Do you remember when you were a kid and Christmas felt all warm and cozy?
Sometimes, as adults, we can get so wrapped up in the hustle & bustle that we forget to slow down and just be present. When you think back to your favorite Christmas memories growing up, are they of big extravagant gifts? Or are they memories of traditions enjoyed with family?
We're peeling back the layers on our unique Christmas traditions, discussing ways to make the holidays memorable without the pressure of perfection, and sharing personal stories about our themed movie nights and Christmas Light Extravaganza. With us, it's not just about the lights and decorations, it's about slowing down and being present.
But the holiday cheer doesn't stop there. We've got a Christmas giveaway in the works and a Christmas playlist that's sure to get you in the festive spirit. You can find our Christmas playlist and giveaway details below!
So grab your hot cocoa, settle down by the fire, and let's navigate this journey together. We can't wait to celebrate the end of the year with you, share our holiday traditions, and look forward to the exciting changes coming to our podcast in the new year.
Episode Highlights:
Links Mentioned in Episode/Find More on A Force to Be Reckoned With:
ENTER OUR 2023 CHRISTMAS GIVEAWAY!:
We are giving away a $400 Cash Prize to One Grand Prize Winner & 5 other winners will get their choice of a $20 Amazon OR Starbucks Gift Card!
Here’s how to Enter:
*Winners will be announced on 12/24!
This show has been produced by Adkins Media Co.
Do you remember when you were a kid and Christmas felt all warm and cozy?
Sometimes, as adults, we can get so wrapped up in the hustle & bustle that we forget to slow down and just be present. When you think back to your favorite Christmas memories growing up, are they of big extravagant gifts? Or are they memories of traditions enjoyed with family?
We're peeling back the layers on our unique Christmas traditions, discussing ways to make the holidays memorable without the pressure of perfection, and sharing personal stories about our themed movie nights and Christmas Light Extravaganza. With us, it's not just about the lights and decorations, it's about slowing down and being present.
But the holiday cheer doesn't stop there. We've got a Christmas giveaway in the works and a Christmas playlist that's sure to get you in the festive spirit. You can find our Christmas playlist and giveaway details below!
So grab your hot cocoa, settle down by the fire, and let's navigate this journey together. We can't wait to celebrate the end of the year with you, share our holiday traditions, and look forward to the exciting changes coming to our podcast in the new year.
Episode Highlights:
Links Mentioned in Episode/Find More on A Force to Be Reckoned With:
ENTER OUR 2023 CHRISTMAS GIVEAWAY!:
We are giving away a $400 Cash Prize to One Grand Prize Winner & 5 other winners will get their choice of a $20 Amazon OR Starbucks Gift Card!
Here’s how to Enter:
*Winners will be announced on 12/24!
This show has been produced by Adkins Media Co.
We are at war and it's not against our neighbors, spouses, children, politicians or whatever else we feel like we're battling against.
Speaker 2:So the questions are who's the fight against, and are we winning or losing? We're the Adkins, and we are a force to be reckoned with. Are you ready to join the force? Okay, we're good, we're on.
Speaker 1:Can anybody hear that?
Speaker 2:Is the baby just tooting? Yeah, okay.
Speaker 1:Baby J was letting it loose.
Speaker 2:We are here with the last episode of the year. We are full of happiness and cheer. Corey, please go grab me a beer. It's the most wonderful time of the year.
Speaker 1:Based on what you're doing, I'm full of fear.
Speaker 2:How are you guys?
Speaker 1:Hey, just so everybody knows that was not scripted, all that just, dr Sucerita, just took place. Because I'm, I'm that was on the fly.
Speaker 2:When I grow up, I want to rap, and that was my practice round. What's that? How's it go when I grow up? Hold on, when I grow up, I just want to paint my bills. Wrap about the way I feel, oh yeah.
Speaker 1:Oh, my goodness.
Speaker 2:Okay, I just had an energy drink, so Take it easy there, I'll clean everybody and F Beth. Okay, so hi, this we're here. We're on video. It is. This episode is coming out first Tuesday of December and it's our last episode of the year. Every year we take the month of December off Are?
Speaker 1:we doing that, yeah, okay.
Speaker 2:In order to, which is actually a bummer because, okay, we accidentally skipped the previous two weeks. Last week we recorded. We had an episode recorded, queued up, edited, uploaded. Didn't like the last minute I was like we're not publishing that, I just didn't feel good about it. You know, I just didn't.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I know you didn't.
Speaker 2:So anyway, sorry about that, but it's just like we only deliver quality here.
Speaker 1:Oh my gosh, we should just tell them that we put everything out, that we put everything out, because then you just raise the bar too high.
Speaker 2:We definitely don't only deliver quality here, but sometimes we get a little too.
Speaker 1:If anybody ever sees these videos, then Well, we're uploading this to YouTube. Well, I mean we said that before and then then none of those videos. They're on a lockbox, no, but we are this time Okay.
Speaker 2:So, speaking of quality, we are. Our office is now Santa's workshop. So basically, what that means is Christmas shopping has begun, and this is the second year. I've done 80 95% of my shopping on Amazon. So it's like Black Friday comes, purchase, purchase, purchase, purchase, and then, as the packages come, you just throw them, throw them, throw them, throw them. And if you could, what you can see is this is the good Like this is but we're just.
Speaker 1:This is just we still have the wrong branding here Millennial Mission plaque in the background. Also just want to throw a shout out to our sponsors, Lola Blankets.
Speaker 2:Please sponsor us.
Speaker 1:Over here Please sponsor us I and pull ups Love these blankets, lola Blankets.
Speaker 2:If I got one as a gift last year from one of my clients, it is my favorite blanket. I would say for the first six months of the year I really kept it to myself because I loved it. But then you know your kids, they're thieves. They just take everything, everything sacred. Nothing is sacred when you have kids. So we got our old door over here.
Speaker 1:Partially open. Yeah, if pull ups wants to give us some more money, we will move your box up here at the top and Corey's not holding like a.
Speaker 2:What could this be?
Speaker 1:I don't know what could this be?
Speaker 2:This is, it's a baby.
Speaker 1:It's a child.
Speaker 2:It's a child that he's holding. But yeah, anyway, we're here. We hope you guys are having a good week. It's our last episode of the year and we're just gonna. We're gonna talk about it so before we do, since it's been a couple weeks. Last week was more of like a. It was like a super inspirational not at all, but just talking about struggles which we never aired. It so sorry and we. It was also a life update, so let's give a quick life update and then we'll jump into the Christmas stuff.
Speaker 1:Okay, sounds good.
Speaker 2:Okay, so I don't even like. What do we even say Life is great we?
Speaker 2:and crazy and chaotic we had some like fun stories that we were sharing. It's crazy chaotic. We have, yeah, I mean really we should just give, like you know how we used to give debt updates. Now we just give like kid tally updates. Yeah, because it changes. Now we still have our seven. It's going great. Where it's very chaotic, we have three kids two kids in basketball, now three under three. We appreciate all the prayers and all of our friends who have helped us and supported us.
Speaker 1:I mean, we've said that a thousand times, yeah yeah, and I also just want to thank the friends and family from yesterday that just came and just came and had took some of our kids to just give them a break from everything and give us a minute to just kind of get caught up and rest a little bit, because we've just been running, running, running between, you know, work, business, having the kids and all the things and all the projects and stuff that they have to do, and basketball, you know, six days a week and everything.
Speaker 2:So yeah, so it's going really well. We were just talking about this, like when we first started the podcast, we were given debt updates and like really talking like there was nothing that we shied away from.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's that has been really hard.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we were talking about this because every part of me still wants to do that, because that's just right, we're very transparent, very open.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and it's really hard when we're doing this foster care journey because there's so much that we can't share with you all. So, like every time we get on here, I told Beth, I feel like we keep talking about the same thing and that you know. You know it's chaotic, but the hard part is is that when we were going through our debt journey, we could share every little detail on it, and when we get on here, we can't.
Speaker 2:So it just seems like almost like we're repeating ourselves, that like hey, like we're like, hey, you know, life is hard, the struggle is real, and like it's like okay, you've said that a hundred times right and it would make more sense if we could go deeper into the details and and like what God is doing in our lives and and even you know just all of it.
Speaker 1:But we can't just because of privacy concerns.
Speaker 2:Yeah, because, yeah if it were just us in our lives, like we would.
Speaker 2:We would, but out of respect for the kids in our home, their parents, their families and legally, like with being foster parents, there's only so much that we can share and we're right in the heat of like a really intense case. There's just things that we can't share. So, yeah, that it's really like put like a, it's been hard with the podcast because our whole basis of the podcast is real life and like we're just a real family with a real messy house and real struggles and and like financial stuff and marriage stuff and parenting stuff, and then there's just so much that we can't really share right now. However, I will say like we've been talking about it behind the scenes and figuring out how to navigate that come the new year and I think we finally have it figured out. So thanks for hanging in there with us and I'm excited for how we're gonna approach this all come the new year and hopefully in the next, you know, six months or so, we have some clarity one way or the other and we can start.
Speaker 1:Yeah, weren't and I think okay. So this is a good opportunity because of the episode we didn't air, there was one really good. We felt like it was a really good life lesson for us in it. So I'm gonna go ahead and just share that now before we get into some of the fun stuff and the Christmas stuff. But you know, speaking of so, speaking of struggle, you know at the end it's the end of the year. We have one month left. You know if anybody has had a hard year or a lot of times, you know people, your finances might be getting strapped right now because you're spending money on Christmas and traveling and presents and all that stuff. Some people's health is usually generally struggling right now because of Thanksgiving and cookies and heading into Christmas.
Speaker 1:So the analogy that we had was I just coached a basketball game one of Carter's games and we were losing. In half time it was 27 to 11, and we just weren't bringing it. Our energy wasn't there, focus wasn't there, and so at half time I told the kids I said we've practiced a lot. You guys know what to do. You have all the right tools that are available to you, but you need to just take it one play at a time and try to win each play at a time. We need to box out and get rebounds and just bring the effort, one play at a time, and we can climb back into this thing.
Speaker 1:I said so let's start the second half zero to zero and, whether we lose this game or not, let's see if we can win the second half. And we're just gonna do it by your effort, one play at a time. And they did. They took it one play at a time. They had good attitudes, they hustled, they started doing the things and we won the second half. We ended up losing the game by five points, but we climbed back in and it felt like we won. We just felt really good after the game was over. So I took that into real life and it's like, man, if things are really hard for anybody right now, whether all around, or financially or health wise, or relation wise, it's a perspective shift, it's an attitude shift and you just need to win one play at a time.
Speaker 2:Honestly, like one day at a time.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And so the whole episode that we did in there we called it the struggle is real, and I was just started by talking about how, why is it that, like everything? For one of the examples was like we got up, we were so tired and it was a Sunday and we were like should we go to church or should we rest, or should we like? Ultimately, we ended up going to church, and every time it's like we're so glad that we did, and it's the same thing as like getting up early and reading your Bible. It's like the struggle is so, why is it so hard? And then you get up and you're like I'm so glad I did that because it was such a good start to my day. Or like working out, like why is everything that's good for you such a struggle? And it is. And I don't know what is the why? Is it? Because if it were I mean, there's all these quotes, you know, anything worthwhile doesn't come easy, and all this stuff why? I think that it's just because God, I don't know he Life's hard.
Speaker 2:Yeah, life is hard and the struggle is real, and so I just have come like I've beaten myself up a lot because we have a lot going on and a lot of our house looks like this and I'm not cooking, you know, as healthy of meals as I would like to, and like I'm always a way harder on myself than probably I should be, and it causes and then I get on like we talked about this before, but like I get on social media and you see, like everybody in there, perfectly aesthetic homes and all of these traditions they're doing and their kids look so happy in there, so in love with their husbands, and it's like it only breeds discontentment in me when I know I'm not living up to my fullest potential, when I'm not doing all the things that I should be doing. And the things that you should be doing are usually hard, you know, like reading, plugging into positive things eating well, exercise, but they're also small.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And they're really small things and they're small decisions, one at a time, and when you stack those decisions one at a time, they accumulate right. And so part of the other thing with this is that sometimes people are ready to you're like oh, it's December, I already ate bad. At Thanksgiving I kept eating bad, you know. Oh, we already spent money. We had a budget of you know whatever two grand for Christmas and now we're 2,500, I might as well just go to 3,000. You know we were fighting and she was wrong, and so I'm not gonna apologize and it's like no, let's not quit on the year, let's not give up, let's take it one play at a time and make the right decisions. You know what I mean.
Speaker 1:Like, it's not that hard to make one of those decisions at a time to just say, okay, we went over budget, we're 2,500 now. Our budget was 2,000. Let's just say no to any more spending. You know we're going to this. We've got a Christmas event going on here. I'm gonna choose a better option right to eat on, or I'm gonna get up this morning and work out instead of saying no, or whatever it may be. You know I am gonna apologize because I was wrong too. She may have been more wrong, but I did something wrong too, so I'm gonna apologize. It's just making those decisions and stacking them over time, and I needed to be reminded of that too.
Speaker 2:Yeah right, and I think both of our personalities. We have a tendency to be like all or nothing, so we're either eating like so, so good, or we eat one brownie and then it's like, oh well, I already had a brownie, so let's just go. Let's just go ham.
Speaker 1:I was gonna have five more brownies with this bowl of ice cream.
Speaker 2:I skipped one workout, so you know what, forget it. And the thing is, if you take it one play at a time or one day at a time which is something I've been trying to shift my mind it's like, okay, I just have these little check boxes that I wanna do each day, I wanna be like in the word, I wanna drink my water. I feel like they're not hard, but in the midst of chaos, there are things that you have to remain disciplined to do. But even if you don't for one day, it's like okay, you still. You got a fresh start every day. So it's like, just one day at a time through the remainder of the year.
Speaker 2:This is a time of year where we typically eat more sugar and get more dead and get out of our routines and it's like let's just be more intentional to say, yeah, this is the time of year that I normally do that, and then I start the new year 15 pounds heavier or with sickness, or my house is disgusting. And let's just say we're gonna continue to be intentional, even through the holidays. Now that's not to say you can't enjoy the holidays, because you absolutely should, and if you're doing this the right way with healthfully, it should make you enjoy the holidays even more.
Speaker 1:Yeah. And so let's not get deeper in the hole in all of these things as you round out the end of the year, because most people are like I'll just wait till the end of the year and let's start over. It's kind of like I'll start on Monday. It's like, yeah, I'll start on January 1st. You know, let's finish the year out strong and at the end of the day, if you look at the scoreboard, you may be in more debt, you may have not, you know, be in the shape that you want to be, or gained some weight, but it could be worse. It could be worse if you just give up right now, or you could start in a better place at the beginning of the year than you are now by just taking it one play at a time, and it'll give you that moral victory and that motivation just to really hit the ground running at the beginning of the year.
Speaker 2:Yeah, all that to say that's kind of where we're at in life. Those are our goals. We're not doing anything like insane. We're not doing any like insane challenges, but we're just trying to remain intentional and somewhat on task through the remainder of the year. Let's just not write off this year quite yet, because it's like that success chart where you know it's like people think success is like an inward like upward incline. That's what.
Speaker 2:I'm gonna say but really a success is like you go up and then you go back down a little bit, and then you go up and then you maybe dive really down and then you go back up, but ultimately and you go loop, do loop, squiggle. Ultimately it does.
Speaker 1:And in the right place. You just gotta keep pressing forward.
Speaker 2:Yep, Okay so.
Speaker 1:Do you wanna talk about that? In the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me.
Speaker 2:I have just yeah sure, okay so.
Speaker 1:I like how you knew what I was talking about, because of what I said earlier.
Speaker 2:No, are you talking about the giveaway? Yeah, no, we're not talking about that yet. No, we're not talking about that yet. Okay, I'll say it. We're doing a giveaway, Okay, so just stay tuned. And what we're giving away is this wrapping paper back here. No, we're not, we're not giving away one of these Lola blankets.
Speaker 1:Other side, it's on my side.
Speaker 2:Because actually I bought one for myself.
Speaker 1:Are you joking? Right now, we just talked about one play at a time, and you already have one of those messed up, I messed up and we can't.
Speaker 2:I don't have. That doesn't mean I have to buy ten little blanket.
Speaker 1:It also means you could return it.
Speaker 2:Okay, really quick. Also, I've been meaning to post about this. I've been really bad about posting on social media, but see this cute little bracelet that says rise up why? Somebody that I've met through Instagram. She reached out and said I would love to make a bracelet for you. And she was in and she's listened to the podcast and she asked like what words I wanted to choose and she gave me some Options and she was like, how about rise up? And she did it in her Instagram is she who creates for him? Her names Emily and she has a little bracelet making business. These are like super cute and trendy right now. What a cute little gift idea like I love it. I love it and it's stretchy. You don't have to button it yourself and it has this cute little like Trinket what's that called On it? And it says words that shine.
Speaker 2:I know you're super cute and I love it. So thank you so much, emily, for sending this to me, and if you guys are looking for like a gift, honestly I thought Liberty would love this and I know she does, because she keeps stealing it for me and I have to keep stealing it back, so this would be cute for you know, your daughter, or, like a little, a teenager in your life, or even a friend in your life that needs some encouragement. So just want to throw that in there. That was not an ad, by the way, okay, so Remember. Speaking of Christmas, do you remember? I was thinking about this the other day when Christmas used to feel all like warm and fuzzy?
Speaker 2:Mm-hmm you close your eyes and you think back to being a kid and you just room. Like you feel in your heart, like it feels like a big hug.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, do you think our kids feel like that?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I do. Okay, I feel like I felt like that when I was a kid and then when I got to like high school Through until we had our own kids, I lost it, it went away. And then, once we start having our own kids and it like you still, you feel like that. Yeah, it made it exciting again.
Speaker 2:I'm doing my job for the family, but like it's like, do I not feel like that because I'm so busy? Actually, probably because I'm just trying to make everything perfect.
Speaker 2:You mean to tell me that that tree lit up in the corner with the fireplace going doesn't make you feel warm and it's actually makes me want to get up at five in the morning, like I plan to, so I can enjoy it in peace.
Speaker 2:But I Guess that's kind of the point. Like you know, when I think about Christmas and there's there's all these memes and quotes about it but like when I think about Christmas and I think back to like my family and being a kid my mom did such a good job being and my dad too, like they worked so hard and they just made it was like Memories and like it was something that you always wanted to come back to and something that you look forward to. And yeah, like when you're a kid, you do look forward to presents but honestly, looking back, I don't remember any of the presents I got. I just remember it like the traditions and that's like it felt like we slowed down and it felt like it was that time of year where I got where my parents were, like I mean, they were always involved, but it's just felt Cozy. You know what I mean more present.
Speaker 1:Mm-hmm not presents more present.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and so I guess as a mom I would say my struggle is Maybe I'm good at creating that atmosphere for everybody else, but I think my goal this year is like I want to also create it for myself too. It's like I get so wrapped up in Okay, I got it, you know this gift for this I got all the kids. Gifts are even. They have their pajamas. We have our special things, and I'm like so busy in the scurry of setting it up for success for everybody else that by the time the actual event comes, I'm just like exhausted and I just like sometimes.
Speaker 1:You just need to ease up a little bit and then just take a sip of your coffee and enjoy it.
Speaker 2:He's very unisex. No, I'm just kidding. No, you're right, I do. So what I want to talk about just really quickly is, like how do we create that for All of us, for our whole family? What are some ways that I think that a lot of people can relate to like so much? Actually, I shared a post a couple weeks ago and it said it was never meant to be a burden and it had a Christmas bulb and like it was never meant to be a burden. This we're celebrating Christ's birth and it's like this whole month is just a reminder of the hope that is to come, the you know, promised savior and he is born to us, and like it's such a beautiful story and but yet we choose to Give ourselves all of these unnecessary expectations and it then it then becomes a burden. Like we just don't. We're like we. Why do we do that?
Speaker 1:Yeah, honestly, I would say to that just Almost audit your Christmas traditions. Yeah, you know, and if it's not giving, then maybe you don't have to do it, because, I mean it, we're gonna go through some of our Christmas traditions and we don't have like an insane amount.
Speaker 2:No, and they're so and they're simple, simple, but we're not telling you these stuff, to do them because they don't work for you.
Speaker 1:That's fine right, but yeah, so these ones, like they work for us and I think it does. It's not, you know, overwhelming To do it. You know, like it reminds me of when you watch what's that? Maybe was it Christmas with the cranks and they is that the one where they decided to go on vacation that year. Yeah, but like there's so much pressure and if you watch it move, there's so much pressure for them to decorate their house the right way and Hang all these insane decorations all over every square inch of the house and throw this Christmas party and All this stuff, and it's like who are you even doing that for?
Speaker 2:Yeah, and something I realized that I was doing is like I had these Ideas in my head of things that I wanted to do, maybe because my mom did them, or my friends do them with their family, or like I saw it on social media and I'm like, oh, like this isn't a bad thing, it's actually a really cool thing and it's really fun.
Speaker 2:But then I realized I was doing them to like say that we not even to say, but just to like feel accomplished in that we were doing something and then I realized this isn't even what my kids want. Like why am I even doing this? Yeah, so something I'm working on, not just for Christmas, but for like every day of life, is really focusing in on what is it that my kids actually want from me as a mom? That I'm not talking about like toys or Pokemon cards. I'm talking about like what is it that they actually need from like me and you as parents that are gonna make them feel seen and loved and heard and supported and wanted, and like that they want to always come back to us and come back home and for everybody those are gonna be different, you know.
Speaker 1:So just real quick, back to the like people throwing lights on all over every square into the house, like if that's giving to you and your family, that's like a thing that your family looks forward to, then do it, because we need those people too, because one of our traditions is going to see those.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:You know what I mean, that other people do like very elaborate Christmas things. That's their way to give, it's their way to serve. They know people are gonna see it. It makes their kids light up. That's not our thing. Like somebody was like man, I can't believe you put your Christmas lights up so fast. I was like, yeah, there's a bunch of lights I threw over, there's like a net I threw over our bushes and wrapped a few trees, you know, and put a little projector thing in the yard. But like our kids loved that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and like our Christmas lights. If you drive by our house they're like dinky. You know they're nothing special. But if we had spent an entire day making our house like this elaborate thing? This is for us, this isn't for you, because everybody's doing great Because the people with the rollercoaster Like it would have.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it would have taken one, it would have taken the whole day and two by the end of the day, we would have been like, okay, we're over it, we're done with this because this isn't filling us up, and then. But instead, like, it took you 45 minutes to put our lights up, and then we grand reveal every year we do a grand reveal and we take the kids out into the yard. Our house is nothing special, it's just a normal house. Our lights are definitely nothing special.
Speaker 2:Like 50% of the lights are one of those projector lights that all go up in your house and you're snowflakes and that that you just throw on your bush and but we had enough energy because it only took Corey 45 minutes and I wasn't inside with the kids all day by myself, so it wasn't frustrated with him that we go out for the grand reveal and everybody throws their shoes on and everybody goes out and stands in the front yard and then we count down and it's like three, two, one, and then we had the margin to be like oh, and then, because we do that, the kids are like oh, you know, and it's, it's just like such a simple thing. And then I think back to like my dad, and that was so much of like who he. He still does this stuff, but like he makes the ordinary things special because he gets excited about them and then his excitement is contagious. So yeah, okay, so, anyway. That's that's what I feel like does making Christmas warm and fuzzy.
Speaker 2:I think we lose the warm and fuzziness when we start to do things that we feel obligated to do because other people are doing them, and it's like don't do that.
Speaker 2:And I even get caught up in that, like I get on social media and I'm like you know, everybody's life is more together than mine.
Speaker 2:My kids don't care about that, they just want me and they want Corey and they want us to play rat attack, cat with them on the couch, and simple little things that it's like oh, I have the energy for that, if I don't put all of my energy over here on things that other people are doing because I feel like I should do them. So here are some of the things that we do, and and again, this isn't like here's our ideas. Take them for yourself, but they're simple things and so I just this is what I hope you guys take away from this If you're married, sit down with your spouse and, just like Corey said, do a tradition audit and say what is not serving our family, what is something that, like, isn't it enjoyable and that our kids don't even really enjoy? But we do it anyway because, because we feel obligated to, and then it doesn't even mean you need to scrap the whole thing.
Speaker 1:Like you could just simplify it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, simplify it. And, honestly, something I've really cut back on and the last year I got a good at it, this year I got even better at it Is like I love seeing all of your everybody's family pictures for all the holidays and everybody's cute outfits and matching outfits. I haven't done that for like two years. Thanksgiving didn't even take a family picture. This year, well, one because we were in the emergency room with Maya. But, um, christmas, not going to do it, the one picture I take is we get the kids matching pajamas. But like, take that pressure off of yourself for every holiday, for Easter, thanksgiving, I mean, if it fills you up to do it, do it. But if you're thinking in your head I have to do this, so I have a good social media post to post my family, Then just don't do it because nobody cares about your picture. They care about your own picture and so what's it even matter? It's just like take that pressure off. That's something that doesn't.
Speaker 2:I don't enjoy. So all right, fun traditions. This is a fun one and we've done it in the past. We don't always do it consistently, but when we do it's fun. We watch Christmas movie and do like not elaborate at all, because some people are like you can go on Pinterest and it can get elaborate and it's amazing, but I'm just not that mom Movie like the Grinch, and then you do like a Grinch theme movie and I was going to make this whole like PDF for you guys with the different themes and different ideas. But this is what I'm going to say Go to Pinterest and say Grinch theme movie night and there's a ton of ideas. There's elf theme movie night ton of ideas. It's a fun thing. Some people do like four, one for each week. We do one if we're lucky.
Speaker 1:Do they have a diehard themed movie night?
Speaker 2:I don't even know what diehard is. I know you've referenced it before, I just don't even know. So that's a fun tradition that, like you, can do one little thing. And when I do movie nights with my kids it's usually on a Friday, because Friday is typically like my cleaning day at home, and then I'll print out like a little, do I have it here?
Speaker 2:I must have a print out like a welcome to family movie night, so when they get on, get off the bus, there's just like a piece of paper tape to the door and they're like it's family movie night. Go to the dollar store by a couple boxes of candy, have some popcorn, we throw in the movie, everybody gets in their comfies and then we have snacks. It's like that simple.
Speaker 1:What move? How are you throwing the movie in?
Speaker 2:I don't know.
Speaker 1:You said throw in the movie, like you put in there in our VCR maybe yeah.
Speaker 2:So there's that fun Movie themes and then the other things that we do is the one big tradition. It's like three or four traditions tied in one and it's like one night and it's our Christmas night.
Speaker 1:It's my favorite one.
Speaker 2:Christmas late extravagance and what we do is every year I buy the kids matching pajamas. That is a stressful thing for some families, so don't feel bad if you don't do that. I get them on clearance every year. And the reason I do that is because we use it for a Christmas late extravagance. We use it for our Santa pictures, which you do it that on the night of the Christmas late extravaganza, and then they wear their pajamas for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. So it's like we get our money's worth and that's where my pictures come from when they have the like, and I don't even usually post those. Those are for me. So what is our Christmas late extravaganza, babe?
Speaker 1:So we will do the pajamas. Usually most of the time Santa hats are involved in this as well. We go and get hot chocolate for everybody and we get Food Like we've gotten sushi and pizza and stuff before whatever and we eat dinner in the car and drink hot chocolate and we I map out it's actually not that hard, like for our area, like wherever you live, if you don't do this, you can just like Google, like local Christmas lights to go look at. So we will, I will map it out so that we're like doing a loop and We'll go drive around to different people's houses and look at Christmas lights and listen to Christmas music and Just make it a nice, cool, fun night. So we'll, we'll drive and start like the furthest point from our house and work our way back. That was the reference to the roller coaster thing Earlier because there's this one house that is like always now and we do a ranking thing, so everybody will rank him. The kids will keep score. You know we even do decimals like this house or 7.3.
Speaker 2:This one is an liberty, love, like for me the ranking thing. I'm like me yeah but he loves it. She takes the lead on that, and then we see which house wins, yeah, and.
Speaker 1:but there's one house it's like so cool and they do it for charity, like they take donations there, but they set up this roller coaster in the front of their yard and have all this really cool, crazy stuff that goes to music and Olaf is riding in the say we eat dinner.
Speaker 2:And then did you say you talked about how we ate dinner in the car.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean, and we will get it's simple, like we get stuff that we can eat in the car. Like I told him, we got sushi and yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:So that's our Christmas late extra chocolate from McDonald's or a gas station or matching PJ's dinner in the car, listenin a good music, looking at Christmas lights, rating the Christmas lights, and then we start usually as soon as they get stark. We get home by like eight or nine, like it's we do it. Oh, another thing we go usually that night if we can fit it in we go to the mall, we do a Santa picture and we I love that tradition. If my kids are getting kind of old and they're like, but I, we have a I just have them all hung.
Speaker 2:Since 2012 we've had Carter, so almost ten more than ten years yeah more than a decade worth of Santa pictures, that I have them hung in the kitchen and I just love that for myself. Yeah.
Speaker 1:I do want to go back just real quick to the Christmas lights thing, cuz that's a good example putting too much pressure on yourself. I remember the first couple of years that we did it like I was Feeling the pressure to make sure we hit every house I had on that list.
Speaker 1:Yeah and then. But then there's like, and so I thought it would. It would create an argument even between Beth and I, bethany and I and I had to realize to one maybe cut it a little bit shorter, because the kids lose you have to gauge where the kids are.
Speaker 2:So if you're only two-thirds of the way through the addresses, but they're done, they're done and that's it, and like, why drag it out when you've already made it a good night? And if you drag it out beyond the point, of no, we've got five more. Yeah, like you're done and so then they're gonna remember oh, this is dreadful. Let's just you know Again, they're not gonna remember the specific Christmas lights they saw.
Speaker 2:They're gonna remember the roller coaster Feeling they're gonna remember the feeling of that night. And so it's again that thing where it's like you have to have your heart in the right place so that your kids because they feed off of you, so like if you're stressed out and frazzled and forcing all these traditions don't just, don't do something. That's so simple and that that one is so simple and comes so easy for us with the Santa pictures, okay. The other one, that the, and this. This is super simple. It's like an hour worth of work to prep and then it lasts for the whole month. And so on December 1st I we have about 25 Christmas books. I wrap them, I put them in a little chest by a fireplace and then each night a different kid can unwrap the book and then we read a Christmas book. I will say I used to put pressure on myself like we have to just every single night.
Speaker 2:Right, realistically we have to read every book engineer. Yeah, we don't.
Speaker 2:So, like last year, we have books still wrap yet next year, we didn't have to wrap there were five books from last year that we never even unwrapped, so it saved me. This year I had five less books that I had to wrap, because some nights kids get in trouble and they go to bed early, or some nights we have basketball late and they don't get to it. So I would say, maybe have the intention to start December 1st and wrap 18 presents and not even 25. Or if you wrap all 25 and you have some left over for next year, cool, cool, even better. There's just one of those things that they have to look forward to and it's like a present open each night and I 25 books, read a book every night and they get to open it and it's books that you already own. So it can be Christmas books or it can just be ordinary books, but it's just the idea of like unwrapping.
Speaker 1:Yep, last one you got in here. You stole from your family.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so this is a family tradition that I loved. We did it all through. I mean, we even did it once we were married and we had Carter, because we still lived with my parents and then, even when we moved out, my youngest sister still lived in the house. So we would come back and do it. So because we didn't at first have our own family traditions established until we moved to California and we're kind of off on our own. But we have a big sibling sleepover on Christmas Eve. So the oldest sibling, all of the kids, sleep in their room, they all sleep together and then on Christmas morning they all wake up. Nobody's allowed to go downstairs until until the parents are awake. So, yeah, is there anything you want to say about that? I feel like I didn't explain it very well.
Speaker 1:No, I mean I thought it was good. Yeah, everybody sleeps in the same room. We've got, you know, sleeping bags or air mattresses or whatever on the floor and they get to just hang out all together in one room and it just kind of breeds like the Christmas excitement, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:And so if you have kids listening and Probably don't hear, especially if you know what we're gonna talk about next, but what I will say is we have, you know, our kids are getting older and so they don't really believe, and that's fine. We don't put a lot of pressure on that. But what I will say is we still do those traditions because it's like fun and magical, so like and we have younger kids too and they know like we pretend, like it's just a fun thing.
Speaker 2:So we'll put. We'll put Carrots out at night and sugar for root sugar, and then cookies out and then they all go to bed in the same room and we we have some presence wrapped from us, some from Santa, and so no presence are out until they go to bed. And then the next morning when they come down, it's like, oh Magical you know, that's actually warning.
Speaker 2:We get to Record them coming down the stairs and like the excitement. And then the last thing that they do with that is, after all, the presence are unwrapped, they cover up with wrapping paper and then we're like, oh, where are the kids? They left a big mess. And then we're like, well, they're gonna be in big trouble on the count of three, one, two, three. And then they pop out and they say Merry Christmas. We did that when we were little, all through, and it's just a fun video to have every year.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and one other thing I just want to add in there that you guys did that my family did differently, but I thought it was a neat little tweak is Is that the presence from Santa all are in Santa paper, so it's got pictures of Santa on them, and and the presence from us Don't have Santa on them.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and they know it's just a fun thing, you know. So here's some things we don't do. I'm not a baker and I don't bake cookies because I don't enjoy it. Sometimes my grandma will have a cookie bake thing and I enjoy going and spending time with her and we do it all together. But, like personally myself, I used to put pressure myself like oh, I should be cookies and do this and that we don't do that because it's not something that I enjoy. We don't take the family fancy. Hold on just a second back to the bake thing.
Speaker 1:So, because Beth doesn't bake and some very nice person sent Beth a Bracelet here, if anybody wants to send me some peanut butter blossoms For through Christmas, that would be cool.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no actually last year and we didn't even get any of those. You remember? Yeah, sometimes people would bring us cookies and last year and we didn't get any no, those are my favorite ones and I like the ones that are like a bunch of layers. They have like chocolate chips, coconut.
Speaker 1:Yeah, listen, this isn't about you, this is about me. I might be the butter blossoms, okay, but hi, jack and.
Speaker 2:I get. So that's pretty much it like with Christmas.
Speaker 1:Let's just slow down, oh we also don't regularly do, though, from the shelf thing, because, I'm gonna be honest with you, I hate that thing.
Speaker 2:So much I know and.
Speaker 1:I thought about like showing that it had died. I Know it's and then not bringing it back.
Speaker 2:Honestly like kudos to you who do it every night. We probably move it like five times man.
Speaker 1:Sorry, you must touch that, what are we doing? And then you're like yeah, we do. I think somebody touched it.
Speaker 2:It was probably because you were bad last night.
Speaker 1:Put it in a freezer and then we leave in the freezer for like three days.
Speaker 2:Yeah, oh, nope, magic's not back. He's a couple more days. It'll disappear for a few days. Oh must have went to the North Pole to report, report on you.
Speaker 1:All right, all right oh, that's the most funny thing if you guys need excuses and we got them for you we got them.
Speaker 2:All right. So, yeah, I don't even know. I just think that If you wanted to feel Warming fuzzy, then slow down and be present and take the pressure off yourself, and when you start to feel like it's a burden, then maybe what you're doing Just you need to like tweak it a little bit. I Was like one thing that I personally really enjoy is decorating. Every year I look forward to it. I don't say this year I was really disappointed because my kids did not want to do it like at all attitude I it was a miserable night and what I should have done is I should have just said you know what?
Speaker 2:They're not feeling it and their attitudes suck. We either need to pause and Do it a different day, or they can, or I'll just do it after they go to bed and at least like I'll enjoy it and I'll put on some cozy Christmas music. Yeah and turn on the fire and play like a Christmas movie and instead, like we pushed through it and it was Completely miserable. Yeah, I was screaming by the end of the night like this is something I walk forward to Every year and you guys, I Can vouch for that.
Speaker 1:That was a hundred percent real. That was pretty much dead on. But I also just wanted to add in there too Like also, your tree doesn't have to be perfect. Like, we literally just let our kids decorate our tree and so the ornaments are clustered in some spots and also, from about three feet down we can't have any ornaments because we have a one-year-old that likes to take things off of the tree and throw them, and throw them.
Speaker 2:Thankfully, we don't have any glass ornaments.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and you know what?
Speaker 2:that is just the season that we're in, so be okay With the season that you're in. Right now. We I have so many beautiful, precious moments, ornaments that my mom has given to me over the years and that she bought when I was a kid and she'd Finally handed them down to me. And I have a beautiful glass nativity and none of them are out this year. Because I don't want to be that screaming, yelling mom that's like don't touch the tree, don't do that. Oh, you broke my ornament. You, you're just broke. Baby Jesus, my, my nativity is ruined. I just don't like. I love those.
Speaker 1:Baby Jesus, don't come back alive. I.
Speaker 2:Love those things and they're special to me and that's why I'm not putting them out this year, because I Love my kids more than I love my precious moments and glass nativity, and there there's gonna be a year. I there's gonna be, and you know two, three or four years where they don't touch those things come back and we don't get to do all these like fun little ugly, cluttery, homemade, not cute.
Speaker 2:I don't enjoy looking at ornaments, but right now we do, and I know one day I'm gonna miss them. So Gauge what season you're in, gauge what stress and yell, gauge why. If something feels like a burden to you, ask yourself why and then just Lean into slowing down and being present. That's what I would say.
Speaker 1:Yeah, for sure. All right, we're getting to the yeah. Hey, what's that thing, what's it one that that thing right there? If that one, you can say something about that.
Speaker 2:I was just gonna say that I think you guys know we've talked about it before.
Speaker 2:Corey's the board of a nonprofit called hope on the board on the board of a nonprofit called Hope Bridge and they have different Like. They have a single mom's program, they help a lot with foster care and then they have aging out youth programs. If you're this is one thing I forgot to mention like, typically, we also sponsor a family every year and we buy presents for them, and we actually are not doing that this year because, for many different reasons. Um, we're just, we just aren't, but we will pick it back up next year. But I will say, if you're looking for Like you want to do Something meaningful this year.
Speaker 2:Hope Bridge and foster community are two wonderful organizations. They are essentially, they are linked together and there are. They have Amazon wishlist that you can donate to and they would go directly to foster families or single moms right in our area. They have give butter links where you can donate financially, and then they also have volunteer forms where, if you're local, you can Find ways to like actually serve with your time, and I think that stuff like this this is what like the whole season is about. It's about giving, and so when you model that for your kids, it's just really huge.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's, and it's important and it's special and it doesn't have to be elaborate. It could be as easy as you buy a ten dollar item off of the Amazon wishlist and, if you're local, you actually have them physically go and donate it so that they actually feel that you know what I mean.
Speaker 2:Yeah just involve them and so I'm gonna link those organizations in the show notes and if you would Donate. They have various needs and I can tell you I'm working with them weekly and they it makes a huge, huge impact on the lives of these people.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I'm just added that that if you are looking for an opportunity for an end of year donation, you know, even if it's for for tax purposes or if you're a business, for the same reason it's a great play, a great organization to do that with a very impactful for just the vulnerable families in our community and also if you're Just. The best thing too is if you, especially as an individual, if you can give Monthly, just do a monthly donation that just comes out automatically every month, that would be great. And last thing is the we are throwing a conference and a fundraiser dinner Next year that they're starting to look For donations and sponsors, sponsorship packages for. So just look out for that stuff too.
Speaker 2:Yep, all right Now speaking of giveaways, donations money.
Speaker 2:Every year we Try and practice what we preach and we take the month of December off of airing episodes because we want to be present with our kids. It gives us the time to like breathe, even though we've taken a lot of breaks this year. Thank you for your patience with us and hanging in there with us, but we, we just don't air any episodes In the month of December and we want you guys to be intentional with your families as well. But we always do leave you guys with a giveaway because we are so, so thankful For our listeners and for this community and just like how it's grown over the years and the people that we've Met over the years, and so we want to. Always we give away a cash price to one Listener. Every year we do it on Christmas Eve and this year we're giving away $400 Hold on can we enter?
Speaker 1:On the last day of Christmas, the force to be reckoned with gave to me 350 plus 50 dollars.
Speaker 2:So that's for, that's for giving away $400 as a thank you for for just being part of this community, and All you have to do is Leave a review on Apple. Actually, I didn't even. I didn't even decide what we're doing, so that sounds good leave a review on Apple a comment review screenshot it, dm it no, no, no, no, no. Don't listen to Cory. Don't listen to Cory, please. What?
Speaker 1:How are you gonna know?
Speaker 2:leave a review on Apple. I'm gonna put a post out the day that this episode airs. You can comment reviewed on that post on Instagram. And for every time that you share one of our episodes in the month of December in your story and Tag my Instagram Bethany Adkins, that is an additional entry. Also, for every friend that you tag in the comments, that's an extra entry as well. So you can enter, you get extra entries. So if you share in the stories and Tag me, that's an entry. If you tag five friends, that's five entries. So that would be a total of six additional entries. So for every friend that you tag on that post, that is an entry. So on December 24th we'll put all the entries in. So if you tag 50 people and share in your stories five times, you have 55 entries. So you have a really good chance of winning.
Speaker 2:But at down December We'll tally all the entries up, put them in and I like to do an old-school drawing where I put the names on paper, put them in a basket and draw them out and we'll pick the grand prize winner.
Speaker 2:And Just because I'm in the spirit of giving, in the spirit of Christmas, we're also gonna pick five additional winners and just For something really small. I know it's either $400 or something really small, but you can get your choice of a $20 Amazon gift card or $20 Starbucks gift card, so we're gonna pick one grand prize winner and five winners just as little. Thank you for entering and because I explained those Instructions so poorly, if you need the breakdown of how to enter, those instructions will be in the show notes. Oh, and one other thing that I forgot to mention is I made a small little Christmas playlist of some of my favorite Christmas songs and that is also linked in the show notes as well. So if you need some Christmas music to drive around and listen to Christmas lights, do check out our playlist in the show notes. We hope that you guys have a great remainder of 2023. We're really excited for what's to come in the new year and and Honor of Christmas.
Speaker 1:That's a wrap.