i get to debate and get other people's opinions. who do we cater to and who are we trying to reach? forgotten men and women who deserve their shot at the american dream. >> laura: i am laura ingraham and this is a special christmas addition of the "the ingraham angle." how the liberal killjoy's are trying to ruin everything that's good about this holiday season from classic christmas songs to rudolph the red nosed reindeer. it goes on and on. raymond arroyo takes us behind the scenes of a special holiday trip for hundreds of gold star families and speaks to the catalyst behind it all. this is a heartwarming story that you won't want to miss takes us far away from politics. plus, my friend and former boss bill bennett is out with an update to his book you can quote

the truth st. nicholas." he's here to explain it and why it must dumb like might be the most important part of the christmas story. and we share some of our best christmas memories ever. i'm talking about favorite meals, favorite presidents, favorite fights around the table and a family. joining me now is matt schlapp. shannon bream and chief national correspondent ed henry. we will go around the table but, ed, what's your best christmas memory? >> poignant or drawing might have been when i was six or seven when my sister thought it would be a good idea to get my sister colleen and i.

you think you are going to get the latest "star wars" thing or something and they get the camera ready to open the box and this dog starts scratching me and jumps out. i didn't get over it for a long time. no, i got over it. >> laura: my mom will laugh but every year she says the same thing. every year things are going to be tight and i grew up in a modest family. she somehow always manages to pull off great presence and everything and i can remember one year when i was maybe five or six and peeking out on christmas morning because, you know parents are like, sleep in. and i remember looking out and seeing her making out with sant santa.

and i remember looking at, and n don't know if anyone will remember this toy but, a sit and spin. i remember peeking out, and then ci said to come and go back to bed. and that was it. >> >> laura: your favorite christmas memory? >> you get the family altogether, and at this point we lived in new jersey and the whole irish family would get together. i remember thinking how much beer everybody drank and how everybody -- i remember thinking, how is everyone driving home? i was learning -- >> how old were you when you were worried about this? >> do you have a little pocket protector with your texas instrument and you say, well, he had 1.8 beers and will be able

to drive. >> i can guarantee you it was not 1.8 beers. the one you are too perfect. so my friend pam and i went to cut down our christmas tree. we had one of those big saws, we cut it down. and, i love that, it's part of the christmas spirit. so it started to tip over and, i am only maybe 11, and took it

out and it's in this tiny little living room. this braided room, and i had my it. on and i'm going like this, can you hold the tree down? and she's like okay, i will hold it down. it went down on my thumb right here, and it was like a gag. like one of those gags were the blood spurts out, it was like a geyser. and this was christmas eve. i rolled back and i see the blood coming out and pam says, are you okay? and i say, i'm doing great, thanks a lot. so you go to the hospital, i get five stitches and all night long it's, thump, thump, thump. but every time i see pam, i

said, it's still a little sensitive right here, christmas might be coming. i've never gotten stitches. before about my mother was freaking out all night. >> so if you would have had math there, he would have had the government regulations laid out. >> we had no osha back then. >> now your favorite and or least favorite toys. and you don't even have the toy toys. >> i would say my favorite toy, i remember very early on, there's pictures of me sitting in my diapers playing my piano keyboard. i ended up studying music for years and years. >> laura: aren't you the prodigy. >> while i was trying to find

something. that little keyboard, i still have a picture of it and it was the start of many things. the worst toy i ever got, you remember baby alive? then you had to change the diapers, and -- >> this is why they encourage people to have big families. >> and i was like, this is not a toy, this is work. >> so people are saying what they look like now. >> is that favorite toy or least favorite toy? >> well my mother was a tennis pro and i got a tdp tennis racket, one of the first aluminum tennis rackets. and i was jazzed. it was a big deal. i was happy.

it was a good christmas. >> so how was the cause club? >> this is like my family table. >> i love devout man, so i think i have a picture of me and like batman pajamas or something. >> but were you making out with batman like i was a question mark >> you do look the same. you aretl adorable. >> also i loved -- jimmy walker had this saying, dynamite. i had this red 8-track player, that's how old i am. and to change the song you had to do it like at&t dynamite. bam, bam. now with the ipod it takes to

have a second. >> that would be -- i love that. your laws and your least favorite involve the partridge family? >> my mom was a style icon and i got the big bell bottom pants, those stretchy pants with the bad color -- different colored pockets and i remember opening up that present. i remember like it was a pain. >> i was much more dandy than david. so it wasn't such a good thing. >> do you guys remember the old 70s christmas specials? let's just walk down memory lane. let's watch. ♪ ♪ may you find love and laughter along the way ♪ ♪ may god keep you in his

tender care ♪ ♪ until he brings us together again ♪ >> merry christmas! >> laura: you know what is the really funny? raymond arroyo and i, when we were in vegas, we actually went to donny and marie and i was sow in love with donny osmond. i had all the life-size posters and all that. but when he stepped on the table -- i was like, just for a moment, i was ten years old again. i said donnie, will you sing "puppy love" to me? do you guys remember the game kerplunk? you pull the long sticks and the marbles would fall? well maybe i had a dream about that. but what was your favorite toy? i loved kerplunk and battleship. >> i loved the board game risk.

>> that would take hours of your life. >> and sorry? >> yes. there was the dash what was it called, the push of a medic with the dice? but the boards were thicker. now they are made -- was that a massachusetts company? the toy i like the best was light bright. do you remember that? look at that. that was the best commercial and you still see it today. i thought, the snowman. we lost all the pegs that first day, but you could buy a lot of that stuff on ebay end of your childhood out. all right, family traditions.

food. what was your favorite food at christmas and why? >> my mom always makes the italian feast, the feast of seven fishes. so we do monocot he and a shrimp parmesan and all kinds of cool things and it's awesome except we are not the least bit italia italian.n. but italian food is awesome. >> i like that better than turkey and all that. what's your favorite food? >> we always have black-eyed peas and corn bread for a southern thing, that super sutraditional though. christmas eve, and dink has a huge christmas thing at her house. there is a punch there that i will one day get the recipe too. i don't have it yet but if you can't find me after this is over, i might be there. >> >> laura: i want to go

there. it's like uconn jack grain alcohol and the little orange juice. >> so i know this might shock you but i'm a potatoes guy. now i'm on the quito diet, which sometimes turns into the chito diet, so i will be back on it after christmas. >> laura: my mom was polish, so she always made the galinsky, and kielbasa. now when i go to like new britain, the kielbasa -- smells take you back. christmas is obviously our faith, family and friends. foodod is an important part, and music? favorite song? >> silent night.

>> because i was born at christmas time my middle name is noel, and i love that song. >> anything that king cole. >> laura: silent night, same thing, and i would cry. i love that song. it's one of those songs that just hit you right here. thank you panel for spreading some christmas cheer. up next, a special christmas angle. the attack of the killjoy is on the left are trying to ruin everything that is sacred about this holiday season. remember, it's 12 days of christmas start on christmas. we will be right back. ♪ there's no place like home ♪

argh! i'm trying... ♪ yippiekiyay. ♪

mom. ♪ >> laura: l liberals are now trying to tell us how to feel, how to celebrate, and if you can believe it, even how to pray during the holidays. a few decades back, they fought really hard against a campaign by tipper gore. remember when she was lobbying for a warning label on music that had explicit content in the lyrics? let's face it, one our parents raise concerns about music industry's grossst explicit lyrs or over sexualized scenes on tv? well liberals responded with, just change the channel. but today, they have a current case of amnesia because they are

now the new sensors and the old fending content is christmas songs. >> a character in the song is saying no and they are saying, does no really mean yes? in 2018, what we know is, yes. >> did you see in the video that shows her trying to leave and he grabs her arm? that part is coercive. it's making me rethink it. we want i am rethinking a lot of things to. maybe it's really cold outside. notice how the left, they don't want to place any limit on celebrating things called murde murder. in instead they seek to put the darkest been on american

tradition. thankfully, not everyone is n thrilled about where the politically correct crowd is taking us. >> not me. i'm going to go back and -- >> we have to agree to disagree. clearly she doesn't seem to be so upset. before you make up the song. >> we are losing our sense of humor nowadays. >> bingo, gayle king. even christmas specials, we still look forward to them every year. rudolph, the red nose reindeer has been singled out by "the huffington post" as seriously problematic. have they watch tv recently?

people are being sexually assaulted and brutalized 24/7, but a 54-year-old claymation reindeer sends them all to the crying room? it it seems that scenes like ths are demanding. >> we won't let him play in any reindeer games. >> laura: i love the whistle around his neck. i think i have to take a moment here. i think just seeing this scene may have triggered my p.r. sd, post rudolph stress disorder. >> all right son, try it on. >> i don't want. i don't like it. >> there is one thing i want to make very clean. no do headed son of mine will be seen with the red nosed reindee

reindeer. and by the way, they say it's sexist because he tells his wife the search for their son is man's work. so she can't go out in the cold. he will go out to find rudolph and you stay here on the homefront. this is the longest continuousle running one as well. but they are trying to disrupt and destroy traditions and replace them with their own version of some transitory nonsense. by seeing dark forces and even an innocent christmas special, they divide us with the goal of ripping away yet another innocuous thing that families have enjoyed for more than half a century. but nothing fun and traditional is off limits, or for any of these liberals. they started complaining thatal charlie brown, that christmas special was offensive, too, because it was too christian.

>> the angel said unto them, fear not. for behold i bring you, tidings of great joy which will be to all people. bfor unto you was born a boy named b david, and jesus christ our lord. after that guy with the attitude didn't treat max the dog very well. now, they talk about tolerance and diversity, but what they really want, they want to control what you watch, what you eat, what you eat, and what you speak. as i saw during the bush 41 funeral, how you pray. >> i'd like to point out at this moment with the apostles creed

being recited, the president trump in the first lady not reading. what was that about? >> it's odd to because is the suppose that suppose it spiritual person who has a spiritual advisor and, he had them pray at his inauguration and he has all these evangelicals around so i thought that was bizarre that he didn't even try to read it. >> laura: first of all, trumpets responded as a religious person? selling and she will demand -- this is the problem with the left depending on the politics of the moment, they go from being libertines to puritans. the once aggressive secular suddenly become religious

enforcers and they also applauded when prayer was driven out of the public schools and cheered when major scenes were pulled from the public square.e forever crowing about how we need separation from his churchd and state, a phrase found nowhere in any of our founding documents. they are among the most rigid, intolerant people on the planet. they claim to be pro-choice but that only applies to abortion may be or gender. they claim to be for creativeks expression but they are control freaks and monoliths. what they want to do is stifle and marginalize voices whether they are on college campuses, the workplace, the military or right here on tv. they are the ones working overtime to divide the country

along lines of race, electricity and social orientation. to name a few. but above all, let his head become aggressively boring. joining me now for reaction is attorney and rnc committee woman from california, dylan, and jennifer holdsworth. first of all, i want everyone to know that this is a safe space here. we won't censor you like some of the liberals. there is a sense of fun and whimsy that seems to be missing in this whole political correctness moment that we've been living in for quite some time. >> jokes are out the door. how do we find connections with people we disagree with? that is being pushed further and

further out of society and you see that in s some of the clips that you play. you can't do racy or suggestive songs. this was away in the 1960s that people interacted. it was a way to suggest something without hitting you over the head with it. now we are in a gratuity gratue where everything has to be black and white. and frankly it's uglier. >> laura: and not fun. jennifer, this is what jerry seinfeld set a couple of years ago, he also said he will not perform on college campuses, because -- watch. >> that's offensive to suggest that a person moves their hands and a slurring motion and, you need to know apologize. there is a creepy pc thing out there that really bothers me. >> i don't take it so much aboun

political correctness as it is being sensitive about what might hurt somebody. when we talk about christmas songs, i wouldn't necessarily putf "baby, and it's cold outside" in the realm of christmas songs. you talk about liberals -- criticizing the way president trump plays, this is w the president who was sitting less than a foot away from another president who, a lot of conservatives talked about being a muslim for the last decades as if there was something wrong with that. so i think when you talk aboutal turning the tide of the national conversation to something that's less offensive, it doesn't have to do with political correctness. i would like to have seen what conservatives would have had had it been president obama who did not recite the apostles creed. >> laura: conservatives actually tried to say, we want to conserve the culture. we want to -- what makes us

different is okay. what i'm trying to get to, and you didn't quite seem to understand what i'm saying, in this world, if you are offended, i can't say it, i can't even feel it for fear of losing my job, not getting a promotion or not getting a benefit in the workplace. people are afraid to speak their mind which is not liberal, it's scary. >> conservatives are not in thel business of critiquing how people play. i think that's crass and he prayed the way that he felt comfortable doing it. i see in college campuses and workplaces where i do a lot of litigation is that people are constantly censoringro themselv. young people are doing consent videos before they moved to second base with the girl that they don't get sued, and it's sucking all the joy out of life. and romance.

if i were a young person these days i would be stressed out and having to take all those drugs that they take now. >> are you saying that consent is sucking the joy out of romance?t because there -- the fear of being dragged before a board or the fear of litigation keeps the boys from asking girls out or vice versa in some cases. >> or the presumption of guilt, don't forget about title ix, and that puts all the boys that ever looked at a girl in the box. >> that's when we need to have a conversation about what to do on college campuses. >> laura: you actually interviewed president trump about his faith. but again, liberals criticizing about how someone decides to pray in the moment. that is wild to me.

but i want to play what he said to you about his own prayer. >> when you pray, what do you pray for? >> i don't want to talk to you about that. i pray, it's very personal to me. but i certainly -- i pray for my familyo, and i think that was between one. >> i never -- >> laura: go to my twitter feed. >> you are liberal, you can do whatever you want. >> the moment you criticize a man for not praying the creator, first of all of you are dealing with them and who i think is new to face. he's working his way through it and he's not ostentatious. but i would rather a faithful

pagan who protects religious freedom and morality in our government over a pious fraud. that's the difference that many people had with president obama, and was the policy not the meta. >> somebody phrase and pointing out how it's -- liberals have been called godless for years when they have shown a variety of gods. the one that's non sequitur. you are not arguing the point. liberals claim that you are protein choice, trump is praying in the way that he wants and he gets trashed by don lemon. don lemon has gone so far over the line, god bless him, i don't know what's going on with him. but you are so obsessed with trashing trump that you have to trust him at the moment when everyone is honoring george

george bush. it speaks so poorly of where this culture is, i think it goes back to, jennifer -- people are truly just afraid.ra they are afraid to speak at afraid to feel. if you home along to "baby it's cold outside" you might as well rate somebody. it's way overboard. y you could smoke pot and do edibles and talk about how you want to change her gender but you can't do anythingng else. honestly. in the public life, it's very hard. jerry seinfeld is right, humor is dead and that's why they go to political humor and trash trump. >> and they go to secular dogma. dictatorship of relativism, i think we are here. >> laura: when we come back, this christmas there's the right spot for hundreds of those gold star families. they got to take a special word.

raymond arroyo takes us there, next.

>> laura: live from america's news headquarters ohmic headquarters, i'm anna coleman. we will be keeping a sharp eye on wall street when businesses reopen on wednesday morning. the dallas foster more than 650 points marking, its worst performance of her, on christmas eve. the president of the use of a room reserved is raising interest rates to fast in his comments are made that that drove him to be on the line. meanwhile in britain, queen elizabeth is cheered on by onlookers as she led the royal family to a service at one of her country estates. the younger members of the royal family walked. later in the day or 2018 has

notably been a big busy year for her family. also from europe, a team of pure bravery or madness depending on who you ask. the berlin sea lion club donning bathing suits and hats on christmas day to take the annual plunge. the water temperature, a balmy 39 degrees. one swimmer said it didn't matter if it wasn't raining, snowing or swimming, sunny, they are taking the plunge. >> laura: this christmas there are still tens of thousands of troops fighting for our freedoms abroad and even here at home. but 7,000 trump troops will never return home. and for those families the holidays can be really helpful. but that gary feeney's foundation captures a special treatment of factors.

in the snowball express at disney world for an incredible five day experience. one that holds lessons for all americans, watch. >> you may have seen this video that went viral last week. the national airport came to a standstill when travelers paused to sing the national anthem in the concourse. ♪ >> they were honoring children of fallen a service members as they boarded a very special flight. this year as it has for the last 13, the snowball express, sponsored by american airlines and the gary cindy's foundation, has taken more than a thousand people from the phone from 80 cities to their spring christmas trip. their destination was

disney world. >> everyone of these children have lost a parent in the military service. we want to focus on these kids, we want to bring them together in this healing environment and also allow them to have lots of fun doing it. >> it has been really fun and, i like how we have gotten to go on all the rides at disney world. [cheers and applause] >> the walk of gratitude was amazing. it was super special. >> stephanie cole dear she and her three children joined the snowball express they have to deal with a lot of needs and she

was only two months old when her father passed, so it's been huge. >> for a moment, grief has been replaced with talk of thefa favorite ride. >> the dino ride i love that ride. melissa seized this experience as an important one for her daughter, and all the kids here to -- is to have fun, because they all have rated done this. i just think it's really special to give them the momentum. >> i know it could be a tough time. >> it can be, especially when someone has always been sick.

>> there's one special area at the resort to set aside to remember the absent dads and moms who brought them together. in between the fun to be had here, is families taken remembrance. this represents the men and women who have fallen in the line of duty or when they return home. and those families take a moment tin this room of remembrance. good morning. >> when i walked in, i was speechless. it's amazing, when you look at these flags and you realize that it represents the parent of every child that is here, and also, that this is just a small bit, because there are so many others that have lost a family

member and it's just overwhelming. rose speechless, it's very emotional. my father did not -- my daughter did not allow her father. so she was only eight months old when he died and going through life without knowing your father and at hearing stories, but then coming apart of snowball, it makes you realize and it makes her realize like there are a lot of children their thigh were. >> shared experience bonds these gold star kids and allows them to establish close ties. >> has been an awesome experience for me over the year years. people would make fun of me. >> what will you take back with you to arizona? >> probably spending a bunch of time with family and friends.

the best thing about here is meeting new people and making friends. >> they feel like they are not alone and children -- there are so many of them going to the same thing that they are experiencing, at such a young age, this helps them pull. >> i think it's super special that i do this for us and i love it here. every year we come, we just give a heads up. >> these two girls stuck together for the entire if i eye of days. >> i just saw her at the airport and she looked like she was my age. >> i heard she was filling something out? >> she was filling out college apps. >> for us as moms that gives us the opportunity to bond and whag we are doing to help our child

succeed at. it's a good support system for us as well. >> this year i booked met a new family and she didn't know much about things that will help her through her grief, and i helped her through this whole time. she's been with us this whole time, and her daughter. she told me that her daughter hasn't really talked about what has happened with her father with any other children so to come here and watch them hold hands and go through the hard part together, that's the stuff that nobody else on the outside gets to see. they get see kids who lost their dad and don't see what they are feeling. they know what we are all going through no matter what it is. military life is hard and then losing somebody is very hard.th >> every snowball express ends with the very big concert and this year was no exception.

♪ >> denise and the band have been playing for snowball express family since 2007, eventually taking the entire program under the wing of this foundation. >> what do you think as you watch these families recreating and forgetting about their loss for a little bit, and finding that camaraderie with one another? >> it's wonderful to see them smile, that's the whole thing for me is to make these kids happy. let them know that they are loved and appreciated. ♪ they get a lot of love and a lot of support. and it's emotional for them, too. t they are all thinking about the reason they are here.

and that's what we do it in c december. it's a tough time of year for children who have lost a parent. we show them that we are not forgettinge, and we remember tht we did not forget. that can carry us into the next year that -- with a new sense that, i'm important. what i'm going through is appreciated and not being forgotten, and that there are others. it's a beautiful event and i'm so proud that we can support it. ♪ >> laura: not every absent parent died on the battlefield. increasingly, ptsd is claiming livess on the homefront. 20 active and retired service members take their own lives every day. this isth a reminder of the enduring cost of war and reminder to us all that we must never, ever forget the families

of our braveie service people. up next, the true st. nicholas? who was he and why does it matter? is tribute coming up next. is as important as class work and patriotic education is part of the curriculum we are hard work u and we are working for our american dream

♪ there's no place likargh!e ♪ i'm trying... ♪ yippiekiyay. ♪ mom. ♪

>> laura: the christmas pol >> laura: the christmas police were out in full force this year from trying to ban classic songs and even getting rid of

christmas trees altogether. it's good to know they are still some believers in the traditions of this wonderful season. >> former boss? >> not old but always former. his book is that "the new st. nicholas." it changes the way you think about the tradition of giving and where that came from and the religious underpinning of who the bishop of my rub mira actu. but christmas is here now and you look back on the season, and there was so much to much dualism and politics, but i'm really happy you think you for the book and i understand you are reading this book? >> laura: to up my children. being careful about it so we

don't reveal too much. >> yes. it is a special time. and i'm getting into it more. this has been -- mrs. bennett, she said, you turned on the s christmas music right after thanksgiving and i said, i did. but i think having kids helps a lot. so we are going to get into the spirit believe me, that was tough to get there both of them. so growing up, what is your most powerful memory of christmas? >> in brooklyn, new york -- andb santa does come to brooklyn. going up on the roof of our building, and trying to see if we could see santa in the sleigh and everything. we couldn't do it, and so we went downstairs into our beds and somehow my mother and her

husband, my stepfather, got some round or something to scrape on the roof and it sounded like something was coming in for aan landing and said, there he is. t i will never forget that. >> while i heard santa twice last year. i mean, i've always believed. i believe to this day and santa claus. >> are little guys, we would drive over to uncle bob's, and when they were little, we would say, look up there? the boys would turn their heads to see that family. >> laura: at the evolution into santa claus with what we envision today, what he looks like and the chimney, there are historical roots. explain those. >> 280 a.d., nicholas is born to an older couple. at they they could have a child

but it was a miracle. they have some money, they dieha and he inherits the money and doesn't know what to do. then he decides to give it away. to be good steward. there is a gentleman that he doesn't have enough for a dowry. in those days, you must have to have a dowry there. i got a dowry from mrs. bennett's father, it was a big envelope but it was parking tickets from the university of i north carolina. he handed me this big envelope and said they are yours now, buddy. so, there are three daughterson and two of them are too poor to be married. one of them, one night, this young man who becomes a priest, and they opened the entire shrine.

he does it three times and wants to be anonymous, and the third time, the father is waiting up and it catches him and throws into the ground and says, i know who it is. wonderful irony there because the man who wanted to remain anonymous becomes over time the most famous gift giver. >> and he didn't want to become a bishop. he thought he was too young and hadn't done enough. and basically -- speak of the story was that they said the next religious guy, the next believer that walks into our church will make the bishop and that was nicholas. so he became a bishop. then he goes to the council and misbehaves because there is a heresy, and it nicholas goes up and slaps him in the face. there's a lot of history. >> it sounds like and this is a

real spirit of christmas. >> a little, my mother paid my brother and i a quarter a day to not get in a fight. >> and what about the games? you have -- >> his fame goes all over the world. we get to the 16th century, and they were kind of hard on st. nicholas. we love you but you destroyed icons in the same w los angeles. it's about i would say the name of nicholas and getting torched toward the end and to just bring us something. then clement moore, he writes a poem called, 'twas the night before christmas.is washington irving writes about

this gentleman, and it's american so coca-cola discovers him and he puts on about a hundred pounds and gets a biguy red coat, and that's our guy. >> it's amazing the metamorphosis or the, and historical foundation of all of this is real. >> and the moral foundation. the idea -- the idea of a gift being given. >> laura: in my christmas message, after this. ..

>> laura: i want to wish you all a wonderful christmas and the days after christmas. remember, the season keeps going >> i want to wish you all a wonderful christmas and the days after christmas, the season keeps going on. happiness, health, take time to relax, rest if you can, reach out to someone you haven't been in contact with, someone important to you. that is nice to do especially at christmas time. 2019 is full of promise, challenges, we will have a lot

of great shows. we have an amazing staff, we couldn't do without them every day. thank you for sharing time with us every day. good night from washington, merry christmas. >> what started as a christmas greeting for american troops around the world ends up as an ultimatum for his political foes, donald trump telling reporters parts of the government will stay shut as long as democrats refuse to build more barriers on the mexican border. good evening, merry christmas. i like emmanuel here for bret baer in washington. we have team coverage on this busy holiday. lucas thomason from the pentagon on the president's prepared remarks for the troops and our allies but first we began on north lawn with allison barber on what happened when the