Here’s a rewritten version of the article:
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**Exploring Christmas, Nature, and Netflix Holiday Movies on *The Distraction***
Christmas is a fixed point in the calendar, surrounded by a season that varies in timing depending on personal preference. For some, the festive season begins after Halloween; for others, it kicks off post-Thanksgiving. But traditionally, it wraps up before the new year. At least, that’s what I believed before this week’s episode of *The Distraction* podcast, featuring Defector’s own Sabrina Imbler. Now, I’m not so sure.
Let me back up a bit. Sabrina is well-known to Defector readers for their captivating stories about creatures both *great* and *small* and their often sobering interactions with humanity. Naturally, we started our conversation in the realm of the natural world—or at least, we tried to. What unfolded was one of the silliest episodes we’ve had in a while, which is a testament to both the strength of Defector’s camaraderie and Sabrina’s infectious energy.
Drew kicked things off with questions about undersea hotels, which quickly spiraled into a discussion about villainous underwater lairs straight out of a James Bond movie. This somehow led to me explaining the plot of *Event Horizon* (I was asked, I swear) and offering my honest critique of the film. Naturally, this segued into the age-old debate: which is scarier, space or the ocean? Sabrina weighed in, and we also touched on whether humanity will ever colonize Mars (spoiler: probably not).
The most “scientific” moment of this segment came when we debated which large animal would be the coolest to shrink down and keep as a pet. Drew made a case for his beloved “Safe Bears,” while Sabrina enthusiastically declared, “I would love to squeeze a seal.”
From there, we made a sharp pivot to Christmas, inspired by Sabrina’s new recurring feature on Netflix’s holiday movies. Their latest piece—a collaboration with David Roth and Lauren Theisen—celebrated the delightfully bizarre *Hot Frosty*. As it turns out, Sabrina is as much of a Netflix Christmas movie fanatic as I am a Hallmark devotee. We dove into the tropes, the unique “flavors” of holiday movies from different platforms, and the varying levels of peppermint-scented whimsy they offer.
We also touched on Lacey Chabert’s role as a fixture in both Hallmark and Netflix’s Christmas universes, the archetypes of Christmas Villains and Angels, and Netflix’s attempt at an authentically Italian Christmas movie (*The Feast of the Seven Fishes*), which stars the delightfully quirky Skyler Gisondo.
For me, this was a dream conversation—I got to geek out about my favorite dumb holiday movie tropes. But what truly stood out was Sabrina’s refreshingly unconventional approach to Christmas. This year, they started celebrating early due to the stress of election season and plan to keep the festivities going as long as they see fit. It’s a bold, liberating take on the holiday season, and honestly, I respect it. After all, there are plenty of Christmas movies to sustain such an approach.
The episode wrapped up with a brief discussion about Defector’s shared experience watching dolphins frolic in Atlantic City before transitioning to the Funbag. A listener question about the first big battle scene in a movie stumped us a bit, so we just shared some of our favorites instead. Sabrina gave a nod to *A Bug’s Life*, Drew mentioned *Paths of Glory*, and I chose *Chimes at Midnight*. Together, we covered a respectable range of film history.
Another question about how often handwashing has saved us from illness led to some hilariously gross anecdotes. Sabrina discussed the “ambient poop experience” of living with cats, I shared a story about my (disgusting) pet turtle, and Drew admitted he didn’t start washing his hands regularly until he got married. From Drew’s gnarly hands to a drop of turtle-tank water landing on my lip to a snowman’s implied anatomy, we truly embraced the natural world in all its messy glory.
Not bad for an hour of podcasting.
If you’d like to subscribe to *The Distraction*, you can find it on [Apple Podcasts](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-distraction-a-defector-podcast/id1525039108), [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/show/5P5Wlz6VhajktvWDq7SbtV), or wherever you get your podcasts. And if you’re interested in having Drew come to your house and cook you dinner, you can learn more about that [here](https://defector.com/we-will-further-secure-our-financial-independence-by-letting-drew-cook).
Thank you, as always, for your support.
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Let me know if you’d like further adjustments!
Source: defector.com