- Ho ho ho.

'Tis the season to be jolly.

- And we are walkin' in a winter wonderland.

"You've Gotta See This."

(upbeat lively music) (upbeat lively music continues) - We've got a whole show dedicated to the holidays.

We're gonna show you some places and activities that you'll wanna do to celebrate the season right.

Also, if you're still looking for some last minute gifts, especially those that are yummy in the tummy, we're gonna show you some Central Illinois treats that are just great to give.

- While you're making your list and you're checking it twice, you don't wanna forget important people in your family, especially those cute little puppers you have in your house.

You know, you gotta get a gift for your dog.

We'll give you some good tips on how to do that.

- "8-Track Time Machine" is gonna go way back in time for some interesting backstories, stories you've never heard before about some of your favorite Christmas carols.

- But most of all, we love this as a season of giving.

And there's a company out there that does decorations, and beautiful holiday lights for law enforcement families, and military families.

Let's watch that next.

(somber orchestral strings music) - [Phil] Amid darkness shines a light.

It's a Christmas gift that can be both celebrational and somber.

For nine years, BNI Seasonal Lighting in Bloomington has strung holiday lights on the homes of families connected to the military and law enforcement.

The lights through a program known as Decorated Heroes, shine as a reminder that sacrifice is remembered.

That's important to Jerome and Frances Maddox of Bloomington, whose son Anthony Maddox, made the ultimate sacrifice.

- It's a wonderful honor you know, that's one thing as a Gold Star Family, we always say, "Always remember and never forget."

And for them to place these lights on our home, it brings joy to our heart.

- [Phil] Anthony grew up mostly in Bloomington Normal, among many friends and two younger sisters.

- He had a great heart, had a wonderful heart.

You know, there was nothing that he felt he couldn't do, but he always wanted to make people laugh and have fun with them.

- [Phil] Young Anthony especially loved Christmas time and making the holiday special for his siblings.

- He loved helping me put things together for them for Christmas.

And so we'd find ourselves in the basement, sometimes till one, three, or four o'clock in the morning, putting their playhouses and things together.

He enjoyed, you know, waking up and seeing all the gifts and being surprised, but just the joy of the holiday.

- [Phil] In high school, Anthony was quiet in class, but feisty in sports.

- Football was really the sport that he truly loved.

And he earned the nickname of Mad Dog.

So we always like to share that, 'cause he was pretty powerful and fierce on the football field.

- [Phil] Later he decided to funnel that fierceness into an enlistment with the US Army.

He trained as a petroleum supply specialist, rising to sergeant.

- We felt, and I felt that it transformed him from a kid to a man.

- [Phil] In 2013, he was deployed in Afghanistan with Operation Enduring Freedom.

That July in a petroleum accident, he was burned over 97% of his body.

- Within three days, we get the- - Knock on the door.

- Knock on the door, and that he's gone.

So, you know, that's something you only think that you see in the movies,(chuckles) but it, you know, it is real.

- [Phil] In Bloomington Normal, he was honored by the naming of a portion of Interstate 55, as the Sergeant Anthony R Maddox Memorial Highway.

And in 2018, he got another honor, thanks to BNI Seasonal Lighting.

Owner Derek Claflin served three tours in Iraq with the Air Force.

He started the program, Decorated Heroes to honor military and law enforcement personnel.

Some face ongoing challenges, others gave their lives in service.

- Unfortunately, our list keeps growing, and it's not a list that you wanna be on necessarily.

- [Phil] BNI decorate 600 residences and businesses each holiday season.

10 homes get complimentary lights through Decorated Heroes year after year.

Blue for law enforcement, red, white, and blue for military.

- My body's sore.

I'm tired, you know, from working a hundred hours a week.

But these by far, are the most meaningful to us every year.

These families become my family now.

Their stories of their sons, their husbands, that we tell 'em, actually, they mean the world to me.

We don't expect donations.

You know, this is just my way of giving back to the community.

Just drive by, see the lights would make it make me feel good.

- [Phil] Feeling likewise, are Anthony Maddox's parents, who add a memorial sign to their Decorated Hero's display.

- We do have some folks that will stop, especially if we're outside and they will comment on the lights, and, you know, let us know how beautiful they are.

And if they see the sign, you know, thank us for Anthony's service.

And so that's very touching, and really we appreciate, you know, that they acknowledge that.

- [Phil] And the heartfelt gesture goes beyond the outside display extending throughout the household, and Anthony Maddox's family - Going through the holiday, We have an empty seat at the table.

And so having this remembrance really means a lot to our military families, and especially to us.

(solemn music) (upbeat music) - A recent survey revealed that shoppers are budgeting their gift giving this year.

And it may surprise you who makes the list.

People who were surveyed said they're more likely to buy Christmas gifts for their pets than they are for their in-laws.

You heard that right.

Consumers are gifting their fuzzy friends over family in some instances.

Since our pooches are getting the royal treatment this Christmas the "You Gotta See This" team headed out to My Dog's Bakery in Peoria, to see how you can spoil your puppy this holiday season.

- I would say probably the most popular thing that people come in and get, signature, like our peanut butter paws are really, really popular.

Our peanut butter truffles are really popular.

We do a version of Oreos and Thumbprints as well for dogs.

So those are probably our most popular, treat-wise.

- [Julie] Treated, is the perfect description because on average, pet owners will spend $122 on their pets during the 2023 holiday season.

But what are they buying?

- My favorite this year that we got in, we actually have a fleece line now that we carry.

It's kind of a Sherpa fleece.

- But they're already wearing a fur coat.

- They are but you know- - This is pretty exciting.

- If you have one like mine, who really likes to go out.

- [Julie] For our four-legged friends, it seems that Christmas has gone to the dogs.

From fancy new duds, spa days, to tasty snacks.

There's a world of options out there.

- So these are two popular items as well off of our raw bar.

So this is a chicken head and this is a chicken foot or feet, however you would say that.

The dogs really like 'em, they're really healthy for them.

It's a little bit non-traditional, but easy on their digestive tract.

And again, they really like this stuff and it's really good for them.

- And this one could be a back scratcher.

- I mean, it could be, you know, multipurpose here.

(snappy music) (snappy music continues) If you're somebody who is a little bit more traditional, we've got you covered as far as that as well.

- So this is traditional, this is the cherry flavored ear.

- So a tradition, not necessarily a cherry flavored ear, but it's not the raw or the freeze dried.

- Gotcha.

- So they do come in multiple different flavors.

They come in peanut butter, cherry, vanilla, blueberry, even original, so it just kind of depends.

- And I'm not gonna pick up the duck head.

- You're not gonna pick up the duck head.

But this one's a little bit safer because it's- - Okay, I'm going to.

- It's actually wrapped for you.

- Oh, oh.

No matter what your dog's taste, there's a gift that will light up their eyes, and warm your heart this season.

- Being in a small business, it's kind of, for me what it's all about.

It's really about giving back to the community, being there for the dogs, and just doing it in a way that really, they get just as much out of it as you do.

(snappy music) - You know, Santa Claus is coming to town and he's probably gonna be hungry.

- Well, he does have a figure to maintain.

It's well, mostly round, but you know, he gets that from all that holiday snacking.

- It is, 'tis the season to be snacking.

- Absolutely.

- For the feeding, and we get together, and we share a lot of foods, right?

And there are certain foods in Central Illinois that we love, but maybe we need to share them to people who aren't living here.

- Ooh, maybe sending packages of goodies and yum-yums to people who don't live around here.

- Right, and so we've collected a list of some of those foods.

Now some of those foods you can just send in the mail.

Others are refrigerated.

So maybe if you're taking a drive a few hours to visit grandma or whoever, you can take those in your car.

But this is a list of certain foods from Central Illinois that are great to give during the holidays.

- Could they be delivered by polar bear?

- [Both] Maybe.

(cheery holiday music) (cheery holiday music continues) (cheery holiday music continues) (cheery holiday music continues) (cheery holiday music continues) (calm quiet music) We are here at Sullivan's with Billy, and we're talking Christmas cocktails.

There's a lot of fun cocktails at around Christmas time.

There's like pepperminty and cranberry, and there's all kinds of fun flavors.

What are you gonna make for us today?

- We're gonna make the Sullivan's Ho Ho Ho.

- Ooh so do you have to be on the naughty list or the nice list for this one?

- Well, the first one we'll make for the naughty list.

The second one will make a mocktail that's similar, but for the nice list.

- Perfect, let's start with the naughty, 'cause that's most of our audience, right?

- Yep sure, so take a short glass, fill it full of ice.

And I'll take an ounce and a half of Deep Eddie Cranberry Vodka.

An ounce and a half of this.

- I'm already likin' this.

- And then we have our St. George's Spiced Pear Liqueur.

Half an ounce of that.

- So we've got the cranberry, we've got the pear.

So we're going fruity, I like it.

- And then we top it with a ginger ale for just a nice little spice.

And then we will garnish it with an orange.

- Ooh, it looks delicious.

- Sullivan's Ho Ho Ho.

- But let's make sure that the teetotalers or the kiddie table gets some too.

Let's do the mocktail.

- Sure.

So for the mocktail, also a short glass, and we'll substitute cranberry juice in for the vodka.

- Makes sense.

- And then, we will use some apple juice, about a half an ounce of that.

And then instead of using ginger ale, we'll use ginger beer soda to add.

- [Julie] So that's just like root beer?

- Yeah, just like root beer.

- I mean it's non-alcoholic.

- It's non-alcoholic.

I'll top it off with the ginger beer.

- Fantastic, so the whole family could enjoy this- - Absolutely.

- As you celebrate Christmas time.

- Garnish it with an orange.

- Nice.

- There you go.

- All right.

- Do you wanna be naughty or nice today?

- I'll be nice.

Phil is always the naughty, so I gotta do it.

So, Merry Christmas.

- Merry Christmas.

- Mmm, it's really refreshing, I like that.

Merry Christmas from us all here at Sullivan's.

(light marching music) - [Phil] Michael Rodcay puts up 15,000 Christmas lights, so you'll come out and take a look at his display, and help wounded veterans.

The backbreaking work takes weeks every year, but he thinks it's worth it.

At the display, passersby can make a donation to support his fellow vets.

- Every cent that we raise each year, penny for penny goes to the Wounded Warrior Project.

I keep nothing of any of the donations.

I give everything to the project.

- [Phil] Rodcay and his wife live at 511 James Parkway, in Washington.

Rodcay served 31 years as a cook in the US Army, including two combat tours before retiring injury-free in 2016.

- I went to Iraq twice.

And I know there's fellow comrades that unfortunately experienced life altering changes, either lost an arm or a leg, or were severely injured.

And I thought, how can I give back?

What can I do to raise funds to help them with their lives, after their service?

- [Phil] In the army, Rodcay always decorated his quarters at Christmas time.

Back home, he decided to continue that tradition, but in a big way.

Outside his house, he hung strand after strand of lights, on the roof and elsewhere.

Since then, each year he has added something new - Time consuming.

There's over 6,000 lights just on the roof itself.

- [Phil] The centerpiece display is Old Glory, which every season demands meticulous maintenance.

- This year it took five days, a total of 27 hours.

There's 2,500 lights on that flag.

Each individual light bulb is in a peg board, and then it's glued on to the back of the peg board.

So it takes time to have to re rewire it, re-stringing it, and then re-glue each individual light.

- [Phil] So how does this brilliant display help out veterans?

Rodcay asks passersby to consider joining him and supporting the Wounded Warrior Project.

The organization supports the physical and mental needs of vets serving since 911.

- For anyone wishing to donate to our cause and support the event, we do have a donation box.

- [Phil] Though Rodcay sees a slight uptick in his energy bill each Yuletide, he keeps not one dime of donations.

Over the past few years, he has collected $2,500 for a Wounded Warrior project.

Plus he enjoys interacting every night with motorists who stop at the display.

- They just say, thank you for what I'm doing, for the support.

- [Phil] Each year, the display runs December 1st through Christmas night, 5:00 PM to 9:00 PM.

Rodcay's Christmas wish, that you'll come out, see the lights, and help him help the Wounded Warrior Project.

- I wanna help them, and this is my way of helping, raise funds and then like I said, everything raise, we forward to the project.

- [Mark] There are plenty of holiday activities in Central Illinois to keep your family busy during the next two weeks.

Some are free, some aren't.

So be sure to go to the event website listed on your screen for more information.

Check out the zoo, Luthy Botanical Gardens and the Peoria Playhouse Children's Museum in the same afternoon.

One ticket gets you into all three facilities to see Santa, do some crafts, write letters to Rudolph and more.

Two big concerts are coming to Peoria.

The Peoria Symphony Orchestra presents "Home for the Holidays."

Enjoy a medley of holiday favorites like Charlie Brown, "The Nutcracker," carols, and more.

One show only at the Civic Center Theater, Sunday, December 17th at 3:00 PM.

(airy orchestral music) A holiday tradition for more than 35 years, Mannheim Steamroller returns to Peoria.

You can hear classics along with the dazzling multimedia effects.

That's Thursday, December 21st at 8:00 PM.

Across the river in East Peoria is the most famous light show in the area.

Drive through Folepi's Winter Wonderland, from now through January 1st.

The drive through electric park is the Festival of Lights signature event.

Five Points Washington, Peoria Pops presents "Christmas Rocks at the Pops."

They're ready to electrify some classic favorites arranged by the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, Mannheim Steamroller and more.

Plus, you can get your picture taken with Santa or the Grinch.

The historic David Davis Mansion in Bloomington hosts "A Gilded Age Christmas."

Visitors can walk through the historic mansion at night and view each room decked out with beautiful holiday decorations while costumed guides walk the halls.

There's live music, and you can see Santa in his Victorian outfit.

♪ Ahhhhh Merry Christmas baby - Chart topping, singer songwriters, Pam Tillis and Phil Vassar bring their "Holidays and Hits" tour to Bloomington.

They'll sing holiday favorites and their own hits.

Held under the twinkling lights in historic downtown Ottawa, the Euro-inspired Chris Kringle Market features small makers, bakers, and creators from around the world.

More than 70 vendors placed throughout downtown Ottawa makes this a fun shopping experience.

Again, be sure to check out the event websites, for ticket information and updates before you head out.

Happy holidays.

("Jingle Bells") (upbeat jazzy music) (upbeat jazzy music continues) Ho ho ho, and welcome to Festive Worth Township in my garage for another episode of "8-Track Time Machine" where we go through the songs and the stories of the greatest era of pop music, the 8-Track era.

That's what we usually do.

Tonight, we're gonna go back a few more years, a couple more decades to get into the Christmas spirit, 'cause we wanna look into some interesting stories, or as we like to call them tonight, "The Long Lost Legends of Cherished Christmas Carols."

- Happy holidays, folks, wherever you may be.

(rolling gentle flowing music) - The backstory to "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" is bittersweet, kind of like the song itself.

It's a little bit sad, but it ends on a happy note.

So we turned back to 1939, and this is when Montgomery Ward, the retailer in Chicago, wanted to do a book promotion, a giveaway, to get people to come to the store to buy Christmas stuff, right?

And they wanted a new book though, so they asked copywriter, Robert May to put together a new story.

Hey, come up with something new.

The problem was he was in a really bad funk.

For one, he wanted to be a novelist, but he was stuck as a copywriter, writing underwear ads and stuff like that.

Two, the money that he made from that job was pretty meager, and his household was really low on dough.

And three, his wife was sick, really, really sick.

Still, he managed to push that aside to come up with a quirky and fun storyline about this reindeer with a shiny nose, who got Santa out of a pickle and saved Christmas.

So he took it to Montgomery Ward and they said, "No Way!"

Why, well, back then, especially a red nose was associated with drunkenness.

And reindeer, real reindeer have that really big nose and Montgomery Ward's like, they're gonna think we're a bunch of drunks here.

So what Robert May did, is he had the illustrator draw reindeer, like whitetail deer, like that are all over Illinois.

So they had these cute little reindeers with a tiny nose.

And so the red nose got the green light, and the book started to be published.

Meantime, another hurdle, Robert May's wife died.

The household is kind of devastated, right?

Especially his daughter, but when he shared the story with her, it brought up her spirits.

And his spirits were brought up, as this book was distributed, two million copies.

But it really catches traction, this story does, in 1949. this is when Robert May's brother-in-Law, Johnny Marks, he's a songwriter.

He writes a song, I think you've heard of it.

It's about a reindeer, named Rudolph.

Gene Autry takes this song to number one in 1949, and then 15 years later, there's an animated special that's on TV that year and every year since.

And as they say in the song, ♪ You'll go down in history ("The Christmas Song") So "The Christmas Song" you think about that title, right?

It takes a lotta of guts to say, "Forget about all those other Christmas carols over the past hundreds of years.

This is the Christmas song."

And with all that behind it, you might think there must've been a lotta work that went into this song.

Eh, not really.

What happened was, this was done in the summer.

It was a sweltering summer, and songwriter Robert Wells is putting this together.

And, why would you do it in the summer?

Well, as he put it later, it was get cool by thinking cool.

In other words, he thought if he wrote a Christmas Carol, it would just fan him off a little, okay?

And so he's writing the song, and he's sweatin', and sweatin' and sweatin' in his apartment.

And he decides, I'm gonna go out, get some air and come back.

And what he left behind were four lines of the song, the first four, and I think you know 'em.

Chestnut's roasting on an open fire, Jack Frost nipping at your nose, that stuff.

But he leaves.

Meantime, his writing partner, his songwriting partner comes in, it's Mel Torme.

Yeah, that Mel Torme, the Velvet Frog.

And he lets himself in, and he looks down, he sees this notepad with these words on it, and he's like, "That stuff's genius."

And he starts writing.

45 minutes later, 45 minutes later, he's done.

They're done, they've got this song, this maybe Best Ever Christmas song done in 45 minutes.

Now, over the years, the most recognizable versions were done by Nat King Cole.

♪ Chestnuts roasting on an open fire ♪ ♪ Jack Frost nipping at your nose ♪ - Thanks for coming by, for sharing all these stories around the fire, or wherever you are right now.

From "8-Track Time Machine" Merry Christmas, Happy New Year.

See you next time in the garage.

(disco music) - We all have our special Christmas memories, but here's a few from the "You Gotta See This" team.

- Ho, ho, ho, and welcome to Christmas in my office.

My picture here is from 1967.

This is actually, you might notice from "8-Track Time Machine."

It's right by the 8-tracks.

And I keep it because it's my oldest piece of stereo equipment.

This picture was taken right after Christmas '67.

My parents gave me, for some reason, a record player.

And I'm guessing, I'm three years old.

I was probably rocking hard with Jefferson Airplane or The Doors, or Cream, or something like that.

Actually, I was probably playing some lame kiddie show music,.

But whatever, we were rockin'.

And I think the next year from Santa from Christmas, Santa Claus brought me my first 8-Track player, maybe.

- Christmas is so much more than a date on the calendar for me.

It's magical and very great, because look at this picture here of me.

I'm a very young Julie, excited about the new cowgirl outfit that I got here for Christmas.

But around it, there's so much more going on to the story.

It's a gathering of family.

There's rumpled gift wrap all on the floor.

And I can smell the smells of my grandma's cookies in the background, and my cousins playing as well.

You know, this really takes me back to a special holiday memory, and a special family memory of love.

- Julie.

- What?

- Get outta Santa's chair.

- I was gonna tell him what I want this year.

- Don't you know if you sit in Santa's chair, you don't get anything?

- What?

- (laughing) Well, you're not gonna get anything, except a lotta stories about the fascinating people and places of Central Illinois on- - "You Gotta See This."

- Merry Christmas.

♪ Fa la la la la la la la ♪ La (upbeat music) - He probably gets that from all that holiday snacking.

- It's means skinny.

I know it was a- - Oh, you were joking.

- It was a joke.

- Oh, oh.

- Love holiday sacks.

Sacking.

- (laughing) Sacks.

♪ Holiday sacking From all that holiday sacking.

(both laughing) - Say eating, what's another word for eating?

It's eating.

(both laughing) (introduction to "Deck the Halls") ♪ Fast away the old year passes ♪ ♪ Fa la la la la la la la la ♪ Hail the new ye lads and lasses ♪ ♪ Fa la la la la la la la la ♪ Sing we joyous all together ♪ Fa la la la la la la la la ♪ Heedless of the wind and weather ♪ ♪ Fa la la la la la la la la