A Throne of Lies (Day 4414 - 12/25/21)

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For breakfast this Christmas morning, Debra serves up a casserole made of biscuits, sausage, eggs, cheese, and gravy. Stephen and Mallory both enjoy the casserole and Stephen says that it's very rich.

After breakfast, everyone gets ready to open gifts. Stephen hands the camera over to Debra for just a moment to show her how much it weighs before showing off all of the gifts under the tree.

The first gifts they decide to open are the final gifts from Calvin and Bich's advent calendar. Mal opens up her gift which is a paper quilling set. Stephen says he doesn't know what that is, so Mal explains that it's a set of paper that you can use to make designs with. Stephen opens up his gift which is a butter dish made by Coca-Cola. Stephen and Mal thank Calvin and Bich for their advent calendar and let them know that they appreciate it.

Stephen moves on to open a gift that Santa got him. He unboxes a Super NES Christmas ornament. Stephen says that it's super detailed as the ornament even shows the labels of the ports on the back. Stephen reminisces about how he got his SNES as a kid and remembers playing it on Christmas morning. Debra recalls that they were at her dad's house when Stephen got the SNES and that he played Donkey Kong Country quite a bit. Stephen remembers that he was about 4 or 5 at the time and was playing in one of the side bedrooms at his grandfather's house. Debra remembers the music that was playing at the time and recalls Stephen reading the manual for the game. Stephen's grandfather mentioned that he would probably need glasses at a young age, something that Stephen got the next year. Stephen also remembers playing Super Mario All-Stars with Steve when he was younger as well.

Stephen hands over Mal's gift from Santa which contains some socks and a kitchen towel with cats on it. The next gift Mal opens is a set of pajamas with cats on them. Mal tells Stephen to open a small envelope that she got him. Once opened, Stephen begins to read off a list which mostly contains pretzels, mustards, and sauces. Stephen realizes that Mal got him a pretzel box, to which she replies that she did not order it yet because they already have so much food, making this a promise to buy a pretzel box for him in the future.

Mal opens up another gift which happens to be a set of pink plush slippers. Stephen opens up one of his gifts which is a 4-pack of IZOD boxers--something that Stephen likes wearing. Mal opens up her next gift which turns out to be some dark chocolate cordial cherries. After that, Stephen opens up yet another gift, this time containing candied pecans. He shows the viewers that the pecans are covered in chocolate, white chocolate, cinnamon, and powdered sugar. Mal's next gift was a kitchen mandoline set. Debra says it's the one she has and it's the best one she's ever used. Stephen's next gift was various deli meats like a stick of salami, a stick of pepper salami, a sausage stick, a stick of pepperoni, and another stick of salami. Mal opens up another gift which turns out to be a Life-Savers hard candy sweet storybook. Debra says that it's something she always got for Christmas as a kid. Stephen rips apart another gift and it's a battery storage system called "Battery Daddy". This specific set can show the charge of a battery. Debra says that it's something she also got Steve. Mal then opens up a bag which was heavier than she expected. Inside the bag, there was a pumpkin spice candle which she smells and then hands off to Stephen for him to smell.

Stephen starts shaking a large box which he can only assume is filled with vitamins. Debra interjects and asks if the gift is for him and it turns out it belongs to someone else. Stephen sets the box down and grabs a bag that's for him which contains another box of Life-Savers. He comments on how he has his own box of Life-Savers now and doesn't have to take some from Mal. Mal opens a gift on behalf of Kepler which turns out to be a toy rat wearing a santa hat. Stephen rips open another one of his gifts and reveals a couple of plaid shirts, one gray and one blue. Stephen then hands Mal the box that he previously mistook for his present which she opens up to reveal a Waterpik. Stephen mentions that during his recent visit to the dentist, the dentist recommended that he try using a water flosser since he's been struggling with regular flossing. Stephen's next gift contains yet another plaid shirt. Mal opens up another bag, this time containing some Zebra Popcorn, which is caramel corn covered in chocolate, 2 bags of Dot's Homestyle Pretzels, which they both claim to be the snack of the year, some dark chocolate covered mangoes, and peanut butter filled pretzels dipped in chocolate fudge. Stephen opens up another gift, this time containing a deep tissue massage gun. Stephen recalls that Debra once "attacked" him with it once when he was visiting. Stephen continues to open up gifts, this time unwrapping a shredder. Debra got the shredder for them as the one Stephen and Mal had died. That shredder turned out to be owned by Stephen's grandfather. Debra hands over a large box that Mal had shipped to Steve and Debra's house. Stephen very skeptically opens the box which contains a variety of popcorn from Mission BBQ as well as a microwavable container.

Stephen hands over an envelope to Mal which contains a gift card to Goldbelly, an online marketplace for regional and artisanal foods in the U.S., along with a humerous card. Mal says that she would be very happy to use the card for sushi making kit from New York, Apple Pie Baked in a Paper Bag from Wisconsin, and various other foods. Stephen hands over another gift to Mal from him which contains a Hobonichi Drawer Pouch. Mal explains that it's a pouch used to hold pens and pencils as well as other items. Stephen hands over another gift from him to Mal, this time containing a "Homesick Wisconsin Candle". The candle has notes of butter, cranberry, and maple, as well as peppermint, cinnamon, cookie, vanilla, and tonka bean.

Stephen hands over a gift to Steve which contains a Blick Art Materials catalogue, as well as a gift card for Blick. This way he can just go through the catalogue and pick out some art materials that he'd like to use. Stephen gives a gift to Debra which she opens up to reveal a heated throw blanket. Debra tells him that she has really needed this as she's still been feeling cold even with the heater turned on.

Later in the evening, everyone, including Rocko, gathers around for a large dinner. Afterwards, Stephen took a short nap and then everyone gathers around the table for dessert. Everyone else has some pie for dessert while Stephen says that he's going to have some cookies instead. Stephen mentions that he's been snacking on some spiced meats all day as well as some of the food he got today as gifts. Debra prepares some sliders using leftovers from earlier.

After, Stephen, Mal, Debra, and Steve all gather around next to the tree for a Christmas photo. After realizing that it's almost midnight, Stephen says that he and Mal should probably go home, but not before Mal can finish reading the Blick catalogue.

Back at home, Stephen and Mal give Kepler his new toy which he immediately begins to play with. Stephen and Mal close out the vlog by saying that they had a very nice relaxed Christmas after a rough couple of months. They also wish everyone the best Christmas they can have. Stephen also mentions that he posted quite a few photos on Instagram, something that he wishes to do more often.