# Holiday Homemaking 2021 | Week 3 (2026 Re-release)

An episode of [The Art of Home: A Podcast for Homemakers](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1557993655), 29 Oct 2026, 57 min.

Audio: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1587457/episodes/20043091-holiday-homemaking-2021-week-3-2026-re-release.mp3

Send me a text about this episode! Join us as we hear from 4 more homemakers sharing memories, tips, recipes and reflections of Christmas. Sandi Goforth describes the “glorious pandemonium” of December 25th at her house. Jenn Darnold discusses overnight sticky buns and brother gifts. You will hear about themed stockings from Karen Sheppard and the importance of UNDER-scheduling the month of December from Hollie Carnahan. You are bound to find some inspiration for your practice of the art of holiday homemaking. Free Holiday Homemaking 2021 Companion e-Magazine *Includes recipes for: Jenn's Overnight Sticky Buns and Karen's Chives Bread RESOURCES Free Advent Devotional Advent Playlists • Hope • Peace • Joy • Love • Christmas Eve (Faith) Christmas Fun Playlist Books Mentioned: • The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, Barbara Robinson • Jotham's Journey: A Storybook for Advent, Arnold Ytreeide 💌 HOLIDAY RECIPE EXCHANGE💌 Get recipes, make friends & support The Art of Home! Leave your tip of $5 or more by October 31, 2026!! https://www.theartofhomepodcast.com/recipe Support the show HOMEMAKING RESOURCES • Homemaker's Journal, AoH Seasonal Magazine • Private Facebook Group, Homemaker Forum • JR Miller's Homemaking Study Guide SUPPORT & CONNECT • Review | Love The Podcast • Contact | Text/Voicemail-use the link at top of description | Website | Email • Follow | Follow The Podcast • Support | theartofhomepodcast.com/support DISCLOSURE • **Buy | as an Amazon affiliate, AoH receives a small commission at no extra cost to you when you use our links to purchase items we recommend • AI Content | Portions of this episode’s copy and/or show notes may have been drafted with the assistance of AI and then reviewed and edited by a human, Allison Weeks.

## Transcript

[1:14] Allison: Merry Christmas, homemakers! Welcome to the Art of Home Podcast, Holiday Homemaking 2021, where we are exploring how homemakers cultivate a place to belong in a way that says joy to the world, the Lord is come.
[1:28] Allison: I'm your host, Allison Weeks.
[1:30] Allison: I'm a wife, I'm a mom to four grown kids, and I've been practicing the art of home for nearly 30 years.
[1:36] Allison: Christmas is supposed to be a time of joy and good cheer.
[1:39] Allison: Are you feeling the joy yet, or are the cares of this world threatening to steal your joy?
[1:45] Allison: This is the third week of Advent, and we are focusing on the joy of the Lord.
[1:49] Allison: No matter what is happening in your life this week, we encourage you to find your joy in the one who will never leave or forsake you.
[1:57] Allison: We have some very simple Advent devotions on our Instagram page.
[2:00] Allison: Each day this week, there is a truth about the joy of the Lord, along with related scripture readings and a worship song or hymn.
[2:07] Allison: And you can access full playlists for each week of Advent on our page as well.
[2:11] Allison: We will link all of that in the show notes below.
[2:14] Allison: We have another great show for you today.
[2:16] Allison: Sandy Goforth walks us through a typical Christmas at her house, to which she gives the title Glorious Pandemonium.
[2:23] Allison: Jen Darnold discusses overnight sticky buns and Christmas Eve brother gifts.
[2:27] Allison: And you'll hear about themed stockings from Karen Shepherd and the importance of underscheduling your December from Holly Carnahan.
[2:35] Allison: All of that and so many more fun stories, ideas, and recipes.
[2:40] Allison: Speaking of recipes, we have a special companion e-magazine for this holiday mini season, featuring most of the recipes shared by our guests, as well as sweet photos of them from Christmas's past.
[2:51] Allison: You can get your free copy at the Artof Home Podcast.com/slash free gift, or just click the link in the show notes.
[2:58] Allison: So whether you are addressing Christmas cards or making those adorable paperback snowflakes all over the internet, we know you will enjoy these holiday stories of home.
[3:09] Allison: Okay, I am back here with my friend Sandy Goforth, and we are gonna talk about Christmas.
[3:15] Allison: Yay! Yes! All right, Sandy.
[3:18] Allison: So what does a typical Christmas day look like at your house?
[3:22] SPEAKER_06: Well, because we've been married so many years and had so many Christmases, we're up to 45 Christmases.
[3:29] unknown: 45.
[3:31] SPEAKER_06: We have changed a lot because of children leaving the nest and um all kinds of fiancés coming and grandchildren coming.
[3:40] SPEAKER_06: It's just been a very much evolving thing.
[3:43] SPEAKER_06: There are a few constants.
[3:45] SPEAKER_06: Um usually in the morning, my husband will wake everybody up with some big jingle bells, and the jingle bells are the kind that are on a sleigh.
[3:56] SPEAKER_06: Oh, fun.
[3:57] SPEAKER_06: You know, the big sleigh bells.
[3:58] SPEAKER_06: And everybody will get up and then they'll come and eat breakfast.
[4:02] SPEAKER_06: And then whoever's in the house that year will eat breakfast first, and then we'll do the stockings together because everybody wants to do their stockings together.
[4:11] SPEAKER_06: And then we will do the presents after that.
[4:14] SPEAKER_06: Breakfast usually consists of pastries, which is not a normal thing, but donuts, Danish, that type of thing.
[4:24] SPEAKER_06: Um, some of the hardy eaters will say, nope, I think I want an egg.
[4:28] SPEAKER_06: So we'll have some eggs, but it's simple, and then we do the presents, and then it's a very relaxed day until the onslaught is what I call it.
[4:41] SPEAKER_06: Everybody comes and we have the big meal of turkey.
[4:47] SPEAKER_06: Uh, we'll put the turkey on right about uh nine in the morning.
[4:52] SPEAKER_06: So it's done for later that afternoon.
[4:56] SPEAKER_06: Then we'll just have um the most incredible wild raucous evening that you can imagine.
[5:05] Allison: Well, do tell, please.
[5:07] Allison: Gotta give us some more than that.
[5:09] SPEAKER_06: Well, if there were, if there were games, then people will divide up if there were games given.
[5:14] SPEAKER_06: They'll play games in different parts of the house.
[5:17] SPEAKER_06: And we have any more anywhere from um 12 on a very low year to 18, 19.
[5:24] SPEAKER_06: But the the main thing is after the meal, we have music and performance music.
[5:34] SPEAKER_01: Okay.
[5:35] SPEAKER_06: So people are know that Christmas is coming and it's gonna be everybody's decision.
[5:41] SPEAKER_06: Do they want to perform and what will they perform?
[5:43] SPEAKER_06: Will they give a poem?
[5:45] SPEAKER_06: Will they do something classical or something whimsical?
[5:49] SPEAKER_06: Uh the children recite poetry they've learned in school because a lot of them attend a classical school.
[5:56] SPEAKER_06: So they will recite Shakespeare or something.
[6:01] SPEAKER_06: And a lot of times the older girls who are my daughters are so talented, will grab a few of the older teenagers and they will sing in beautiful harmony.
[6:12] Allison: Nice.
[6:13] SPEAKER_06: And it's always so wonderful.
[6:15] Allison: Does anybody do like uh a play or a puppet show or anything like that?
[6:19] Allison: Or is it mostly music musical performance?
[6:22] SPEAKER_06: It's kind of like each family in their own home puts it together.
[6:25] SPEAKER_06: So it's generally either music or recitation or something, something they've written.
[6:32] SPEAKER_06: Um, I would love to see more of the puppet show type thing, but I think everybody is pretty busy and they don't quite get that elaborate.
[6:41] Allison: Yeah.
[6:42] Allison: I was just wondering because I know you you like drama, and that's something that that you like to do.
[6:48] Allison: So I thought maybe that might be in there.
[6:50] SPEAKER_06: Yes, but I get to really sit back and enjoy and I'm never performing.
[6:56] SPEAKER_06: You don't perform?
[6:58] SPEAKER_06: No, no, I don't perform.
[6:59] SPEAKER_06: Not these last I'm exhausted from cooking.
[7:03] SPEAKER_06: Well, that's true.
[7:04] SPEAKER_06: I'm just so happy to have them do it.
[7:07] SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
[7:08] SPEAKER_06: That's what we do.
[7:09] SPEAKER_06: That's our and then everybody kind of drops off to their homes or to bed.
[7:15] Allison: So is there a special recipe that must be made every Christmas, or you know, everybody will be very upset if it doesn't show up on the table?
[7:26] SPEAKER_06: Actually, no.
[7:28] SPEAKER_06: I mean, there's a very basic Christmas recipe of turkey.
[7:32] SPEAKER_06: Uh, somebody will make um roasted vegetables, we have mashed potatoes, we have sweet potato casserole with marshmallows on top.
[7:42] SPEAKER_06: It's pretty normal.
[7:44] SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
[7:44] SPEAKER_06: But we do the we do the crackers, the Christmas crackers, and we all wear our hats.
[7:48] SPEAKER_06: It's a rule that you wear the little hat that's in the Christmas cracker from Britain.
[7:53] Allison: Oh, okay.
[7:53] Allison: So the English Christmas cracker.
[7:55] Allison: The English Christmas cracker.
[7:56] Allison: Okay.
[7:57] SPEAKER_06: Right.
[7:57] SPEAKER_06: Because we are a British family.
[7:59] Allison: I was gonna say, we if you heard the episode that we did where we interviewed you, we we talked a lot about Ireland and the UK, and uh so that's very interesting.
[8:09] SPEAKER_06: So everybody has to wear their the it's a little pull a cracker.
[8:13] SPEAKER_06: You pull them apart, you pull them apart with partner, and there's a little hat in there, right?
[8:17] SPEAKER_06: So everybody has a cracker, but you cross your arms so that your cracker is getting pulled and the other person's is.
[8:24] SPEAKER_06: So you can cross your arms to pull everybody has a cracker, and then it's full of little toys, tiny little things, and and in there is a folded up hat made out of tissue paper.
[8:34] SPEAKER_06: Okay, put your tissue paper hat on.
[8:37] Allison: So that's I'm sure that made for some nice photo opportunities with everybody with their tissue paper hats.
[8:42] Allison: Tissue paper hats.
[8:43] SPEAKER_06: Little crowns, they're like the the crown that a king would wear.
[8:47] Allison: Oh, that's really fun.
[8:49] Allison: Okay, so how about traditions?
[8:51] Allison: Do you have particular family traditions that you guys do during the holiday season?
[8:57] Allison: For some people that's going to a soup kitchen and serving, some people it's caroling.
[9:03] Allison: What is what is is there something that your family does?
[9:07] SPEAKER_06: Our family really enjoys reading the best Christmas pageant ever.
[9:12] Allison: Okay.
[9:13] SPEAKER_06: And it's a book that can be read in around two hours, I think it can be read.
[9:21] SPEAKER_06: Uh it's the way that we get in touch with the Christ child and what Christmas is really all about.
[9:31] SPEAKER_06: Cool.
[9:31] SPEAKER_06: Is it a children's book?
[9:32] SPEAKER_06: We're all crying by the end of it.
[9:35] SPEAKER_06: Well, they made a movie out of it.
[9:37] SPEAKER_06: Um it's not a children's book, but it's a family book.
[9:42] SPEAKER_06: And it's uh a short, it's a novella, like a little short story.
[9:46] SPEAKER_06: Right.
[9:47] SPEAKER_06: It's a it's a little novella.
[9:50] SPEAKER_06: Uh I don't know that I would call it a children's book.
[9:54] SPEAKER_06: It might be considered a young adult book, but it's definitely a family book.
[10:01] SPEAKER_06: And the story is about the herdmans who commandeered wrecked the Christmas pageant at this little church because they found out that at church there was food.
[10:18] Allison: Oh.
[10:19] SPEAKER_06: Somebody told a little fib and said that you can steal, because they were terrible, a terrible bunch of kids.
[10:26] SPEAKER_06: And that it is literally side-splittingly funny how terrible they were.
[10:32] SPEAKER_06: And they stole people's lunches at school.
[10:35] SPEAKER_06: And one little boy whose mother directed the Christmas pageant said, It's okay, you can have my lunch.
[10:43] SPEAKER_06: I get all the the treats I want at Sunday school.
[10:46] SPEAKER_06: Because the herdmans never went to Sunday school.
[10:50] SPEAKER_06: Never.
[10:52] SPEAKER_06: Well, that Sunday they came.
[10:54] SPEAKER_06: And from then on, it was who is Jesus?
[10:59] SPEAKER_06: What are the wise men?
[11:01] SPEAKER_06: What in the world was she doing riding a donkey nine months pregnant?
[11:06] SPEAKER_06: And they they were the wise men, they were the shepherds, and they demanded to be Joseph and Mary.
[11:13] SPEAKER_06: Oh.
[11:14] SPEAKER_06: And it was the best Christmas pageant ever because of the wonder of the discovery of what it's all about.
[11:22] Allison: That's really cool.
[11:23] SPEAKER_06: We try to read that every year.
[11:26] Allison: That's great.
[11:27] SPEAKER_06: Other than that, there's not very many traditions.
[11:30] SPEAKER_06: It's wild and crazy and simple.
[11:34] SPEAKER_06: Every year is different.
[11:35] SPEAKER_06: You never know what you're gonna get, right?
[11:37] SPEAKER_06: Well, as far as um there's always the basics.
[11:41] SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
[11:42] SPEAKER_06: There's always the basics.
[11:44] Allison: So you read the story, which obviously helps keep your focus on the main thing, but it can be really hectic during the season leading up to the actual event of Christmas.
[11:56] Allison: So, how do you sort of keep some margin in that time and keep yourself sane?
[12:01] SPEAKER_06: I try to keep the gift giving simple.
[12:07] SPEAKER_06: From year to year, it is different how stressed I feel.
[12:11] SPEAKER_06: But I think that the holiday season, my main goal is to stay away from the stores as much as possible.
[12:18] SPEAKER_06: And yet I'm not uh an online shopper either.
[12:22] SPEAKER_06: So throughout the year, I gather a certain closet in my house for gifts.
[12:28] SPEAKER_06: I'll gather gifts all year long.
[12:31] SPEAKER_06: And by Thanksgiving, I'm trying to figure out how I'm gonna do this.
[12:38] SPEAKER_06: I have so many children, so many grandchildren.
[12:40] Allison: Yes, how many?
[12:41] Allison: Let's remind our audience.
[12:42] SPEAKER_06: Okay, so we have fourteen grandchildren.
[12:49] Allison: Fourteen.
[12:49] Allison: Yes, that is a lot.
[12:51] SPEAKER_06: So chaos is really right on Christmas Day, and it's wonderful.
[12:56] SPEAKER_06: I mentioned this to my daughter this morning, the one who sings so beautifully and gathers her sisters to sing in in harmony with her.
[13:06] SPEAKER_06: What she thought about my word using the word chaotic and glorious.
[13:12] SPEAKER_06: Let's see, what did she say?
[13:13] SPEAKER_06: It was warm and cozy and cuddly uh as soon as the noise died down.
[13:22] SPEAKER_06: So she said it was um, let's see, I think we both thought glorious pandemonium.
[13:28] Allison: Glorious pandemonium there.
[13:31] SPEAKER_06: I like that.
[13:32] Allison: Perfectly descriptive of Christmas morning.
[13:35] Allison: Yeah.
[13:35] SPEAKER_06: Actually, night.
[13:37] SPEAKER_06: Because Christmas morning is quiet.
[13:39] Allison: So you you do this on Christmas Eve or Christmas night?
[13:42] SPEAKER_06: No, Christmas morning wrapping, unwrapping gifts is very, very quiet because it's whoever spent the night.
[13:47] SPEAKER_06: Gotcha.
[13:48] Allison: Okay.
[13:48] SPEAKER_06: Okay, and over the years it's it's not pandemonium in the morning.
[13:52] SPEAKER_06: Oh my goodness.
[13:53] SPEAKER_06: We just luxuriate over that price.
[13:56] Allison: Yeah.
[13:56] SPEAKER_06: It is the what I call the onslaught and that happens in the day.
[14:00] SPEAKER_06: Even later in the day.
[14:01] Allison: Okay, gotcha.
[14:02] SPEAKER_06: Three o'clock, four o'clock, it starts.
[14:05] Allison: And that's when you have your big meal.
[14:07] SPEAKER_06: And everybody brings their shows their gifts, and if they had games, they crack out the games and play them.
[14:13] SPEAKER_06: And we have the meal, and then we have the concert.
[14:16] Allison: Okay.
[14:17] SPEAKER_06: The program.
[14:17] SPEAKER_06: So that's when the pandemonium ends.
[14:20] SPEAKER_06: And so I was telling Jessica, would you call it chaotic?
[14:23] SPEAKER_06: And she said, not really.
[14:24] SPEAKER_06: She said, I think it's really quite orderly, albeit loud.
[14:30] SPEAKER_06: So well, anytime you get that many people in one place, it's going to be loud, loud.
[14:35] SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
[14:35] SPEAKER_06: But then she said it calms down after the music and the singing is all over, and people kind of just cuddle up on the couch and they'll go get a snack or something.
[14:44] Allison: Yeah.
[14:45] Allison: That's great.
[14:47] Allison: Do you have any other thoughts about Christmas that you'd like to share?
[14:51] SPEAKER_06: Christmas is a stressful, delightful challenge that I am always mitigating with the Lord.
[15:02] SPEAKER_06: How, Lord, show me this year how can I elevate you and bring down the stress.
[15:08] SPEAKER_06: It's a growth.
[15:10] SPEAKER_06: It's a growing, ever um great work, a work in my life of walking with the Lord during the holidays.
[15:19] SPEAKER_06: People have a tendency to focus on the gifts and what they're going to get.
[15:24] SPEAKER_06: And the whole rapping and being fancy about rapping.
[15:27] SPEAKER_06: And this doesn't um fall into my wheelhouse of great giftings.
[15:35] SPEAKER_06: You know, my gift is hospitality, but it's about the people.
[15:38] SPEAKER_06: So I'm all about the people.
[15:41] SPEAKER_06: Wanting them to gather around, wanting to be together, and not wanting to be burdened by all of the trappings of the holiday.
[15:49] Allison: Yeah.
[15:50] SPEAKER_06: So that's my best answer.
[15:55] SPEAKER_06: Good answer.
[15:57] Allison: Well, thank you.
[15:58] Allison: Thank you for sharing with us about Christmas.
[16:00] Allison: You're welcome.
[16:01] Allison: Merry Christmas.
[16:02] SPEAKER_06: Merry Christmas.
[16:04] Allison: Late lies the wintry sun abed, a frosty, fiery, sleepy head, blinks but an hour or two, and then a blood red orange sets again.
[16:13] Allison: Before the stars have left the skies, at morning in the dark I rise, and shivering in my nakedness by the cold candle, bathe and dress.
[16:21] Allison: Close by the jolly fire I sit to warm my frozen bones a bit.
[16:25] Allison: Or with the reindeer sled, explore the colder countries round the door.
[16:30] Allison: When to go out, my nurse doth wrap me in my comforter and cap.
[16:34] Allison: The cold wind burns my face and blows its frosty pepper up my nose.
[16:39] Allison: Black are my steps on silver sod, thick blows my frosty breath abroad, and tree and house and hill and a lake are frosted like a wedding cake.
[16:49] Allison: Robert Lewis Stevenson, 1913.
[16:53] Allison: Alright, I am back with my friend Jen Darnold, and we're gonna talk about Christmas.
[16:58] Allison: So tell me, what does a typical Christmas day look like at your house?
[17:04] SPEAKER_03: We love Christmas, and in this season of life, Christmas is often just our little family of four because we've moved away from where extended family is.
[17:15] SPEAKER_03: And so we have some traditions.
[17:19] SPEAKER_03: The night before, we have a sticky bun recipe that we make that we got from a dear friend from our young married days, and it was passed down from her mom.
[17:33] SPEAKER_03: And so we always make these certain sticky buns that rise overnight, like on the counter.
[17:39] SPEAKER_03: They're so good.
[17:40] SPEAKER_03: So we wake up, we have those, we do the story of Christmas from loot two, and then it's about the gifts, you know, at that point.
[17:52] SPEAKER_03: And the boys will do stockings and open gifts, and we'll have a simple lunch, like usually it's kind of the same, like ham and sides.
[18:02] SPEAKER_03: And we might have had one of our pie making contests, like to make dessert.
[18:08] SPEAKER_03: Sometimes we'll have like a birthday cake for for Jesus.
[18:12] SPEAKER_03: But we've enjoyed, we've enjoyed those Christmases, just the four of us.
[18:18] SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
[18:18] SPEAKER_03: Some some years we're traveling and we'll be at the grandparents in their um area.
[18:24] SPEAKER_03: And so it'll look a little different.
[18:26] SPEAKER_03: We won't have like our special traditions, but it's also fun to get to see family.
[18:32] Allison: Absolutely.
[18:33] Allison: So is the sticky bun recipe like a guarded family secret?
[18:38] SPEAKER_03: Well, I don't think so.
[18:40] SPEAKER_03: It was passed down for my friend, and I bet she would love it.
[18:45] Allison: Can we share it?
[18:46] Allison: Okay.
[18:47] Allison: Wonderful.
[18:47] Allison: Well, we will make sure that we get that up on the website so people can try their own hand with sticky buns.
[18:53] SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it's it's really good.
[18:54] SPEAKER_03: When our kids were younger, we definitely had other traditions.
[18:58] SPEAKER_03: Sure.
[18:58] SPEAKER_03: Like we did reindeer food.
[19:00] SPEAKER_03: We'd make reindeer food and scatter it on the yard or cookies for Santa.
[19:07] SPEAKER_03: And one tradition that's held even from the younger days is that we do brother gifts on Christmas Eve.
[19:14] SPEAKER_03: And so the boys will get to open their gift from their brother that night.
[19:19] SPEAKER_03: And so there's been some special times that's just seeing them exchange their gifts.
[19:25] Allison: I love that.
[19:26] Allison: That is really sweet.
[19:27] Allison: And when you do your rain, when you would do your reindeer food, so it was like oats and uh did you put glitter in your oats?
[19:34] SPEAKER_03: It was just oatmeal and glitter.
[19:36] SPEAKER_03: Okay.
[19:36] SPEAKER_03: Like for a young kid, like that was magical.
[19:39] SPEAKER_03: It's magical to make super fun to make.
[19:41] SPEAKER_03: And we also do like we have certain decorations that have we've always used through the years.
[19:48] SPEAKER_03: And so I have a candle holder that's supposed to symbolize like there's a little donkey with Mary Joe's up on it that goes along.
[19:59] SPEAKER_03: And so it's like a Christmas countdown where you put another candle in the holding each day.
[20:06] SPEAKER_03: And so the boys, since they were younger, you know, we we have that out.
[20:12] SPEAKER_03: We have an advent calendar that my one of my sister-in-laws made that's really special, that always has its prominent place.
[20:22] Allison: And so we have some traditions through decoration.
[20:25] Allison: Do you have a particular thing that your family likes to do at Christmas?
[20:29] Allison: Do you go serve at a soup kitchen or do you go Christmas caroling or something like that that you guys do?
[20:35] SPEAKER_03: Yes, I think I think more of our traditions are just within our home, probably.
[20:42] SPEAKER_03: I think usually that time of year they're they've had finals or they're they're off school and so they're they're kind of ready to rest.
[20:50] SPEAKER_03: And we will do gingerbread houses and it we just get the simple kits from the grocery store, but we'll have some sort of contest putting that together.
[21:03] SPEAKER_03: And we will do a lot of the decorating together.
[21:07] SPEAKER_03: Like they enjoy seeing their Christmas ornaments from years past.
[21:13] SPEAKER_03: And my mom always gifts them an ornament each year based on activities or interest from that year.
[21:20] SPEAKER_03: And so they have great fun seeing those.
[21:23] SPEAKER_03: And I don't collect anything except for Christmas ornaments.
[21:29] SPEAKER_03: And I, when we travel, oh yeah, we'll we'll get an ornament for the place that we went.
[21:34] SPEAKER_03: And so that's fun as we're decorating to remember all the places that we've gone.
[21:41] Allison: That's really cool.
[21:41] Allison: We have a few of those too.
[21:43] Allison: Holidays can be hectic and crazy, and we can sort of lose our focus and all of that.
[21:49] Allison: So, what are some of the things that you do to keep the main thing the main thing and and keep your eyes fixed where they need to be?
[21:56] SPEAKER_03: Yeah, that's a a really good thing to think about.
[22:00] SPEAKER_03: And I think I had to learn over the years with that.
[22:03] SPEAKER_03: And my personality wants to do do do and say yes to every invitation.
[22:08] SPEAKER_03: And oh, we could host this kind of party and host this thing.
[22:13] SPEAKER_03: And so I had to really be in back off and be intentional about what we said yes to, and realize that I didn't want to look back at December, where we really want our focus to be celebrating the birth of Jesus and not how many parties or how many events that we went to, and had to really put a lot of thought into what we would do or say yes to that year.
[22:43] SPEAKER_03: And and so we might accept one party invitation or go to one type of concert, but not try to go to three or four.
[22:53] SPEAKER_03: There's just so many options of things to jump in and do.
[22:56] SPEAKER_03: We had to kind of decide as a family what we wanted to say yes to.
[23:02] SPEAKER_03: And as I started realizing that we didn't need to go, go, go that month, December's been a great, like we love it because.
[23:11] SPEAKER_03: we're not trying to to do so much and can just be here together and focusing and preparing our hearts for this celebration.
[23:19] Allison: Right.
[23:19] Allison: Oh that's a good word.
[23:20] Allison: Oh anything else you'd like to share about Christmas?
[23:23] SPEAKER_03: I think I I think that again for me what's worked is not trying to overdo at that time.
[23:31] SPEAKER_03: And I love my friends who are gifted in decorating each room of the house differently or, you know, a tree for each room or each year they have a theme for their wrapping and their bows.
[23:46] SPEAKER_03: And I so admire that, but that stresses me out.
[23:50] SPEAKER_03: And it takes away from me just being with my family.
[23:55] SPEAKER_03: And so I kind of knew I I can appreciate that in others, but I can't go there.
[24:00] SPEAKER_03: And so our decorations we have one tree like we're kind of contained and my gift wrapping is not going to look glamorous, you know, or Pinterest worthy.
[24:12] SPEAKER_03: But again with boys, I'm not sure like they don't really care.
[24:15] SPEAKER_03: They would be fine if it wasn't wrapped.
[24:17] SPEAKER_03: So I had to learn that was a place I could give yeah you know on is not trying to to make that um so beautiful.
[24:26] SPEAKER_03: But again I love seeing my friends that do.
[24:29] Allison: Yeah.
[24:29] Allison: I'm one of those crazy people that has seven trees.
[24:32] Allison: See yeah that would push me over the edge.
[24:35] Allison: Well I always have to say just because people look at me like I'm insane they're not all big there's one big one and the rest are kind of small.
[24:44] Allison: And I have a walk-in attic space.
[24:46] Allison: So I don't take my trees apart every year and take all the lights off.
[24:50] Allison: I leave all the lights on.
[24:51] Allison: I take the ornaments off and each tree has its own box.
[24:55] Allison: Um but I just put like a big garbage bag over the tree with the lights still on it and I can walk it right into the attic and there's a special place for all of them.
[25:03] Allison: I would not do this if I had to assemble and put lights on all of those trees every year.
[25:09] SPEAKER_03: That would make a difference.
[25:10] SPEAKER_03: Yes it's a little bit so maybe in another season of life I will or not branch out or we'll just stick with our same tree.
[25:20] SPEAKER_03: Even even within our tree our tree is kind of like a scrapbook in that it has the boys' ornaments from when they were little it has our trip ornaments it has ones my mom's made it's very meaningful to us.
[25:35] SPEAKER_03: But I remember some friends along the way who had their very much like determined theme for their tree.
[25:41] SPEAKER_03: They're like I'm not putting my kids craft on my tree because it messes up this beautiful theme.
[25:47] SPEAKER_03: And I thought oh my goodness like and so I'm sure people come see our tree and they're like oh it's just kind of thrown together.
[25:54] SPEAKER_03: But again for our family that's what what worked but I love seeing pictures of the trees that probably yours that are like beautiful cut color coordination.
[26:05] Allison: I have to say that actually this whole obsession with all the trees grew out of a similar thing.
[26:11] Allison: Our big tree our main tree is like it's like a scrapbook it has all of the kids' ornaments.
[26:16] Allison: My mom has always bought them Hallmark ornaments every year.
[26:19] Allison: Nice.
[26:19] Allison: So now I've been giving them to them as they've moved into their own places.
[26:23] Allison: But um all this the popsicle stick ornaments that they made when they were three and those are our favorites when we pull them out and we see like because a lot of them have their preschool picture or whatever you know at that age and they are hilarious.
[26:36] Allison: And so that tree is that and and I always kind of wanted a tree to just be my tree.
[26:41] Allison: And so for many many years I had a little bitty tabletop tree with special mom only can touch these ornaments on them.
[26:49] Allison: Wonderful.
[26:50] Allison: That was my tree so my all my multiple trees kind of grew out of that but yeah we also have a scrapbook tree for our main tree and I wouldn't do it any other way.
[27:00] Allison: I love it.
[27:00] Allison: Yeah it means it means a lot to me too.
[27:04] Allison: Well thank you for sharing your memories and your ideas and Merry Christmas.
[27:08] Allison: Sure Merry Christmas to you all right I am back with my friend Karen Shepherd and we're going to talk about Christmas.
[27:22] SPEAKER_02: So what does a typical Christmas day look like in your home it either now or when your kids were still at home or both okay I it's hard to say typical it's been pretty non-typical it seems like every year is different especially now but um when our kids were little we would just uh all the kids would come down the stairs you know typical we were up we'd stay up the night before putting everything together just like everybody else and um we would open presents and we taped we did cassette taping and we have all these cassette tapes and I was just listening to them the other day and they're so fun to listen to.
[28:01] SPEAKER_02: Okay wait what do you mean you taped we we we taped the the because you know the voices everybody talking and opening their presents instead of videoing we didn't have video you would do a cassette recording of like the soundtrack of Christmas morning.
[28:17] SPEAKER_02: That's all we had and so and so I play it every now and then um but uh it's really fun but so that that's how it was then but you know in recent years uh we've had our our grandkids they all we all love music and so music is usually a part of our Christmas every year.
[28:39] SPEAKER_02: We uh we have one that plays cello we have a piano we have french horn we have guitar we have flute and so and then we have a lot of voices and so we we sing and play uh Christmas songs and oh my goodness it's just I it it I have to do it every year it's me I have to do it it's just I I just enjoy it so much and I think everybody does you know they they make it sound like oh don't have to do that again but I I they humor they humor Nana do you do you do that on Christmas day or Christmas Eve?
[29:12] SPEAKER_02: We do it on usually Christmas day because Christmas Eve is Greg's birthday.
[29:16] SPEAKER_02: Oh and so we have a tradition where our kids that live close by they come over if you know parents want to come that they can come too and um we do pasole we do our New Mexico thing we do pasole and and tamales and and we just have a birthday for him because poor guy you know he never gets a birthday yeah that's hard.
[29:42] SPEAKER_02: I mean his birthday presents are usually wrapped in Christmas paper but oh well yeah but um but I I will I wanted to tell you about year before last oh wait before I go to there I'll just say that we've we've tried different things on opening presents because we don't we don't want this crazy wild everybody's opening their presents and nobody's seeing what anybody's getting and it's not that big a deal.
[30:07] SPEAKER_02: And so we've tried different things we sometimes we do stockings we do themed stockings and we play a game and we pass them around and then whoever gets you know after a certain point whoever gets that they keep it so it's not the stocking with a person's name on it.
[30:23] Allison: No it's like you have been assigned a theme yes and you fill a stocking according to that theme.
[30:29] SPEAKER_02: Yes yes and everybody you play like hot potato or something yeah okay yeah and so and and it doesn't you know whatever you get that's what you keep or if you can find somebody to trade with so then they have to see what other people have you know like an older person may have like something with a yo-yo or a toy in it toys in it and you know they want that and then you know I have a question though do they have to if they want to trade do they have to trade the whole stocking or just yes okay the whole stock and what kind of themes um let's see we we've had bathroom theme or we had like these bathroom books and different things like that we've had for men we've had um like um mint shaving stuff and yeah I mean a lot of it's real practical yes uh women we've had kitchen little kitchen tools and things like that um for the girls we've had like some jewelry in a little jewelry box or something you know just things that so do y'all set like a price limit you you know this is what you can spend well what we've done is Greg and I usually do we do we fill the stockings before they get here.
[31:41] SPEAKER_02: Oh okay and then yeah we I I I kind of all year long I look for stuff this is okay I got it so you and Greg fill these stockings.
[31:49] SPEAKER_02: Yes I was thinking like each person brings one no no no no we fill the stockings and we we do it so that we know that there is something as for everybody.
[32:01] Allison: So well that's a really great idea.
[32:03] Allison: I like that a lot it's just something different.
[32:05] Allison: Yeah but you even could do it um in a like maybe if you had a girls group or something or um I don't know your Sunday school or your neighborhood group that you could gather together instead of doing a white elephant.
[32:18] SPEAKER_02: It's kind of a theme and it's really fun because you play it you play a game when you're passing around and go left right left right you know all that stuff you know all that stuff and stuff and it gets really confusing and the older people are like they're they're piling up and you know they're like come on Anna you're falling behind.
[32:38] SPEAKER_02: Anyway it's fun it's fun for everybody but um and then we um in some years we a lot of years lately we've let older people go first in opening their gifts okay and go down to the youngest person and that teaches the kids a little bit of waiting and they have to be patient and gotta have something to teach them patience.
[33:01] SPEAKER_02: You know it seems like it's always the young people that get to go first.
[33:04] SPEAKER_02: Well so we try doing the old old people but there was one um there was one time year before last that was really fun and it may become a tradition off and on but um we picked up our kids in Austin at the airport and they have these big big huge guys three of three big huge guys and um they eat a lot and it was Christmas day and not only that it was the afternoon of Christmas day nothing was open nothing even in the airport for eating and the boys they came down and they said where are we eating Nana I said there's nothing open we have to go for two hours to get home and we don't have anything to eat well what they didn't know was we had planned this this picnic to take to Johnson City and see all the beautiful lights there.
[33:54] SPEAKER_02: And so we had like a tablecloth we had candles we had a chicoterie board we had just you know cute little dishes and all this stuff and so we there was a table right out in front of the courthouse and we just spread the table and all the food out and it was so much fun and then we walked around and looked at the lights and took pictures and then we came home and but the whole way there they thought they were gonna die.
[34:21] SPEAKER_02: Because I usually have snacks for them and I didn't have any snacks and so oh man that's really great.
[34:28] SPEAKER_02: I love that I love that idea.
[34:30] Allison: Yeah well um well before we move on to the next well you've we've kind of talked about traditions what and you said y'all eat uh new Mexican food on Christmas Eve for Greg's birthday what does your typical Christmas day menu look like?
[34:44] SPEAKER_02: Well it's usually the traditional traditional yeah turkey or ham and um do you do dressing or do you do stuffing?
[34:51] SPEAKER_02: We we do dressing.
[34:53] SPEAKER_02: Okay yeah and we do different kinds of dressing sometimes but we always go back to our usual cornbread and bread dressing.
[35:01] Allison: Right and for those listening if you don't know the distinction between dressing and stuffing stuffing would be you actually put it into the bird and you cook it in the bird as the bird cooks and then dressing which is very southern is made in a separate pan usually with drippings from that bird or a different bird or something.
[35:19] Allison: It's almost like well it depends on who you are but our dressing is it's almost like you're making um bread pudding yeah exactly it's kind of a similar concept but it's savory.
[35:28] SPEAKER_02: Lots of pies and you know just the the usual that way.
[35:32] SPEAKER_02: And of course chai spread of course an orange jellow salad.
[35:36] SPEAKER_02: Yes.
[35:37] SPEAKER_02: So um yeah I remember we were over living in Vienna that we would have people over for holidays and they would some of them would be from different countries and they couldn't wait to come and experience an American holiday and we would actually buy turkey we because there was a commissary there and we could get a turkey and they would come with these huge expectations of seeing a whole turkey sitting in the middle of the table waiting to be carved and we would have already carved it.
[36:04] Allison: Oh they probably have the Norman Rockwell picture in their high and they were so disappointed.
[36:11] Allison: Oh my goodness wow well what about keeping the holidays from being totally hectic and frantic how did you what did you do to sort of yeah I say do things ahead of time do not wait till the last minute to do all your cooking now are you would you cook ahead and freeze things?
[36:35] SPEAKER_02: Yes okay yeah especially desserts you know pies and things like that you you would we do we would do that um and even cook the turkey the day before yeah there's ways of keeping it moist and you know good for the next day right you can get online and find those ways of doing that but just don't leave it all it it for me it is total overload to think about getting up on Christmas morning trying to be relaxed and have you know everything done which I never had everything done right and so just getting things done ahead of time don't wait till the last minute to wrap presents and all that don't even wait till the last minute to buy presents you know look throughout the year when you see something that you think somebody might like get it yeah you know and that's it I agree with that 100%.
[37:34] Allison: Because if you think oh I'll I'll get it later or I'll find something else later and you won't just get it and then it's done.
[37:40] Allison: Yeah.
[37:40] Allison: But then write it down or something where you put it right where you put it here we go we're back we're back to um the Griswold Christmas again because that's what the Griswold does hides things in the attic and forgets about it and finds them 10 years later.
[37:55] Allison: Yeah.
[37:55] Allison: So we don't want to do that.
[37:57] SPEAKER_02: No no and that did happen to me one time years ago I we bought this special doll for one of the girls and I put it up in the closet and totally forgot about it.
[38:04] SPEAKER_02: Bought it after Christmas sales and and uh and totally forgot about it a couple years later or found it.
[38:12] SPEAKER_02: It was like oh yeah I was gonna give this doll last Christmas what did we give oh my goodness that's funny.
[38:18] SPEAKER_02: Was there anything else you want to share about holidays?
[38:21] SPEAKER_02: Um I just I love holidays and I here holidays are really interesting because you never know what the weather's gonna be like you might be in uh shorts and flip-flops or you know you might be bundled up.
[38:33] SPEAKER_02: So um I love the times when we can be out on the back porch with the kids playing games and uh that that one game we got that one Christmas the the the thing that where you put in your mouth and oh yeah it's hard to talk and you have to give you yeah yeah oh my goodness we laughed so hard and and we never played that game again I mean that was it you know but it would it was worth the money it was worth one time that that experience yeah game playing is big at our house um at Christmas time too so well and you know caroling too we really enjoy we one year we did um caroling around with the neighbors different neighbors and with our family and they enjoyed listening to the kids sing and so um I think just doing things for other people during that time.
[39:22] Allison: Absolutely absolutely yeah helps to kind of keep your focus on what we're actually celebrating.
[39:28] SPEAKER_02: Exactly yes yes and it's hard it's hard for us but you know we grew up in a church situation where we didn't really uh celebrate Christmas as Christ's birth because I don't know why taxes that may not be his birth time I don't know I d I don't really understand why we didn't do that.
[39:50] SPEAKER_02: But but and so you know we've had to learn to focus where the focus really needs to be.
[39:57] SPEAKER_02: And um you know thank goodness we have Christmas Eve services and things like that.
[40:01] SPEAKER_02: And I think that's really good.
[40:03] Allison: But great well thank you for sharing about your Christmas traditions and memory that was fun when it comes to holiday gift giving many people struggle with the wrapping some common pitfalls are waiting until the last minute not having enough of the right supplies on hand and not having a designated place to wrap.
[40:32] Allison: According to a survey conducted by Scotch brand tapes more than one fourth of Americans said wrapping presents puts them more in the holiday spirit than shopping does.
[40:42] Allison: But nothing will turn us from a jolly elf into the Grinch like the frustration of running out of tape, odd shape gifts refusing to cooperate with wrapping paper, or a case of the missing scissors.
[40:54] Allison: While I cannot force you to wrap your gifts early, I can give you a few pointers to help curb your frustration and maybe retain some of your holiday cheer.
[41:04] Allison: Many years ago I decided I was done wrapping Christmas presents on the floor possibly because it was getting so much harder to get up off of the floor anyway I carved out a little corner in our bedroom and I set up a card table, gathered up all of my holiday gift wrapping supplies and made a gift wrapping station.
[41:23] Allison: I stocked my little Christmas wrapping station with plenty of paper, gift bags, tissue tape, a couple of pair of scissors, sharpies, pens, gift tags, and lots of ribbon.
[41:34] Allison: As my kids got older and started buying little gifts for friends and family our gift wrap station moved out of our bedroom into a more public part of the house.
[41:41] Allison: So over the years it's moved around to different places in the house but we've always had a table set up and we include all the supplies we put a tub each for garbage and for recycling because there's a lot of paper that gets wasted there.
[41:53] Allison: As well as some random small to medium empty shipping boxes.
[41:57] Allison: We just store them underneath the table and if you get those boxes from Amazon rather than throw the boxes away just put them under the table stacked one inside the other and that way when you need a box for something that didn't come in a box you have one available.
[42:11] Allison: If your station will be open to public view, you can certainly pretty it up by adding a festive tablecloth.
[42:17] Allison: Just make sure it covers the supplies that are stored underneath the table.
[42:21] Allison: And you can keep all of those odds and ends and pens and name tags and supplies tidy as well as pretty by organizing them into baskets that you already have at your house.
[42:33] Allison: Another culprit that might steal our gift giving joy is shopping for those hard to buy for people.
[42:39] Allison: Whether it's because they already have everything they're picky or you're just playing out of ideas, shopping for them can quickly become a dreaded chore.
[42:48] Allison: So I have a suggestion for unique gifts that also support your local economy what is your town or your state or your province famous for are there unique products being made in your area where I live in the Texas Hill country we have wineries, peach orchards, beekeepers, lavender farms, um, smokehouses, leather workers, and olive groves and gosh a lot more but that's just to name a few all within I'd say a 50 mile radius of my house and most of these if not all of these family owned and operated businesses have gift shops.
[43:25] Allison: Ideally if I'm planning ahead I'll visit them during the year and I'll make purchases to assemble my own gift baskets but that doesn't always happen.
[43:33] Allison: I will usually visit their website and just see what they have on offer.
[43:36] Allison: Often they'll already have a gift basket option that I can just order and ship directly to the recipient.
[43:42] Allison: Sometimes if I don't like what's in the gift basket and it's a small enough operation, I'll just call them and I'll say hey this is what I'd like to put together into a basket can you do that for me?
[43:52] Allison: And usually they're happy to do that.
[43:54] Allison: Now I know that you're gonna pay a bit more to order these special baskets and have them ship directly from the business but sometimes you know you got to look at the value of time over money and that might be a good option for you.
[44:07] Allison: If it's not and you're working on a really tight budget, I just would recommend planning ahead so that you have time to go and visit those businesses, purchase what you want, package it and ship it out yourself.
[44:18] Allison: Now I know we're getting closer to Christmas so this might not be an option for you at this point, but if you're looking at giving gifts to people that you're gonna hand deliver, maybe you could still do this.
[44:27] Allison: This is a great gift for anyone but especially for those long distance friends and family who you're not going to get to see at Christmas time.
[44:33] Allison: It's just a really sweet way to say we wish you were here with us.
[44:36] Allison: And so here's a little taste of our town and here's a little holiday cheer from our hometown to you.
[44:43] Allison: So I hope you found something useful in these tips that perhaps will help restore some of the joy of giving after all the Lord loves a cheerful giver.
[44:55] Allison: So Holly what does a typical Christmas day look like in your home?
[45:00] SPEAKER_04: Well for us um because we live um away from our parents uh because we live in San Antonio and our parents live in North Texas um Dallas and actually East Texas.
[45:12] SPEAKER_04: So for us, uh, somehow we have continued to go visit our family just about every single year for Christmas.
[45:20] SPEAKER_04: We've just kept that going.
[45:22] SPEAKER_04: And um, so our girls have grown up usually spending the night at either uh Nanny and Grandpa's house or Nana and Papa's house, because we will sometimes take turns, you know, on that.
[45:34] SPEAKER_04: So we are often um out of town.
[45:38] SPEAKER_04: And but my husband, wherever we are, you know, when we wake up in the morning, he will read uh the Christmas story.
[45:46] SPEAKER_04: So something, you know, a scripture out of the Bible, um, the Christmas story.
[45:51] SPEAKER_04: And then um, so we do, you know, gifts and all that, but something our little family of four has done for so so long is because we know we're traveling, so we're with extended family, but on Christmas night, we will off most every year we would go to the movies.
[46:08] SPEAKER_04: So we would just the four of us would get away and all go see something at the movie theater.
[46:13] SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
[46:14] SPEAKER_04: So we've seen, you know, I don't know what all they've been, I can't remember.
[46:17] Allison: I mean, a lot of they they use that.
[46:19] Allison: That's a big blockbuster time is to release something on Christmas Day.
[46:22] SPEAKER_04: Yeah, that's that's when we go.
[46:23] SPEAKER_04: Okay.
[46:24] SPEAKER_04: And um, so yeah, that's kind of some traditions that we've had for a typical day, Christmas Day.
[46:33] Allison: A typical Christmas day.
[46:34] Allison: So you're usually not in your own home on Christmas Day.
[46:36] Allison: Um, what about food?
[46:38] Allison: You're in you're in your parents' or his parents' home.
[46:40] Allison: What what kind of food are you guys eating?
[46:42] SPEAKER_04: Yeah, so we usually start out, um, I'd say for the last like maybe seven or eight years, we've kind of gotten into a rhythm where we spend Christmas Eve at my husband's family.
[46:54] SPEAKER_04: Um, and then we drive late that night to, it was my mom and dad, but my mom passed away.
[47:00] SPEAKER_04: So we drive late at night to my dad's house on Christmas Eve, and then we spend the day at my dad's house.
[47:06] SPEAKER_04: So I say all that to say at my husband's house on Christmas Eve, it's usually something like um, we'll do Italian food.
[47:13] SPEAKER_04: So we'll do, you know, lasagna and garlic bread, salad, things like that.
[47:17] SPEAKER_04: And then um that'll be maybe one year, but then the next year with his family, we'll do like Mexican food, enchiladas, tamales.
[47:27] SPEAKER_04: And so we try to alternate a little bit and not have Mexican food every single and then um on Christmas Day, we are usually at my dad's house and we we do it usually a traditional, like we'll do um, we'll do sometimes turkey and but oftentimes we'll do a ham on Christmas Day.
[47:45] SPEAKER_04: I'd say the turkey's mostly on Thanksgiving.
[47:48] SPEAKER_04: Um, but yeah, we'll do a ham and then um I'll usually make uh the dressing or stuffing, whatever you want to call it, um, that I learned from my grandmother.
[47:57] SPEAKER_04: So it's a recipe that was taught to me in my head.
[48:01] SPEAKER_04: And I remember when one of my cousins asked me for it, I literally had to sit down and and write things down because my grandmother's gone now.
[48:10] SPEAKER_04: And I I was thinking, well, I usually just throw it together.
[48:13] SPEAKER_04: I make it.
[48:13] SPEAKER_04: But um, so I I make the dressing and then so we have ham and dressing, and then um I'll sometimes do like a sweet potato casserole, and my brother and sister-in-law will, you know, bring like macaroni and cheese, and my brother makes really, really well, and my sister-in-law, they make really great desserts.
[48:31] SPEAKER_04: So like pecan praline cheesecake or um soapia cheesecake, and you know, wow.
[48:38] SPEAKER_04: So we have you know really yummy desserts as well.
[48:41] Allison: Okay.
[48:41] SPEAKER_04: So, but I don't make it all because I'm traveling, remember.
[48:44] SPEAKER_04: So whenever it's a little bit more difficult to make a lot of food when you actually weren't even there for those days before.
[48:50] Allison: Exactly.
[48:51] Allison: Exactly.
[48:52] Allison: So the dressing recipe is a must.
[48:54] Allison: Are there any other must-have recipes at Christmas?
[48:58] Allison: Not necessarily on Christmas Day, but in the Christmas season.
[49:01] SPEAKER_04: Corn casserole.
[49:02] SPEAKER_04: My girls are always asking for my corn casserole.
[49:04] SPEAKER_04: Well, it's actually Paula Dean's corn casserole.
[49:07] SPEAKER_04: Oh, okay.
[49:08] SPEAKER_04: Yes.
[49:08] SPEAKER_04: So you can find that on Pinterest or wherever.
[49:11] SPEAKER_04: Uh-huh.
[49:11] SPEAKER_04: I have a cookbook of I used to be a major food network watcher.
[49:16] SPEAKER_04: Uh I would nurse my kids and watch Food Network.
[49:19] SPEAKER_04: I I learned, I think I learned a lot of my cooking.
[49:23] SPEAKER_04: Um, aside from the stuff I learned from my dad and my grandmother when I was very young, but like branching out more, it was from Food Network.
[49:31] SPEAKER_04: Oh, absolutely.
[49:32] SPEAKER_04: And then the love of baking I got from Buddy on cake.
[49:36] SPEAKER_04: Is that the cake cake?
[49:37] SPEAKER_04: Cake boss.
[49:37] SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
[49:38] SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
[49:38] SPEAKER_04: Right.
[49:39] SPEAKER_04: Carlos Bakery.
[49:40] SPEAKER_04: So um corn casserole.
[49:42] SPEAKER_04: So corn casserole is Pauline.
[49:44] SPEAKER_04: And then uh my girls also uh love m deviled eggs.
[49:48] SPEAKER_04: So we'll do like deviled eggs.
[49:50] SPEAKER_01: Mm-hmm.
[49:51] Allison: Cool.
[49:51] Allison: Are you like a traditional deviled egg recipe person or do you get fancy with it and add weird stuff to it?
[49:56] SPEAKER_04: I think I'm probably traditional.
[49:57] SPEAKER_04: I because I just use like um mayo and mustard and like a little bit of uh relish, but I prefer dill.
[50:07] SPEAKER_04: Like I don't I don't I don't like the sweet, so we'll use the dill relish, but that's just the way that we like it.
[50:12] SPEAKER_04: And then paprika on top, salt and pepper in there.
[50:15] Allison: Yeah.
[50:15] Allison: Nice.
[50:16] Allison: Well, now would you be willing to share this dressing recipe now that you have it written down, or is this a family secret?
[50:22] SPEAKER_04: Um, I I guess I could share it.
[50:24] SPEAKER_04: Um check with your family.
[50:26] Allison: I better check because we don't want to be releasing any secret.
[50:29] Allison: So if it's released, ladies and gentlemen, we will have it on the website.
[50:33] Allison: Otherwise, we'll give you some links to Paula Dean's corn casserole and we'll put a deviled egg recipe up.
[50:38] Allison: Right.
[50:39] Allison: Okay.
[50:39] Allison: Now what about specific holiday traditions that you might do?
[50:44] Allison: You know.
[50:48] SPEAKER_04: Okay, so for holiday traditions, something that we definitely did uh when the girls were young is uh an advent candle reading time.
[50:58] SPEAKER_04: And we would do that usually on Sunday evenings at home.
[51:02] SPEAKER_04: And um so I had the the four different candles with the appropriate colors and I had a a book and then we would just read through that week's, you know, reading.
[51:13] SPEAKER_04: So that was definitely a tradition that we would do leading up to Christmas Day.
[51:19] SPEAKER_04: And um, we also read these books to our girls, Jotham's Journey is what it is called.
[51:25] SPEAKER_04: And so it was a really good story.
[51:28] SPEAKER_04: Um, it really keeps the kids, you know, um interested in the whole journey uh before, you know, what we know as Christmas Day.
[51:36] SPEAKER_04: And so Jotham's Journey, if you have young kids, check into those books.
[51:40] SPEAKER_04: There's more than one, there's several.
[51:42] SPEAKER_04: Okay.
[51:43] SPEAKER_04: So those are really good.
[51:45] SPEAKER_04: And then a big tradition for us, even to this day, and I don't think it's ever gonna stop, is my girls' love.
[51:52] SPEAKER_04: I kind of go really crazy with stocking stuffers.
[51:55] SPEAKER_04: So everybody, like my girls and my son-in-law, that's where I just I just love to give good stocking stuffers because we have we've always had a pretty set limit for the girls for Christmas.
[52:08] SPEAKER_04: Um, we we just didn't want Christmas to be all about having like 36 presents under the tree for each kid or whatever.
[52:15] SPEAKER_04: So, you know, we would um they would get a maybe a couple of large things, you know, uh for Christmas or special things.
[52:24] SPEAKER_04: And but with stockings, I can just do whatever, you know, put whatever all kinds of neat things in there.
[52:29] SPEAKER_04: Well, they have come to love these stocking stuffers, and sometimes it doesn't all fit in the stocking, but it's laying all out on the table.
[52:36] SPEAKER_04: And forget about hanging the stocking back up.
[52:38] SPEAKER_04: No, no, no, we don't hang, no, it can't once it's full, it lays down.
[52:42] SPEAKER_04: And um, but I just like to listen and learn, you know, all through the year different things that they're into or what they like.
[52:49] SPEAKER_04: And so my husband, you know, he'll praise me on Christmas morning because he'll he'll just be like, Your mom knows that, or she she just pays attention all year long, you know.
[52:58] SPEAKER_04: And so just trying to see what they're what they're into, and then just putting a lot of like necessities in there and um toiletries, bath and body works, or for my son-in-law, like you know, nice shaving gel and things like that.
[53:12] Allison: Yeah, yeah, great, cool.
[53:13] Allison: Well, they love it, it's a big deal.
[53:18] Allison: Holidays can be crazy, they can be hectic.
[53:22] Allison: How do you maintain balance in the holidays and keep the main thing the main thing?
[53:28] SPEAKER_04: For this, I would say definitely under schedule.
[53:32] SPEAKER_04: And when I say that, like trying every year not to schedule too much, just trying to let that be the month out of the whole year that we under schedule.
[53:44] SPEAKER_04: Like um, because it can get crazy, it can get busy, and just be really selective on the things that you commit to um in in the month of December.
[53:55] SPEAKER_04: And um, I think that that that helps.
[53:58] SPEAKER_04: And then as far as you know, balance and and all of that, um I just think about keeping, you know, keeping the priority where it should be and teaching your kids what the true meaning of Christmas is so you don't get caught up so much in in the busyness of of everything.
[54:16] Allison: Yeah.
[54:17] SPEAKER_04: Um and then one more thing that I'm gonna I'm gonna go back a little bit to kind of the kickoff for us is Thanksgiving and something that um that I loved to do when my girls were young.
[54:33] SPEAKER_04: It's I'm laughing because after a few years of this, they were so tired of it.
[54:39] SPEAKER_04: But it was it was just really good and they learned so much the first few times, the first few years.
[54:44] SPEAKER_04: But um Dennis and Barbara Rainey have this um CD uh out about Thanksgiving and the whole you know Mayflower and the travel and all that the pilgrims went through.
[55:00] SPEAKER_04: And so um, usually every year we're traveling also on Thanksgiving to go see our family.
[55:08] SPEAKER_04: We're just the traveling family.
[55:10] SPEAKER_04: So I uh she it's a two CD pack.
[55:13] SPEAKER_04: One of them is just beautiful instrumental music for Thanksgiving, and I just love it.
[55:17] SPEAKER_04: And then the other CD, we actually don't do CDs much these days.
[55:22] SPEAKER_04: Um, but anyway, that's a side note.
[55:24] SPEAKER_04: But then the other CD, it's the whole story, and um, it's like a elevated, more mature uh version of the Charlie Brown Thanksgiving.
[55:35] SPEAKER_04: Um and it and it gives, you know, uh just so much information and it makes you really value um what we're thankful for and all that they did go through and the illnesses and the deaths and all that.
[55:49] SPEAKER_04: So, you know, every year I would say, okay, we're gonna listen to the Thanksgiving story.
[55:54] SPEAKER_04: And the first few years, I mean, everything was fine.
[55:56] SPEAKER_04: And then I learned after a while, I don't know remember which year, but they were all like, Mom, do we have to listen to it again?
[56:04] SPEAKER_04: Um, we can recite it for you at this point.
[56:07] SPEAKER_04: But now it's kind of it's just a funny thing.
[56:09] SPEAKER_04: But I'm so glad that they know it.
[56:12] SPEAKER_04: Like, you know, we we spent a few years and they would hear it every year.
[56:16] SPEAKER_04: And um, so I just wanted to mention that.
[56:19] SPEAKER_04: So we kick off the whole holiday season about being thankful.
[56:23] Allison: That's really great.
[56:23] Allison: Yeah.
[56:24] Allison: Thanks for sharing that resource.
[56:25] Allison: We'll make sure we link to all the resources that we mentioned in this conversation.
[56:29] Allison: Well, thanks for visiting with us and talking to us about Christmas.
[56:32] Allison: Merry Christmas.
[56:33] SPEAKER_04: Merry Christmas to you too.
[56:34] SPEAKER_04: Thanks for having me.
[56:36] Allison: That is all for episode three of Holiday Homemaking 2021.
[56:40] Allison: We hope you found some little bit of inspiration from these sweet homemakers' Christmas memories, tips, and reflections.
[56:46] Allison: If you heard a recipe in this episode you would like to try, make sure you get your free copy of the Companion E magazine, which contains most of the recipes that our friends have shared over these episodes.
[56:58] Allison: Just click the link in the show notes or go to theartofome podcast.com/slash free gift.
[57:02] Allison: Thank you so much for listening.
[57:04] Allison: We will be back next Wednesday with our fourth and final episode of the Art of Home Holiday Homemaking 2021.
[57:11] Allison: Until then, keep practicing your art of making a home for the holidays.

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