Dec. 9, 2025

Slop Princess of Montecito: Holiday Hokum, Fading Fame and $12 Chocolate Bars

Slop Princess of Montecito: Holiday Hokum, Fading Fame and $12 Chocolate Bars

Critics absolutely torch With Love, Meghan: Holiday Celebration, mocking broccoli wreaths, therapy-speak crackers and brunch guests in matching red PJs as reviewers label the show joyless, fake and unintentionally hilarious. The Free Press dubs Meghan the “Slop Princess,” while U.S. commentators say the Sussex brand is sliding fast: Harry’s Trump joke draws boos, their star power is “waning,” and Meghan’s eye is drifting toward Kardashians-style beauty deals. Now add in As Ever’s twelve-dollar chocolate bars with bee pollen and “weeds” that social media calls “insane” and “gross,” and you’ve got the full Montecito package: high price, high gloss, and a reputation that’s starting to melt.

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A calorogus Shark Media. Hello and welcome to Pallas Intrigue.

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I am your host, Mark Francis. At this time of year,

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we are all thankful for Meghan's holiday special and all

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the goodness it brings to podcasting. In the Times, Hilary

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Rose writes, I'm not usually the praying type, but I

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said a little prayer before watching with love meghan holiday celebration.

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Give me the strength, I muttered, to endure what is

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to come, and the grace not to give in to despair.

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I've been struggling since the trailer landed a couple of

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weeks ago, because it opened with Meghan in Welli's dancing

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around Christmas trees shouting Hey. Now the whole festive episode

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has arrived, and it is more than we could have

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hoped for or done to deserve. It's unfathomable. Four pointless crafts,

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three random friends, two unseen kids, one English prince and

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a duchess in a pear tree, or at least making

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pear syrup. So many traditions to embrace, she says, and

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new ones to make, and so against the cacophony of

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lift music and jingle bells. Our heroine proceeds to put

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Christmas into therapy and see what comes out the other side.

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Not Christmas for a start, Holidays? Is it a holiday tree?

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Then does father Holiday come down the chimney. She subjects

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crackers to psychoanalysis, pulling them in a moment of real connectivity.

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She arranges raw broccoly in a circle and describes it

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as a modernizing take on a Christmas wreath. Dressed in

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the first and many neutral cashmere separates. She invites us

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to place a bowl of dip in the center of

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the platter or to the side, showing us, gracefully with

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a manicure at hand, how to move the bowl around.

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I can only assume that the part where she puts

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on monogrammed red pajamas and talks about Keechen lorrain and

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my fair lady accent was a fever dream. Some people arrive,

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perhaps off the street, for brunch, also dressed in red pajamas.

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They eat pudding first with a knife and fork. Then

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Kish Megan tells them she has plans for them after lunch,

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a clear signal to flee, and yet they don't, not

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even when she says this is ow bevy of options

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of wreathmaking someone says that the greatest meals are those

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that leave your heart feeling full, and Megan is visibly

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but prettily moved. He talks about the perfect imperfection that

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comes from human connection, a level of gibberish that has

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a practically implode with heartfelt empathy. You see why he's here,

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She asks, Oh, let's see now to frog his book,

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she rewards him with them darling cheese gouger, and everyone

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says caucio, a peppy a lot, And then she asks,

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can I give you a beverage as well? Instead of

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having her locked up? He says yes. In the Telegraph,

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Alison Pearson writes, joyless and fake. What a strange person,

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Megan is? What kind of woman thinks relatable is having

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friends over to craft various Christmas gifts and food stuffs,

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which apparently will lay down those nostalgic family memories. For

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some reason, I never had a friend who wanted to

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make her own advent calendar and put individual love notes

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to her kids in each day, nor a bosom pal

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who yearned to create her own personalized Christmas crackers. We

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were too busy working to pay the mortgage or dragging

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four days worth of festive food back from the supermarket.

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Father Christmas must be real reason, to Rachel my friend's

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little girl, because mummies couldn't do all that work by themselves,

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could they. The show begins with Megan buying a tree

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once a year, we get to do the tree thing.

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She tricks girlishly. Who goes to get a Christmas tree

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without taking the kids, Archie and Littlebit and know where

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to be seen. I guess they might pick an imperfect spruce,

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which would play havoc with mum's perfectionist designs. Meghan decorates

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the tree by herself, or she starts doing it. I

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reckon there's a team of nervous elves poised behind the

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camera to sprint into action and do Madam's bidding. You're

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really able to encapsulate your family story, she says about

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the tree decorations. So in the Duke and Duchess of

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Sussex's case, the family story is one bereft grandpa in

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very poor health who has never met his grandchildren because

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he sold out a teeny bit to the media before

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Harry and Meghan's wedding. Not to be confused with the

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Sussexes selling out to the media with books and documentaries

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trashing Harry's family that was bravely telling our truth. Oh

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and on the paternal side, there's another grandpa in uncertain

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health who has seen his California based grandchildren only a

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handful of times, even though they bear their royal titles

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because of them. Don't forget the brother and sister in

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law who hate the Sussex's guts for causing the late

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Queen and her husband so much distress in their final years,

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and for implying the present King and Princess of Wales

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were guilty of racism or at least unconscious bias, because

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they were cold, weird Brits who didn't treat warm, empathetic

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American Megan with sufficient deference or hug her. What she

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is really interested in is the superficial, the presentation of

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a wealthy, immaculate life that bossy, ambitious little Meghan with

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her broken family must have dreamt of as a child.

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She talks endlessly of hospitality, but has none of the

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open heartedness and relaxation and to make her hospitable. At

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times she comes close to diagnosing what ails her. I

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get so fast about everything being perfect that she lose

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the magic that even happens in the mistakes more palas

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in just a moment in the Free Press, Susie Weiss writes,

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Megan Mikle is the slop princess we deserve. I've come

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the whole way around on Megan Markle. I started where

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everyone did, completely enchanted by the gorgeous American actress who

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got to ride an actual carriage to marry a real

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life prince. The drama with her dad made her relatable.

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She looked stunning at her wedding. She could do no wrong.

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Then she did wrong, or at least she admitted a

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major mistake when she decided that actually she didn't want

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to be in the royal family. They are allegedly struck

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up and repressed and kind of racist. Who would have thought.

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She fled to Canada in California with her husband and

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new baby. The good people of England called it mesit.

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What followed was years of tabloid drama and lawsuits against

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the press, and an Oprah Winfrey interview in which Meghan

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said no one ever asked if she was okay, but

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she would not be silenced. She launched a podcast about

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girl bosses, which lasted a couple of months. Then there

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was a lifestyle brand called American Riviera Orchard that's now

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called as Ever that sells jam. She and her husband

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signed a one hundred million dollar Netflix deal, which was

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not renewed this past summer. Nevertheless, she persisted she has

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made a holiday special for the streamer and in doing

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so has totally won me back over. It is unhinged

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and unintentionally hilarious. I could not recommend it more. Royal

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commentators say the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are facing

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a decline in their public standing, both in Hollywood and

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more widely, as Prince Harry's appearance on The Late Show

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with Stephen Colbaar prompted booze from the audience after a

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joke about President Donald Trump. A source toward People magazine

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that Meghan treats criticism as just noise, while Prince Harry

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takes things more personally and remains detnsely protective of his wife.

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Kinsey Chowfield on Unfiltered said their style power is fading.

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That will frustrate them because they've experienced the dopamine hit

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of adoration. Their confidence in leaving the royal family was

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rooted in the perceived popularity. They'll keep putting themselves out

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there because they need to make money. But Meghan's commercial

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ambitions conflict with Harry's desire to rebuild royal bridges. As

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long as she uses her title for business, the Royal

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family will keep their distance, and as long as the

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family keeps that distance, Harry's popularity will continue to suffer.

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She often subtly addresses specific criticisms and interviews she absolutely

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sees it. Meghan is more eager to respond to every

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rumor or negative story. By contrast, she said, Harry is

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the opposite. Meghan doesn't actively seek out negative feedback, while

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Harry can't help himself. He reads it, looks for it,

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and it hurts him. Despite such scrutiny, a People magazine

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insiders said it never creates friction between them. They're fully

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aligned and always operate as a team. Chaffield said they

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seem to ignore real scandals. They follow, never complain, never explain,

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only when it suits them. Hillary Fordage told Fox News

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Digital either they really are oblivious to their fading star

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power or just doing the utmost to manage their waning popularity.

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Meghan is usually dismissive of criticism, while Harry takes it

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deeply to heart. Meghan grew up Hollywood hardened, while Harry

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is more easily wounded. Looking to the future, Chofield predicted,

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I think Meghan will keep aligning herself with the Kardashians

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and other power players. I expect her to launch something

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in the beauty arena. She is fiercely independent. What Meghan wants,

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Meghan gets. Meghan's newly launched twelve dollars chocolate bars have

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drawn sharp criticism online, with many social media uses branding

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both the flavors and the price insane and weird. The

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Duchess of Sussex unveiled three limited edition bars featuring what

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her as Ever brand describes as signature ingredients Milk chocolate

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with short bread cookies and bee pollen, White chocolate with

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flour sprinkles and ham hearts, and dark chocolate with raspberry

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spread and sea salt. Reaction, however, was mixed. One critic wrote,

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She's got to be joking. Twelve dollars for a chocolate

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bar with weird flavors in it, Like who ruins chocolate

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with flower sprinkles and bee pollen? Leave that for the bees.

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Another commented there's no way I'd pay twelve dollars for

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a random chocolate bar with weeds in it. Gross. There

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you have it. If you'd like to email us our

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Christmas gift, even for yourself. We appreciate the support Mike

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Intrigue and as school h