, Poor Rudolph's Mama Clauses, the Broken Candy Cane,

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and Goombers. You want to eat something, head on over

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to the Broken Candy Cane where they're serving green eggs

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and ham. Their theme is grinch. Oh McAllister's Corner, all right,

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I could make an edit, but I'll deal fair here.

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It's from the movie Home Alone, Okay, I get it.

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I apologize McAllister's corner. Everyone's support mccallister's corner where they're

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serving Little Nero's Mini cheese pizza burgers. Now, I could

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edit that right, but like, that's not fun. I don't

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like making the edits. It's not fun. Now, if you

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walk around the twelve bars, you might see Santa, the Grinch,

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Charlie brown Snoopy Anna and Elsa, and Bad Santa. You

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can even walk into weeder Wonderland. That's a ped costume contest.

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Check it out. Twelve Bars of Christmas dot Com Number

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twelve Bars of Christmas dot Com. Nice job there. From

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the Baltimore Bullet, Leslie Gray is collecting nutcrackers that look

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like black celebrities. This is a fun article, Leslie writes,

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I can finally break out my nutcracker that kind of

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looks like Rick James right now is standing on my mantle,

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looking over the stockings and twinkle lights between Santa Chamar

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Moore and Christmas Queen Diana Ross. None of them are

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official replicas of the those famous people, and none of

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them actually cracked nuts, so technically they're cosplaying nutcrackers. That

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doesn't matter. Leslie says, I was at Target a few

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years ago, trying to stick to my list, and I

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walked by a display of holiday chatchkes. In the middle,

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I saw a regal vision in pink jewel crown atop

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her flowing dark locks and billowing cape. I wasn't in

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the market for a nutcracker, but I instantly recalled the

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Diana Ross concert I went to with my mother. Then

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she found a nutcracker she think was supposed to represent Balthazar,

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one of the Magi, and she checked out his bright

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eyes and long dark hair and said he's very freaky.

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King That con you don't take home to Jesus, And

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that's how King Rick James became the second member of

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her crew. She's hoping this Christmas she can find a

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Denzel Washington. Hey, good news. If you're looking to eat

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a Kringle, wait, relax. That's a dutched ring pastry. Eater

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took a look at it and says, for those not

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in the no, a Kringle is a fruit nut stafe

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pastry that has come to ra scene. Welcome to Kringleville.

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Eater tells us Racine's version of the originally Scandinavian Kringle

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is at its best numbingly sweet and astonished butter forward.

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It takes three days to roll, fold, and rest the

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thirty six layers of butter, marcharine, and doe that make

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up its surprisingly low profile. It measures less than an

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inch between plate and icing. That super soft, but tense

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puff pastry is then swaddled around your choice of sweet filling.

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Betting had classic flavors like almond or apple, or maybe

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you want to try pumpkin caramel, and then they spin

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that into a large flat ring blanketed with a powdered

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sugar glaze. All right, let's recap here. I'm not familiar

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with this, but thirty six layers of butter, margarine, and

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dough and then sugar sweet sounds like an understatement. At

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the turn of the twentieth century, new Danish arrivals to

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Racine brought their baking traditions, and Kringle quickly took over

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the town. Women competed to be crowned the Kringle Queen

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of Racine. The pastry inspired a PoCA as well as

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an annual festival for Christmas. A Kringle Chris Kringle. You'll

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find that at the O and H Bakery, you know,

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went online. I'm looking at the website here and my

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eyes have popped open. Guess how much a Kringle Kris

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Kringle is. That's right, eighty eight dollars and forty nine cents.

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One hundred and twenty six reviews, though most like positive

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review says make it simple and yummy. Oh, there's a

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negative review that says the Kringles were squished. We're five

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good news stories were you. We're not talking about squished

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Kringles anyway. If you're watching your budget, head on over

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to Trader Joe's. Eater says for less than ten dollars.

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At Trader Joe's their Kringle Fuels a new winter ritual.

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The writer says they stick a slice in the microwave

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for eight seconds, still at the dose soften. And though

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the package claims to feed twelve people, that has failed

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every time. I'm hungry now. And those are five good

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news Christmas stories for today. If you like the program,

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tell a friend about it. They might like it too.

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More Christmas tomorrow. See then,